Deterioration of treatment of elites during irregular operations?
Jun 19, 2019, 8:39 pm
#17
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: The FT AA forum, until it no longer wants me.
Programs: CK or bust
Posts: 1,913
A traveler, however elite, can't pacify a union, change leadership, address operational issues, or influence the weather.
There are some great points here but a key approach for the frequent flyer of today is to travel more defensively (i.e. know your alternatives/possible endorsement opportunities and how to get it down whether that be club access, saving an alternate language's call center number on your mobile device).
There are some great points here but a key approach for the frequent flyer of today is to travel more defensively (i.e. know your alternatives/possible endorsement opportunities and how to get it down whether that be club access, saving an alternate language's call center number on your mobile device).
Jun 20, 2019, 4:28 am
#19
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: New York, NY, USA
Programs: BAGold; AA3MMPlat; UA1MMGold; FBGold; MarriottAmb; AccorPlat; HHGold; ICPlatAmb; HyattDiscoverist
Posts: 4,378
Did they do something along those lines for EXPs, too, pre-Parker? I remember being happy with the help I got in IRROPs back when. Nowadays, when I’ve been booked on flights that have been canceled, “THE SYSTEM” has rebooked me on ridiculous and unacceptable alternatives, but I’ve been able to figure out what would work for me, called and been rebooked on that.
Jun 20, 2019, 4:41 am
#20
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Austin
Programs: AA EXP +2MM- LT PLT! HH Diamond
Posts: 6,087
Yes, I agree that the AC is a great resource. I did make use of it (you might remember my recent post about AA meal vouchers not being accepted at the AC). But in this case even the AAngels were unfortunately not a lot of help, although they certainly were positive and proactive. Whatever cultural disease is infecting the rest of AA's employees does not seem to have reached the Admirals Clubs, as far as I have seen.
saunders111
saunders111
Agents incl. Premium go to QIK over Sabre PSS Q1 2017, Restricting Services
Jun 20, 2019, 6:13 am
#21
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: AUS
Programs: AA Exec Platinum/MM, DL Gold/MM, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 6,975
Did they do something along those lines for EXPs, too, pre-Parker? I remember being happy with the help I got in IRROPs back when. Nowadays, when I’ve been booked on flights that have been canceled, “THE SYSTEM” has rebooked me on ridiculous and unacceptable alternatives, but I’ve been able to figure out what would work for me, called and been rebooked on that.
Jun 20, 2019, 6:23 am
#22
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2006
Programs: AAdvantage PP
Posts: 13,913
The AC staff just isn't going to have the time to research options for you. However, when I've found an alternative, and sometimes a crazy alternative like flying from DFW to LAX and back to MIA on a redeye they've always taken care of my request. Possibly in a smaller AC they might have the time to proactively search for multiple rerouting possibilities.
Jun 20, 2019, 10:04 am
#23
Join Date: Apr 2018
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 58
As mentioned by others, given that planes are mostly full these days, the value of a “free” upgrade is practically zero.
Futhermore, the skies are more crowded than ever, creating the possibility of delays from weather, mechanical, or other issues. Making them all more likely. And like RyanAir and the other slave ship operators of the sky, all airlines have been conditioning the traveler to accept the “there’s nothing we can do” answer, which is generally true, because the choice architecture has been established that the traveler has no option that is much better.
Given this reality, I simply hope for the best every time I plan or make a journey via air. Yes, I’ve had mostly good experiences in terms of arriving at my destinations reasonably close to predicted times. But no, service, comfort, and options for use of status or miles have been well below promises made.
Such as it is, the race to the bottom continues, led by the Ryans, the EasyJets, the “next one to go bankrupt” see WOW, which wasn’t so “wow.”
Just look at air travel as getting on an old bus. You’ll be pleasant surprised it’s slightly better, but not much.
Jun 20, 2019, 8:01 pm
#24
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,313
I dunno. Kind of feel pretty happy with the experiences I've had with irregular ops. I've tried to get my stuff fixed in the admirals Club during delays. I had a mechanical cause a minimum 6 hour delay on an afternoon flight, and I knew I'd not get to the city I was planning to fly until the wee hours of the morning if mechanical issue got fixed and the crew didn't time out first... so I asked if I could get a hotel room from them and go out in the morning. they said sure and when they looked at the list of hotels available there was a resort (with resort fees) near the airport that they said is rarely available and I should take that. The AC Angels were actually excited to see it LOL. They gave me round trip taxi vouchers and a food voucher along with the hotel room. I'm just a lowly Platinum so I was pretty impressed.
Jun 20, 2019, 9:36 pm
#26
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: CMH
Programs: BA Gold, AA Plat, NK $9 fare club
Posts: 666
When you have 6,000+ flights daily.....
As a customer that lives in the outstation CMH, I very frequently have to connect through the AA hubs to get to my final destination. My only real issue during IROPS of any kind is that there are limited premium seats available, mostly due to upgrades many hours prior to departure. It makes quite an issue once I've arrived LATE at a hub an look to maintain my business/first seat an a later fligth. If we could hold a few seats back, I believe it would make quite the difference to connecting passengers. For example, hold upgrades back until you're ready for a gate departure and do that right before boarding...from one who always buys premium when flying American, this policy would make sense. ^
As far as treatment of elites, I have had the opposite experience.
I'm a Platinum Pro member, and I've had both gate agents and Admirals Club agents bend over backwards for me to get my flight choices managed (multiple Admirals Club agents at different hubs have even accompanied me to the departure gate). ^
It's kind of a mixed bag of issues at the moment...
As far as treatment of elites, I have had the opposite experience.
I'm a Platinum Pro member, and I've had both gate agents and Admirals Club agents bend over backwards for me to get my flight choices managed (multiple Admirals Club agents at different hubs have even accompanied me to the departure gate). ^
It's kind of a mixed bag of issues at the moment...
Jun 21, 2019, 1:13 am
#27
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Kansas City, USA
Programs: AA Gold, Delta Platinum, Marriott Titanium, IHG Plat, AVIS Preferred, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,066
I hate to keep comparing AA to Delta but this one area where Delta is wayyyyyy ahead of AA. Case and point: two weeks ago I flew DL outbound MCI-ATL-ORF and returned on American ORF-CLT-MCI. Both airlines had delays on their respective segments but DL agents seemed empowered to make decisions in order to help the customer. With AA, all I got was "I can't, they won't allow me, it's not possible". The willingness and ability to help a customer on the AA side, just seems very limited these days.
Jun 21, 2019, 10:09 am
#28
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP/OWE, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 880
There are some great points here but a key approach for the frequent flyer of today is to travel more defensively (i.e. know your alternatives/possible endorsement opportunities and how to get it down whether that be club access, saving an alternate language's call center number on your mobile device).
We also book refundable/fully cancellable hotel rooms at airports where we may miss a connection or get stuck overnight due to weather as a backup backup.
If the trip is vital, we will book a flex/refundable fare. (Like a wedding or a funeral, etc) I'd recommend doing the same. Second recommendation is to book a full travel day outside of the days that you MUST be at your destination. It's amazing how quickly delays can balloon and your 20min delay turns into 6 hours, or worse, overnight at the airport and suddenly you miss something major.
Definitely utilize all tools at your disposal, lounge staff, management, if you can rebook using your AA phone app in IRROPS, it's usually quicker than dealing with an AAngel and definitely quicker than a GA or CS. I was shocked at how easy it was to use during IRROPS.
Jun 21, 2019, 12:16 pm
#29
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Somewhere...
Programs: AA PLT/3MM, UA GM/1MM, DL DM/1MM, FB Plat, AS MVP Gold, WN AList+
Posts: 1,588
I hate to keep comparing AA to Delta but this one area where Delta is wayyyyyy ahead of AA. Case and point: two weeks ago I flew DL outbound MCI-ATL-ORF and returned on American ORF-CLT-MCI. Both airlines had delays on their respective segments but DL agents seemed empowered to make decisions in order to help the customer. With AA, all I got was "I can't, they won't allow me, it's not possible". The willingness and ability to help a customer on the AA side, just seems very limited these days.
In any case, as a 'mere' LTP (3.5M) they did nothing for me proactively, had no answers on how to get me to YYZ, and the most they would offer was a refund on the ticket (which I gladly took considering my 0% expectations with AA as of now). I had to rebook my connecting flight to PVG (MU - different ticket) at some cost - but again, no care from AA on that failure either. Of course, I sent a note to AA on all this reminding them why my most/all of my 50-60K in annual air spend will be staying away from their company for the foreseeable future because of this failure - amongst others - on their part for the last 2-3 years.
...and, the response from AA to a note on all this. Nothing.
DL, UA and WN all do a far better job of looking our for their elites - of all levels - than AA does IMHO. Again, it seems things have fallen to 'unless you are CK, you might as well just be a first time flyer' at AA. Interestingly, this is the same tactic 'Jeffy' pushed at UA with GS until he got pushed out the door himself for some of his other bad choices.
Under Oscar, things seem to be getting better on this count as I am a bit surprised as to how UA treats me lately as a mere *G - albeit a MM one.
Last edited by CoMooter; Jun 21, 2019 at 12:22 pm
Jun 21, 2019, 2:49 pm
#30
Suspended
Join Date: May 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: DL Diamond, AAdvantage EXP, Hyatt Explorist, HHonors Diamond, Avis First
Posts: 7,344
I hate to keep comparing AA to Delta but this one area where Delta is wayyyyyy ahead of AA. Case and point: two weeks ago I flew DL outbound MCI-ATL-ORF and returned on American ORF-CLT-MCI. Both airlines had delays on their respective segments but DL agents seemed empowered to make decisions in order to help the customer. With AA, all I got was "I can't, they won't allow me, it's not possible". The willingness and ability to help a customer on the AA side, just seems very limited these days.