F meals not catered on 1000 mile flight
Jun 4, 2019, 1:59 pm
#46
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 255
I’ve had a few legitimate issues that I raised in the past year, 2 of which led to out of pocket cost reimbursements and 1 that allowed full flight credit on a canceled ticket without a change fee. None of them were necessarily complaints about sub par service though.
In my nearly 40 years with US/AA, I’ve sent a number of correspondences both positive and negative going back to the days of only being able to send them by mail. Every one of them was responded to favorably and professionally. How far back does AA go to rate a customer?
I’ve also given a few A&B certs for exceptional service. Are those accounted for in my customer record and score?
In my nearly 40 years with US/AA, I’ve sent a number of correspondences both positive and negative going back to the days of only being able to send them by mail. Every one of them was responded to favorably and professionally. How far back does AA go to rate a customer?
I’ve also given a few A&B certs for exceptional service. Are those accounted for in my customer record and score?
I average between 10 and 15 complaints annually. Perhaps my eagle score is approaching zero but AA has never once not tried to make a service failure right, either with vouchers or miles. And I’ve only ranged between non-status and Plat Pro.
Last edited by rumboj; Jun 4, 2019 at 2:04 pm
Jun 4, 2019, 3:30 pm
#47
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: AAdvantage
Posts: 158
Well, the F passengers may have been upset about the lack of a meal, but I’m sure the Y passengers were very happy for the earlier departure! And, of course, there’s plenty more Y passengers.
Jun 4, 2019, 3:41 pm
#48
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: AA Plat Pro
Posts: 909
What is it with us FTers? Everything less than 100% perfect requires compensation? How about when you're at McDonald's and they run out of fries? Do you demand compensation? Gas station's out of premium today. Compensation? Steak is overcooked. Sure, the restaurant will make you a new one, but why no demand for compensation? Why only in travel-related purchases?
OP paid for their fries but didn't get them....i'd want something back.
Last edited by Bradhattan; Jun 4, 2019 at 3:46 pm Reason: Shouldn't assume it was a "he"
Jun 4, 2019, 5:17 pm
#49
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I just looked at my flight record and it actually left 2 minutes before scheduled time and landed 9 minutes late. The bottleneck was ground traffic at PHL getting out to runway 27L. Weather in the entire region, and enroute, was clear and storm free. So it was just your average Monday morning traffic jam at PHL.
Jun 4, 2019, 6:36 pm
#51
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Jun 4, 2019, 6:39 pm
#52
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I don't see in the conditions of carriage where AA is contractually obligated to provide any meal. AA Conditions of Carriage.
Jun 5, 2019, 7:02 am
#53
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As would I. Your fries are a itemized item for which you paid separately; and they appear on your receipt.
.....
I don't see in the conditions of carriage where AA is contractually obligated to provide any meal. AA Conditions of Carriage.
.....
I don't see in the conditions of carriage where AA is contractually obligated to provide any meal. AA Conditions of Carriage.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...eats/first.jsp
By your rationale, since nothing about first class amenities are in the CoC, then a full fare paying F passenger could be moved to coach without any expectation of a <partial> refund for advertised services not provided(bigger seat, meal, priority boarding, etc). In my case, I’m not looking for a meal voucher or even $$. I did want to raise the issue with the community to get some opinions, which there is never a shortage of here...
Jun 5, 2019, 7:46 am
#54
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Jun 5, 2019, 8:48 am
#55
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: DCA
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Posts: 2,227
Your legal theory would suggest that AA could advertise premium services and consistently deliver none of them, and it would be legal because the premium services offered are not explicitly listed in the CoC. I don't know this area of law well, and maybe others can chime in, but I can't imagine some area of consumer protection law or false advertising regulations wouldn't step in at that point.
Maybe more to the point: contracts and law don't exist in a vacuum. Any company needs to not only follow existing law but avoid doing things that are legal and egregious enough that they could prompt new laws or new regulations to further constrain the company in the future.
"It's not in the CoC" is just not a complete answer here.
Jun 5, 2019, 9:49 am
#56
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I don't know why receipt itemization would matter—if I receive a burger that includes the bun, lettuce, onions and ketchup but no beef patty, a refund would also obviously be due even though I received a partial product and only a non-itemized ingredient was missing.
Your legal theory would suggest that AA could advertise premium services and consistently deliver none of them, and it would be legal because the premium services offered are not explicitly listed in the CoC. I don't know this area of law well, and maybe others can chime in, but I can't imagine some area of consumer protection law or false advertising regulations wouldn't step in at that point.
Maybe more to the point: contracts and law don't exist in a vacuum. Any company needs to not only follow existing law but avoid doing things that are legal and egregious enough that they could prompt new laws or new regulations to further constrain the company in the future.
"It's not in the CoC" is just not a complete answer here.
Your legal theory would suggest that AA could advertise premium services and consistently deliver none of them, and it would be legal because the premium services offered are not explicitly listed in the CoC. I don't know this area of law well, and maybe others can chime in, but I can't imagine some area of consumer protection law or false advertising regulations wouldn't step in at that point.
Maybe more to the point: contracts and law don't exist in a vacuum. Any company needs to not only follow existing law but avoid doing things that are legal and egregious enough that they could prompt new laws or new regulations to further constrain the company in the future.
"It's not in the CoC" is just not a complete answer here.
Jun 5, 2019, 10:05 am
#57
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: DCA
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And I think this case is even clearer—they clearly advertise that certain flights will include a meal. Not only do customers purchase first class in part because of that,* but they likely boarded hungry having not bought anything in the airport because they assumed they would be fed on board, and now have to postpone their meal for 3 hours. I'm not saying it's the end of the world, but from a basic reasonableness perspective, the requests for compensation seem realistic and supportable.
*I know this will cue the usual FT chorus of "I just buy first class for the seat and everything else is gravy." Airlines are really good at cutting costs where they can. If inflight meals did not drive purchasing behavior, every airline would have adopted the Spirit F model by now.
Jun 5, 2019, 10:07 am
#58
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Just write it into the CoC that they can do whatever they feel like with no consumer recourse, and they're good to go.
Jun 5, 2019, 10:16 am
#59
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And again would love to have folks more knowledgable than me in this area of law chime in, but I don't believe AA could write into the CoC that they are immune from false advertising regulations.
*If AA sold a Concorde flight from JFK to LHR and actually operated it with a 757 every day, I'm pretty sure there would be some legal claim there.
Jun 5, 2019, 10:36 am
#60
Join Date: Jan 2011
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Although not much is known publicly about Helix ratings, I believe the theory is that complaints/delays/disruptions actually make your Helix rating go up, if anything.