Stocktc1

Instead of waiting in a long line to get a hotel stay, I just found my own hotel. How do I get reimbursed?

everyone yesterday on phone and chat said go to counter at airport to arrange a hotel. I went to the priority desk at check in and the lady said go online to refunds…

IADCAflyer

Yup, stuck in Curacao. No flights until Wednesday.

Lux Flyer

Sound like they should've offered more than 150% pay to get more takers then.

enviroian

What did they say when you asked to be put on other carriers? Let me guess "it's weather".

BS.

wakesetter93

Airlines have been hiding behind the "weather" excuse forever, it's ridiculous.

beachfan

I'm interested in this as I thought they recently clarified that no reimbursement, just vouchers.

pseudoswede

I suppose there are worse places to get stuck for two more days. Hope you have good travel insurance, and hope you didn't actually have to get home for something important.

LarryJ

Weather is definitely involved, but it isn't the underlying problem.

When there are weather (or ATC or other) disruptions, crews misconnect and end up out of position so additional crews are needed to cover the flights that they were supposed to fly. If an airline is running with very tight staffing then they don't have those extra crews so flights cancel. When the flights cancel, crews who were supposed to have been positioned by those cancelled flights, whether working, deadheading, or commuting, don't get positioned so more flights cancel.

If you have been running with minimal staffing for some time prior to the disruption, many crewmembers are already tired of flying so much and are less likely to pickup additional trips when the disruptions occur--even at premium pay rates.

The underlying problem is that AA, SW, and to a much lessor degree, DL management underestimated the speed of the recovery when they were making their long-range staffing plans a year, or more, ago. That's understandable as predicting the course of the pandemic has been anything but easy. As the recovery has progressed, most airlines have been a bit optimistic in setting their schedules and estimating how aggressive of a schedule their crew levels could support.

It takes a long time, and lots of money, to hire and train more crewmembers. It isn't something that can be fixed overnight and airlines aren't he only industry that is having trouble keeping up with customer demand.

wakesetter93

I totally get your point. My point is, while weather may have been the initial disruptor, it's unfare to claim weather days after the fact.

If my flight is cancelled because of a thunderstorm, that's on the weather. If my flight is cancelled because the airline is struggling to recover operations started by weather 3 days earlier, that's on the airline.

Kacee

Which is part of the reason the federal government gifted billions to these airlines not to shed staff.

beachfan

So I'm guessing that end of the month and first two days of the month are not wise days to book an AA flight for the next few months? Anyone with another perspective?

Beckles

I'd avoid non-essential travel on days that end in the letter 'Y' for a few months ... until spring.

IADCAflyer

They said nothing available; they also attempted to use the rationale that it was an award ticket....

Lets also note that options are pretty limited. AA is the only US carrier flying here at the moment. Other passengers are stuck here until Friday.

Stocktc1

I bought a one way ticket a-b-c. First leg is commuter plane.

stuck in dfw for 2 days. Just want to go b back to a but aa refuses as I didnt buy a round trip ticket , told me to buy a ticket…

Beckles

The magic words in this situation are 'trip in vain', not sure how that applies with just a one-way ticket.