tomj888

Recently flew AA 108/109 LAX-LHR in first class. Was originally going to be a London trip. At the last minute due to great snow conditions in Europe, I added a BA flight to GVA. The records were NOT bundled. At Flagship check-in, I was told that because I had two separate PNR's they would not check my bags to my final destination. I asked why, then after nobody gave me an answer, I asked how they could not check my bags. I played the Ex Plat, FC paying customer card all to no avail. Of course, we were late to LHR and I had to scramble from T3-T5 and missed my flight due to a short connection. I did calculate that had my luggage been tagged to GVA, I would have made my flight. AA did not care!.
I think that is poor customer service. I wrote to AA customer care and four emails back and forth and all I am able to get out of AA is we value you. Thanks for your business when what I wanted was my two expiring SWU's being credited to my account for 2019. I think that is fair compensation. I earned them and I just didn't have to use them. I"m not asking for money or miles. I'm about to post these on other social media outlets. Does anyone have any other suggestions please?

thank you in advance.

bse118

TLDR: AA follows its published policy, customer expects "compensation" in return.

AA's policy to not through check bags on separate tickets has been well published here and elsewhere for some time. Yes, it is a customer unfriendly policy. No, it is not a customer service failure when AA follows it's own published policy. While an agent might be willing to go around the policy it is unreasonable to expect that they should. It is absurd to expect compensation for them following their policy.

And OP, you did not have a "connection". You had two separate tickets.

Djokison

Antarius

I hate the policy as much as anyone, but acting like AA somehow hurt you by following a rule thats been in place for a while (a year and something)....

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iadisgreat

Ironically, since your next flight was on BA and you missed the connection, AA WILL protect you at their expense on another flight to GVA. Makes no sense that they will do that, but not check bags through, but what do I know.

JDiver

If only you’d taken the time to ask AA personnel, look at aa.com or read https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...es-2016-a.html here before you booked an unreasonably tight connection, you’d have saved yourself a lot of unnecessary grief.

I’m sorry you created such a plight for yourself, but AA will not give you anything, much less two SWU. It’s unfortunately all on you; AA merely did what it said it would do over two years ago.

My suggestion, since you’re asking for it, is to perform some due diligence. And complain to AA about their customer unfriendly policy, but avoid embarrassing yourself on other social media.

Mwenenzi

You did not have a connection in the common usage of that term. A connection is flights on 1 PNR. You just had one flight ending and another starting, that happened to be at the same (big) airport.

From Sept 2016 (no baggage interning on separate tickets)---->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...es-2016-a.html

Suggestions

• Read FT threads
• Read the ticket t&c's
• Read AA's policys

donotblink

I know everyone on here wants to flame the OP, but I tend to agree with the OP that the policy sucks. I'm also of the mindset that SWU's shouldn't expire, but then again, I guess there's a reason Doug Parker is running AA and I'm not.

bse118

No-one in this thread so far has said anything positive about the policy itself.

Nonetheless it is on the customer to understand the limitations of the product he/she is purchasing. Asking for compensation because you didn't know a policy existed (as the OP is asking) is absurd.

Antarius

I think the policy sucks too. That's different from expecting compensation for a policy you dont happen to like.

Mwenenzi

Most people (all?) agree the policy is not good, but we on FT do not make airline policy's.
Many OW airlines have this policy, with some variations.
CX had the no interlining bags on separate PNR for a while, but then reversed it. ^
OW forum master thread-->Bag interlining issues and OW policy changes (Combined threads)

JDiver

I guess you weren’t around when SWU (knownn as VIP, VIPOW, etc.) expired one year from when they were earned. Once they became electronic, AA told us we’d be able to see them in our accounts. It took so long to accomplish what they and we thought would be a minor programming tweak they extended the life of an SWU to the remainder of the current status year and through the next one, too.

Doug Parker wasn’t at the helm, and he hasn’t reset SWU longevity to the original time period.

He was at the helm when oneworld put this awful policy in place, he endorsed it and it’s perfectly legitimate to complain about this policy. Some oneworld airlines in fact rescinded it.

But being unaware of policy and terms and conditions in a world where airlines are in control and can establish all kinds of self-serving policies and impose one-sided contracts of adhesion on their customers, that’s on us, IMO. Drive defensively, fly defensively, travel defensively.

hotelboy

Chalk it up to a learning experience and move on. AA owes you nothing than to reaccomodate you LHR-GVA as others have stated.

SeeBuyFly

If I understand correctly, the policy is there so that each airline can collect all applicable baggage fees. Not defending the OP, who is being unreasonable, but couldn't AA figure out a way to charge the second OW airline's baggage fees (if any) at initial check-in? The policy is an unnecessarily heavy-handed solution to a problem that could be solved a different way. Not clear which class the OP was booked in on BA, but if it was a premium class the OP presumably would not owe baggage fees anyway---the system should at least allow exceptions in such cases.

NW.BTR.Than.The.Rest

I resent this policy so much. Out of my home base, the flight to/from a hub from which the transatlantic flight departs can add up to 2K to a biz class RT. I continue to take my chances by adding lengthy layovers on the outbound when using two separate PNRs with checked luggage.