AA Oversold Business class on our flight this week, we lost award seats
May 22, 2019, 5:00 pm
#196
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AA cannot physically force someone to board an airplane and occupy a Y seat against his will.
Refuse to accept a downgrade and something will be worked out. Why do we all rush to assume that OP will be the one IDB/VDB'd? Nothing preventing AA from soliciting VDBs out of the C cabin. Perhaps someone else confirmed in C will be more than happy to accept a $1000 VDB voucher so that OP can board? All sorts of things can happen in the hours between the start of this thread and departure of the PHL-EDI flight.
Yes. D1 is the highest priority of non revenue space available (NRSA) travel on AA.
Last edited by Herb687; May 22, 2019 at 5:03 pm Reason: multi-quote
May 22, 2019, 5:03 pm
#197
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Can't thank JonNYC enough. His notification that the seats were open and that we had been assigned to them couldnt have came at a better time as we were most likely going to end up being rerouted with multiple layovers and a significantly delayed arrival time.
AA gate agents confirmed our names are assigned to the seats and they now show up in the app. They even showed me the screen they see (but wouldn't let me take a picture as it had other passenger names on it). However, DTW for some reason cannot print BPs with seats on them, said it has to be done at PHL. My PHL - EDI BP says a seat will be assigned at the gate... Hopefully this isnt AA playing games and we'll have a smooth process in PH. Will update once we have final BPs.
I sincerely apologize I wasn't able to be a better test subject
. 36 hours of stress but I learned a ton from all of you!
AA gate agents confirmed our names are assigned to the seats and they now show up in the app. They even showed me the screen they see (but wouldn't let me take a picture as it had other passenger names on it). However, DTW for some reason cannot print BPs with seats on them, said it has to be done at PHL. My PHL - EDI BP says a seat will be assigned at the gate... Hopefully this isnt AA playing games and we'll have a smooth process in PH. Will update once we have final BPs.
I sincerely apologize I wasn't able to be a better test subject
. 36 hours of stress but I learned a ton from all of you!Let me/us know when you have your new boarding passes and E N J O Y the trip!
May 22, 2019, 5:04 pm
#198
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Why do so many on this thread make that assumption?
AA cannot physically force someone to board an airplane and occupy a Y seat against his will.
Refuse to accept a downgrade and something will be worked out. Why do we all rush to assume that OP will be the one IDB/VDB'd? Nothing preventing AA from soliciting VDBs out of the C cabin. Perhaps someone else confirmed in C will be more than happy to accept a $1000 VDB voucher so that OP can board? All sorts of things can happen in the hours between the start of this thread and departure of the PHL-EDI flight.
Yes. D1 is the highest priority of non revenue space available (NRSA) travel on AA.
AA cannot physically force someone to board an airplane and occupy a Y seat against his will.
Refuse to accept a downgrade and something will be worked out. Why do we all rush to assume that OP will be the one IDB/VDB'd? Nothing preventing AA from soliciting VDBs out of the C cabin. Perhaps someone else confirmed in C will be more than happy to accept a $1000 VDB voucher so that OP can board? All sorts of things can happen in the hours between the start of this thread and departure of the PHL-EDI flight.
Yes. D1 is the highest priority of non revenue space available (NRSA) travel on AA.
If you don't accept your downgrade to a middle seat in coach, we'll treat it as a no show. You won't get a refund and we won't rebook you.
May 22, 2019, 5:08 pm
#199
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May 22, 2019, 5:14 pm
#200
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May 22, 2019, 5:17 pm
#201
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Feel free to point me to actionable information in this thread that will tell me how to prepare for future oversold flights. (Other than the general and patently obvious that apply pretty much universally (know backup routings and all your possible alternates))
May 22, 2019, 5:18 pm
#202
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Latest status from EF on AA278, delay by 1hr:
Hope this doesn't put an additional damper on the trip...
☨DTE CHNG FLT☨ ORIG 22MAY
PHL 900P A10
EDI ☨ 910A
3PHL/ETD2200 MTR-DELAY DUE TO A/C MAINTENANCE *1701
7PHL/AUTO REACCOM DLY FLT COMPLETED SEE N*P1AA0278PHL22MAY *1731*CRCYMG
2EDI/PRE1010 *1701
PHL 900P A10
EDI ☨ 910A
3PHL/ETD2200 MTR-DELAY DUE TO A/C MAINTENANCE *1701
7PHL/AUTO REACCOM DLY FLT COMPLETED SEE N*P1AA0278PHL22MAY *1731*CRCYMG
2EDI/PRE1010 *1701
May 22, 2019, 5:19 pm
#203
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I imagine the good news is most airlines take real world business impact in addition to DoT or CoC language and rights. Yes they can involuntarily downgrade a J passenger to Y and issue a partial refund as the only form of compensation but if they made that common practice or the first line of defense I would imagine that would have some sort of negative impact on how much passengers seeking to travel in J would choose AA as their preferred carrier. That is why even if DoT or CoC allow them to involuntarily downgrade J passengers in practice they will generally do that only after they have tried to solicit VDB volunteers in J and considered other options to reroute the passenger on another acceptable routing in J. I don’t think they resort to involuntary downgrade to Y as the first option even though the terms allow them to do so.
May 22, 2019, 5:38 pm
#205
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Some people here really suck.
May 22, 2019, 6:46 pm
#206
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In the FWIW, this flight is oversold in J for the next couple of days as well. Perhaps its because of the blocked seats but Y is oversold as well. I guess AA knows it usually all works out well at the end.
A seat in Y opened for tonight.
A seat in Y opened for tonight.
May 22, 2019, 6:54 pm
#207
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Herb,
The actionable information here was to monitor your flight information leading up to the departure and raise the flag when irregularities or changes happen. In this case, previously assigned J seats were unassigned and blocked, indicating a possible issue with flying TATL in a lower cabin. As evidenced here, that absolutely WAS the case, as our loyal AA insider JonNYC uncovered. Additionally, when faced with the situation, there was a litany of information being passed regarding possible solutions that could be employed and have worked for others in the past. While we are not privy to the private details of what JonNYC uncovered and was able to do, you can rest assured that the public guidance he distributed throughout this thread can be taken to the bank. One of the biggest keys I have taken away is what the policies and real-world experiences are when traveling on an award ticket. I won't recap, as you have apparently read through the entire fourteen page thread and haven't found anything that benefits YOU.
I have found this to be an informational (and exciting/suspenseful) thread. Here's to hoping the OP enjoys their TATL trip in J, even if it is a bit delayed.
The actionable information here was to monitor your flight information leading up to the departure and raise the flag when irregularities or changes happen. In this case, previously assigned J seats were unassigned and blocked, indicating a possible issue with flying TATL in a lower cabin. As evidenced here, that absolutely WAS the case, as our loyal AA insider JonNYC uncovered. Additionally, when faced with the situation, there was a litany of information being passed regarding possible solutions that could be employed and have worked for others in the past. While we are not privy to the private details of what JonNYC uncovered and was able to do, you can rest assured that the public guidance he distributed throughout this thread can be taken to the bank. One of the biggest keys I have taken away is what the policies and real-world experiences are when traveling on an award ticket. I won't recap, as you have apparently read through the entire fourteen page thread and haven't found anything that benefits YOU.
I have found this to be an informational (and exciting/suspenseful) thread. Here's to hoping the OP enjoys their TATL trip in J, even if it is a bit delayed.
May 22, 2019, 7:05 pm
#208
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Admirals club agents were not able to help. Had to wait for agents at the gate to show up (an extra hour wait due to the delay) and agents at other gates wouldn't help.
Took them about 15 minutes to figure it out, but we finally have seats on our boarding passes! Two people have never been so happy to have seats on the same flight/class they originally paid for!
Dont know if this is common, but there is also a "mandatory passport check" for a few dozen people on the flight so the gate agent line is long. Haven't seen that before.
Can't wait to see if there is actually someone sitting in our original seats...
I also dont think this was a "storm in a tea cup". Unless the 12 AA representatives I talked to were all incompetent/lying, there were passengers assigned to every J seat until ~11AM today.
If someone knows JonNYC personally, please buy him a drink or 3 and let me know where to Venmo you!
Took them about 15 minutes to figure it out, but we finally have seats on our boarding passes! Two people have never been so happy to have seats on the same flight/class they originally paid for!
Dont know if this is common, but there is also a "mandatory passport check" for a few dozen people on the flight so the gate agent line is long. Haven't seen that before.
Can't wait to see if there is actually someone sitting in our original seats...
I also dont think this was a "storm in a tea cup". Unless the 12 AA representatives I talked to were all incompetent/lying, there were passengers assigned to every J seat until ~11AM today.
If someone knows JonNYC personally, please buy him a drink or 3 and let me know where to Venmo you!
May 22, 2019, 7:13 pm
#209
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Admirals club agents were not able to help. Had to wait for agents at the gate to show up (an extra hour wait due to the delay) and agents at other gates wouldn't help.
Took them about 15 minutes to figure it out, but we finally have seats on our boarding passes! Two people have never been so happy to have seats on the same flight/class they originally paid for!
Took them about 15 minutes to figure it out, but we finally have seats on our boarding passes! Two people have never been so happy to have seats on the same flight/class they originally paid for!
Of course it wasn’t— this was a close one. And what an utterly trite, hackneyed expression anyway
Was purely my pleasure anyway, as a guy who helped a bit said "hey, they're fellow Michiganders!"