AA Oversold Business class on our flight this week, we lost award seats
May 22, 2019, 7:43 pm
#211
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One actionable lesson ... avoid booking 4AB in advance on a 75 ...
I reserved 2J on a 763 recently and was seatless for a bit. I was initially told it was blocked as inop, which I then took to mean I had been FAMed. Then when I boarded, there was a woman sitting in 2J who obviously was not a FAM.
I'm guessing that there are some seats getting blocked for strange reasons -- maybe crew rest (2J isn't a crew rest seat) or perhaps because AA thinks they may need to position pilots. Pilots being positioned have a contractual right to sit in J.
I reserved 2J on a 763 recently and was seatless for a bit. I was initially told it was blocked as inop, which I then took to mean I had been FAMed. Then when I boarded, there was a woman sitting in 2J who obviously was not a FAM.
I'm guessing that there are some seats getting blocked for strange reasons -- maybe crew rest (2J isn't a crew rest seat) or perhaps because AA thinks they may need to position pilots. Pilots being positioned have a contractual right to sit in J.
May 22, 2019, 7:58 pm
#212
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May 22, 2019, 8:08 pm
#213
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It's pretty common if they haven't seen your passports before or haven't seen them in a while. Or possibly if they just feel like it. I have it more on BA than AA.
May 22, 2019, 8:22 pm
#214
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May 22, 2019, 8:30 pm
#215
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I finally made it to the end of this thread, after today’s thrilling drama. It looks like the flight has finally departed. I hope the OP is thoroughly enjoying the ride to EDI! I think this thread now beats the account audit thread for my favorite thread on Flyertalk.
May 22, 2019, 8:36 pm
#216
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I would disagree with your view.
When we purchase a premium cabin ticket, it shouldn't just be an option for the airline to exercise or not to seat us in the class of service that we chose or give some minimal refund (in miles or money of at most the difference in price at the time of purchase) or possibly even just cancel the ticket and give a refund. The customer chose premium cabin travel when presented with a menu of prices, so that customer preferred the premium cabin ticket (at the price offered) to the coac h ticket (at the price offered by the airline at the time of purchase). If the person had wanted to fly in coach, he/she would have purchased a coach ticket.
More compensation is due and should be required. While obviously courts cannot force the airline to give the person a premium cabin seat on the flights that were purchased, airlines should be punished for overbooking premium cabins and forced to solicit volunteers seriously just as there rules about VDBs and IDBs for coach passengers.
When we purchase a premium cabin ticket, it shouldn't just be an option for the airline to exercise or not to seat us in the class of service that we chose or give some minimal refund (in miles or money of at most the difference in price at the time of purchase) or possibly even just cancel the ticket and give a refund. The customer chose premium cabin travel when presented with a menu of prices, so that customer preferred the premium cabin ticket (at the price offered) to the coac h ticket (at the price offered by the airline at the time of purchase). If the person had wanted to fly in coach, he/she would have purchased a coach ticket.
More compensation is due and should be required. While obviously courts cannot force the airline to give the person a premium cabin seat on the flights that were purchased, airlines should be punished for overbooking premium cabins and forced to solicit volunteers seriously just as there rules about VDBs and IDBs for coach passengers.
This is especially relevant as when I book premium cabin fares, I almost always do it well in advance of my travel date. Economy fares booked in Y or H are often more expensive than discounted F. So when AA claims that they owe me nothing because the value of my I class fare is less than Y or H, I can show them what I would have paid had I consciously chosen to book in economy.
May 22, 2019, 8:59 pm
#218
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The OP grew some extra grey hairs from the stress, and spend 8 hours from his life trying to make sure he would fly 7 hours in J, as originally booked, with AA jerking him around until the last minute to get the J boarding passes. This is what we call a "Pyrrhic victory", or, as known in AA, "Going for great"..
May 22, 2019, 9:31 pm
#219
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What actually happened? Was it that 4 A/B were originally unblocked and should have been blocked, and when those seats were blocked OP could not be given other seats because all other seats were assigned?
May 22, 2019, 9:52 pm
#220
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The EDI flight is in the air, about an hour late. Let's hope that no further news from the OP is good news and that they are happily enjoying their J seats over the ocean, perhaps sound asleep by now after a nice dinner and some drinks.
May 22, 2019, 10:05 pm
#221
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May 22, 2019, 11:42 pm
#222
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To the naysayers and the deniers and the hindsighters - I am a six year EXP who DID learn from this thread. No, I do not have the time to go into details but this thread was not only entertaining but very informative for me. And yes, I do value the input of some FTers like JonNYC and others (actually, even those who are wrong) - I do learn from these inputs from everyone who contributed to this thread including the OP and some who feel the urge to be contrarian.
thanks all and JonNYC, enjoy your good samaritan drink!
thanks all and JonNYC, enjoy your good samaritan drink!
May 23, 2019, 12:04 am
#223
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One clear takeaway, JonNYC continues to unselfishly be an incredible resource.
One thing I’ve always felt, the inability to get a boarding pass is a very bad sign. Especially if the AC couldn’t, which doesn’t seem to fit the cancellation/seat opening timeline.
Amazing that some folks think Y is only slightly less comfortable than J. For me, it would mean a bad flare up of my sciatica. Hard to believe folks would pay those type of JFK-LHR J fares for anything less than a huge difference.
One thing I’ve always felt, the inability to get a boarding pass is a very bad sign. Especially if the AC couldn’t, which doesn’t seem to fit the cancellation/seat opening timeline.
Amazing that some folks think Y is only slightly less comfortable than J. For me, it would mean a bad flare up of my sciatica. Hard to believe folks would pay those type of JFK-LHR J fares for anything less than a huge difference.
Last edited by beachfan; May 23, 2019 at 6:45 am
May 23, 2019, 6:14 am
#224
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They should had a solid 3-hour sleep on that route, ready to seize the day at EDI, and hopefully were ok with the 757 J seat.
May 23, 2019, 6:39 am
#225
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Given the operational issues I've seen recently (MAX, OASIS, aircraft retirements, general IRROPS, etc.), its basically now my SOP that whenever I book a premium cabin fare - be it cash or miles, I also immediately do a dummy search for the same flights on the same day in economy to show what I would have paid had I chosen to fly in economy as opposed to a premium cabin. I then print and save that economy class dummy search.
This is especially relevant as when I book premium cabin fares, I almost always do it well in advance of my travel date. Economy fares booked in Y or H are often more expensive than discounted F. So when AA claims that they owe me nothing because the value of my I class fare is less than Y or H, I can show them what I would have paid had I consciously chosen to book in economy.
This is especially relevant as when I book premium cabin fares, I almost always do it well in advance of my travel date. Economy fares booked in Y or H are often more expensive than discounted F. So when AA claims that they owe me nothing because the value of my I class fare is less than Y or H, I can show them what I would have paid had I consciously chosen to book in economy.
It reminds me of something similar I do, I record the captains announcements whenever there are TATL mechanical delays (in addition to flightaware screenshots), so the airline cannot deny 261 comp.
Last edited by nk15; May 23, 2019 at 6:53 am