Why were you out $200? If this was one ticket AA should be taking care of all that internally when rebooking.

Finally, DFW is clearing. We arrived spot on time last night, and flights are departing on time today. Partly cloudy, warm.

It's unbelievable how long some of those weather patterns stick around down there!

Does anyone still have a copy of the AA IRROPs guide for TAs.. the link in the wiki is now not available for downloading and I am wondering if anyone kept an older copy.

MAD - Madrid Barajas International Airport

Air Traffic Control strike planned June 28 and 29, 2016.

Is this the right place?
Last night after 6hs of back and forth my flight AA206 (MIA-MXP), it was a weekend trip, so I had to paid 1 night cancelation fee for the Hotel (non-refundable), plus I lost my Opera tickets that I had for Saturday night. Rerouting was not a option since could arrive on Sunday after 10, where I had a full day tour starting at 8:30am.

Anyway, I called today to AA, they said will avoid the change fee, but I will have to paid the fare difference, I can only go back to Milan in August, as long I do a layover of less than 23hs in NYC (due to work), or got the Labor Day weekend. Is that correct? do I'm missing something regarding the rules? it should be more flexible in this case? they had ruined my long weekend, and I'm not even asking for compensation, which I know I will not get.

What happened that caused the 6 hours of back and forth. You probably should be able to get a full refund if it was a delay of that caliber or cancelation.

It was a mechanical issue with the aircraft, after moving it to 8:45PM, they changed the gate (and aircraft) with a new departure time (11:45PM), but around 10:40PM I got a text from AA saying that my flight was canceled. My problem is I can fly until next month as long I can do a layover in NYC, or the next long weekend which is the first of September (Labor Day). My original itinerary was EZE-MIA-MXP-MIA-EZE. Per AA rules (or fare rules), I can only make a change within 7 days...

EDIT: After one hour over the phone, I was able to get MIA-LGA/JFK-MIA-MPX next month with a layover of 23hrs in NYC, for an extra charge of $86. At lest I don't have to wait until September, but the only downside (besides the extra charge), I will not get the same amount of miles as an EXP PLT.

Metro NY weather mess July 28
 

It looked like NY was going to get slammed, but from relatives in the metro area say the storms mostly broke up. We were ground stopped in CLT (flight to JFK) earlier and eventually de-boarded and waited 4 hours in the lounge. 4PM scheduled departure, 8:45pm now and they are about to close the door finally.

Looks like multiple LGA and EWR flights delayed or cancelled to. But by all accounts JfK weather isnt too bad.

By the way, look at the flight plan filed for AA1972, we fly clear out to midwest before looping around the storm, 2:20min flight time for ehat should be a 1:40 flight.

Yowza, CLT to JFK by way of Dayton. :D

Of course, even if the storm doesn't directly hit JFK, widespread storm systems in the region can still wreak havoc.

1h15m wait on the EXP line currently :td:

Try the OSO line. (Google it.)

PHL was hit hard as well. my 230p flight to ORD was cancelled (also cause of weather in Chicago). Rebooked on PHL-BOS-ORD for this evening and PHL-BOS flight cancelled. Now booked on PHL-BOS-ORD in the morning. I feel lucky though, I heard them telling some people it would be Saturday AM before they could get them to ORD.

I took the 4:19 flight from CLT to Bradley (Hartford). We departed on time, a few bumps on the way, no biggies, and landed on time.

DCA too.

When 3 major AA airports and the rest of the Eastern seaboard are taken out, it's not surprising that the hold times are long.

And if you look out the right window of AA1972 right now, you'll see an amazing lightning show.

Storms aren't the only weather than can impact NYC airports. Heavy rain and/or low clouds reduce visibility which also impacts flying conditions. (High winds also have this impact)

But more broadly than that, one of the (sometimes maddening) things you learn living and flying in/out of NYC is that there doesn't need to be weather IN NYC proper in order for NYC to be impacted by ATC weather delays. In fact the ATC delay programs were in effect by midday yesterday while the storms were still over PA.

This is because the east coast routes are very congested, so any weather over those east coast routes causes issues getting planes in and out of NYC. Thus you can have ATC delays even when its sunny in NYC.

Which is exactly what I experienced a few weeks ago. Not a raindrop in NYC, sun was shining with a few scattered clouds. But storms over NJ/PA/DE had multi-hour ATC delays at LGA (And I presume the other airports).

And earlier this week, on Tuesday, there are ATC delays for 'WX/Thunderstorms' for all three NYC airports even thought he nearest thunderstorms were in Virginia.

Can confirm DCA is still a mess this am. Everything is delayed.

A few thoughts on JFK last night
First, let me preface this by saying that I really don't intend for this to be a ".....ing at American Airlines" post.

I had a miserably delayed flight from JFK-LAX last night (AA133) and I understand that these delays were due to weather. Fine, I get it, I understand that is part and parcel with air travel. However, while we sat on the tarmac, I popped out my iPad and began seeing the delays cascade. The pilots? Silent. It then occurred to me, in this almost completely connected world we live in, airlines can't do that anymore. As we sat there getting more and more annoyed the cockpit was silent, meanwhile, we saw each and every delay thanks to Flightaware and Flightstats. Finally, after over an hour on the tarmac, the captain turned back to the gate to get more fuel due to a new routing. Thanks for finally telling us this, despite us seeing it on Flightaware long before you said anything!
http://i.imgur.com/eFcROWE.png

Which brings me to second point, it makes no sense to me that AA133 got assigned this very northern route over Canada, while AA83 (a later flight) kept their direct routing then arrived an hour and half earlier.
http://i.imgur.com/z0OHumM.png
Before this pervasive connectivity, American could have kept all of this to themselves with no accountability to anyone about it, now though, we can see all of it. So I think it is time for their transparency in the cabin to improve, lest we continue to get angrier and angrier.

Finally, a few quick bullets

• I have never seen more disdain from a flight attendant than when I asked for water at the end of the flight (from my middle seat with a sleeping man in the aisle seat). Excuse me for asking for water after almost 8 hours on the plan.
• Drinks in general during IRROPS should be re-evaluated on nominally “premium” services like JFK-LAX. The cost of giving coach pax an optional free drink is less than a rounding error, the goodwill it could have earned, immense.

IRROPS PHX July 29 2016
 

Flew from IAH bound for PHX last night when storms starting kicking up in PHX area. After circling 200 miles outside of PHX, the pilot said that we were going to divert to TUS for more fuel. Landed in Tucson, eventually got our fuel. While waiting for new flight plan which pilot said was taken way longer than it should, the weather in PHX which had been getting better began to turn again. PHX was on a ground stop and the pilot informed us that we would be on the ground for another hour. That announcement was followed by one that said that we were going to wait for a gate because the pilots would end up timing out.

We were instructed to deplane and the AA agents (it is now 11:00 PM or so), were handing each passenger a scrap of paper off of a pad that basically said call this 800 number and get rescheduled. They tried getting away without providing any assistance whatsoever.

Given that is was "only" 11:00 PM and the weather was due to clear, I feel like AA was responsible for putting us up for the night. Instead, they just kept repeating "we were told that this cancellation was due to weather" and we were instructed to give you the telephone number to call to get rescheduled. Besides, they continued, there are no hotel rooms available near the airport.

IMHO, it seems like AA was either responsible for scheduling the pilots with no leeway in case of an issue OR, they should have provisions (like a spare deck crew, even in a non-hub station).

I finally caved, took responsibility for myself and found a room at a Hilton Garden Inn at the airport. When I got there on their shuttle, the agent (now its midnight) told me that it was good that I called when I did, because Delta took the balance of their available rooms for their PAX in similar situation.

What strikes me oddly is that the average kettle wasn't putting up much of a flight. No rooms, no food and they generally accepted it. To me this is totally unacceptable.

I am no better than anybody else, but this ExPlat is not happy. I am going to write to AA and send them my hotel bill and see what happens.

In some past instances AA has reportedly covered EXPs during weather delays/cancellations. However, as I'm sure you're aware, in the US airlines are under no obligation to do so. Best of luck with the reimbursement.

Sorry to hear about this unfortunate situation. I am surprised they did not wait longer to fly into Phx, as this is a very short flight. I would guess that very few passengers would be connecting to other flights late in the evening.

At any rate, did you think about taking an airport shuttle from TUS to PHX? I have looked in the past, and this is probably $50ish one way. This might have been cheaper than getting a hotel room?

Just a guess, but maybe the ground agents were near the end of their shifts and management decided to have them pass out numbers rather than paying them the overtime that would be required to handle rebooking?

I got covered as a Plat once. A T-storm delayed my flight from IAD-LAX by 1 hr, which meant I missed the last flight from LAX-SBA. Went to the AC and just asked if they could help with a discount coupon or anything. They ended up giving me a room at the Sheraton, two dinner and two breakfast vouchers (I was with a friend), and four AC drink chits! Those were the days... :D

OP, this certainly wasn't a fun experience for you and it sounds like the ground crew in PHX could have done more to at least help with reschedules.

Unfortunately, regarding hotels, this really does sound weather driven (of course, airlines will always use weather even if weather is only one of many factors).

I must respectfully disagree with the notion that airlines can/should have spare crews at every outstation. The cost to have a flight crew sitting idly 'just in case' at each of AA's 350 airports would be astronomical. And it would have to be more than one crew, since different crews are certified for different types of aircrafts. It's just not something that's feasible.

Nice! ^

There's certainly no harm in asking, even these days.

Looks like you were on AA478. There seems to have been some rough storms. Some UA flights out of IAH got diverted to LAS. Others - like UA 867 - got diverted to TUS and its unclear as to if it made it to PHX or not.

What you had was a diversion (owing to weather), a fuel stop (owing to weather and fuel issues), a ground stop at TUS (owing to weather), and pilots timing out (owing to weather and scheduling).

Unfortunately, airlines aren't obligated to put people up in hotels owing to what the weather gods do. They used to, but its not standard any more.

Hopefully you got back to PHX in good order this morning.

My connection cancelled due to weather a few days ago in JFK. I was on the last flight to DC and there was nothing available from any airport til the next morning. When I landed (from LHR) agents were waiting for me with hotel vouchers and transportation vouchers with a confirmed seat in First on the Shuttle from LGA the next morning. It was a nice gesture, but I had been traveling for 30 hours at that point and just wanted to get home, so Amtrak it was.

Not sure if they covered my hotel due to the fact that I was EXP or what, but it was quite nice of them to do all of that for me.

It had to do with coming from Europe. EC261 duty of care provisions require they provide a hotel even in weather delays.

AA's conditions of carriage require them to provide a hotel when a flight cancels at a diversion point.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-ser...age.jsp#delays

Thank You SamOF.

AA had many diversions to TUS because of the PHX storms. It is my understanding that many of those planes eventually made it to PHX in the wee hours of the morning. I asked AA folks if I could wait and jump on one of those and they told me that it was not possible. Not sure if that is an AA rule or Federal Law, but that is beside the point. My aircraft COULD NOT make it to PHX because of a crew time out. It can't be called weather if all of the other planes are able to eventually get out.

Of course they can't have every type of crew available at every out station at all times. That wouldn't be cost effective. That said, they have a risk that this type of thing is going to happen and have to "self insure" and pay the costs associated with the issue.

I just want to be treated reasonably and fairly. And truthfully, I want that for everybody else too.

Bolding mine.

And in that you would be incorrect. If the original divert to TUS was due to weather in PHX (it was) and if the ground stop that affected you once you were on the ground in TUS was due to weather (it was), and if the combination of those things caused your flight crew to reach their FAA-mandated duty hours limits ["time out"] (they did), then the subsequent cancellation is indeed due to weather. Other flights' crews not timing out is not material to the specific circumstance of the flight crew operating your plane.

Part of expecting fair and reasonable treatment from the airline is on your part having a fair and reasonable understanding of the circumstance.

AA cancels flight "due to airport conditions"
 

One of my colleagues was flying today, June 30, HEL-JFK-RDU on a AY ticket with JFK-RDU segment on AA#4360 sold as AY codeshare.
AA#4360 was cancelled "due to airport conditions" according to AA EXP desk - they were unable to determine which airport. The weather at RDU was fine. With no status with OneWorld my colleague was put on next morning flight out of LGA and AA refused to issue hotel and meal vouchers "because he did not purchase travel insurance".
I have never heard of "airport conditions" as a reason for cancellation and, I think, it should be the airline responsibility. Any suggestions? Contact AA Twitter?

I have to wonder if there was something going on with the field at RDU. The 1:47pm Delta JFK-RDU flight was diverted and their 3:55pm JFK-RDU flight has been pushed back to Sunday morning. The DL 8:35pm flight had a 139 min departure delay. Looks like AA and DL flights LGA-RDU also had delays up to 5 hours.

I don't believe any airline keeps spare crews at outstations. They would be needed so rarely that it couldn't justify the cost.

In my experience, people don't put up much resistance during heavy IROPS because of the physical and emotional toll just getting to the rebooking line takes on someone.

Yes, there were massive delays on July 30 for other incoming flights to RDU as well. AA also cancelled the last flight JFK-RDU. Whatever was going on in Raleigh, DL did not cancel a single flight ATL->RDU.
A couple weeks ago AA was having computer problems in RDU and DL guys told me that it was related to the server at the airport. DL had similar issues at RDU in the past. They had to call passengers alphabetically to board... But again, that were airline problems.

was in PHL all day trying to get to my grandfather's memorial service in PIT, didn't make it. bad weather day nationally; i know these things can happen. but i felt for others...each time my flight (2x) was cancelled, gate agents essentially refusing/unable (not sure which) to provide information on causation or assist with rebooking...WHY NOT?!? they just hand out "the flyer" with the OSO phone number and direct people to the customer service desk (which, in Terminal B, had 2 agents at 1 desk for a 16-gate all-AA terminal). families with elderly parents and young children wrapped in endless queues while on endless hold on the phone. i'm not complaining for myself - i was alone today and have the AAngels in the Admirals Club. but days like these just make me mad at AA on behalf of the general public. i saw total abuse by neglect today, and this seems to be triggered TOO OFTEN, on any day it rains hard enough in enough places. i'm not writing to seek solutions - just to ask, has anyone had an airport day like this that made you not want to fly for a long time? and how did you recover? tonight, i feel genuinely sad that i've spent so much time and treasure supporting this company and its predecessors.

- This sounds like one of the days at PHL when USAir was still flying separately. I still remember one of such 6 hr delay when I was flying Y on USAir with no AAngels to help. You description of PHL is quite accurate except all shops were closed by 11 pm and my flight did not depart till 3 am. That delay alone cause me to actively avoid any USAir flights for two years ... till they merge with AA and I had no choice. I still trying to avoid flying through USAir hubs though.

AA - Run to the Bottom - IRROPs/Elite Recognition/Accommodation
 

I don't even know how to categorize this post, as it is the combination of IRROPs, Elite Recognition, and accommodation. It definitely shows the inept of the Parker Management to this new merged airline.

LAX-BUF, via PHX and CLT.

1. Gate check LAX-LAS, broke the carry-on.

2. At PHX AC, PHX-CLT equipment swap, and aircraft serving. AAngel mentioned she wouldn't have sent me for flights that will misconnect. I asked if I could get the hotel accommodation if I opted to fly out of PHX next day. Her version: Not empowered to do so; GA Version: Send him to the flight, he would be accommodated. Note: PHX AAngel talked to GA, she couldn't even name me as 'EXP'. Please, no more CPs, learn the AA status level.

3. Misconnect in CLT. During the flight, no information given by the Captain/FA, told to talk to GA in ground. Upon landing, FA asked for non-connecting pax to wait for other connecting pax to get off first. GA didn't even bother to direct us to the connecting gate. Didn't even care if we make our flights or not.

4. AA - Blamed everything for weather. Went to CLT AC. AAngel didn't even look at my PNR then blamed it was due to weather, so no hotel accommodation could be made. I told her it was aircraft servicing, she looked it over, shrugged, and printed me a hotel voucher. No food voucher. Didn't ask, because AC was about to close.

5. Next day, BP barcode didn't scan at Pre-Check. Kiosk didn't recognize my reservation. AA Priority check-in agents gave us all the attitude. Waited for 25min to get the new BP.

Is this is the new AA?

Look, I would have just opted for LAX-ORD leg to avoid all the LUS crap if it it weren't operated by 788.