Lavezzi

It was a voucher for $600 that cannot be used for an amount that totals over $1000.

To provide a short update, my girlfriend informed me that she wasn't the only person that got downgraded. There was another passenger that had to move to Y because he had an inoperable seat. When my GF asked whether that was the issue for her too, the gate agent repeated that her upgrade had been issued in error (which is ........ according to the EXP agent I spoke to on the phone at the time). She was not offered the opportunity to switch flights, and the agent I spoke to said that there was zero availability on the next AA flight anyway.

I've seen a lot of strange replies from other posters, so to reiterate, my complaint has nothing to do with her receiving a voucher or getting my SWU back (that I have no chance of using anyway as it expires in January). The issues were that:

• She had been looking forward to the flight for ages, I used the SWU as a mini-christmas present as I knew she wasn't even keen on short-haul flights. Instead she ends up getting kicked out of the seat, gets some awful treatment from the agent, and ends up sitting in a .... seat at the back of the plane.
• I had been talking up how she could relax, sleep, and even visit the arrivals lounge in LHR once she landed. I also knew that I wouldn't have to wait a long time to pick her up as she would get a fast pass immigration coupon. Both of those things were taken away when she got downgraded.
• The handling of the event from start to finish by American has been appalling. Even in the response email from customer service they are trying to lie and say that she was downgraded because of a faulty seat.
• She is now worried that the same thing is going to happen again in a couple of days when she returns home, and she really isn't keen on flying American ever again - which is totally understandable.

Her seat was 11k and I believe it had 12 rows in total - so v2 maybe?

To be fair the EXP agent did specifically mention to me that the selection was automated after she called a member of revenue management to see what the reason was for the downgrade.

sbrower

Maybe based on my 2000 flights with AA without a similar problem?

I apologize if I sometimes acerbic, that probably isn't fair to the individual. But when people start acting like the entire airline should stop and rethink how to handle their problem, today, instead of thinking about future consequences it annoys me. Am I always happy with AA? Absolutely not. When Mike Gunn sent me a letter saying that my 196,000 miles could be redeemed off the old award chart forever I was pleased. When about 10 years later AA said "We don't really care, we are just giving you 1.5 miles for each mile and cancelling Mike's promise" I was pissed. And I am sure there have been other disappointments and even some anger over the last 35 years. But I don't accept that every post by a hit-and-run on these boards requires a change in procedure by AA. (I remember another one - I started the Refreshments thread - but, without checking, I suspect that I said I didn't like what they did - I don't think I suggested that anyone should lose their job nor did I imply that they were going to change airline policy for me).

Okay, so here is my "worst" story about a seat (but it was Pan Am, not AA). 30 years ago I was booked from MIA-LAX on a J award. But there wasn't J space, so my wife and I were in Y. The GA gave us our boarding pass in Y, but told us to wait and she would try to get us into J. About 30 minutes later it is a zoo (cruise day) and she yells at the crowd "no more seats." I stand up and wave at her from the back of the crowd. She turns to the Red Coat and says "my mistake, Brower on, Chifferman off" (yes, I still remember the name after 30 years). We walk onto the jet bridge with the red coat. He goes back and talks to the passengers. Then he comes back to the door "I am sorry, your seats are occupied, you can't fly today." I said "my wife wants to get home to new baby, and I am starting a new job tomorrow morning and tomorrow night I have a flight from LAX-BOS for work." He says "Sorry, since you are on award you need to wait for the flight tomorrow, so 24 hour delay, too bad." I said "I am not getting off the plane." Remember this was 30 years ago. Pilot apparently didn't think it was his problem so no member of the flight crew ever spoke to us. 30 minutes later I am still standing in the door with my wife, and the Red Coat comes back on the plane, with tears in his eyes (he didn't look like the type of guy who did a lot of crying). "The police say they won't be here for another 45 minutes, would you please get off the plane so I can dispatch it?" My wife points out that getting arrested won't get me home any sooner. So we get off and go to talk to the lead (Miami was a big Pan Am facility). He says "too bad that the gate agent admits it is her fault, I won't put you on another airline's flight, wait until tomorrow." I walk to a phone booth (remember those?) a call AA and book a one-way flight home. When we get up to the ticket counter I ask for the supervisor. I told him "Your co-equal in the terminal said you won't help me. But I want to tell you a story. 5 minutes later he shook his head, walked into his office, and handed us free tickets for the AA flight home. When I got home I sued Pan Am and Chifferman (not small claims - real court). In the course of discovery they produced the passenger list (yes, the entire passenger list for the flight with everyone's name and seating assignment). Then they settled for $14,000 cash (which, 30 years ago, was a good amount of cash).

So, can I disagree with an airline? Yes. Do I think they are perfect? No. But I still think that Dr. Dao was 100% wrong and I am still not sure about the GF in this thread.

nrr

In OPs follow-up post, he notes that AA claimed GF's seat was faulty--but she seemed to have NO issues.
Even if there were J availability on later flights, it would not be in AA's best interest to make that known...due to luggage retrieval and flight delay issues.
I'm puzzled by the GF being given a voucher for $600, but it can't be used for fares over $1000.
Hopefully this "fiasco" is a random event--or will lead to posts from other pax who were similarly ill-treated by AA.

ijgordon

TBD

Interesting story (truly). But suggesting that 2,000 flights has somehow given you a basis to evaluate the ethics of an airline's operations is absurd. If AA wants to roll over on you tomorrow, we all know that longevity won't stop them.

Saying that "whelp, this is policy" is a shortsighted response - precisely what you say annoys you. Changing their operations so that you cannot have a cabin with x seats and x+1 passengers onboard is precisely how you consider and prevent "future consequences".

nrr

Of course not--that's why AA would keep them in the dark about their other options.

dickinson

The voucher probably says it can't have a value over $1000, and OP is reading it incorrectly.

nrr

But if GF is now so enamored with AA--the $600 voucher would be of little interest if she never flies AA again.

nk15

To the OP, you should ask that the SWU be reinstated for another year, due to this fiasco. This is the least they can do here in regards to the SWU.

jordyn

It's a global business. OP's girlfriend was on an international route. AA needs to be competitive with whoever else might fly the route, not just other airlines that happen to be domiciled in the US.

jordyn

Following the policy is not actually a good outcome if the policy sucks.

ijgordon

nutwpinut

Most people don't have time to read all the policies and don't realize such crappy policies exist until they encounter it. I encountered a crappy policy with AA branded Citi Credit Card 10+ years ago that eventually led me to cancelling the card. Now there is a law so the crappy policy is no longer needed. Yeah!

Crappy Citi policy rant:
I was in Italy for the Olympics and needed cash and there were some issues with my ATM card so I used my CC to get some cash. I had to stretch my payment 2 months to pay it off. I wanted to make payments to the cash advance which had a higher interest rate.

1. I could not pay online
2. I had to write a check
3. I had to compose a letter with my intentions
4. I had to write on the check notes what my intention was
5. I had to mail it to a separate address and use a stamp

They had a policy which was ridiculous and by law now your payments first goes to the higher interest rates items before going to the lower interest rate items.

nrr

Even after you did 1-5, there was still the possibility that your letter was "lost" in the mail and/or it wasn't processed correctly.
PS: AA issues e-vouchers as well as paper vouches, the latter has to be mailed to AA (with the potential of being lost in the mail) or transacted with a TA by going to an airport.

axck

Nobody cares that the “policy” was followed, they care that the policy in this case is BS. The policies aren’t something holy, they're not sacred commandments delivered from God. This “policy” isn’t a law or regulation either. They’re one-sided agreements written by the airline. The only say the individual customer has in this policy is whether or not to accept the fare, and there is nobody, even here, who looks up the IDB policy of every ticket prior to purchase. It took forever to even find the relevant “policy” in this case.