Often1

Not a criticism of OP in the least, but these games of telephone almost always lose something in the passing on of the facts. Those matter and those who advocate suing and otherwise going off the rails before learning them all do not help OP or the course of discussion much at all.

OP is posting on an Internet site based on what her son told her from a presumably stressful encounter and is now at or headed to someplace else.

If the OP were the passenger himself, it might be possible to obtain the timeline and who said what and when. But, it is rarely possible in these circumstances.

I agree that there is something missing here. If the son's ticket was properly cancelled, odd that he was rebooked by a frontline agent. If the son's ticket was improperly cancelled, odd that he was not reinstated when there was space and it would have been just as easy to do so. Thus, neither laziness nor incompetence suggest an answer here.

What we do know is that OP received a notice of cancellation while her son was in the air. Thus suggests something at SEA.

donotblink

I vaguely remember reading something that revenue flights might be able to be oversold for new ticket purchases but non elites can’t be accommodated on an oversold flight. I don’t remember all of the details or of that’s even correct.

enviroian

OP I would seek legal advise up to and including a lawsuit if your accounts are accurate.

arollins

OP posted, but has not come back with additional info. I think the SEA-LAX was with Alaska, somehow the info did not passed through to AA of boarding, and the rest is cancelled. Was this one ticket? Why couldn't AA re-accommodate traveler after presenting itself in LAX? There are some missing pieces to the story.
Good luck.

joe_miami

At minimum, seems like standby should have been an option.

Almost assuredly, there’s more to this story.

Often1

Not sure what makes anyone think the son flew AS as AA serves that route 3x+ daily.

But, indeed it goes to show that gathering the facts is important. If indeed it was AS which marked the son as a no show and thus AA cancelled the remaining segments based on what AS reported, it is AS which is on the hook (although that still does not explain why AA accommodated the son on alternate flights when the original itinerary was available).

film_girl

This has happened to me before too. In fact, in one case, my direct flight was canceled and I was forced to take a connection that looked to arrive too late to connect. I proactively had my sister call AA while I was on the plane, asking to be put on standby for the next flight, just in case.

I made the connection, but because AA didn’t think I would, they gave my seat away to other standby passengers (that I had to watch board), then argued with me about getting on earlier standby. And I wound up being forced to spend 6 hours in DCA. As a rule, I now refuse to fly AA unless it’s on someone else’s miles or there is no other option.

OP, I’m not sure of the details here, but since your son clearly made his flight to LAX, as others have said, document and record everything you can. Additionally, if there are any purchases your son made in the airport, catalog that too. I’m not sure if it would be possible to pull up cell phone location records for this sort of situation — but I would call your wireless carrier and see if they can get you that data to show location/time to at least corroborate your son was at the airport.

Best of luck.

saunders111

I reported my experience with this situation last summer in a post on this forum. Briefly: I was a PLT delayed due to mechanical issues compounded by weather. I was able to reserve for purchase tickets on AA flights on which AA was unwilling to rebook me as a stranded passenger.

saunders111

donotblink

Did you buy them? And if so, did you get a refund?

ramcm7

I had an odd cancellation experience. I arrived at my Southwest gate at ALB at 0600 for a 1430 meeting in Warrenville, IL to find my direct flight to MDW had been canceled. TRAINEE offered to route me through BWI to MDW. It is boarding now. Here are your 2 boarding passes, you'd better hurry. I get on in ALB and fly to BWI without incident. Wait for my boarding group to MDW to board. Get on and sit down. [Announcement] "Is (me) on board? [Grab bag; walk to front of plane and up jetway. My boarding pass was apparently invalid because TRAINEE canceled my entire reservation after I had boarded ALB-BWI leg. Thanks, Buddy. It's OK. I can still get on this BWI-MDW flight. Cool. Reboarded.

Then... that happened to be one of the times the air traffic control facility near Aurora, IL caught fire. We got diverted to SDF and cooled our heels for a few hours. Eventually got to MDW. Missed 1430 meeting.

Travel fun!

coolcoil

I know from personal experience that it is possible to board and have the system think you have not, even on a conventional flight with no changes. A couple of years ago on an MIA-MDE flight:

Cell phone rings
Me: hello
Gate Agent: Mr. coolcoil, are you flying MDE-MIA today?
Me: I am.
Gate agent: Where are you?
Me: I am on the plane sitting in my seat.
Gate agent: Oh, OK. Sorry to bother you. (Then before she hung up I overheard her say to another person: "He's on board.")

I guess my BP did not properly scan. There was no flight change or anything else that appeared to be unusual during boarding. Given the GA's ready acceptance of my statement that I was on board, I suspect this is not an extremely rare occurrence.

I wonder if I would have received that call if I didn't have checked luggage.

MSPeconomist

I've been interpreting the Christmas present upgrade to mean something like mommy/daddy using miles or paying the fare difference for the kid's upgrade.

SJWarrior

Had similar with DL on a quick turnaround. Fly into ICT for dinner, next morning show up at counter and was told my ticket was cancelled because I didn’t make the outbound flight. I’m arguing with the GA asking here then how did I get here? Thankfully there was a no show and they let me fly back.

Going round and round with the GA, it felt like the old abbot and Costello routine of who’s on first.

wonder what happened to the OP?

justhere

In fairness to the GA, there are a number of ways you could have gotten there that doesn't involve flying DL there the night before. You might as well have asked "what did I have for dinner last night?"

joepercussion1

Part of why I check my bags and leave the tags on them until I get new ones. That’s pretty good proof of what you flew