mvoight

I think that could be worded a bit differently. I would replace the "active runway" with "taxiway"

mvoight

The scheduled departure time is 7:43 PM, AA.com says it left the gate at 7:36PM
The flight took off at 9:40 PM
It seems this is only 4 minutes over the 2 hour mark, plus I would assume they were on an active taxiway for at least 4 minutes, so no service was required
So, not "obviously in violation of federal regulations"
From the actual rule. not the US DOT info page that was posted earlier. Note "active runway" is not in the text. The flight took off 2 hrs 4 minutes after leaving the gate.
The "active runway" part was cited as an example on the info page. The basic issue is safety in this case, and suggesting compensation is in order for this 4 minutes, it a bit much,especially if the carrier is not at fault for the delay (IMHO)

"A carrier must provide adequate food and potable water no later than two hours after the aircraft leaves the gate in the case of a departure or touches down in the case of an arrival if the aircraft remains on the tarmac unless safety or security considerations preclude such service"
The plane was not stopped for the entire 2 hours. It was on an active taxiway within that 4 minute period
The delay was not the fault of AA, so no compensation is due. Also it does not seem there was any violation of the tarmac delay regulation

longtimereader firstimeposter

That makes sense. I would have just expected AA to be on the ball a little more with providing adequate service for such a lengthy tarmac/taxiway/runway (whatever you want to call where we were sitting) delay. Those are the maximum thresholds before an airline is fined and I would expect AA not to leave details up for debate on whether or not they hit the threshold.

sjpmurph01

• Date: 12 April 2018
• AAdvantage Status: EXP
• Fare class: Paid First
• What happened: CLT-PHL 2+ hour MX delay with 3 gate changes while waiting for replacement aircraft from hangar, 2am arrival
• Compensation: 7500 miles
• Comments: Miles posted within 24 hours of filing complaint. Separately I sent in compliments for gate agents for communicating updates as best they could, and flight crew for above average service despite the late start (including PDB).

desi

• <deleted>

uxb

Date: 19 April 2018
AAdvantage Status: 1MM
Fare class: Y
What happened: YUL > JFK, 2,5 hr ground stop on tarmac, hot plane, but no water served. FA twiddled their thumbs for the entirety of ground stop, and only served one pax, who wanted to buy a drink.
Compensation: 5000 miles
Comments: I had no problem with the delay despite missing a campaign event. I had a problem with not being given anything on the flight during the ground stop. FA only gave granola bars after we had taken off. One pax further back told him where to stick said bar.

Date: 2 May 2018
AAdvantage Status: 1MM
Fare class: Y
What happened: I was flying LAX > LAS > ORD > EWR in Y. The first two segments were upgraded, but then weather struck ORD and my LAS > ORD segment was cancelled. A call into AA reservations got me re-booked on AA 10, but I was in a middle seat. Of course, same middle seat didn't recline, so I was stuck upright for the entirety of my red-eye.
Compensation: 10000 miles
Comments: This was actually a compliment / complaint E-mail. Serendipitously, AA got me out of LAX and back to NYC with enough time to get to my Grandmum's deathbed. She passed a few hours after. I am forever grateful in times like that, and have since authored another letter praising the CS agent who handled the re-booking.

SFO777

Date: May 11, 2018
AAdvantage Status: EXP/2MM although I had deleted my AAdvantage account from the flight record and credited it to my BA Gold account
Fare class: First (SWU upgrade from paid Business Class)
What happened: LAX-LHR. IFE failed at the gate in LAX. Mechanics couldn't fix so we departed with no IFE..
Compensation: 10,000 miles proactively deposited within 24 hours to both of our accounts.
Comments: Seems like reasonable compensation although I was more impressed that AA found my account since I had used my BAEC number for credit.

May 12, 2018

Hello SFO777:

You should expect outstanding service from us. That's why I am sorry to hear from the flight attendants who served you aboard flight 136 on May 11, 2016 that the video equipment was not working. There is nothing more disappointing than settling comfortably in your seat -- expecting to enjoy a good movie -- only to be told it isn't working.

Again, I apologize we let you down.As a tangible apology, I have credited 10,000 Customer Service Bonus miles to your AAdvantage® account. This adjustment should appear in your account very soon. For your convenience, you can view your account via AA.com.

Thank you for your understanding when this problem with our video equipment occurred. Most importantly, thank you for flying with us.

Antarius

I'm even more impressed you flew back in time 2 years

SFO777

LOL. Hadn't caught that earlier.
Maybe I try for another 10K and ask for compensation for AA136 on May 11, 2018.

tomj888

Was scheduled to fly non-stop PHL-LAX on 5/19. I'm currently Exec Plat. Did online checkin at the T-24 hour. Got boarding pass and TSA pre. Headed to the airport about 1.5 hours ahead of departure. As I got to the airpot, got an email about the flight canceling. Went to customer service desk because it was right in front of me with nobody in line. (Big mistake: should of call Exec plat line on phone) Live and learn right? They saw that AA rebooked me on a commuter flight to JFK and then NO seat ticket on JFK-LAX. I purchased D class fare. Biz was full on all flights out of JFK that day. F class had 4 seats for sale and op-up I'm guessing. Agent could not/ would not confirm me a seat. Telling me there's a good chance I'll get on a flight. I took the seats, and walked away to call AA service center. Got online and told them that I Needed to get home for son's graduation on Sun. Did NOT want to take a chance on being stuck in NYC. Also, bad weather just lived off of the east coast this weekend. Asked for routing that would take me west. Ended up after 45 min online, the best routing I could get was PHL-ORD-SFO. overnight in SFO, then a UA flight at 6:55 am to LAX. It ended up working. Now the back story. AA had no crew to fly us home from PHL. They knew that in advance, hence the IRROPS. By the time they contacted me, half of the flying day was gone. Had they contacted me early in the morning as the incoming plane was Cancelled was coming from LHR. They could of easily moved me and got me home in one day. What would people on the forum suggest is proper compensation as well as my rights under the contract of carriage?

sbrower

Rights under Contract of Carriage are: a) refund; or, b) to be reaccomodated (i.e. - you have the right to wait until AA has a flight with space in the cabin you paid for, but NOT the right to be OP UP to F). AA has the option (but you don't have the right) to put you on another airline.

tomj888

Understood. I guess my thought process involved when the airline knows that an irregular operation occurs, why would it not contact passengers especially their upper tier ones and notify them sooner that 90 minutes before departure. Second, how could you take me out of a plane I had seats, as guaranteed as anything is these days and put me on a flight where I don't have assigned seats? that does not gel with me.

sbrower

All good questions. I am not arguing the customer service aspect. I tried to be very specific about the COC part. I was once one of the top flyers on AA (over 400k BIS/yr), but that was a long time ago, my current knowledge doesn't apply (but I do still seem to get lucky on customer service - I think it is a combination of: a) I have a good understanding of my options; b) I don't blame the people, I just try to figure out what is best for me).

tomj888

Agree completely. I did not place blame in my letter. I approached it from a customer service experience level. I told them what my expectations were. I asked for what I wanted explicitly and cited my reasons for it. When I dug deeper and found out what the cause of the IRROPS was, I then believed I was entitled to compensation.

mairlodi

Economy (O)
Aadvantage status: member, but very infrequent flyer
5/22/18 flight 5358 from DCA to TYS was delayed for about 6.5 hours.

Again, being an infrequent flyer, I am not sure how situations like these are typically handled and what I should have done and what I should do now.

Departure time was pushed back by 15-30 minutes multiple times. Original departure time was 1:25 PM. No reason for delay was announced. Around 3:30, I asked agent the reason for delay. She said that the plane was not there, since it had been delayed coming in from the prior location, but that it was now in flight, and they would turn over the plane quickly, so we could expect to board as soon as the plane arrived, around 4:15. We did board the plane, but then were told that due to weather issues (storm), planes were not flying west and because there was a problem with the AC (plane was very hot), they were going to have us deplane and go back to the airport. Other passengers sitting near the front told us that the pilot said he would time out if the plane didn’t leave in 1 hour.

All flights out were then delayed, due to weather, and then planes started reboarding at maybe 5:30 or so. Our plane did not, and there was concern that this was due to pilot timing out. No explanation was given, and eventually, we were taken to the bus to board the plane. This was probably around 6:30 or 7. However, we were kept on the bus at the plane for about 30 min - 1 hour. Pilot came on the bus at some point and said that he was there to fly the plane (different pilot), but there was no flight attendant, so we were waiting for one. We were told one was coming, so we were kept on the bus, but then we were told that no flight attendant was available, so we were going to be taken back to the airport. Bus left, but went in a big circle and brought us back to the plane. We were then allowed to board. Plane ended up taking off around 8:10 PM and arriving at 9:30 PM, both about 6.5 hours after scheduled.

I was not offered any meal vouchers during that time. I was not offered anything else. I missed an important event due to the delay, although not the entire reason for my trip.

To make the trip for me worse, we were traveling with another family who had a separate reservation. During the weather delay, there was concern that the flight would be canceled. Friend asked the agent if we could get seats on the next flight, in case this flight was canceled. Agent told her the next flight was already sold out, but she could reserve seats for us on the first flight the next AM, which at that point only had 7 seats left, and we were a group of 4. We were told numerous times that if the original delayed flight was not canceled, having this other reservation would not be a problem, and it would just cancel after we didn’t check in. But somehow, due to this additional reservation, our return flight was canceled. When I did not get an email to check in for my return flight, I called AA, and they told me that my return trip had accidentally been canceled due to the additional reservation, but they were able to get me back on the original return trip, although I had to stay on the phone with them for an hour for them to work it out.