SpinOn2

Except the OP was not actually on that flight anymore, they were fortunately rebooked back onto it seemingly in the boarding process no less. Why should AA then boot other people out of seats to accommodate the situation when it's past cut-off? They already did them a service by getting them onto a flight that was technically done for booking and check-in. I'm not familiar of any rule that says they have to put a deaf person next to someone they are traveling with no matter what, especially last minute for a flight they weren't booked on anymore when boarding started.

You definitely deserve a refund of some miles though. Glad to hear you made it to MBJ still.

cmn.jcs

I agree with you inasmuch as AA wasn't under any obligation to put OP and husband in F. I sympathize with OP, but AA followed its own procedures accurately, and I don't think most here will say that AA did anything wrong with respect to F seats. However, I think there's a decent argument to be made that AA could have (and possibly should have--whether legally required to if such a law exists, or from a practical and safety perspective) moved a Y passenger to get OP and husband next to each other.

writerguyfl

Can a deaf passenger fly solo? I'm assuming the answer to that is most certainly yes. If that's a correct assumption, I don't see how the situation described would be considered a safety issue.

Dave Noble

If it was a safety issue that a deaf passenger cannot fly solo, then the passenger should simply have been denied boarding

The passenger arrived past the required time prior to the flight and had been validly offloaded.

There was no reason that I can see, to move other passengers to accommodate another passenger that arrived past the required check off point

kb9522

No, not being able to sit next to your husband is not worthy of a DOT complaint.

The carrier is required per regulations to ensure that any information provided to other passengers is promptly and clearly provided to you. There is no indication they failed to do that.

SpinOn2

I disagree, there is no requirement that says a deaf passenger can not travel by themselves, let alone sit by themselves while someone else they are with is sat apart due to a last minute change onto a flt. We can all agree that it would have been a nice gesture, but they were in the boarding process for a flt that was already supposed to be gone a while ago, it's not realistic to expect them to be shuffling people around when it's not needed legally. The safety information card covers pretty much anything the lady would have needed to know safety wise. Do not see a valid DOT complaint anywhere in this, they didn't discriminate nor break any rules.

QueenOfCoach

Maybe not. Just for the record, I did exactly that so a nervous pre-teen aged child could sit next to her mother some years back.If a similar situation arise in the future, the OP and her husband can ask around. Maybe someone will be nice.

If I found myself seated next to a person with a disability, such as the deaf OP, and if that person asked for my help I would gladly give that help. In this case, I would write down any PA stuff so the person would know what's going on. "Normal welcome on board bla-bla-bla."

Often1

This was an international flight and thus OP was due at the CLT departure gate no later than T-30. Given that her flight was already boarding, I will presume that she arrived at the gate later than T-30 (not always the case, but need to start somewhere).

If this was the case, then AA had properly offloaded OP and offered to rebook OP into whatever it had left. OP accepted that and flew.

That is the end of the discussion on the seating issue. What else AA could have done during the last minutes of boarding, is irrelevant.

As to a refund, OP is certainly due a refund of the fare difference and ought to contact AA for it.

danielonn

The DOT does not stipulate where you sit let alone being reaccomodated in the same class of service as originally ticketed during IRROPs. AA as a gesture of good will can compensate you but the DOT cannot mandate AA to do so. If the airline has no room in the class of service their next goal is to get you to your destination as quickly and safely as possible. AA did that so as far as the DOT is concerned AA got you to Montego Bay safe and sound and in relatively good time. They may put you up for a night and put you on the next day's flight or they may book you on a flight leaving that night.

You as the passenger can negotiate. If you are not happy with the negotiated terms then you are free to write into AA but they are obligated to refund the fare or mileage difference of the ticket and then they may offer bonus miles or a Travel Voucher as a gesture of goodwill but not required by the DOT to give your further compensation beyond a refund of the fare or mileage difference between Y and J or F.

Once you accepted AA's terms your negotiating power for the most part stops as now AA put you on the flight albeit not in the ticketed cabin and not seated by your seatmate. If your priority was to get to your destination ASAP then AA did well if your goal was to fly in the Premium Cabin then I am afraid this was not the case as seats were not available and you arrived at the gate past the 30 minute mark.

International Flights also have to send their manifest to the TSA/Department Of Homeland Security by the cutoff time as well. You were lucky to have made the flight.

In the future if you want to sit next to your traveling companion you could ask the Flight Attendant to help reseat you . Perhaps a solo passenger would not mind trading their seat for a like for like trade or the Gate Agent may ask you to wait until everyone has boarded or later in the process to see if a pair of seats open up. Again it sounds like you did not press this to the agent to get you a pair of seats. If you would have pressed the disability issue with the Gate Agent or Flight Attendant they may or may not have been able to grant your request.

Did you inform AA of the disability? If so it should have been in your Passenger Record as such? You are not required to inform AA but it does help for them to get you the seats you wanted. The Air Carrier Act(which I suggest you read) stipulates what an airline is obligated and not obligated to do during Irregular Operations, as well as stipulate if the airline must give you premium seats without an extra charge. Who can sit at the bulkhead, Service Animals etc.

Yes you had a short vacation and the IRROPs made it shorter but this is not AA's responsibility and having a good Travel Insurance policy may compensate you for the Travel Delay but there are certain rules and regulations for this.

I am sorry your trip did not go as planned but as they are storms in the East Coast and mechanical delays which you did not anticipate schedules have been awry. This March has had many Northeaster Storms and there is one more to come. You were lucky to have made it out when you did.

Please reply with the followup. Fellow FTers can also "chime in" here.

hotturnip

Read the first sentence of her post. Geez. And I'm sure they made it clear to the agents they spoke to at CLT.

This whole situation really sucks. But I think the OP actually should be asking if any of this is covered by the ADA (even though she hasn't mentioned that, I believe it is actually the source of any relevant regulation rather than DOT). In my non-expert opinion, the answer would be, "no." This really wasn't an issue of public accommodations. I'm sure that if they had been completely separated, AA would have figured out a way to communicate with her if needed.

But considering the whole thing was caused by a double mechanical, you're definitely due for some apology compensation. Do mention the extra hardship caused due to the deafness--that might help put them in a more generous frame of mind.

You have my sympathies. Really frustrating.

jennstv1

Sorry for the delayed response. I could only respond with 5 posts yesterday due to my posting history.

Thank you to everyone for your comments. While not exactly what I wanted to hear, I understand that AA had no obligation to accommodate me. I do realize that deaf people fly alone all of the time, however, I am not one that is comfortable doing it, both for my safety and the safety of my fellow passengers. I DO believe that since AA is the reason that I got to the gate late (all mechanical issues, no weather related issues), more should have been done to address the issue. Just my opinion. Seeing as they had literally just cleared the upgrades as we walked up to the gate, I believe we should have been given back our seats due to the issue. But again, I understand that there was no obligation on their part. I do not expect anyone to be forced from their seats due to my disability. I did make it to my destination which is all that is required of the airline.

I come from the HR world, so ADA came to mind as I deal with that all day long. I did read the Air Carrier Access Act and it did state something to the effect of providing accommodations to the visually and hearing impaired. What would be considered a reasonable accommodation, I do not know.

What I do know I can do is just not use this airline anymore. I live in Southern California so I have plenty of options. Just unfortunate that I have a ton of AA miles. It is obvious that AA does not value my business as they have not responded to a single email, tweet or FB DM that I have sent over a few weeks time. I have only been asking for reimbursement for the difference in fare class. Every single time I have flown Delta, they address the issue when checking in and tell me to let them know if I need any accommodations and also the FA will come to me once I board and make sure to tell me they are aware of the disability and to let them know if I have any issues. So Delta will be getting all of my business in the future.

Again thank you to all that responded. This thread was very helpful to me in finding out what the airlines responsibility was in a situation like this.

danielonn

Thanks for your detailed reply. I fly on Delta and I have low vision and they have been very helpful to accommodating my disability. Per the Air Carrier Act as I understand a reasonable accommodation could be having the traveling companion or interpreter travel next to the passenger and that the Flight Crew is aware of how the disability may impact their journey.

Preboarding is another reasonable accommodation as is having any medically necessary device whether its technology or medically based onboard. A certified Service Dog is another reasonable accommodation. Closed Captioning on the IFE is also helpful but am not sure if airlines are held to the same strict standard as Broadcast or Streaming TV.

Unreasonable accommodations include free upgrades to a cabin that has not been paid for by the customer unless that extra legroom seat helps such as a fused leg, Service Animal etc and again this is only done on a case by case and airline by airline basis and done only as a gesture of goodwill and is not required by the ACA The bulkhead seat may or may not be available for pre-assignment until you present yourself at the airport.

International Carriers like Air France have different rules such as they will not pre-assign a Bulkhead until the day of travel, they are within their rights to charge you for an assigned seat(But can waive the fee as a gesture of goodwill). Wheelchairs are handled differently in Europe vs US.

The Air Carrier Act as I understand only applies to US Flagged Carriers as of now but may apply to international carriers down the road. So if you booked Delta 8833 operated by Air France the ACA would not apply but if you were booked on Delta Metal the ACA would apply.

Since you work in HR you could write a procedural letter to see if the procedures were met. You could submit an Air Carrier Act Violation Investigation, send letters to your local legislatures etc. Did an ACA violation occur? Perhaps in the sense that they did not get two seats together. An individual who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing may feel anxious that their traveling companion and in your case interpreter was seated far away. If you had asked the passenger(s) and explained the situation I am sure you would have found a compassionate passenger.

Perhaps in your situation they could have bumped two last minute upgraded passengers with no status with AA to a Main Cabin Extra seat and offered them compensation for doing so . You could have asked the Red Coat Agent if this was a possibility to fly in the originally scheduled cabin. Even at your arrival gate for the connecting flight you could have asked the agent to Protect your J seats and have a Cart Service take you over to the new gate.

I was in your situation before and I always request the cart service. On a short connection I ask the Gate Agent at the arrival gate at my connecting destination to call over to the gate and inform them that I have a disability(low vision)as marked in my record and to keep my assigned seat then the cart takes me to the new gate. I have even had the flight held for 10 minutes as others form my flight connected on the cart.

When I check in at my airport where I depart from I confirm that the Special Service Request has been entered. Even someone who is Hard of Hearing especially in a race against time is allowed to get the cart/wheelchair whether your delayed or not. Its your right under the Air Carrier Act to request this if you feel it would help.

The connecting flight knows of your delayed arrival. I have been on many flights where we were held back for connecting passengers and my seat was never given away as I had the Gate Agent call down to the next Gate and had them enter a code into my reservation to keep my seat and it was not given away.

While waiting for the delayed flight at my origin airport I asked the agent to protect my current seat on the next flight and a few others and this was both in Y and First Class. I use Twitter as well to help me with reaccomodating me and it saves time and you can confirm that all special requests will be transferred to the next flight.

To be honest Delta does a better job with their Social Media and replying to Customer Service letters better. On my recent flight the lead flight attendant addressed be my name and asked how she could help with my disability.

I usually fly in Delta Comfort+ and prebook the bulkhead if its available to get extra legroom, ease of access on and off the plane etc. I for the most part pay for it but have been given an upgrade as a gesture of goodwill.

Yes you may decide to change airlines and this is the beauty of competition Delta I feel would handle your needs better and you have nothing to lose living in Southern California by flying Delta. You can pop on over to the Delta Forum here on FlyerTalk and ask questions to see if they would be the better airline for you.



Hope this helps.

jennstv1

Thank you for all of that information danielonn! You put alot of very useful information in your post! I will see if a letter will work. I do feel Delta far surpasses AA as far as disabilities are handled. I have just booked some upcoming flights with them instead of AA.

The weird part about the connecting flight is the GA for the MBJ flight knew we were incoming and our time of arrival. She called into the GA at our gate and told him to send us over to board as the flight had been delayed and had not started boarding. So they knew, but yet still gave our seats away moments before we arrived at the gate. And as I have said all along, the disability was noted on the reservation from the day we booked. I have a feeling that they had already upgraded the 2 passengers and did not want to irritate their pax with status by taking back the upgrade. We were not even issued new boarding passes. They boarded us with the boarding passes we received at LAX for the biz seats. They told us to just get on and there would be 2 empty seats in coach that we could sit in. There were only those two seats left (2 middle row seats not together) and the flight was completely full.

I will pop over to the Delta Forum. It looks like we will be flying with them in the future. Thanks again for all of the helpful suggestions!

Dave Noble

Regardless of what an agent did - you were late arriving at the gate

The gate agent did you a favour by agreeing to book you back on to that flight when you agreed to sit apart

I doubt that another airline would have done this and also displaced passengers to enable adjacent seating

if travelling alone is not permitted as part of disability, the agent was wrong to book you back onto the flight at that point, but should have rebooked onto next available

SamOF

I don't know the Air Carrier Access Act well, but I do know that it's generally similar to the ADA. And I can see barely any argument that reseating coach passengers (or downgrading free upgrades) to seat the passengers together wouldn't be a reasonable accommodation.

And you can't just say rebook them on the next flight if they can't sit apart—if they would be accommodated but for the covered disability, and could reasonably be accommodated with their disability, then that's that.

For the record, and this comes from someone who rarely agrees to swap seats on planes and gets very, very cranky about it: Anyone who refuses to sit in a middle seat to help the OP sit with her interpreter should be ashamed of themselves.