BeatCal

what does fine print of ticket say. When younger and flew overseas all the time, you had to confirm your return or else you were canceled. Dont know if that is still required

HkCaGu

maybebehindyou

+1 to filing a DOT complaint. I did this once with WN a few years back. I found the process to be quite painless. The airline replied even more quickly and very apologetically after the complaint was filed. Their CS is fantastic on any day but it stepped into a higher gear when the complaint entered the picture.

jordyn

Definitely not required on AA anytime recently, and OP's sister did call in advance of the flight to see what was going on.

enpremiere

Using the ticket number, have you tried inquiring as to when the ticket was actually cancelled (i.e. after she boarded) and via what service? That may be pointless but maybe it's a path worth exploring.

zarkov505

You really should put a smiley or something on this, to warn the clue-impaired that you are engaging in sarcasm or a related form of humor.

Well played, sir!

(And note: Last night, I was on a Mesa CRJ 900, and experienced what has to be the smallest on-board restroom known to Man. I've been in telephone booths that were roomier.)

samwise6222

Depending on your settings, if you go to https://www.google.com/maps/timeline , it may show you when you were at the airport and where you were flying.

Often1

Reconfirmation has not been required for 35 years.

Today it is entirely possible to make it as far as the gate at T-30 without encountering a human being and the only reason a human being is still required at all is that somewhere in the process there needs to be a document check (passport, not BP).

enpremiere

Is it conceivable that the ticket was cancelled after boarding? In the US passenger manifests are shared with CPB and I had a fun experience with this once. On a return flight to the US in which an international segment was upgraded (but apparently processed improperly at the gate), I was invited to a waiting area as CPB's manifest didn't have any record that I was on the flight and I had misplaced the boarding pass in luggage (found after the fact). They were eventually able to verify via a back office call to AA operations that I was had indeed checked in at remote station but that's all that the CPB officer confirmed before sending me on my way.

Often1

More than likely simply sloppy work at AA. The passenger boards, the BP does not "beep" when scanned because it was held the wrong way, coffee-stained or whatever. Nobody notices either the lack of a sound or the fact that the name on the gate reader does not change.

When the pax count is done, the onboard count is accepted and nobody goes back to figure out who is onboard either without a BP or with an unscanned BP. The flight departs, the passenger is a no show because the BP did not scan and the onward segment(s) are cancelled.

It's the easiest explanation and even well-intentioned but harried agents could screw this up. Even possible they had to go back through and check and then got sent off to deal with some other mess, meaning to get back and fix the problem later.

Rather than trying to match flight tracks to dates and other techniques which won't likely mean much at AA, I would be looking for other collateral such as a text sent on landing saying something such as "landed safely." With the time marker for the screenshot and the lack of alternatives from PHL, this sort of thing makes it hard to imagine falsifying. I would also consider obtaining statements from the friends who picked the passenger up as well as anything else which tends to show the rough timing.

In the end, a DOT complaint won't help much if AA sticks to its guns because DOT won't get into judging who is right. But, in a SCC, this is what judges are for.

florin

I would point out that if an airline is unaware of a pax being onboard on a US-bound flight, that is a SERIOUS security issue and I'm pretty sure that US authorities would have a field day with that. It might be worth mentioning that to AA...

When you purchase a plane ticket, it should not be the pax' responsibility to check a few days before to make sure that it's ok. (It's not like the airline issues a ticket just by looking at a credit card, without making sure that the payment can be processed.) Once a ticket has been issued, I see that as a promise that the pax will be transported from A to B, on the specific flights and under the conditions that were paid for. (They may change the aircraft type, but if they change the timing you have the option of getting a refund.) So yes, it's wise to periodically check on your ticket, but it shouldn't be your responsibility to do so.

nrr

For arriving pax in LHR (as opposed to connecting) in addition to pp immigration stamp, pax still must fill out a LANDING CARD; I assume British immigration keeps these for awhile, one must list the flight number and airline. Getting a copy of that card* would help bolster her case (that she flew fro PHL to LHR).
*showing an official immigration stamp

Dave Noble

given that the outbound was nearly 2 months ago, I suspect that the inbound date has passed