enpremiere

I empathize with the OP's plight in that the underlying cause was an AA issue but the GAs are under pressure to close the flight so they don't have time to dither. Sometimes split-second decisions are required with very little information and the outcomes aren't always what we would have desired had all the avenues been clear upfront.

edwin_p_morales

This response may not be perceived as helpful, but the correct answer here is to stop flying AA. They are terrible at this kind of thing.

I spent a long 9 months dealing with similar nonsense this past year. Something vaguely similar to this happened every 3-4 flights or so. The last three months with DL have been night and day.

Seriously, just stop. Find a company that actually knows how to operate an airline.

MarkOK

Yes, and this is an AA problem, and one that is rectifiable. Closing the doors at T-10 doesn't have to be the goal. This is another case of poor customer service brought to you by stupid corporate AA paper pushers. I've been a victim of this madness as well.


The OP is owed much more than an apology. A connecting passenger shouldn't have a paid J seat swiped from under them during a tight connection due to AA errors. It undermines the SOP that AA has us follow to "run and try to make your connection".

I wouldn't accept a Y seat in this case either -- a 'fare difference' refund is a slap in the face considering the Y fare AA still takes is not something you chose (or would choose) to purchase.

Often1

On the contrary, it is the very nature of commercial air travel that "the best for the most" has to rule the day. This is not about fault, but rather about reality. Thus, why OP was late to the departure gate (the deadline is T-30, not T-10) is irrelevant. Rather, that is the time AA judges it needs to properly close and dispatch a long-haul flight. It is also not an unreasonable time as most carriers have such a deadline and for exactly the same reason.

Presumably OP did not lose the J seat in a vacuum. Rather there were passengers waiting for an upgrade. If they aren't processed at T-30, is it T-25 or when?

At ORD, a late push can easily mean a 30-minute delay while one is slotted back into the pattern by Ground Control. That may mean an arrival delay and then a delay for the people at NRT.

More importantly, when the flight is about to close, there is no way that a GA is going to spend time research possibilities with one passenger. As OP found, it was that second or never and OP selected the "never" (perhaps entirely correctly).

KKinLA

If they had upgraded someone to his seat they should have un-upgraded that person. Delta did that for me once when I was late because of mechanical problems on the inbound flight.

jerseytom

To be fair here, another criticism of AA is their on-time performance and that they (along with UA) have lagged behind DL in this metric. So I can appreciate there's pressure to close the door and ship out when time's up. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Holding flights / being flexible on door close, and being on time, are two contradictory objectives.

tessy143

How mad was your wife !

Gig103

I would love to know who got his J seat - it seems the most likely winners were an SWU or nonrev, but to me either should have gone back to their Y seat when OP arrived at the gate.

MSPeconomist

AA's rules say that you can lose your seat (assignment) at T-30 and be denied boarding at T-10. We had this discussion on FT before. The question is whether a passenger arriving at the gate between T-30 and T-10 (or whenever final standbys are seated and the door closes) is entitled to a seat in the cabin purchased or just some seat on the plane.

enpremiere

For stations with MCTs of 25 minutes, if a flight landed with a 27 minute connection, an unfortunate passenger could be (by the letter of that policy) fried before even stepping off the jet bridge.

TomMM

OP, you missed out on the opportunity for lifetime blackmail material against your kid! Every time they complained about something you could have reminded them about "The sacrifice daddy made flying in economy for their birth. Barefooted in winter!"

ralph4878

Minimum connection time at ORD is 40 minutes, so if the flight was delayed by 45 minutes, I can see how the airline would not think a passenger was going to make this flight. That doesn't mean this situation doesn't suck, but it is what it is...this is why I hate tight connections!

I am wondering, though, why the OP thinks the airline should compensate him because of a medical emergency that led to the early birth of his child...what control or responsibility does the airline have on that? To my knowledge, AA has no control over someone's medical conditions, unless their actions cause it.

J S

This is really unfair. The poster already said he had no idea his child would be born at that time. Condemning him/her for choosing business class over the birth of his/her child is not accurate. He/she did not make that choice.

MarkOK

United connectionsaver holds flights for an average of 6 minutes , they operate it at ORD, and they claim to have saved about 3-4,000 connections per month. Even without having the software, giving GAs a flexible 2-3 minutes to wait on door closure when they need to accommodate a few passengers running at the gate is very doable without hurting anyone, while helping many.

For a customer on a paid J seat that is possibly making a connection, I would argue the 'upgrade' should wait until the doors are (practically) closed. For empty seats, by all means upgrades should be processed before boarding starts, but every effort should be made to protect a paid seat for a customer that has any chance of making a tight connection.

Yet, united seems perfectly happy holding flights for 6 minutes at ORD. From March 1, 2019-Jan 1, 2020, ORD-departing flights, United has 22.55% of their flights late, while AA has 24.89% of their flights late. I would argue that the statistics show that T-10 door closure vs a more flexible approach when needed is not in any way "the best for the most".

https://www.transtats.bts.gov/ONTIME/OriginAirport.aspx

J S

Good advice, but in this case, I am guess that (even if he/she had checked luggage), the luggage would not have made the connection and so would not have been loaded given that he/she was running to make the connection.