burntoc

So I've put up with my share of flight issues over the years, as we all have, and I've come to grips with the "delays and cancellations happen" thing. I've been AA Gold for most years, and I could have come close to Platinum if coming close would have made sense, but it didn't. This year I'll probably reach 50K miles by late Aug as my territory grew fourfold. Anyway, I'll spare you the details, but the highlights of my trip from PHX to SNA include a late night mechanical flight cancellation, assignment to a 2 star hotel with no shuttle service, and a 7am new departure held up the next morning by another hour because they didn't have the weight from the bags (so yes, unload and reload them all).

I feel disgusted with American's treatment of many of us, and as a status, even just Gold, it seems worse. I filled in the form to register a complaint and I've heard not a peep in over 24 hours. I called in and I was told that no matter your status level, you can't call in to customer relations about a complaint like this. Fill in the form and wait. That can't possibly be true, can it? If so, I find it patently unacceptable, and the way I've been treated on the other airlines has been good enough that I'd really like any pointers about how to status match to Delta or United. The irony is I had changed the flight to come back a day earlier as one of my business meetings cancelled and American waived the fee, which I thought was a pleasant surprise. My company would have paid the fee, but it seemed like they were recognizing loyalty, maybe. Obviously not. Oh year, my last flight of 2019, also PHX to SNA, was delayed 3+ hours and even then I ended up in another airport - and I still missed my son's championship soccer game I'd planned a 2 hour buffer in to be home for.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Yes basically you're going to need to wait. As far as missing your son's game. Delays happen on ALL airlines. If you want or have a job with travel that's the deal. I know plenty of people that give up a job with travel because of all the problems it causes on the home front.

As a GLD AA just isn't that into you. Even as a PP I know where I am on the food chain, and it's not very high. DL seems much better at irregular operations. They do some status matches although on the GLD level I'm not sure. But even DL has it's terrible moments. It's what air travel has become. Packed planes, tighter seats, less dedicated resources (more self serve), more fees, etc.

Loyalty is no longer about how much you fly but how much you spend.

ZBigFam

I was United 1k (still am till 1/31). Cancellations and delays happen all the time. Last time it happened to me was early 2019, they couldn't land at our original airport due to snow.

Lots of pissed off passengers all they did was give me a cash coupon and a stay at a hotel, I booked my own because I didn't like the hotel.

It's basically the same no matter where you go.

mvoight

Passengers were pissed off at the airline because of the snow?

ZBigFam

Pissed because they couldn't get to their destination on time, as most people would, maybe you wouldn't but i understood their anger. For me I was on an expense account so i could book a nicer hotel but i would have been annoyed at staying at the hotel they assigned us.

ijgordon

AA customer relations (aka the complaint line) hasn't accepted inbound telephone calls for at least several years. They'll get back to you, I don't know if expecting a response in 24 hours is reasonable, they're probably getting too many complaints to handle. If your concern is upcoming travel, then you can call reservations.

enpremiere

Being weather-related, today that voucher would be a very rare occurrence.

burntoc

ijgordon I do find the comment about a 24 hour response possibly being unreasonable interesting. Certainly you've come to accept it here. Would you be fine with it anywhere else you spend $25K/year? FWIW, I'm not.

I get that the airline industry, at least the US carriers, aren't in the same league as Emirates or heck, even BA, but yeah, I want to get the best experience I can for the dollars I spend. I know there are those that spend far more, but this is plenty. And since most of my flights are West Coast business trips they tend to cost more (less advance notice) and be more profitable (we pay many more cancellations and change fees than I would) than personal travel. And there are quite a few flights (because there are quite a few folks with the same, predictable needs) from say, Phoenix to Orange County or Vegas to Los Angeles. That's why I think reconsidering my job for travel because 3 hour delays with no recourse for getting you other flgihts, even if it is on another airlines is absurd.

I guess all of this is to say that while they're all bad, and they all certainly have terrible moments, it is reported that Delta, Alaska, etc. are not as bad as American. As a DFW native now in SoCal they've always been my go to carrier, and I hate to see that now it seems like they're just literally just "mailing it in" in this area.

QueenOfCoach

Here's where I would usually write my snarky "Goodbye Cruel Airline" note.

In your case, I feel moved to hold back the snarkiness. You are not satisfied and for good reason. I feel your pain.

Moving to another airline that better suits your needs might be your best course of action, rather than wasting time trying to complain to a very large company. What is your time worth?

I would just cut and run. Goodbye Cruel Airline.

burntoc

I definitely appreciate the non-snarky comments and I usually just write those off as valueless noise anyway. What you have all shared has validated my fears and suspicions, but it has definitely motivated me to re-evaluate my plans for this year to look at more options.

schrodingerdog

Sorry, but I think you have very unrealistic expectations.

I'd expect a 24h turnoaround in a complaint for serious safety and health problems (the pilot entered the cockpit with a bottle of vodka, my food had worms on it etc).

Compensation for a cancelled flight, sorry, but it does not need to be addressed in 24h.

JDiver

See Contacting American Airlines Customer Relations & Complaint, Issues (master thread).

By the way, BA has gruesome service recovery.

jcain

If you spend that much to only get around 50K EQM you should take a serious look at United. Their status qualification is now almost entirely spend-based and with that much you'd be 1K or close to it.

deeruck

I'm surprised you only reach Gold when spending $25k/yr. Plenty of Exp Plats spending much less than you, but I think their treatment would have been the same here. Like others I would have been booking myself into a preferred hotel, and taking my chances with claiming the expense back from AA later.

burntoc

No apology needed, at least not on your part, and I didn't say anything about compensation, actually, although I imagine we can agree that they should do something. We can agree to disagree, but my feeling is if someone is spending $25K+ with you, especially in a business where the average transaction is ~$330, you shouldn't treat them as low priority, and low value - both of which are reflected in untimely responses and putting people in literally the cheapest hotel where safety considerations doesn't statisitcally come into play.

Again, totally fine with my position here, and with you having a different one. It's clear to me, right or wrong, what the level of expectation is, at least in this subforum. I'm not bitter, just further enlightened as a result of the responses.