CMIflyer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews


Int he wahington Post. With a brief mention of AA.

I'm new at this. Tried search. Am i posting old news?

925

Interesting article. Nothing too new or too old. CO has involved itself, but while AA probably READS FT, I have never seen any direct action or interaction as a result of that reading (other than informally from friendly employees acting outside of their official responsibilities).

logicalrealist

New to here, though there is some general discussion in Newstand and some CO-specific stuff in the onepass forum. (This is meant as pointers to other discussions rather than criticism for posting it here!)
Nice article. I'm curious if it is the sort of coverage / discussion that could lead to more airline involvement.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

It probably takes someone on the airline's part that really understands airline operations and can slice through the bull to what really impact flyers that the airline can improve on (remembering that airlines are at the severe mercy of FAA/ATC, TSA, airport authorities, and a whole host of government regulations, departments and affairs in multiple jurisdictions.)

gemac

Of course AA reads Flyertalk.

aamilesslave

Hope they don't pull that $199 LIT-NRT fare I found.

nako

Wild accusations without any fact or merit? Here?

Mike

worldwidedreamer

Never. Not.

My experience with Scott is that he generally clarifies things in a positive manner on the CO forum. With AA, I feel the presence is anonymous marketing people trying to spin things to make the airline look better. It just reflects the active vs passive aggressive management personalities of the different airlines.

steve32

The director (or whatever) for the new Women's Access to AA.com was very actively participating in that thread on FT, pushing actions on the AA.com/women part of the website as a result of what was said, responding with information about formation, background, tech support (in non-tech language), etc.

Hmm, don't see an easy way to access it on AA.com like you used to. Tried it manually and it's still there.

Steve

sdadept

I think this is great. If more businesses listened to their customers, I think they could improve the experience more in areas we care about.

and yes, I think companies can be smart enough to wade through the crap to get to the things people really care about.

MIA-SAT

Between AA and CO, I log over 200K miles per year. There are plenty of threads that identify the strengths and weaknesses of each airline and these differences cause me to split my flying between the two. However, AA flyers would benefit from a AA Insider.

Here are some examples:

1. After I made a complaint in a Flyertalk forum about being a Plat stuck in a IAH post Customs security line with all the weekend returning tourists. It took me 45 minutes just to clear security. CO Insider manages to have a special elite security line set up post Customs clearance at IAH. It took him one week to get this done.

2. After I posted about a long delayed and finally denied upgrade, which seemed particularly strange when there was plenty of inventory, I received a PM from Co Insider in which he asked for details, i.e., flight number, date, ticket, etc. Two days later I was informed that CO made a mistake, that I should have been upgraded and that the glitch which denied me the upgrade had been fixed. Not a form lettter full of "we appreciate your comments and we value you" platitudes, but an admission that they made a mistake, had corrected it and and a sincere expression of thanks for alerting them to a problem. CO Insider contacted me, I did not contact him. I also received compensation for the missed upgrade, I did not make a request for it and the compensation was not trivial. CO Insider invites any message from a member of the CO forum who suspects that an upgrade was not granted when it should have been.

Again, this is not a bash AA thread. I have a much higher upgrade percentage as an EXP with AA than as a Plat with CO, I love the VIPOW's and the EXP and Admirals Club agents. AA does all of that well. However AA could take a page out of CO's book if it tasked a person to actively participate in this forum to resolve problems. No doubt there are threads in this forum and other that do not merit the attention of a AA Insider, somehow Scott manages to distinguish between the two in his role as CO Insider. Why can't AA do the same?

wanaflyforless

So you have never read a single post by YourAAdvantageVoice?

I have also heard "on-line chat boards" being given as a reason for certain changes when speaking to the EXP desk.

There is no question if AA reads this board. They do and very frequently. They do not regularly decide to respond in an official capacity.

AAir_head

... who hasn't posted since July 28 2006. Gone or just gone to ground?

aamilesslave

And I think policy may be the reason:

CloudCoder

Yours is a great suggestion. AA is a much larger airline than CO. So while CO tasks "a person", AA would need to task several people.