js1993

Not for domestic, right?

Understood, but if the flight had been ready to go as soon as the ramp re-opened, it seems the door would have been closed.

ezefllying

I think a lot of the replies here are suffering from experienced-traveler blinders.

You're a single traveler flying home from visiting her parents--your first or second roundtrip flight of the year. Or you're traveling with two kids on your annual family vacation, or you're an elderly flyer going to a wedding. Or you're flying for work, but you only fly twice a year because most of your business is local.

Whatever the reason, most flyers on most routes are not terribly experienced. I'm not taking about the 5 PM Thursday DCA-BOS shuttle or the 8 AM Monday EWR-SFO transcon that half of FlyerTalk is competing for an upgrade on, but rather the vast majority of flights that are not dominated by frequent business travelers or obsessive travel geeks like me.

An inexperienced traveler, especially one on a budget, is going to be very reluctant to barge off the plane and tell the GA, "You can't stop me; federal regulations only grant you authority with respect to safety and operational matters outside the scope of this delay!"* They're probably not going to check the app they may not have to determine whether they negotiate with the hopefully-staffed CS desk to have a family of four rebooked via RDU to or on the co-terminal CLT-EWR departure leaving in 58 minutes. They will not gamble with having their bags rerouted. They will sit down and take it.

This is not "being a sheep" or being a moron. This is listening to the disembodied voice over the public-address system that is issuing instructions in a post-9/11 environment during an especially stressful and over-capacity travel season. Sure, they had options. But I don't blame them for not knowing they could exercise them, or for not taking the risk.

*I actually don't know what these regulations say; I haven't read them.

js1993

I agree in general — Doug Parker was quoted circa 2018 as saying that roughly 90% of AA's customers fly on AA once per year — but one would hope there would be at least a few people in any group of ~100 people who are willing to take charge. We're not exactly talking about Flight 93 on 9/11 here — we're talking about allegedly suffering adults needing to do nothing but walk out an open door.

rjque

You think AA would handle anything differently if people were paying $1000 fares? That extra $901 goes to shareholders, not service.

In any event, there are very few $99 fares this summer. Most of my domestic flights that were once around $300 are closer to $1400 this year. Alas, the service has not improved.

ORDflyer92

If you were a once a year flyer, would you believe the passenger next to you who says it's ok to deboard and promises the airline rebook you, or the gate agent who's explicitly saying that if you get off the plane you will not be rebooked or allowed to reboard?

ORDflyer92

There could be 8 seats for sale on AA.com and a standby list 20 deep. Also if you are elite, you will always see seats available for sale even if the flight is full; that doesn't mean you can get a GA to rebook you on that flight.

js1993

If I was allegedly having a nervous breakdown or on the verge of heat stroke because of the delay, as the story claims, I'd walk out the door and deal with the rebooking later.

People need to stop acting like sheep.

seawolf

Standby list doesn’t matter if you are talking about a flight that is already been delayed that much as IRROP rebook will bypass the standby list.

Definitely not true you will see it available for sale as an elite when it is not available for sale.

In any case as indicated in prior post, if it turns out there is no availability, the gate agent is incentivize to not offload/find another flight to rebook on as that would involve extra work and let you work back down the jet bridge.

rjque

Have you ever had a nervous breakdown or heat stroke? Judge not . . .

VegasGambler

Did the passenger on the plane have one?

rjque

I have no idea. I'm just responding to the EP's statement that he knows what he would do if he were having one of those experiences.

VegasGambler

He said if he were "allegedly" having one of those experiences. Obviously this is a nonsense self-diagnosis.

rjque

So the EP's point was that he would have walked off if he was not having a nervous breakdown or heat stroke?

js1993

No, I've never had a nervous breakdown or heat stroke, but I guarantee you I'd walk off the plane if the person sitting next to me started "sobbing uncontrollably" because of a flight delay.

We live in a country where carjackers are released without bail, but people are afraid of ... GAs?

lol

PUCCI GALORE

I have noted that people seem terrified of flight crew as well, I think that your point is well made - but very often people will do as they are bid. I had no idea the proportion of once a year fliers there were at AA - but they are often a bit overawed by the whole process. Thunderstorms are the bain of aviation. They are totally unpredictable in their intensity or duration. I have done ground stops for two to three hours as storms in Texas raged around us. Whilst mindful of Mr Faraday's metal cage - I was far too engrossed with calming people who were simply terrified. to bother until the noise of the rain on the fuselage unsettled me as well!