mre5765

Similar experience as OP. I have been rebooked on UA only to find that AA hadn't paid UA. In my case it was at the DEN UA check in counter. The UA agent tried to get a hold of AA, could not, so she gave me a BP that got me through security and told me not to worry, it would be straightened out by the time I boarded.

As I recall I didn't have to get a new BP and prior to boarding confirmed with the 1K desk I was good to go. BP scanned just fine.

zkzkz

If you had the eticket number then you had a ticket and reservation and presented yourself at the gate in time -- it sounds like UA owes you denied boarding compensation to the tune of $1,300 (depending on various factors).

If the agent was doing the correct thing then the fault lies somewhere else in UA's systems or procedures but that's UA's problem. The end result is the same.

TerryK

Great job to that UA agent.^ He/she actually followed up and fixed it before you boarded. In the case of OP, UA agent tried but was out of time to get it fixed. AA needs to resend eticket to UA system as initial message didn't go through. My guess is UA system issue.

BayAArea

I handed the gate agents (there were actually three agents and what looked like a supervisor or more senior agent working the gate, as it was the last flight of the night and I think they were aware of the crew running close to timing out and wanted people on board ASAP) both of the AA documents right off the bat when they said they were having an issue. As did the others.

TerryK

Best of luck with $1,300 claim. If UA cannot access that eticket, how does UA know that is your eticket for that flight? It could have been a number you picked up from discarded receipt somewhere. It is a system issue between AA and UA, not IDB.

BayAArea

This is what I can't stop fuming about - if there is a way to board passengers and figure it out later among the airlines, and there is an agreement in place among the airlines, as AA said there is (again, I don't know how I will ever confirm there is), then UAs handling of this from a customer service perspective is downright absurd.

The GAs attitude was like UA and AA were two ships in the night that wouldn't still be there tomorrow, like a type of customer you don't trust and demand cash upfront. I pleaded with them that people get rule 240'd all of the time, you have all the documentation that you can walk or call over to the AA desk tomorrow (or in 5 hours when the terminals are restaffed) and iron out the payment process. That they chose to stonewall paying customers (no pun intended) and force them to scramble unnecessarily is completely absurd to me.

I think we can all agree that, without fundamental changes, the US airline industry isn't going to win the Best Customer Service award anytime soon; it's a part of the reality of where airlines are today. But for 4 different people to huddle up real time and come up with that as a solution is almost beyond comprehension. It just perpetuates the popular notion that these legacy carriers are grumpy and just don't really care. I don't agree with that 100% (I have had great experiences and bad experiences like we all have) but this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

BayAArea

TerryK

OP was boarding group 5 on a severely delayed flight. UA was simply out of time. Any further delay may time out crew and all passengers, including OP, will spend the night at LAX. The case with mre5765 was different in that UA had more time to fix the eticket issue.

The agreement which keep coming up is likely just an interline agreement. Which means UA will accept AA ticket in rebooking. It doesn't help if UA didn't receive AA ticket.

I distrust interline etickets and always request paper FIM or paper ticket when rebooked. Unfortunately, airlines no longer allow it for domestic flights.

BayAArea

A discarded receipt that happens to match exactly the name on my photo identification and contains a destination that matches my original destination?

With a passenger receipt and a boarding pass that was issued but wont scan, we're into "we understand the intention here, there is glitch somewhere between the airlines interfacing that is preventing a smooth transition here. What do we do?"

I feel like there are two options now: 1) you play the hardball card like UA did and put your palms up and throw blame at the other party, or 2) if there is a way to override and get the customer to their destination which is point of airlines coming to work every day, you do that and work it out behind the scenes because you will at least have a happy customer that will come back again. These inter-airline transfers happen every day, for UA to sit there and act like AA wouldn't pick up the phone a few hours later (or they couldn't walk down the hallway to T5) to figure it out seems pretty implausible to me.

The last thing a customer wants to be told (especially at 1AM after traveling across the continent) is "sir, you did absolutely nothing wrong here but I am denying you the service". I will never forget literally sitting on the curb outside LAX at 1AM and dialing individual hotel chains trying to find a bed for a few hours, as a result of some airline interface or lazy gate agent. That is where you get customers with long memories that will swear off an airline forever, if it turns out it could have been accommodated.

eajusa

Thank you! That is why I deemed UA's response as "reprehensible" in my earlier post. It was bad business, and it was the height of poor customer service. No one will convince me otherwise.

TerryK

I stand corrected if you have AA reissued eticket printout. I thought someone was talking about an eticket number only. When I was rerouted in domestic itineraries, I was present with new itinerary (PNR) but never new eticket printout.

I recall my recent reroutes:
1) UA to LX - presented with new itinerary but refused to provide eticket;
2) UA to DL (domestic) - presented with new itinerary but no eticket;
3) DL to CX - presented with new itinerary but I insisted in paper FIM.

I haven't flown AA for years and don't know AA's practice.

BayAArea

Just out of curiosity, where does the $1300 figure come from? Is there an established compensation for IDB, or is that an estimation?

(I ask because I am putting together my formal complaints to each airline, and the DOT - wondering if there is a precedent to cite)

BayAArea

Would it help if I posted a screenshot of the two AA vouchers that I handed to UA to get my boarding pass, and then to the GA after it didn't scan? (Obviously with blacked out names and personal information)

I don't know if that is against the rules, so I will wait to see a response from a mod.

zerolife

I think what you have to understand is that most companies nowadays are very hierarchical and those ground troops are often not empowered nor trained to do what's the best for the company or the customer. GAs are trained to follow established processes, and the process likely is to deny boarding until UA's system receives and confirms the receipt of the e-ticket. In this case, it was just bad luck that for whatever reason AA wasn't reachable.

If you were in the GA's shoe, would you help a stranger at the risk that you end up getting dinged for violating protocols you were instructed to follow?

Not saying this is the right way to go but unfortunately this is the reality in the corporate world. People worry more about liability and promotion than doing the right thing.

BayAArea

I agree with this - I made it a point even during my discussion with the gate agents that was animated at times, that it's the classic "it's no ones fault, but it's everyone's fault".

That comes down to company cultures - airlines seems to have adopted the "we compete on price alone" at the expense of customer service - that's how entire industries get into customer service hell like the airlines have. We are on page 5 of a thread now among well-verses flyers and we are still spinning our heads mentioning paper tickets, e-tickets, FIMs, trying to get to the bottom of what, at the end of the day is a basic problem: how do I get customer from point A To point B.

Imagine how an inexperienced flyer who paid money to be transported 400 miles feels when they get the shrug and the "oh well, not my problem, I'm just following orders". It's infuriating - front line employees should feel empowered to solve problems, not hide behind a procedural manual (short of a glaring national security or huge protocol violation). In this case, it was not much more than .....ing a ride to echo with your neighbor, and then figuring out the gas fare at some point, which happens often.

A mountain was made out of a molehill either due to laziness, inadequate training, or lack of empowerment. The devil is always in the details, but this is what customers remember.