mvoight

So, the moral of that story is if you want good compensation for delays fly a EU carrier when going to Europe. You can fly AA coming back, as EU261 also applies to non-EU carriers when flying from EU.

tbone14

During one recent trip, I encountered multiple IRROPS. Looking back, I was wondering if I should have done things differently, or asked for some type of compensation. Any and all opinions welcome.

7/20 PHX - LAS FLT 636
I was upgraded to FC that morning. On arrival to the airport, my boarding pass showed my original seat. The flight was delayed. I was told that two FC seats had malfunctioning oxygen mask units, and they could not be used during flight unless repaired (or the pilot approved - I asked, and he did not). Due to the loss of my FC upgrade, I was put back into a main cabin aisle seat. I was last to board, and they had a cloth sleeve over the seats (DO NOT USE - or something to that affect). The flight is relatively short, delayed already, and as I just wanted to get to LAS, did not make a big fuss and did my best to make the GA's jobs easier. Took my seat and went on my way. During the flight beverage service, the FA asked if I wanted a drink, if so, "a double"? As I was entitled to one free drink (EXP traveling in main cabin), I just said a single is fine. If I had asked for a double, would I have been charged for it? Or is it up to FA discretion?

7/23 LAS - PHX FLT FLT 1754
I did a SDFC to this flight. It was scheduled to depart at approximately 4:30PM, but there were multiple delays. At 5:36PM, I received a text stating the new departure time was 11PM. During this time, I stayed at the casino and gambled (it's Las Vegas, after all). I never went to the airport. At 8:53PM, I was notified the flight was canceled and AA was working on a rebooking. Right then, I had to make a decision. I had to return to Phx for a 9AM meeting on Monday that I could not miss. The earliest flight on 7/24 was at 6:30AM with an estimated arrival time of 7:45AM. Taking the first flight out, without any delays, would put me close to be late to my meeting (I took into account time to deplane, get to my car, head home, change, and drive to the meeting location). Luckily, I had some friends in town, who had not left and were about to drive back to PHX that night. I ended up carpooling home. I called AA, let them know of my plans, and have since requested a refund for the unused return trip home. The refund is "processing".

Looking back, I wonder if I should have gone to the airport and requested compensation for the canceled flight and extra night in LAS? What could I have expected to receive? Voucher for future travel? Hotel room reimbursement?

Ultimately, while some compensation would have been nice, I opted for the safe route and (hopefully) refund of the unused fare.

Thoughts?

FlightNurse

they did owe you something, but not too sure what to ask for.

backprop

Date: July 2017
AAdvantage Status: none
Fare class: First, paid one-way ticket MIA-STL
What happened: 2 hour mechanical delay, no meal service due to broken oven
Compensation: 7500 Aadvantage miles, as requested

shimps1

Date: July 2017
AAdvantage Status: none
Fare class: First, paid one-way ticket PHX-SEA
What happened: no PDB
Compensation: 2500 Aadvantage miles, I didn't request any specific amount, but did as "if there is something they can do?"

swingaling

Date: May 2017
AAdvantage Status: None (at the time)
Fare class: Economy (O)
What happened: My seat was broken, such that the bottom cushion was not secured to the seat frame. The entire cushion would slide forward if I slouched or moved forward. It was an 80min flight, so not a huge deal.
Compensation: 10,000 AA miles
Comments: Made a complaint via AA.com. Didn't ask for compensation, nor did I expect any. I was mainly just letting them know that they needed to repair the seat, as it's clearly a safety issue. Was pleasantly surprised that they gave me 10k miles.

uecsome

Date: July 2017
AAdvantage Status: PE (till August for Status Challenge)
Fare class: Economy (L)
What happened: Due to short connection for a few days earlier, my reservation was gone... at check in at MEX, the agent retrieve my reservation, but I lost exit row seat and I was not on upgrade list... on board, my monitor was cracked to rather green, even I couldn't see safety video well. So anyways, I sent email to customer service while I was at MEX on the ground to know what happened to my reservation and how to fix the problem. I didn't ask for compensation, rather explanation.

Afterwards, MIA-HPN, of course, I wasn't upgraded even though multiple open seats seen from the first row of Y. I asked to get some snack to FA, she got surprised and I had to show my App to prove I was PE.

Compensation: Automated email said sorry without answering my questions

Comments: I feel I'm an insignificant customer for AA... now I past the challenge and PE till next January for sure... shall I back to UA???

SpammersAreScum

I found this a bit confusing, so it's possible AA was confused, too.

First, what is "PE" status? If you mean Platinum, saying "Plat" would be clearer. "PE" sounds like the Premium Economy cabin class. And if you're flying in economy, Platinum status does not by itself qualify you for a free snack, so I can understand the FA being confused; somehow demonstrating that you should have been upgraded might cause him/her to be willing, though.

Also, your picture still isn't showing, and I'm not sure why. Here's a link to it instead.

I'm not sure about this: "Due to short connection for a few days earlier, my reservation was gone". Why would a short connection days earlier cause this? The agent found the reservation, so what does "gone" mean?

Perhaps we can help explain what happened, or help you craft a new query to AA, with more information. 頑張って!

UPDATE: Perhaps by "PE" you mean "EP" for Executive Platinum? That would certainly change things. Please give us more information so we can help. And I speak some Japanese for what that's worth.

waalien

Date July 6, 2017
AAdvantage Status Platinum
Fare class Discount economy not sure of exact class
What happened - AA rebooked CLT-DFW-NRT to CLT-LAX-NRT and their systems dropped my allergy meal on the LAX-NRT segment so I had no safe food for 12 hour flight.


Compensation - 2500 + 10,000 miles
Comments
Note: this is not the message I sent to AA
Booked CLT-DFW-NRT leaving 0600. At around 0115, CLT-DFW was cancelled. AA proactively rebooked me CLT-LAX-NRT but no one (phone, counter, club, gate) could check me in to LAX-NRT leg of my flight. As usual, flight into LAX was delayed leaving me 35/40 minutes to make my connection and check in.

Longer flight also means that I'm hungry by the time I get to LAX, I have Celiac and AA does not offer gluten free meals on domestic flights. LAX has fewer options than you'd think. (Another reason I try to book through DFW.) Rush to counter to get checked in, ask them to fix my seat and ask about my special meal. Request did not get passed along with my rebooking. I ask if there's anything he can do, since you know, it's a 12 hour flight and I don't have time to go find food in the terminal since we are 25 minutes from doors closing. "I can't do anything to help you." as he is literally walking away, leaving the gate counter unmanned. Confirm on board that there's no meal, lead FA brings me first class menu and cobbles together a meal that will be less likely to make me sick. She does this with all three services during the flight (she is an absolute angel). Of course, because Celiac, I still got sick and spent several days dealing with the ramifications of that flight. (Yes, I had Quest bars in my bag but not enough to sustain me through 17-18 hours of flight time.)

Twitter team apologized and put 2500 miles into my account, but putting me into a situation where I don't have access to promised food for 17.5 hours, and GA being totally flippant about it, seems like it deserves more given that being without IFE would have gotten me a minimum of 15K.

I also arrived at NRT 3 hours later than I would have on my original booking.

Open to opinions as to whether or not I'm off-base.

iadisgreat

I think you're a little off base.

sam007

Guys they are blaming weather for this msp-lga flight but all other airlines seem to be doing ok. Any compensation I can demand and what's the best way of going about it. Booked using Avios

Thx

josmul123

If they say it's weather, you're (probably) not going to get compensation.

Other airlines' planes may have been coming from places that didn't have weather incidents yesterday. AA might have a plane that got stuck somewhere last night, throwing the whole schedule off. Like I said in my thread, there ought to be a limit to this stuff, but the reality is yesterday's weather probably affected you today.

dw

Is this flight today? LGA is currently showing an average arrival delay of 3 hours, 30 min and 17% of flights already cancelled for the day.

It's unfortunate that a 45 min storm at 7 am this morning has such a ripple effect, but it is what it is I guess.

(I'm flying up to BOS this afternoon and it looks like there are already three cancellations on AA and almost every AA, DL and B6 flight is delayed.)

MSPeconomist

AA should put you on the next available flight in your class of service. They don't interline with DL, so that isn't an option, and for weather AA is unlikely to sign your ticket over to UA unless you have high status with AA or perhaps BA. The USA doesn't have EC261 style compensation rules, although you would have a right to a full refund if the flight is sufficiently delayed or cancelled, usually with about a two hour threshold, but check the AA CoC for such details.

You can demand anything you want, but for a weather delay or cancellation, you're unlikely to even get a meal voucher. You're more likely to be rebooked onto a flight you want if you ask nicely. Since you're probably wasting time at the airport anyway, you can try to get onto standby lists for flights that appear to be full, although this is easier if you don't have any checked luggage.

BTW, you can pay to enter the PGA lounge at MSP. It's roughly above Rock Bottom restaurant/bar, close to the entrance to the concourse that AA and UA use. It's also a PP lounge. AmEx Plat card people can use the Escape lounge, which is almost across the hallway but accessible from different stairs/elevators.

SpammersAreScum

3 hrs late on an international is not worth mentioning. And, attitude aside, the GA really can't help.

On the question of the meal itself, I agree that 2500 seems low. But this is not a situation which pops up here so we have other examples to point to.