dls25

I've never seen or heard of DL putting someone another carrier, ever.
Even if your flight is delayed 28 hours.
AA is definitely above DL with interlining.

metallo

AA clarified their rebooking policies in late 2018... here is a link to a story about it in the Dallas paper.

Basically, if you're flying in Y with no status, they won't rebook you on another airline, with very few exceptions (e.g. wedding, funeral). The agent was therefore apparently correctly following AA policy, although it sounds like it could have been more professionally communicated to the OP.

cmd320

So basically if you’re a Y pax with no status there’s no IRROPs benefit to flying AA over NK, F9, or G4. Good to know.

enviroian

For kicks and giggles the Y/no status traveler accounts for what % of AA flying customers? I have no idea. Greater than 50%? I wonder if DL and UA have similar policies.

How many people do you think know if AA goes mx and you are a kettle you get nothing and like it?

Kamalaasaa

DL definitely did this for me - or at least non-Skyteam.

i was scheduled to fly DL to JFK, then connect to FCO, with onward connection on AZ. JFK was closed due to snow so they routed me via ATL and FRA, with onward connection via LH.

hotturnip

The news story that was linked says that Delta's policy is not the same as AA's. There's no stated policy to deny interlining to Y pax.

This is good information. It turns AA into WN for most leisure travellers. I'd say if I lived in Texas, where those two compete most directly, no reason to fly AA anymore.

Uzzar

Just responding to this specific comment, as other posters have addressed the major issues. Right now AA flights are so packed that this is very common. I was at DFW Monday (after storms Sunday night) and many flights were cancelled, with some pax not being able to be rebooked until Wednesday! AA does not have enough flights (or room on existing flights) to handle the number of pax displaced when a single flight cancels. When multiple flights cancel (as happened Monday/Tuesday) there are hundreds in your shoes, technically stranded for 24-48 hours. If you don't have upper tier status, you are in trouble.

Sinead2000

The newspaper article says that they can make exceptions including for people who have no place to stay...that would be us. No car, no hotel (without incurring the cost of both to take flight the next day...plus the loss of one night's lodging in Vegas). I am hoping that I get refunded, otherwise, no more AA for me. I do typically fly with Delta when going to the US.

dls25

International policies are different than domestic. AA has done things like this as well. I should clarify, I've never heard of DL rebooking someone on a different carrier domestically in modern times.

cmd320

No idea not the percentage of non-status AA customers flying Y, though I'd guess it's definitely more than 50% on most flights. Nowadays I'd expect it's probably close to 90% or possibly even more.

I have personally been accommodated by DL flying Y without status at times, cannot speak for UA as I don't fly them enough to have any major IRROPs experience. Also cannot speak for basic Y which may have different rules than regular Y.

jayer

Any airline re-booking you on another alliance if you have not left on your first leg almost never happens anymore. Seats are just too tight. You are presumed to be able to just go home and try again later. Not saying I agree with the policy. But it is not exclusive to American.

I will concur with the idea stated above that life is less complicated if you book end-to-end directly with a single carrier. The alternative is one of the few remaining real travel agencies that you pay for service. You have fallen into the twilight zone that is online travel agencies.

boerne

this. Even this EXP was offered next day after a cancel. Flights full. Saving money by not hiring to fill all positions. Minimal pilots and FAs. Crew out of time. Wx makes it worse. Overworked GAs stressed and less kind. I Am participating in the cc thing to keep EXP. But all my expensive flights are on UA/*A with one on JetBlue. Sorry/not sorry AA. Also I probably have a pretty good helix score but I don’t really care right now because AA doesn’t care as far as I can see. LTP will be fine after 2023 until they nuke it, then by by.

writerguyfl

American has software that lets the canceled passenger select a different flight without speaking to a person. That option along with the fact that AA has a much larger fleet means non-status passengers will have far more options on American when compared to Spirit (at least). That's an IRROPs benefit, as far as I'm concerned.

One of the contributing factors to Spirit's recent/ongoing meltdown is that they were too cheap to invest in that sort of software. The only option for canceled Spirit passengers is to wait (in person or on the phone) to talk to a human in order to get rebooked. That model isn't horrible if you only have a couple canceled flights daily. However, when you have hundreds of cancelations compounded daily, it becomes a nightmare for everyone.

I looked but wasn't able to determine if Allegiant or Frontier use auto-rebooking or customer-rebooking software. Therefore, they might be better than Spirit.

arollins

This right here is why sometimes I wonder if its really worth it to use OTA's. The whole back and forth when problems come in is not good. OP wants to go home same day, not sure on possibility of that, but instead, the 2 parties involved (OTA/carrier) point at each other and do nothing. Is all a stalling mechanism to do nothing. I'm sure there are others that are affected as well.

OP, I have not check if mentioned, but what was reason for cancellation, also, is AA providing food and hotel?

cmd320

They're still waiting to spin the wheel of "circumstances beyond our control" to see what it comes up with tonight... my guess is it's going to land on weather.