bumped from TATL J award seat, new flights (to merge)
 

I have two J award tickets for tomorrow, Oct. 22 from MCI-DFW-MAD on AA ,MAD-BCN in IB. With less than 24 hours before the flight AA calls me and says they have to bump one of us from our J seat because they need it for an extra pilot. Huh, what's with that? I asked them to bump someone else but they said I'm the only one, likely because my seat is an award seat and I have not status other than Gold. Our only option was to take an involuntary downgrade or completely different flights at much much earlier times.

I was not willing to fly econ so I took the new flights MCI-CLT-JFK-BCN in J on AA the whole way. I had to scramble to contact my airport drop off service and pick up in Barcelona as all flights are 6 hours earlier than the original plans. AA has also sent me 2 $500 vouchers for future travel which I don't think is enough.

I used all of my remaining AAdvantage miles for this trip and was hoping to be done with flying AA forever but now I'm stuck with them orI lose $1000.

Is this a "vent" thread, or is there a legitimate complaint buried in here?

You have (almost) no status and you're on award travel. Who do you expect them to bump when must-fly personnel need a seat?

The compensation they provided is astoundingly generous by the way.

Agreed, $1000 in credit is fantastic compensation for what amounts to a minor inconvenience.

Guess you'll have to weigh the benefit of the vouchers against your odd determination to "be done with flying AA forever," but you'll never get a better deal than this.

You've now been essentially paid $1000 to take your "free" award trip. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

I'm not an AA apologist by any means, but I think they handled this well given the circumstances. I'm impressed that AA actually had the decency to call and work out things ahead of time. This could have been a nasty little surprise at the airport, and you likely would have had significantly fewer options available to you. This sucks and feels wrong on so many levels, I know, but I think AA at least handled it well. The two $500 eVouchers were an incredibly nice gesture, as well, IMHO.

What I'm confused about is why the "extra pilot" couldn't fly in a Y seat. Did the crew member have an immediate turn, or did AA accidentally sell a crew rest seat in the J cabin? I've flown next to deadheading pilots in MCE on the DFW-HKG flight who were piloting the aircraft to DFW the next day. I'd guess this would be more of a FAM/"security" issue than an "extra pilot" issue, but that's just my theory.

Unfortunately, sometimes this is the way it goes on an award ticket. It happened to me at the gate before as an EXP on an AAnytime award. I was flying MSY-MIA-MAD, and the MSY-MIA flight was oversold by two. My companion and I were essentially told to cooperate and accept new arrangements if we wanted to fly to MAD in J that day. Of course, our bags didn't get the memo. :rolleyes:

+1. I've been told to basically pound sand before as an EXP.

it is kind of a vent thread. I just don't believe their excuse because they already lied to me once. They claimed to have called me last night at 9:30pm to advise of all this but they did not call or send an email or text alert. I was home ll night and the phone never rang. I have been planning this trip and working out the details for 11 months and a last minute mess up throws me off balance.

So $1000 in vouchers is generous? I would have rather had cash as I likely won't be able to use them. All my vacation travel for the next 12 months is already planned and booked.

It is generous and AA did you a favor.

Enjoy!

$500 voucher to travel a few hours earlier seems quite a reasonable compensation

That it called you in advance and gave an option to reroute is better than just downgrading

You do not have to use the vouchers and can just cease flying AA , as you intended - or maybe you can use the voucher for someone else who wants to travel

Having to make a call to change a taxi booking to an earlier time and another to let someone know of earlier arrival time, does not seem to be a major issue - and hardly "scrambling"

OP, I empathize with you. Although it seems like AA did handle this relatively well, it still sucks that they can do this with virtually no penalty. If you, on the other hand, wanted to make a last-minute change, I'm sure they would want hard cash from you! But they get to give you vouchers which you can't use, and you're supposed to like it?

I take exception to the poster who says that this is only a "minor" inconvenience. You have no idea how this affects the OP's plans. What is a minor inconvenience to you might be a major inconvenience to someone else.

Unfortunately, without greater consumer protection for consumers like those the EU has, there's not much we can do when this happens.

There was also a call to make, making new arrangements for the house/dogsitter, and the inconvenience of arriving in Barcelona way to early to check into our B&B and finding something to do all day with luggage and possible work stoppages and strikes in Barcelona with the current political mess there.

I suppose I can check out the Admirals Club at JFK. Wasn't it just remodeled? I've never been there nor to one in CLT if there is one.

I did have plans for this evening which will need to be cancelled so that the packing I was going to do in the morning will have to be done tonight.

You'll have access to the Flagship Lounge at JFK as a J passenger. Head to the club near the security checkpoint to access it. It was recently beautifully remodeled. It's a great place to wait for a flight, although it can get busy in the evenings. There's a buffet, a champagne bar, nice showers, among other things.

Safe travels and enjoy your trip!

I cannot see that plans for the evening would be impacted by the small time needed to pack

If Barcelona has the issue of strikes, then getting there earlier is surely a benefit to give extra time to deal with them

$1000 for having to make 3 phone calls seems pretty decent

Sorry for your stressful experience. I'm worried now about flying my award ticket because I won't have the ability to reschedule (going on a cruise), nor can I handle a 14 hour flight in economy even for $500.

While understanding the fact that award passengers are bottom of the barrel, its still upsetting because it takes so much effort to earn the miles and find saver awards.

You will have access to the new Flagship Lounge at JFK, near gate B12. You will also have access to the AC at CLT--there are two (forget the exact locations).

Note: I *believe* that terms of the vouchers are that you have to use them - by purchasing a ticket - within the 12mos, but the date of the flight you purchase can be after the 12 months.

Someone will correct me if I am wrong there...