bse118

In addition to travel insurance one other factor to consider is flying to/from the EU on EU-registered carriers, in which case I believe EU 261 provisions apply to both EU-inbound and EU-outbound flights. (and I believe Switzerland counts, through bilaterals, even though they aren't EU).

It is also quite literally the truth. Saying GVA and ZUR are "comparable" is like saying JFK and BWI are comparable or BOS and JFK are comparable. They are different markets with different pricing considerations. There's a reason AA sold you (and you bought) a ticket to ZUR not a ticket to "any airport in Switzerland"

I'm still saying that had you asked for a reroute to GVA when the issue arose at JFK, there was a good chance you would have been successful. The fact is that you accepted a reroute to ZRH.

Good call. And thank you for actually engaging in a reasoned dicussion here, all too often we see "one and done" rant posts where we never see the OP again. Hope you stick around!

Alpha Golf

Unfortunately they're not. You actually have a contract with them (the "contract of carriage") which provides:

9. Carrier undertakes to use its best efforts to carry the passenger and baggage with reasonable dispatch. Times shown in timetables or elsewhere are not guaranteed and form no part of this contract... Schedules are subject to change without notice. Carrier assumes no responsibility for making connections.

FlyingHighest

I get the legal thing. I just think it would be good customer service to mitigate a customer's expenses when it can be done easily and cheaply, especially following a long delay or cancellation. Kind of like what BA did in this situation.

JonNYC

Perhaps. But they didn't (at least to your satisfaction) in your case and they don't generally, and that is -not- changing anytime soon.

So, choose where you spend your money accordingly and forget any fantasy you might have about being made whole here, or, "changing the way they operate" etc.

FlyingHighest

Respectfully I'm not quite that pessimistic. I think if enough people complain to AA and on public forums about an issue, they would probably look at fixing it. I have impacted the policies of large companies once or twice when I was younger and had much more time to fight issues like this. That being said, I get the message and I don't plan to spend a lot more time on this.

zabes64

File a DOT complaint, when you get a cut and paste reply, email your DOT analyst and let them know that AA replied with a cut and paste and not a with substantive response.

username

I had been wronged by US Air once a few years ago (as a UA *A Gold) and they refused to do anything.

I had to fly AA last week and ran into problems both ways with poor handling of delays (one was weather and one was MX). I know there is no point complaining to AA so I just went directly to the DOT. I actually got a response back in a few days from the DOT (somewhat a form letter but still showed they read it).

It is really not about what I get, it is about ruining their stats

PlatinumScum

Good advice about changing the destination while at JFK, rather than attempting to do so at LHR.

It is worth noting that any AA statement that they would *never* reroute a customer without charging the fare difference is trivially easy to disprove. (They rerouted me from BOS-DFW to MHT-PHL-DFW on Friday when the original flight was delayed 4 1/2 hours.)

HGH

In my very limited experience with AA and BA on a delay, BA also drastically outshone AA.

We arrived in LHR 4 hours late in May and in danger of missing our BA flight out (which had already been rescheduled once). As far as even trying the AA connections desk - no AA staff in sight at the gate or at the counter on the way out. And, I didn't know Heathrow well enough to try breaking from the line of lemmings traipsing over to T5, all the while trying to get my cell phone to make a connection.

The BA staff was waiting with signs for the late planes (one from CTL one from JFK), directly people into the appropriate queue. The help was fast and on target. Night and day difference.

But, I will keep flying AA. You know why? Because they are the cheapest and have a ton of daily direct flights to everywhere I normally fly.

zabes64

If your response appears cut and paste let your DOT analyst know. TK was fined a lot of money for doing that. I submitted two identical replies from AA to myself and another person to my DOT analyst showing AA was in violation.

dylanks

Yes, but this is in large part because Delta pads their schedule more than AA. I thought AA had the best performance of the big carriers for "left gate on time", which is one of the few things they can control? Airport congestion and ATC delays and weather are out of their control, but padding the schedule improves the on-time rating...

dylanks

Fwiw, AA was unable to through check bags for me on a recent AA-BA itinerary on separate tickets (PHX-PHL-DUB-LCY). In part because the AA interface for former US agents seems very limited.

1KHI

Let me weight on this.

First, you should have don't this at JFK, not in the middle off the ticket.

Second, airport agents have more power to change things, especially during irregular operations, than phone agents. So an airport agent in JFK could have done the same if requested and you had planned in advance to get to GVA. You got lucky with the BA staff, but that will not probably be the norm.

Third, compensation as pointed above won't apply to your case. The best way to proceed is to file a DOT form, which is clearly read by AA personnel and must be solved by them.

Fourth, AA is aware of their abysmal performance. I don't think much will be changed by sending customer service emails, your best bet is to file a DOT form if you want anything changed.

Finally, enjoy your vacation and stop lingering in flyertalk.

FlyingHighest

Thanks!!! :-)

username

My experience with US was that they were very inflexible with IRROPS handling - they would not protect you on another flight unless you are DM Chairman. Has the "culture" migrated to AA? It seems there is no sense of moral obligation (which I am sure the system does not have a reason code for ) to make things right for OP for the trouble caused by them in the first place....