Flight cancelled, advice on compensation request
 

My son was scheduled to fly JFK - SFO at 11 AM today (Wednesday) and the flight was cancelled last night. The flight was booked with Jet Blue, it's a code-share with American (AA metal). The Jet Blue website directed him to contact AA for a new flight. The AA website was "having difficulties, please try again in a few minutes". The AA website actually could not handle the code-share (he could pull up the flight, get to the point of being offered alternative flights but then got the error message every time). The hold time with AA was over 4 hours....he did the "we'll call you back". It took until 5 AM (New York time) to get rebooked. He was rebooked on the same flight one day later. Jet Blue did have a 2 PM flight today but that wasn't an option from AA.

Just wanted to ask if he is due compensation (I don't know the reason for the cancellation, but all other flights appear to be operating normally). I don't want to be "that guy" who asks for a full refund because he was asked to change seats, but it seems he may be due something in compensation. I fly the (sometimes) Friendly Skies so I'm not as familiar with Jet Blue/AA and the code-share situation.

Thanks

Was the issue for the cancellation the severe weather that was affecting the east coast yesterday? If so, unfortunately the answer is no to compensation from AA. It's fairly odd to have such long hold times to reach AA (unlike DL these days), so I'm guessing the call centers were slammed by people affected by yesterday's weather. Unfortunately, airlines like to sell codeshares like they are seamless, but in practice I think you've seen it can turn into a hassle if anything goes wrong.

So true (code share hassle!). I can't say for sure but it does not look to be weather related. There was only one other cancelled flight showing up today on Flightradar24, another AA flight to Charlotte. It appears to be a normal day, ATC/Weather wise at JFK.

@ 11am NYC was clear, yet when I was driving to PA when I got to Western NJ the sky was as dark as night and it was pouring very hard in PA, now I have no idea how far North and South that was the case. Personally I doubt the CX was due to WX. If anything it would be Delayed a very long time.

What would UA give you had it been a UA flight? I highly doubt that any carrier nowadays would give anything of substance for a Dom CX, or even Intl that isnt originating outside the US where theres a compensation law and thusly have no choice, Bout all youd get is a choice for a full refund for what you paid for the tkt

A refund would be fully acceptable, would not expect or ask for anything more.

Last night, when the flight was cancelled, there were severe storms affecting JFK, so it could still be a possible weather issue. I think you can look on Expert Flyer to see the reason, if you've got access to that. Edited to add: it looks like last night's AA flight from SFO to JFK cancelled, so the plane didn't make it in for the 11am flight today. A JetBlue flight yesterday from SFO-JFK had to divert to ACY, but that was earlier in the day, so still can't say if the AA cancellation was due to weather.

Was there no availability on the other AA flights today either?

Not saying you did anything wrong, but for the future, if you booked through JetBlue, even though the flight was on AA, I would've tried calling JetBlue while waiting for the callback from AA to see if JetBlue could've helped you. They might've been able to get you on the JetBlue flights.

With the cancellation, if you want the refund, instead of taking the flight, you should be able to get that. They won't give you a refund if you still take the rebooked flight though.

Thanks....I believe my son did try Jet Blue and they directed him to AA, but I'm not 100% sure. I'll connect with him - to be candid an extra day in NYC is not the worst thing in the world! We're from the San Francisco Bay Area and NY is a favorite place to visit :)

ExpertFlyer says: “CXLD DUE TO PREVIOUS CREW RELA”

Looks like the crew scheduled to work this flight either didn’t have enough rest time or was out of place, most likely due to interruptions yesterday because of the weather.

Good info - thank you.

Sorry but I dont get it, isnt NYC a AA base, so why couldnt they simply call in another crew and have the flight go out late rather then not at all? Yes NY had weather problems but not till late afternoon. Could AA have rebooked its own members 1st and then no more seats for non-members yesterday? Or maybe those at JFK were taken care of and all others simply had to endure the 5 hours till a csr would talk to them and by then its too late for anything else

Yesterday we had severe weather condition. Some power lines were affected in NJ/NY area and we even had internet outage from 3:30PM to like 6PM. Not sure about JFK.....

This is going to be a hard one. If you bought another flight ticket, then the old ticket should be considered credit. I once had a snow related cancellation and booked a new flight the same day. Then I contacted my travel agent and successfully received cash refund. But that was probably rare.

Wish you the best luck. But I won't keep the hope high for "compensation".

Your flight was cancelled so there should be no problem getting a full refund.

But you won't also be taking the rebooked flight. It's one or the other, not both.

You are not entitled to compensation for weather related delays, which most crew related delays are. You want it this way if you think about it. Do you really want the airline saying "the weather is terrible, but if we don't fly we suffer financially. Launch the flight anyway....."

Thanks for the replies. My son is on today's flight, on time, the AA gate agent got him an exit row seat, all is good.