pmanchuk

Whatever anyone does in terms of rebooking, all I can say is double, triple and quadruple check your revised reservation. I understand AA staff is under a lot of stress trying to reacommodate those of us who have been caught up in this mess, but there's no reason for sloppy work resulting in some of the most mixed up ticketing possible. I was due to fly home to MIA on Monday from TXL via LHR with the LHR-MIA leg on BA (sold as an AA codeshare). Well not surprisingly BA cancelled the flight to MIA the night before so I proceeded to spend 4 hours on the phone being bounced back and forth between AA and BA (each saying the other should address the reissuing of the ticket). After a very lengthy call, it was AA who rebooked me on the LHR-MIA flight two days after I was originally supposed to fly - ok sounds great, or so I thought!

Fast forward to the next morning and I check in at TXL without issue but thought it was odd that the app was listing the TXL flight twice under upcoming trips... but strange so I asked at check in and they said it seemed fine, then also (for peace of mind) made a call to AA to ask about it before boarding the flight and they also said it was all good to go and to not worry that the TXL-LHR leg showed twice along with the LHR-MIA leg correctly showing once.

Rather uneventful flight to LHR and happen to look at the AA app while I'm on my way into the city... and the LHR-MIA leg has now completely disappeared!? At this point I've grown tired of the constant run-around with AA so I sent a tweet to BA (as I technically still had 48 hours before the now magically disappearing flight). Shockingly later that day mobile rings and it's someone from the BA social media team who proceeds to tell me that AA clearly screwed up the rebooking (i.e. being listed on one flight twice) and since I forgot to clone myself that morning, as only one of me checked in, the duplicate was flagged as a no show and caused the LHR-MIA leg to be cancelled. I asked them to help get me confirmed back on the flight and they said they'd call me back. Sure enough they did and AA apparently dug their heals in, told BA they would not put me back on the BA flight and instead would put me on an AA flight early the next morning... which I was not interested in. I had already spent 4 hours the night before and now additional time trying to get this mess sorted out, having revised plans, accommodations, etc based on what AA told me/booked me on the previous night. So once again BA said they'd call me back after they worked it out with AA... phone rings to tell me basically AA is refusing and has told BA the only way they'd move me to the previously confirmed flight is by charging me for a new ticket! The BA rep it appears told them absolutely not and so BA pretty much said we'll re-ticket it ourselves and take care of the passenger. Needless to say, I'm now sitting at LHR about to board the flight yet AA refused to correct their multiple mistakes to the point that I was still listed on the flight yesterday morning. It should be quite interesting to see how all the mileage crediting gets sorted out as well since I have no faith it'll come together correctly.

What bothers me most is AA complaining the other night that BA needed to be responsible for re-ticketing as it was their flight that was cancelled, then when AA screwed up the reservation and BA stepped in to put things right again, AA tried to road block them and truthfully made me feel rather invaluable as a customer to AA. Let's not even discuss the whole bit about the AA agent first trying to put me in Y (on a J ticket) and trying to twist my arm to take it with the quick disclaimer of "by the way, don't ask for a refund of the difference".

After this mess, I'm seriously starting to considering crediting all my flights to BA Exec Club and just forget the whole AA mess - granted I may only be a lowly Plat, but even if I had zero status with AA, I think the treatment would still be just as equally unfair.

cssmd27

We have a trip in mid-Dec. booked DFW to STT with non-refundable 1st class tickets. The area on STJ where we rented is very unlikely to have electricity back by then and so we are strongly considering canceling the whole trip.

So, considering that's outside of the AA travel advisory for STT, would it be likely that AA would at least give us travel vouchers and charge us $200/ticket? We aren't likely to have anything else booked for that time, so would prefer to get as much of our money (or vouchers) back to book in the future. Just not sure what AA usually does here.

3Cforme

That is correct, by IATA convention. Day-of-departure difficulties are on the operating carrier. People who don't understand this - or DYKWIAs who just choose to ignore it - create lots more work for themselves.

pmanchuk

Trust me, I'm not arguing that particular fact - what bothers me is the fact that AA shouldn't have touched the ticket (which as I mentioned the rebooking subsequently got royal mixed up when they did) and when BA tried to rectify all of it, then AA tried to dictate how the fix needed to be done.

My point is there was much too much transferring me back and forth from BA to AA and around and around back and forth then at some point the OW help desk got involved too.

Obviously i I was only on one end of the phone call so I can't say where the breakdown occurred but there clearly needs to be some serious retraining so staff can actually handle these issues without leaving passengers in limbo and stranded. Had I not happened to open the app after the first leg (which prompted my tweet to BA, when I finally got proper and knowledgeable help), I would have ended up showing up at LHR this morning to find I had no flight.

wolf72

This is how bad conditions were trying to land last weekend.

Link: http://www.flyertalk.com/articles/wa...g-landing.html

AA_ORDlady

We were on AA flying ORD-SXM in December 2017, continuing on to Anguilla.
Our flights did not show the 'Change' button online so we called.
After trying a couple different agents and getting different information each time---DH called the Platinum Desk (yes, should have done that first).
We were told by that agent that for SXM travel through 12/31/2017---no change fees, and we could re-book travel through 9/30/2018.
We did not want to do this due to our schedules and asked to re-book in December 2017 to SKB. Platinum agent read the rules and according to her, travel to SXM (which is not accepting commercial flights yet) through 12/31/2017 could change the destination with no change fee. She happily booked us on the flights we had already chosen.
I read on TA SXM forum that others have had AA SXM flights changed to other Caribbean destinations with no change fee. Others have been charged a change fee.
I think the SXM flights prior to year end may have different rules due to the damage to the SXM airport and devastation on St. Martin.
FWIW---if anyone wants to visit Nevis there are great rates for Priceline members at the Four Seasons. $267 per night and Express Deal 5* (which is the FS) for $223.

JDiver

You got lucky and found a more informed agent, as there is no Platinum Desk, regardless of AA claiming there are Gold and Platinum desks. In reality, there are prioritized Gold and Platinum numbers that are handled by the same agents who handle non-status flyers. Everyone should know this, so nobody is misled into believing there are tranches of super-trained agents accessible via a particular phone number (Concierge Key may be the exception - but I can tell you the genuine Executive Platinum "desk" has some very uninformed agents as well.

The agent you got was an educated one who found the correct information. Good! (When you are misinformed by an agent or get an intransigent one, it may be best to hang up, er, "experience technical difficulties ", and call again. You'll see the acronym "HUCA" used throughout this

Be sure to read the Wikipost at the top of the page. It gives AA published policy for SXM travel as the example, and provides a link to AA policy - which some AA agents may be unfamiliar with. AA has posted extensive information on how they will be handling bookings to specific hurricane impacted areas. Be aware these may change as the conditions on the ground change.

Links and further information on this page.

Not crystal clear, but it gives you verbiage to push back with.

crisdee

we have PHL to SXM in December. Our resort is ok but closed to house marines and also resort staff in Simpson Bay area. We have travel insurance and was told to cancel the airline tickets. Called AA and agent just wanted to move us forward using March 2018 as the deadline to be traveling as ticket purchased in March 17. Well I told agent would love to but if you look at my future trips have another phl to sxm march 18. which will probably need fixed. he told us to write to customer service at AA for help. So have to cancel flight first and then either our travel insurance full refunds or AA will do a voucher. My sister took the credit with no penalty as she is going to Hawaii..so it worked for her but for us other business trips and work in the way . Each agent seems to know different policies..just wild

jmorris2909

Hello everyone,


First off, I want to preface this by letting everyone know that my Fiance and I rarely fly so we are very inexperienced as how to handle this situation. Earlier in the year we booked an all-inclusive trip to St. Thomas, with a flight booked through American Airlines.


With Hurricane Irma and Maria devastating the area, the hotel was heavily damaged and has basically cancelled our reservation for us, for which we received a refund. Unfortunately, American Airlines is only offering us a flight change to be used within a year, without the fee normally change to change flights. I have attempted to explain that we will be cancelling rather than re-booking, as the whole hurricane damage it may be months before the damage is repaired and we do not want to put our honeymoon on hold.


Due to our lack of experience with flying (and her fear of flying in general) we are changing our honeymoon destination entirely as we cannot change our vacation time easily through work, nor do we want to. We will be driving to this destination, and have no use for a re-booking and I doubt we will fly within a year, if ever again. I have also asked if the tickets/credits could be transferred so we may make our money back by selling to a friend, they denied that as well.


Long story short, would I have any recourse with a chargeback, or possibly by demanding a refund, or are we just out of luck? It's worth nothing, I bought insurance through the hotel that covers up to $2500 per person for "travel", but I have been unable to reach the insurance group as they are based ON St. Thomas, which is having major communication issues currently.


TL;DR Hurricanes ruined honeymoon, we just want to cancel and never fly again, AA won't issue refund, offer non-refundable credits. Can we chargeback and have any chance of winning case? Chase credit card.

Phasers

Couple of questions:

1) Have you asked AA if you can apply
the credit towards any other destination so you can choose an alternative honeymoon destination?

2) Have you checked with the travel insurance provided by your Chase Credit Card that you purchased the tickets on? You may be covered there, it is worth a phone call to ask.

zpaul

Welcome to Flyertalk, jmorris2909! I'm sorry it took these circumstances to land you here.

Phasers makes a good point - do you have any protection or insurance via your credit card? If you do, that would be an easier route than escalating with AA, I think. Also, as I'm sure you have done, be sure to review the documents of the travel insurance that you purchased - even though the office is on St Thomas these companies usually have affiliates, so you could do a bit of investigation to see if there is another non-USVI contact.

Other than that, AA is probably offering you a voucher, which can usually be used as a credit for a future booking to any destination, but you should check that. Would you have any use for it at all? If not, then you may need to escalate further within AA.

On one hand, it surprises me (slightly) that AA is not being more flexible with you given the circumstances, but on the other, I can imagine that they've already lost lots of revenue from the storms so they are enforcing the ticket rules as much as possible, and are within their rights to do so.

Best of luck.

platbrownguy

Me too.

I would call back, maybe ask for a supervisor. I would probably leave out everything about honeymoon, fear of flying, etc.

JDiver

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

AA's policy is addressed in the Wikipost at the top of the page, and there is a link to AA's full Caribbean hurricane travel policy. That policy doesn't cover cancellations, but if you change your destination you may be able to get the change fee waived.

E.g. I had booked SXM-MIA-SFO for returning home from a transatlantic cruise, but the cruise line is now disembarking us at BGI. Calling AA, I had my tickets changed BGI-MIA-SFO without change fees and merely paid the fare difference (BGI is considerably farther from MIA than SXM).

You are entitled to a refund under AA's terms and conditions for your non-refundable fare, minus the change fees, as you have chosen to "never fly again". AA in these instances will generally issue a voucher for future travel.

Your credit card charge back is sure to fail. Your trip cancellation insurance is likely to pay for the nonrefundable air travel in accordance with the coverage you purchased, but you likely will have to wait for business and communications to be restored.

For future reference, you were offered trip cancellation insurance and an opportunity to buy fully refundable flights if you purchased your tickets on AA.com (as well as the opportunity to read the detailed fare rules) and should have been offered those options by an agent if you bought through an agent. There are also credit cards that provide trip cancellation insurance, and policies are available from companies directly or from aggregating agencies like InsureMyTrip.com.

Best wishes for your wedding and married life, from one who has been married 51 years now.

wetrat0

I doubt that escalating with AA will help at all-- they have put out their policy and it's pretty clear that they will let you reschedule travel to a later date but not to a different destination.

I have two pieces of advice:
1. It sounds like you booked a "vacation package", since you say it "included" a flight with American Airlines. Assuming this is true and that the flight was not booked directly through AA, your first call should be to the agency that booked the package. It's their responsibility to sort it ALL out, since part of the package (hotel) was canceled.

If this doesn't work...
2. I concur with zpaul and Phasers that credit card coverage is your next best bet. Those of us with lots of travel experience do not rely on travel providers in this kind of situation. I book all of my travel on a card that provides up to $10,000 per person in trip cancellation. One of the explicitly covered losses is "Severe weather that prevents the start or continuation a covered trip". Even if you do not have a "fancy" travel credit card, even many basic rewards cards offer some level of protection (for example with a lower limit). You may have this benefit on your credit card and not even know it!

jmorris2909

Appreciate it guys.


To answer a few questions, Yes I can apply the offered credits towards the new destination, but we have already altered plans to take an extended drive and sightseeing along multiple destinations instead of a single destination.


I was unaware that credit cards offer travel protection, I will have to call Chase to find out


Correction, AA is offering a voucher, but it was a hassle in itself to get her to agree to fly in the first place, now that this headache is happening it basically turned her completely off the idea. Unfortunately we rarely take vacations more than an hour or more drive away, so no, we will have no use for the voucher. Which is why I had hoped they would be transferrable as I have a co-worker that offered to buy them for a trip to Hawaii.


And last, AA has offered us other destinations in the Caribbean, but the reason USVI were chosen is that we don't have passports; and due to the timing of the honeymoon and our recent luck, we have decided to take a scenic trip to Salem, MA during the Halloween period; stopping at various cities along the way. I chose not to get insurance through AA as I was covered already in full by the hotel, but I did not anticipate a complete inability to communicate from the islands. I will attempt to first check what coverage my Chase card offers, from there attempt to contact the coverage I did purchase through Bolongo Bay Resort; lastly I will try to escalate with AA with the firm point that I will not be flying in the future.


I, unfortunately, did not book a package through an agency. I booked with Bolongo Bay and AA separately.