Apr 25, 2017, 6:09 am
Last edit by: JDiver
AA Ground Staff May Deny Boarding for China Transit Without Visa Issues
This thread is ONLY for discussion of American Airlines' ground staff dealing with Chinese TWOV issues. For further information, see:
FlyerTalk Forums > Destinations > Asia > China Forum
China Visa / Visas Master Thread (all you need to know)
and / or
China 24, 72, and 144 hour Transit Without Visa ("TWOV") rules master thread
The issue: though Chinese immigration authorities seem disposed to allow transit without visa for passengers going on to flights with connections in non-China, non-origin destinations, e.g. LAX-PVG <permitted TWOV> PVG-NRT-LAX, AA ground staff have denied boarding to passengers for the XXX-China leg.
Even if such a passenger were to secure alternate arrangements or reimbursement, there is still sure to be considerable inconvenience. Until AA informs ground staff such travel complies with China TWOV rules, purchasing such an itinerary currently entails some degree of risk, as evidenced in the following thread.
AA generally uses IATA Timatic to verify boarding eligibility. Link to Timatic Web provided courtesy of United Airlines; this form provides information on entry requirements, not departure policies as might be administered by any airline.
144 TWOV China- AA Issues/Questions
May 7, 2017, 7:29 pm
#601
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,669
May 7, 2017, 7:43 pm
#602
Join Date: May 2012
Location: HNL
Programs: AA PP 1.8MM, PC Spire, Hertz 5*, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,030
Final Resolution Update:
AA accepted responsibility and confirmed that I was incorrectly denied boarding based on my itinerary and TWOV guidelines.
I will be refunded the fare difference plus all incidental expenses related to the change of itinerary as well as all MCE fees we paid for the trip.
Additionally, I was offered and accepted 400% of the one way fare for each member of my family. I was able to choose between a combination of vouchers and cash with vouchers being a higher value.
I am thankful and relieved that AA made it right in the end. I will say that it took a plea to the Social Media department (specifically twitter) to get someone to respond to my complaint. All responses I received from the online submission form were completely boiler plate sorry you had a problem. It wasn't until the twitter team read my complaint and forwarded it to a specialty department that my complaint got to the right person.
I appreciate the support from most of you and particularly to those who reached out privately.
Jason
AA accepted responsibility and confirmed that I was incorrectly denied boarding based on my itinerary and TWOV guidelines.
I will be refunded the fare difference plus all incidental expenses related to the change of itinerary as well as all MCE fees we paid for the trip.
Additionally, I was offered and accepted 400% of the one way fare for each member of my family. I was able to choose between a combination of vouchers and cash with vouchers being a higher value.
I am thankful and relieved that AA made it right in the end. I will say that it took a plea to the Social Media department (specifically twitter) to get someone to respond to my complaint. All responses I received from the online submission form were completely boiler plate sorry you had a problem. It wasn't until the twitter team read my complaint and forwarded it to a specialty department that my complaint got to the right person.
I appreciate the support from most of you and particularly to those who reached out privately.
Jason
I hope AA retrains its staff on the proper process.
May 7, 2017, 7:46 pm
#603
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 5,270
May 7, 2017, 8:00 pm
#604
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,669
May 7, 2017, 8:02 pm
#605
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 5,270
May 7, 2017, 8:20 pm
#606
Join Date: May 2012
Location: HNL
Programs: AA PP 1.8MM, PC Spire, Hertz 5*, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,030
Public shaming is one way to make sure someone pays attention. It sounds like the AA twitter team is made up of pro active smart people that can also do the job without the necessity of public shaming.
The email forms are probably read by low level people following script. If your problem is easy to understand no problem they can help you, otherwise it needs to get escalated somehow beyond the low level people reading the form emails, but I don't know how one does that except for going through the AA twitter team.
May 7, 2017, 8:31 pm
#607
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 5,270
May 8, 2017, 8:06 am
#609
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SIN (with a bit of ZRH sprinkled in)
Posts: 9,455
Congratulations.
Seems AA finally came to their senses.. let's hope they (and all other carriers) will invest some $$$ into their staff education so this won't ever happen again to anyone.
Seems AA finally came to their senses.. let's hope they (and all other carriers) will invest some $$$ into their staff education so this won't ever happen again to anyone.
May 8, 2017, 8:26 am
#610
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,238
Still not on Twitter, though I guess I understand the reasons.
Aug 5, 2017, 9:51 am
#611
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 9
Same thing happened at DFW
The "supervisor" refused to read anything on our phone. Said it had to be a "printout" from the Chinese government. We told her it was the Chinese government website. Her reply "we don't read google."
AA says they will refund - but we are looking for compensation for lost time and business (and FUTURE business).
Any legal eagles available to advise?
Aug 5, 2017, 9:56 am
#612
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: LAX
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold but PlatPro thanks to LPs
Posts: 4,439
"I lost a million dollar deal because the flight was late. You owe me a million dollars." That won't work.
Aug 5, 2017, 10:08 am
#613
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
My son had a RT AA ticket to PVG for 8 days with a RT ticket to HK issued by AA on Cathay in the middle of the week, thereby qualifying both halves of his stay under 144-hour TWOV. AA agents at DFW denied him boarding. Would not accept second ticket as "transit" (although a cruise or train out of country would have been a second ticket, so we couldn't figure that out).
The "supervisor" refused to read anything on our phone. Said it had to be a "printout" from the Chinese government. We told her it was the Chinese government website. Her reply "we don't read google."
AA says they will refund - but we are looking for compensation for lost time and business (and FUTURE business).
Any legal eagles available to advise?
The "supervisor" refused to read anything on our phone. Said it had to be a "printout" from the Chinese government. We told her it was the Chinese government website. Her reply "we don't read google."
AA says they will refund - but we are looking for compensation for lost time and business (and FUTURE business).
Any legal eagles available to advise?
Under no circumstances shall American be liable for any special, incidental or consequential damages arising from the foregoing. Liability limits for delay on international itineraries is governed by the Montreal Convention.
I'd definitely complain to AA, by snail mail to the executive offices. This affects business people as well as leisure travelers. The supervisor should have used TIMATIC, which is what the AA agents normally use for these decisions. Inputting the data should have revealed China TWOV conditions.
You can see what TIMATIC is and what they'd have seen using the UA public use page here.
Future business is entirely speculative and not germane.
This is not intended to be competent legal advice. For such, consult an attorney.
Aug 5, 2017, 3:33 pm
#614
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: AA EP
Posts: 2,203
Send something into CR without all of the hyper BS and have it looks into if it should ah e been allowed or not. They will probably chuck some miles at you.
But the bigger issue is how are u getting him to China.
But the bigger issue is how are u getting him to China.
My son had a RT AA ticket to PVG for 8 days with a RT ticket to HK issued by AA on Cathay in the middle of the week, thereby qualifying both halves of his stay under 144-hour TWOV. AA agents at DFW denied him boarding. Would not accept second ticket as "transit" (although a cruise or train out of country would have been a second ticket, so we couldn't figure that out).
The "supervisor" refused to read anything on our phone. Said it had to be a "printout" from the Chinese government. We told her it was the Chinese government website. Her reply "we don't read google."
AA says they will refund - but we are looking for compensation for lost time and business (and FUTURE business).
Any legal eagles available to advise?
The "supervisor" refused to read anything on our phone. Said it had to be a "printout" from the Chinese government. We told her it was the Chinese government website. Her reply "we don't read google."
AA says they will refund - but we are looking for compensation for lost time and business (and FUTURE business).
Any legal eagles available to advise?