The saga of AA 1272 (or DCA-DEN on six different planes)
Apr 18, 2017, 2:00 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Washington DC USA
Posts: 429
The saga of AA 1272 (or DCA-DEN on six different planes)
On April 14, I had to make a last minute trip to Denver, and the cheapest flight by over $100 was to fly DCA-CMH-ORD-DEN. I was OK with that, seeing how it even allowed a long enough stopover in CMH for a conference call. When I arrived in ORD, the MD80 was getting a mechanical issue fixed, so it was off to the club.
After an hour delay, boarding of AA 1272 started. We left the gate and proceeded to make a big loop on the taxiway and headed back to the gate. Once we got there, the pilot announced there was a fuel indicator problem and we would have to change planes.
After everyone settled into the new plane (with many more empty seats), we pushed back at about 2:45. Once aloft, I noticed we weren't climbing very fast and the left turn we were making was taking us back to the airport. We landed and were escorted by a number of fire trucks, who were inspecting the exterior of the plane. The pilot finally got on and said there were some electrical problems with the plane. We got off that plane and I headed to the club to see what my options were.
At first I was told the new flight would leave at about 6 pm, but then the app showed the flight was finally canceled. That's when I found out I had been rebooked on a flight to DEN via CLT (with no notification via phone or text). The last ORD-DEN flight was sold out and the ORD-DFW-DEN route wasn't possible because the ORD-DFW flight was delayed enough to miss the connection. Fortunately, there were some exit row seats available on both legs, so I reluctantly took them. The agent even said she'll put me in for complementary upgrades. Those both went through and I finally got to DEN about 10 hours late.
I did get a letter from AA with 10,000 miles for the aborted flight, but I also discovered that the upgrades were not complementary and I had five stickers deducted. I wouldn't have spent the stickers on two beverage-only flights, so I'll have to write back about that.
After an hour delay, boarding of AA 1272 started. We left the gate and proceeded to make a big loop on the taxiway and headed back to the gate. Once we got there, the pilot announced there was a fuel indicator problem and we would have to change planes.
After everyone settled into the new plane (with many more empty seats), we pushed back at about 2:45. Once aloft, I noticed we weren't climbing very fast and the left turn we were making was taking us back to the airport. We landed and were escorted by a number of fire trucks, who were inspecting the exterior of the plane. The pilot finally got on and said there were some electrical problems with the plane. We got off that plane and I headed to the club to see what my options were.
At first I was told the new flight would leave at about 6 pm, but then the app showed the flight was finally canceled. That's when I found out I had been rebooked on a flight to DEN via CLT (with no notification via phone or text). The last ORD-DEN flight was sold out and the ORD-DFW-DEN route wasn't possible because the ORD-DFW flight was delayed enough to miss the connection. Fortunately, there were some exit row seats available on both legs, so I reluctantly took them. The agent even said she'll put me in for complementary upgrades. Those both went through and I finally got to DEN about 10 hours late.
I did get a letter from AA with 10,000 miles for the aborted flight, but I also discovered that the upgrades were not complementary and I had five stickers deducted. I wouldn't have spent the stickers on two beverage-only flights, so I'll have to write back about that.
