AA Dropped All Segments After First Flown, ‘HDQ’ in PNR
May 15, 22, 9:45 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Posts: 2,988
AA Dropped All Segments After First Flown, ‘HDQ’ in PNR
Hello everyone!
Experienced something I haven’t seen before on any airline, plus I am not a frequent AA flyer as of late, so I wanted the brain trust here to weigh in, please.
I booked 4 people in flagship business ANC-DFW-MIA-GRU-VVI (and an OJ return routing that hasn’t been flown yet).
Agent in ANC was very efficient, got us all checked in, printed BPs for all flights, including the final G3 flight, and tagged bags all the way to VVI.
ANC-DFW had some of the best domestic F service, AA or not. Everything going well. Check into the Flagship lounge at DFW. Had to leave my BP with the agent who is at the rebooking area towards the back of the club, who also handles showers, while I showered.
They remind me Admirals has guac. I pop in there and meet the pilot for DFW-GRU in the guac line; he asks why we didn’t fly with him instead, then a few minutes later goes “oh shoot, they just told me I’m over by 8, no wonder you can’t fly with me!”
I pull up AA.com to see if MIA-GRU was full, and notice 2 of our seats empty; I almost had a heart attack because the rez I’ve been babying for months, picked all the meals and seats on, etc. has NO segments remaining besides ANC-DFW.
I run to the rebooking agent in the Flagship lounge. He is shocked. He calls the DOD Desk. They already cleared 2 upgrades into 2 of our 4 J seats, and the other 2 disappeared momentarily later. The agent kept apologizing and repeating how unacceptable this is.
DOD Desk would only rebook us in Y for MIA-GRU on the same flight that we already had J BPs for and had luggage checked in for. Another agent in the lounge kept digging and she found that at 1:51 pm central time, the system recorded changes including someone from HDQ making the deletions and that the system had their agent sine. The agent on the phone with DOD claimed that they told him that someone logged into guest mode at AA.com at the same time and cancelled the remainder of the trip.
***
AA1536 taking us DFW-MIA is the same 777-200 that was going MIA-GRU. We took a 2 hour mechanical delay, then swapped planes, then waited another 2.5 hours for luggage and catering to transfer over. AA995 (MIA-GRU, our original flight) was delayed such that we would have misconnected in GRU (so I am glad that DFW grabbed the last 4 seats on the next day’s MIA-GRU in J). DFW was supposed to get us hotels in MIA but they didn’t. DFW only did this once a Manager realized we had luggage checked through and paper J BPs for MIA-GRU already…
At least DFW did document that this was totally involuntary and that we did NOT accept a downgrade to Y on MIA-GRU.
*****
My questions for the brain trust:
1.) How does this happen? I was in the shower at flagship when the cancellation occurred. The agent at the shower/rebooking desk was insanely nice and we got along very well aka no bad blood at all!
Could the agent or a passenger have taken the PNR and done this? Or did someone in Fort Worth really cancel us to rebook higher fare etc pax?
Could it have been the plane swap for DFW-MIA? The aircraft was identical, and the swap occurred about 3 hours after the 1:51 pm time stamp aforementioned.
2.) How do I prevent this from happening today? Today’s MIA-GRU is sold out in J. I checked JFK, DFW, GIG, etc - all full in J for even 1 seat. I asked for OAL accom but was told it wouldn’t be in J class.
3.) Will AA reimburse ground transport and hotels in MIA? Or the first night of hotel at the final destination? This was a mechanical and it is all well documented / the flagship lounge agent showed me all the schedule change notes and all the remarks they had left indicating a mechanical and or agent error caused this.
4.) Will AA offer any compensation?
5.) Is there any way to get our original seats and meal orders back? We had to ask the pax in our seats (because 2 stuck and 2 changed) for DFW-MIA to swap. They didn’t really speak English and the gate agent assigned them the seats, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t give us our seats back and just reassign the pax who didn’t have seats.
Thank you so much for any advice you can give as to why this occurred and what I can do to prevent deja vu today.
P.S. Managers are difficult to reach; is there a term to use? The Flagship Lounge ‘Coordinator’ didn’t know how to rebook and wasn’t very helpful. I found a manager in plain clothes near another gate who was pretty dismissive and told me to call the 800 number.
I finally found an ‘OC’ wearing a uniform at the D24 rebooking area who protected us on the 4 seats from MIA-GRU the next day. His eyebrow raise when he saw paper BPs for the flight in question in J, and luggage checked through, was pretty funny TBH.
Experienced something I haven’t seen before on any airline, plus I am not a frequent AA flyer as of late, so I wanted the brain trust here to weigh in, please.
I booked 4 people in flagship business ANC-DFW-MIA-GRU-VVI (and an OJ return routing that hasn’t been flown yet).
Agent in ANC was very efficient, got us all checked in, printed BPs for all flights, including the final G3 flight, and tagged bags all the way to VVI.
ANC-DFW had some of the best domestic F service, AA or not. Everything going well. Check into the Flagship lounge at DFW. Had to leave my BP with the agent who is at the rebooking area towards the back of the club, who also handles showers, while I showered.
They remind me Admirals has guac. I pop in there and meet the pilot for DFW-GRU in the guac line; he asks why we didn’t fly with him instead, then a few minutes later goes “oh shoot, they just told me I’m over by 8, no wonder you can’t fly with me!”
I pull up AA.com to see if MIA-GRU was full, and notice 2 of our seats empty; I almost had a heart attack because the rez I’ve been babying for months, picked all the meals and seats on, etc. has NO segments remaining besides ANC-DFW.
I run to the rebooking agent in the Flagship lounge. He is shocked. He calls the DOD Desk. They already cleared 2 upgrades into 2 of our 4 J seats, and the other 2 disappeared momentarily later. The agent kept apologizing and repeating how unacceptable this is.
DOD Desk would only rebook us in Y for MIA-GRU on the same flight that we already had J BPs for and had luggage checked in for. Another agent in the lounge kept digging and she found that at 1:51 pm central time, the system recorded changes including someone from HDQ making the deletions and that the system had their agent sine. The agent on the phone with DOD claimed that they told him that someone logged into guest mode at AA.com at the same time and cancelled the remainder of the trip.
***
AA1536 taking us DFW-MIA is the same 777-200 that was going MIA-GRU. We took a 2 hour mechanical delay, then swapped planes, then waited another 2.5 hours for luggage and catering to transfer over. AA995 (MIA-GRU, our original flight) was delayed such that we would have misconnected in GRU (so I am glad that DFW grabbed the last 4 seats on the next day’s MIA-GRU in J). DFW was supposed to get us hotels in MIA but they didn’t. DFW only did this once a Manager realized we had luggage checked through and paper J BPs for MIA-GRU already…
At least DFW did document that this was totally involuntary and that we did NOT accept a downgrade to Y on MIA-GRU.
*****
My questions for the brain trust:
1.) How does this happen? I was in the shower at flagship when the cancellation occurred. The agent at the shower/rebooking desk was insanely nice and we got along very well aka no bad blood at all!
Could the agent or a passenger have taken the PNR and done this? Or did someone in Fort Worth really cancel us to rebook higher fare etc pax?
Could it have been the plane swap for DFW-MIA? The aircraft was identical, and the swap occurred about 3 hours after the 1:51 pm time stamp aforementioned.
2.) How do I prevent this from happening today? Today’s MIA-GRU is sold out in J. I checked JFK, DFW, GIG, etc - all full in J for even 1 seat. I asked for OAL accom but was told it wouldn’t be in J class.
3.) Will AA reimburse ground transport and hotels in MIA? Or the first night of hotel at the final destination? This was a mechanical and it is all well documented / the flagship lounge agent showed me all the schedule change notes and all the remarks they had left indicating a mechanical and or agent error caused this.
4.) Will AA offer any compensation?
5.) Is there any way to get our original seats and meal orders back? We had to ask the pax in our seats (because 2 stuck and 2 changed) for DFW-MIA to swap. They didn’t really speak English and the gate agent assigned them the seats, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t give us our seats back and just reassign the pax who didn’t have seats.
Thank you so much for any advice you can give as to why this occurred and what I can do to prevent deja vu today.
P.S. Managers are difficult to reach; is there a term to use? The Flagship Lounge ‘Coordinator’ didn’t know how to rebook and wasn’t very helpful. I found a manager in plain clothes near another gate who was pretty dismissive and told me to call the 800 number.
I finally found an ‘OC’ wearing a uniform at the D24 rebooking area who protected us on the 4 seats from MIA-GRU the next day. His eyebrow raise when he saw paper BPs for the flight in question in J, and luggage checked through, was pretty funny TBH.
May 15, 22, 10:45 am
#2
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,512
That’s incredibly strange and I can’t imagine why anyone at AA headquarters would have messed with your reservation. Is there any chance that someone in your party posted a photo of their boarding pass to social media? A malicious stranger or “friend” could have used the PNR or barcode to do this.
Also, I’ve got to ask, how did you know the person ahead of you in line was a pilot? Did you just happen to strike up a conversation? I didn’t think AA allowed their employees to visit the AC in uniform.
Also, I’ve got to ask, how did you know the person ahead of you in line was a pilot? Did you just happen to strike up a conversation? I didn’t think AA allowed their employees to visit the AC in uniform.
May 15, 22, 10:50 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 9,627
You even need to be careful about leaving previous segments' boarding passes in the seatback pocket or elsewhere (I admit that I've been guilty of this on occasion; luckily nothing bad has ever happened)
May 15, 22, 11:20 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
Programs: DL DM, SPG Plat 100/LT Gold, Marriott Plat, National Executive Elite
Posts: 2,988
That’s incredibly strange and I can’t imagine why anyone at AA headquarters would have messed with your reservation. Is there any chance that someone in your party posted a photo of their boarding pass to social media? A malicious stranger or “friend” could have used the PNR or barcode to do this.
Also, I’ve got to ask, how did you know the person ahead of you in line was a pilot? Did you just happen to strike up a conversation? I didn’t think AA allowed their employees to visit the AC in uniform.
Also, I’ve got to ask, how did you know the person ahead of you in line was a pilot? Did you just happen to strike up a conversation? I didn’t think AA allowed their employees to visit the AC in uniform.
This is what I'm thinking too. Cancelling it on "guest mode" on AA.com means that sometime, without signing in, pulled up the res and changed it. All that's needed is your confirmation code and last name; there is nothing approaching real security here.
You even need to be careful about leaving previous segments' boarding passes in the seatback pocket or elsewhere (I admit that I've been guilty of this on occasion; luckily nothing bad has ever happened)
You even need to be careful about leaving previous segments' boarding passes in the seatback pocket or elsewhere (I admit that I've been guilty of this on occasion; luckily nothing bad has ever happened)
I kept all BPs on my physical possession exactly to prevent social media posting. Guaranteed that did not happen.
I also put them in a plastic bag to protect against any moisture and put them in my locked personal item.
The ONLY time the BP was ever exposed was when it was thrown in the pile of shower BPs - me and one other person on the PNR used showers and there was no security; I even saw them give the wrong BP to the wrong customer, who then corrected them. Why does AA even need the physical BP? I should have said I only have a mobile BP
.Doesn’t AA have the IP address of the terminal that cancelled? In addition to the agent whose sine was logged by the system who supposedly made the change (I think the DOD desk was incorrect about guest mode because the Flagship agent let me see the remarks and it showed the deletions made by an AA employee…this was after the phone call was disconnected).
As to the pilot - he was not in uniform. He just heard me say “Sao Paolo” when the employee making the guac asked where I was going, and the convo proceeded from there.
May 15, 22, 11:30 am
#5
Used to be 'Travelergcp'
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: New Orleans
Programs: AA Plat, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,803
This definitely sounds like someone ....ing with your rez. An agent on duty would do it from Sabre, not anonymously from AA.com. The only reason to do it that way would be so it wouldn’t be traced back.
Hopefully AA will make this right, and at least do a cursory investigation into whoever’s sine that was. On the other hand, presumably there is a permanent sine for how AA.com accesses Sabre, and not tied to a specific agent, it could lead to some staffer in the IT group who had nothing to do with it.
Hopefully AA will make this right, and at least do a cursory investigation into whoever’s sine that was. On the other hand, presumably there is a permanent sine for how AA.com accesses Sabre, and not tied to a specific agent, it could lead to some staffer in the IT group who had nothing to do with it.
Last edited by TravelerMSY; May 15, 22 at 11:37 am
May 15, 22, 11:49 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: SoCal to the rest of the world...
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Posts: 6,683
Sorry to hear this - had a mid trip cancel happen a few years ago but it was a TA error - the TA fixed it when they realized they cancelled the wrong booking but it can be a downer when you've planned a lot
As a side note, I *NEVER* post anything on social media with boarding passes or even flight numbers, etc - so I also ask those travelling with me to never do so. If one of the other passengers left a BP in a seat pocket it's fairly easy for any malicious person to do as was done, use the PNR and last name on the BP to cancel the trip. AA really needs to have a way to prevent mid-trip cancels like this from being done online. To add: I find BP's in seat pockets *ALL THE TIME* - I tear at the PNR printed area and discard them with other trash when I leave the aircraft - I can assure you very few people do this.
As a side note, I *NEVER* post anything on social media with boarding passes or even flight numbers, etc - so I also ask those travelling with me to never do so. If one of the other passengers left a BP in a seat pocket it's fairly easy for any malicious person to do as was done, use the PNR and last name on the BP to cancel the trip. AA really needs to have a way to prevent mid-trip cancels like this from being done online. To add: I find BP's in seat pockets *ALL THE TIME* - I tear at the PNR printed area and discard them with other trash when I leave the aircraft - I can assure you very few people do this.
May 15, 22, 11:55 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
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This definitely sounds like someone ....ing with your rez. An agent on duty would do it from Sabre, not anonymously from AA.com. The only reason to do it that way would be so it wouldn’t be traced back.
Hopefully AA will make this right, and at least do a cursory investigation into whoever’s sine that was. On the other hand, presumably there is a permanent sine for how AA.com accesses Sabre, and not tied to a specific agent, it could lead to some staffer in the IT group who had nothing to do with it.
Hopefully AA will make this right, and at least do a cursory investigation into whoever’s sine that was. On the other hand, presumably there is a permanent sine for how AA.com accesses Sabre, and not tied to a specific agent, it could lead to some staffer in the IT group who had nothing to do with it.
What would you recommend asking AA for to make it right?
May 15, 22, 12:03 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Posts: 2,988
Sorry to hear this - had a mid trip cancel happen a few years ago but it was a TA error - the TA fixed it when they realized they cancelled the wrong booking but it can be a downer when you've planned a lot
As a side note, I *NEVER* post anything on social media with boarding passes or even flight numbers, etc - so I also ask those travelling with me to never do so. If one of the other passengers left a BP in a seat pocket it's fairly easy for any malicious person to do as was done, use the PNR and last name on the BP to cancel the trip. AA really needs to have a way to prevent mid-trip cancels like this from being done online. To add: I find BP's in seat pockets *ALL THE TIME* - I tear at the PNR printed area and discard them with other trash when I leave the aircraft - I can assure you very few people do this.
As a side note, I *NEVER* post anything on social media with boarding passes or even flight numbers, etc - so I also ask those travelling with me to never do so. If one of the other passengers left a BP in a seat pocket it's fairly easy for any malicious person to do as was done, use the PNR and last name on the BP to cancel the trip. AA really needs to have a way to prevent mid-trip cancels like this from being done online. To add: I find BP's in seat pockets *ALL THE TIME* - I tear at the PNR printed area and discard them with other trash when I leave the aircraft - I can assure you very few people do this.
I have been the person who has left the BP in the seat pocket before. Stupid. Hasn’t happened in years, though, and definitely not on this trip.
Am I being cynical or is it possible that some rogue agent cancelled us because we were on that W-up fare? Or to accom a CK or something? I don’t understand how it allows a cancellation when already checked in and with bags checked in, too!
May 15, 22, 12:09 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
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I'd definitely reach out to AA and ask for some more details. But this is a very odd situation.
May 15, 22, 1:01 pm
#10
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: charlotte NC
Programs: AA EP
Posts: 568
Could this be related to those 2 similar but slightly different incidents where “the computer” thought they would miss the connection and cancels the seats? One was connecting from Savannah in CLT….I don’t recall the other’s specifics.
May 15, 22, 1:09 pm
#11
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I do believe other passengers on DFW-MIA were grumbling about seat changes and the system moving their onward connections because of the aircraft swap (just different registration; exact same aircraft model, which is why the GAs kept telling everyone there weren’t any seat changes).
However I think that’s different than cancelling everything else on the PNR…
May 15, 22, 1:14 pm
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Wesley Chapel, FL
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 28,758
Wow sorry to hear this OP. What a cluster. It really can be nothing less than someone screwing around with your reservation. This also makes we wonder how any tom, dick or harry can log into a traveler's reservation with only just a PNR and last name. Guest access should not be allowed for itinerary review/changes only logged into an AA account.
May 15, 22, 1:25 pm
#13
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 9,627
Wow sorry to hear this OP. What a cluster. It really can be nothing less than someone screwing around with your reservation. This also makes we wonder how any tom, dick or harry can log into a traveler's reservation with only just a PNR and last name. Guest access should not be allowed for itinerary review/changes only logged into an AA account.
May 15, 22, 1:51 pm
#14
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,127
May 15, 22, 2:07 pm
#15
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,512
To make an attempt at answering two of your other questions: If you had booked J and flown in Y you would be entitled to a partial refund. It sounds like you ended up flying J, just with a 4.5 hour mechanical delay followed by an unexpected overnight in MIA? If that’s the case, AA is not required to offer you anything but I think they will when you write a short, polite note to customer service. Especially if the itinerary change turns out to be AA’s fault.
As far as the seat assignments you are likely out of luck. When I have lost my preferred seats due to an aircraft change (even a change between two aircraft with the same layout) AA has never been willing to restore my original seats.
As far as the seat assignments you are likely out of luck. When I have lost my preferred seats due to an aircraft change (even a change between two aircraft with the same layout) AA has never been willing to restore my original seats.
