5,000 miles deposited for 4-hr delay good or bad? (to merge - compensation)
May 8, 2019, 12:41 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,510
5,000 miles deposited for 4-hr delay good or bad? (to merge - compensation)
Believe it or not, I had my first poor experience with AA today.
Flying PHX-LAS and we board but are deplaned after they tell us some panel inside the cargo hold is loose.
Scheduled to depart at 10:10am.
In the gate area they keep telling us they are fixing the problem,...departure time keeps moving forward.
About noon they tell us that they will make a decision in the next 15 minutes if we are getting a new plane or not, basically creating false hope for everyone as they never updated us with the “decision.”
Finally, we board again and depart at around 2:15 PM getting to LAS 4hrs late.
AA proactively sent 5,000 miles according to the email received during the flight. This was to me and some co-workers on the same flight. They are Gold and I am EXP.
Should I ask for more miles? Shouldn’t a 4-hr delay warrant finding a new plane?
I’m just asking the forum as I in my 1.6mm miles flown I have never had this long of a delay.
Thanks!
Flying PHX-LAS and we board but are deplaned after they tell us some panel inside the cargo hold is loose.
Scheduled to depart at 10:10am.
In the gate area they keep telling us they are fixing the problem,...departure time keeps moving forward.
About noon they tell us that they will make a decision in the next 15 minutes if we are getting a new plane or not, basically creating false hope for everyone as they never updated us with the “decision.”
Finally, we board again and depart at around 2:15 PM getting to LAS 4hrs late.
AA proactively sent 5,000 miles according to the email received during the flight. This was to me and some co-workers on the same flight. They are Gold and I am EXP.
Should I ask for more miles? Shouldn’t a 4-hr delay warrant finding a new plane?
I’m just asking the forum as I in my 1.6mm miles flown I have never had this long of a delay.
Thanks!
May 8, 2019, 1:49 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 57
?!?!?
In 1.6 million miles of flying you’ve never had a delay of four hours?!?!?!
I haven’t received anything for delays far beyond that. I would be delighted to have never had that kind of delay in my 1+ million miles to date. That alone would be sufficient compensation!
I haven’t received anything for delays far beyond that. I would be delighted to have never had that kind of delay in my 1+ million miles to date. That alone would be sufficient compensation!
May 8, 2019, 5:08 am
#3
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: DFW/PHL
Programs: US CP, UA *G; SPG Plat, Hilton Gold; Natl Exec, Hertz PC
Posts: 623
Theres a compensation thread in this forum with the gory details but I believe that’s in line with AA’s standards.
May 8, 2019, 5:19 am
#4
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Austin
Programs: AA EXP +2MM- LT PLT! HH Diamond
Posts: 6,087
I agree that the OP has been lucky to not ever before had such a delay given the amount of flying they have done.
Also, the fact that they were actually allowed to deplane while they were trying to fix the issue was a nice move.
I would be happy with 5K miles for this type of inconvenience.
Also, the fact that they were actually allowed to deplane while they were trying to fix the issue was a nice move.
I would be happy with 5K miles for this type of inconvenience.
May 8, 2019, 6:12 am
#6
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
There is no compensation for delays in the US. Anything AA does is a voluntary customer service gesture and thus entirely in AA's discretion. The flight arrived 3:50 late. I suspect that the cut off for the next toer of "gesture is at four hours and the flight did not meet that.
It is easy to criticize in retrospect, but the nature of repairing mechanical and other faults is that one can estimate but not know until the repair is made, tested and then certified. What looks like a 1-hour job, might become 3 hours or 30 minutes. Happens all the time and suggesting that repair estimates create "false hope" is a surprising approach for an experienced traveler.
Why not replace the aircraft? Because it was being fixed. The calculus keeps changing. Sure, it's frustrating. But, the nature of safety in commercial aviation is that engineers work for quality not speed (not that they waste time).
It is easy to criticize in retrospect, but the nature of repairing mechanical and other faults is that one can estimate but not know until the repair is made, tested and then certified. What looks like a 1-hour job, might become 3 hours or 30 minutes. Happens all the time and suggesting that repair estimates create "false hope" is a surprising approach for an experienced traveler.
Why not replace the aircraft? Because it was being fixed. The calculus keeps changing. Sure, it's frustrating. But, the nature of safety in commercial aviation is that engineers work for quality not speed (not that they waste time).
May 8, 2019, 8:35 am
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
They should have gone out to Walgreens to find one, as well as accommodating your giraffe and helicopter.
May 8, 2019, 9:17 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,510
Literally almost all of my flying is international. I guess that’s why I haven’t had any major delays.
I HAVE missed an international connection twice and DL and CX both put me up in hotels overnight. LoL
I wasn’t outraged or upset over the delay but they didn’t seem very communicative about what was happening at the gate area after deplaning.
Ess Happens, it’s just life.
I’m good with the 5,000 miles.
They did bring the big blue snacks and water cart after 3 hours.
The flight next to us to EWR was also delayed by almost four hours due to MX.
I guess since I am in Vegas I should go gamble since I’ve had such amazing luck flying huh... haha!
I HAVE missed an international connection twice and DL and CX both put me up in hotels overnight. LoL
I wasn’t outraged or upset over the delay but they didn’t seem very communicative about what was happening at the gate area after deplaning.
Ess Happens, it’s just life.
I’m good with the 5,000 miles.
They did bring the big blue snacks and water cart after 3 hours.
The flight next to us to EWR was also delayed by almost four hours due to MX.
I guess since I am in Vegas I should go gamble since I’ve had such amazing luck flying huh... haha!
May 8, 2019, 9:24 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,510
They should have gone out to Walgreens to find one, as well as accommodating your giraffe and helicopter.
Baahahahahaah omg I love it!!
May 8, 2019, 10:33 am
#12
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Chicago
Programs: AAdvantage EXP | United Silver | HH Diamond | Bonvoy Platinum | Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 718
Believe it or not, I had my first poor experience with AA today.
Flying PHX-LAS and we board but are deplaned after they tell us some panel inside the cargo hold is loose.
Scheduled to depart at 10:10am.
In the gate area they keep telling us they are fixing the problem,...departure time keeps moving forward.
About noon they tell us that they will make a decision in the next 15 minutes if we are getting a new plane or not, basically creating false hope for everyone as they never updated us with the “decision.”
Finally, we board again and depart at around 2:15 PM getting to LAS 4hrs late.
AA proactively sent 5,000 miles according to the email received during the flight. This was to me and some co-workers on the same flight. They are Gold and I am EXP.
Should I ask for more miles? Shouldn’t a 4-hr delay warrant finding a new plane?
I’m just asking the forum as I in my 1.6mm miles flown I have never had this long of a delay.
Thanks!
Flying PHX-LAS and we board but are deplaned after they tell us some panel inside the cargo hold is loose.
Scheduled to depart at 10:10am.
In the gate area they keep telling us they are fixing the problem,...departure time keeps moving forward.
About noon they tell us that they will make a decision in the next 15 minutes if we are getting a new plane or not, basically creating false hope for everyone as they never updated us with the “decision.”
Finally, we board again and depart at around 2:15 PM getting to LAS 4hrs late.
AA proactively sent 5,000 miles according to the email received during the flight. This was to me and some co-workers on the same flight. They are Gold and I am EXP.
Should I ask for more miles? Shouldn’t a 4-hr delay warrant finding a new plane?
I’m just asking the forum as I in my 1.6mm miles flown I have never had this long of a delay.
Thanks!
May 8, 2019, 10:42 am
#13
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,632
May 8, 2019, 11:05 am
#14
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: SAN
Programs: AA CK, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 839
Half of my flying is TATL and international flights are the ones that cause me the greatest delays, especially the inbound flights from Europe. Mechanical issues don’t get fixed quickly in foreign airports and plane swaps take a day to materialize. I wish I had your luck!
May 8, 2019, 3:02 pm
#15
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 387
It is remarkable that this is your first four hour delay, but what really surprises me is that AA sent you miles proactively. I had a 12 hour delay (mechanical issue) on AA945 last May and got absolutely nothing. In retrospect, it was probably foolish of me not to complain and ask for miles. My excuse is that I was padding my Eagles rating. Feel free to mock my naivete.