SamOF

If that's the policy they want, then they need to write that into their conditions of carriage. But they didn't—and they definitely can't use that internal policy to get out their contractual obligation. Seems like there's a DOT claim to me.

justhere

It's already in there. It talks about carrier caused delays and delays beyond their control. The DOT already have rules for reporting delays and there are multiple codes for both carrier caused and non-carrier caused and many times there is more than one code attributed to delays. What you are really saying is that you don't agree with either the way things are coded or that you don't agree with assigning the ultimate reason to the majority delay code(s). Or both. And that's certainly your prerogative but until or unless the DOT change the reporting rules, that's how it works at just about all airlines.

Shuttle_Endeavour

Stripe

Whenever I get hit with a delay I immediately check the flight status notes on EF and take a screenshot of the reason, especially when it says crew or maintenance related. So far I've never needed to pull it out to contradict AA CS but it's a good idea to have that evidence in your pocket. Maintenance delays can turn into weather delays if a storm moves in while they are screwing around fixing the plane.

Like the OP I was hit with a DFW-AUS cancellation that weekend. "Weather-related" even though it was cancelled 28 hours in advance. Fortunately I was still in DTW when the notice came. Plenty of time to arrange a non-AA flight on my own.

ijgordon

Uzzar

Quite frankly it doesn't matter what the pilot said, if AA says it is weather then it will be a difficult fight to prove otherwise. I am not saying that is right, just saying that is the reality.

ryan182

There's lots of contributing factors in every event in life. Had there not been weather maybe could have fixed the plane before timing out, maybe not I don't know, but if you accept that logic then there's never a MX cancelation because you can always find some butterfly that flapped a wing somewhere that tandgeltally influenced the result and that you can pin the cancelation on. I am sympathetic to the airlines when people complain that there was a cancellation when due to weather and they complain that "its fine here" because there are downstream effects from weather than can lead to airplanes or crew being out of position etc but from the OP that wasn't the case here. But for not the MX issue that plane would have taken off and it didn't, and it didn't take off in that exact moment for one and only one reason:MX.

justhere

Except, again, that's not how it works.

You might want to read this and this to help you understand how it works. You may not like that it works the way it does, but that's the system that is currently used.

justhere

Positive bag matching on domestic flights went away when it went to 100% bag screening by TSA.

genotonda

Let's think of a reverse scenario here. I wonder what the airline would do if there was say.... a 3 hour MX, followed by a 20min wx. Does anyone think they would mark it as mx, and provide compensation/accommodations accordingly?

ianj844

From past experience yes they have.

flyingeph12

ryan182

I read both of those links, perhaps I missed something and you can point to the specific sections you think are relevant to the case at hand where, again: The plane was going to take off, the crew had not timed out, there was no weather event preventing a takeoff but there was a MX issue that did and because of said issue the flight was canceled. Because, and again perhaps I missed that section, I didn't see anything on either of those links (the first being really just stats) that made a counter point.. In fact its quite the opposite:
The flight in question would have left the gate and operated, perhaps delayed, in this case had it not been for.....wait for it........a maintenance issue. Any number of things might have happened before that but despite those things had there not been a maintenance issue that plane would have left. Its absurd to try and ascribe this cancelation to WX, because again they would have left the gate and flown the aircraft with the crew on board absent the MX issue. This also is probably not just an AA thing and I'm not trying to be a basher, I'd wager that lots of airlines do this nonsense with the hope/bet that few will call them on their BS!

justhere

Both links provide the information you might have missed. Additionally, follow the additional links in the first website to the final DOT ruling where they state "There often are multiple reasons for delayed flights, and we are requiring air carriers to report each category of flight delay, as applicable." If you read enough of it you'll see this applies to cancellations as well as delays.

So, there was a reason, or multiple reasons why the crew only had 7 minutes before they timed out. They wouldn't have been scheduled that way ahead of time. If weather delayed the crew that contributed or caused them to only have 7 minutes, when all the coding for the flight is done, 7 minutes would likely get coded to MX in addition to however many minutes coded to late crew. Late crew is considered air carrier caused but it also depends why the crew was late. If the delayed crew was held up by weather for an hour then 60 minutes would likely get coded to WX. Without the weather delay the crew wouldn't have timed out and the MX delay wouldn't have been an issue. But the MX delay was an issue because the crew was delayed. So you account for all delay minutes as noted in those links. 60 minutes WX and 7 MX. Majority of the delay therefore is weather.

You don't just look at the last delay, again as noted in the links. Does AA and other airlines take some liberties with coding? Who knows. It's a very risky game if they do. However given that there are so many delay codes, some situations are going to fit more than one so its always possible someone could pick a reason that is subjective. And then I'm fairly sure AA and other airlines have some sort of internal guideline that has to be met for them to classify the delay or cancellation as non- controllable. A guideline that their legal department feels they can defend should the need arise.

So while you're taking a simplistic view of the cancellation and just considering the last few minutes, the reporting to the DOT doesn't work that way. Your way ignores other factors that might have contributed to the cancellation.

bdw1120