dls25

It is 2x daily in the summer.

Stripe

Nope. Dogs are fine in the bulkhead. Granted this was the front bulkhead row in Y, but the bulkhead rules in F are no different. So I don't think we have a good explanation for the downgrade. Paid F pax should always be downgraded last but I doubt there is any automation around this and it is likely the staff in BUF guessed and went by status.

rajuabju

Wow. From the info we have, this sounds pretty horrible. You'd think that the FA's would have, even if randomly downgrading passengers, had a little more empathy and manually kept the mom+child in F.

jqm

I don't know the whole story, but from what I overheard the kid was in the hospital for months, so they brought the dogs up while she was at the kids bedside.

I may be biased since I love dogs, but these two little shih tzus were model citizens. Didn't bark once or cause any trouble. But i could tell the family needed more room.

Huh, there goes that theory. Yeah, must have just been a gate agent snafu.

My other initial thought was maybe she switched flights but, nope, she showed her receipt and I caught a glimpse. It was for that flight number, date and time. And yep, only one nonstop a day that I can see.

She said she was on the phone "for hours" to make the wheelchair and dog arrangements. Not sure who she called, but it does not seem to have helped her in this case.

TheRoadie

Seems to shoot down the advice to WFBF.

ijgordon

I mean sometimes things are just outside your control.

Isn’t AA supposed to solicit volunteers for a downgrade first? Not sure what the requirements here are (e.g., publish a policy and follow it), though that may just be for VDB/IDB not downgrades.

lrdpenn

Regardless of how AA managed to overbook the J cabin or maybe incorrectly reaccomodated J passengers in Y after a schedule change, what’s definitely wrong is how 2 people got upgraded at the gate.

Either (1) the check in and/or gate agent was too lazy to add them to the standby list or (2) the agents didn’t know that could be done or how to do it correctly, or both.

Wouldn’t surprise me. On (1), how many times have we had to push to get added to the upgrade or standby list (“first is checked in full / the flight is oversold”…”please just humor me and add me anyway” and like magic you are #1 and clear). On (2), my past struggles just getting a companion linked on the upgrade list show few people can work the system well.

PHL

How recent is this pic of the German Sheppard laying in front of the bulkhead seats? Not so long ago AA changed the pet policy to 1.) disallow all emotional/comfort pets 2.) require all carry on pets be able to fit in a small enough soft or hard carrier that can fit under a seat in front of you and never be taken out during flight and 3.) Allow service animals to travel with specific, documented training for the particular disorder/disability/impairment of its owner. Given the carry on(non service animal) rule, the downgraded F passenger referred to in the OP should have been assigned a seat that didn't have a bulkhead in front of it. I'm not suggesting this is the reason they were downgraded though. It sounds like the GA really didn't pay much attention to who should be downgraded and who shouldn't.

lunchtime

The reality is this is a staffing problem AA has all over the place. We see non revs get upgrade first “in rumors” and weird things. It was def the gate agents in BUF who just went by status or some other incorrect way to decide who to downgrade.

We do need to remember too, we are the ultra flying pool of people. We enjoy it. Most of these gate agents don’t know or care way less than us. For many they don’t like flying, and it’s just a way to earn a paycheck and go home. Which is why it’s ultra important for thing mo automated for AA to have a clear laid our policy for them to follow ie a set of rules, so this couldn’t happen.

It should be automated and the paying F passengers should be locked from a downgrade last on the totem pole. I fault AA for not training their agents into a set policy, this seems to happen a lot more on AA than other airlines from my small experience. UA has a set downgrade policy and I do think paid passengers are protected last.

Stripe

This was pre-Covid, as evidenced by the American Way magazines in the pocket. I believe it was an AUS-DFW flight in 2019. This was a legitimate service dog. The human passenger was legally blind. I have to say I would not have been excited to be in the middle seat next to her (she was in the aisle seat) but everyone was good natured about it. The dog behaved impeccably during the flight.

bchandler02

Happens to all of us.
Happened to me in MIA back in July... paid F ticket and flew in cattle class because the AA agent in MIA was too stupid to properly rebook me. Others got upgraded as I sat in the back watching.

STILL waiting on AA to pay what they promised they would.

SpaceCoastBill

Last month flew with my Golden Retriever SD in row 1.




Real service dogs are trained that way. I recently went thru a Costco where they ask if it's a service dog and what job the dog is trained to perform. As we walked by the checkout lanes some lady's rat sized "service dog" immediately lunged at my retriever and was barking and growling. My dog Just looked at it momentarily and never broke stride as we kept walking.

mvoight

Weren't they kept under the seats in their carriers? These were not service dogs, correct?

guy999

i was downgraded from paid with miles first for a couple of air marshals years ago, so possibly that. Still to downgrade paid F I didn't think that would happen knowing that most in F aren't paid that's pretty crazy.

Colin

does AA limit the number of carry-on $125 pets allowed per cabin?