AA1021 BUF-DFW passengers involuntarily downgraded from Paid First Class
#31
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,819
We can only accept:
- 7 kennels on American flights, excluding service animals
- 5 kennels on American Eagle flights; 1 in First
But, I did notice the following:
- Your pet stays in the kennel and under the seat in front of you the entire flight
#33
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 6,476
i just can't help but thinking having two dogs was a factor. rules say these dogs must be underneath seat in front in a case. that eliminates bulkhead. so, here's my guess. these people show up at the airport w/ bulkhead first seats and w/o pre-purchasing two dog carry-on fees. AAgent is rightly annoyed having to deal with this fee collection on top of having to pick 4 confirmed F passengers for downgrade. is AAgent going to move these two F passengers back a row to cleanup their mistake and then find 4 different passengers to downgrade? Or, is agent going to just solve half her 4F downgrade problem in snap bc passengers didn't follow the rules?
#34
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: AA, UA, Marriott
Posts: 1,061
1) you cannot pre-purchase pet fees. You can only make a reservation by phone to save one of the limited slots (which IME is a waste of time), in any case you have to pay at the counter, unless the rules recently changed
2) $250 (2 pets) for what should be 5 minutes of work is a very high-margin counter transaction for AA, agents should be happy about this need…
#35
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 6,476
This would be a weak excuse as
1) you cannot pre-purchase pet fees. You can only make a reservation by phone to save one of the limited slots (which IME is a waste of time), in any case you have to pay at the counter, unless the rules recently changed
2) $250 (2 pets) for what should be 5 minutes of work is a very high-margin counter transaction for AA, agents should be happy about this need
1) you cannot pre-purchase pet fees. You can only make a reservation by phone to save one of the limited slots (which IME is a waste of time), in any case you have to pay at the counter, unless the rules recently changed
2) $250 (2 pets) for what should be 5 minutes of work is a very high-margin counter transaction for AA, agents should be happy about this need
#36
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 18
would AA on the telephone making the pet reservation fix the bulkhead seat assignment error which would have saved the gate agent having to hassle with finding volunteers for a seat shuffle? might that be sufficient explanation for why a gate agent needing to downgrade passengers pick the passengers in the invalid row for downgrade? point here is advise for future and not showing up w a carryon pet and a bulkhead seat assignment is prudent advice for those capable of receiving it.
At this stage, I think we can conclude there was a change of airplane, some combination of special requests, and possibly lack of status which knocked her out of first class. And just some poor gate management on AA's part which upgraded two others over her paid ticket.
Last mystery: Some people had mentioned that it is possible due to the aircraft change that the two others upgraded over these folks may also have been paid first as well. Would the upgrade list on the board list people who were paid first, seated in economy, then placed back in first as an "upgrade"?
#37
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 11,114
She said she called ahead of time to both arrange the dogs and wheelchair request.
At this stage, I think we can conclude there was a change of airplane, some combination of special requests, and possibly lack of status which knocked her out of first class. And just some poor gate management on AA's part which upgraded two others over her paid ticket.
Last mystery: Some people had mentioned that it is possible due to the aircraft change that the two others upgraded over these folks may also have been paid first as well. Would the upgrade list on the board list people who were paid first, seated in economy, then placed back in first as an "upgrade"?
At this stage, I think we can conclude there was a change of airplane, some combination of special requests, and possibly lack of status which knocked her out of first class. And just some poor gate management on AA's part which upgraded two others over her paid ticket.
Last mystery: Some people had mentioned that it is possible due to the aircraft change that the two others upgraded over these folks may also have been paid first as well. Would the upgrade list on the board list people who were paid first, seated in economy, then placed back in first as an "upgrade"?
So it is definitely possible that the 2 upgrades were F pax downgraded and got the seats due to being higher status than the other passengers.
#38
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: OC, CA
Programs: AA EXP, 2MM, HH Diamond
Posts: 831
Last mystery: Some people had mentioned that it is possible due to the aircraft change that the two others upgraded over these folks may also have been paid first as well. Would the upgrade list on the board list people who were paid first, seated in economy, then placed back in first as an "upgrade"?
#39
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: BOS, SLC, LAX
Programs: AA EXP MM, UA Plat, DL Silver, SPG Titanium
Posts: 3,946
IIRC -- and I could be wrong since it's been a while since I've been in this situation, and things do change -- DSR does not show up on UG list.