My personal battle with American Airlines

As you may have read in the previous blog entry, my flights this trip did not go smoothly.

After the first flight delay and cancellation, I immediately went home and sent an email off to American Airline customer service department. When all the other ones started happening, I just waited until I return home after my twelve days away to inform the airline of the misery which took place.

About two days after I sent the first email, I received a nice and friendly apology and 10,000 airline miles. It does not equal the lost finances I occurred for a hotel room and wrestling ticket being unable to use, and definitely does not make for the wasted vacation day, but I was content with the settlement.

This was the second email I sent.

Last week I had the worst experience flying of my life and I am extremely angry. I’ve been flying on a regular basis for nearly twenty years and never I have I endured so many delays and cancellations. Of the eleven flights I was scheduled for over a twelve day period, nine of them were canceled and/or delayed. This cost me hotel fees that could be canceled, event tickets I could not use, vacation days wasted, and extra vacation days used at work to deal with these issues. Not to mention the airline broke a the wheel and handle off a piece of three month old, hardly used luggage to the point where I could no longer use it and had to go purchase a new one.

My route was as follows:

1. Fort Wayne-Dallas-New Orleans

2. New Orleans-Dallas-Tokyo-Manila

3. Manila-Tokyo-Chicago-Fort Wayne

Below is a detailed archive of what happened on this trip.

April 3, 2014

Flight: AA 2962, Fort Wayne to Dallas

-          Flight delayed, and then canceled due to mechanical failure. Cause missed connection flight Dallas to New Orleans

-          Rebooked for next day

-          Personal Damages: A nonrefundable hotel reservation ($100) and ticket to a show unable to use ($50) both lost plus a wasted vacation day from work (equivalent $150) and parking ($15)

-          Total Personal Lose:  $315

-          Compensation: 10,000 Airline Miles as I contacted the airline the day it happened. However, the miles are not enough to justify what I lost.

April 4, 2014

Flight: AA 2962, Fort Wayne to Dallas

-          Flight delayed due to late crew. Caused missed connection flight Dallas to New Orleans

-          Rebooked for late 10pm flight to New Orleans

-          Personal Damages: ticket to show unable to us ($100) and basically another wasted vacation day from work ($150).

-          Upon receiving luggage, which was delivered to my hotel because it did not arrive when I did, the wheel and handle was broke. This piece of luggage was only 4 months old and the third time used. It was was broke and useless ($65). I had to go out and purchase a new luggage for the rest of my trip ($85)

-          Total Personal Lose: $400 and half of a four day vacation

-          Compensation: NONE YET

April 7, 2014

Flight: AA 1284, New Orleans to Dallas

-          Flight delayed. Caused missed flight AA 61 Dallas to Tokyo and Jap Air 745 Tokyo to Manila

-          Rebooked for flight Cathay Pacific for 12 hours later

-          Personal Damages: A non-refundable hotel reservation lost for the night ($175) and one day vacation ($150)

-          Total Personal Lose $325

-          Compensation: NONE YET

April 14, 2014

Flight AA 3680, Chicago to Fort Wayne

-          Flight canceled

-          Rebooked for next morning

-          Personal Damages: Had to pay for extra hotel room ($90) and had to take another day off work ($150), which I could not afford to do, and parking $15 for the extra day.

-          Total Personal Lose:  $265

-          Compensation: Voucher for ½ off hotel which is a decent gesture but not close to what it cost me for the extra day which I could not return home.

The way I see it, all of these delays and cancellations and luggage damages cost me $1305 in extra spending, which was about as much as the original tickets costs. This is absurd and ridiculous! The 10,000 miles and hotel voucher are a good start but either a lot more miles or flying vouchers are needed to even come close to making this right. In my twenty years of flying, I have never had a trip like this and quite frankly, there is no excuse for it. While I understand mechanical breakdowns occur, American Airlines needs to make it up to the passengers. Other airlines were not being delayed and even other planes under your fleet where taking off. And a smile, rebooking on the next available flight, and “sorry for any inconvenience” only goes so far when plane after plane is delayed, and then canceled.

Based on airline miles being the equivalent of 2 cents a mile, I have only been compensated $200 for my troubles and extra spending due to the damages caused by the airline and the delays and cancellations. I would like to be compensated an extra 66,500 airline miles or $1300 in travel vouchers. I think it’s the least the airline could do and it’s a fair trade out for the burden occurred in my travels.

Please contact me on how this issue will be resolved.

Sean Kimmel

About a week after the second email, I received a response which stated the following:

We have received your additional email. Again, we are sorry to hear about the difficulty that you encountered. We are also sorry that you were not satisfied with the AAdvantage® bonus miles that we provided. However, the mileage is intended to convey goodwill and to make amends in some way for the inadequate service you reported. It represents a level we believe to be fair and reasonable. As such, we must respectfully decline any additional goodwill.

Mr. Kimmel, we appreciate you and look forward to welcoming you onboard again soon.

So I got 10,000 for first cancellation and nothing for the other three or broken luggage. Doesn't seem fair and reasonable to me. In all honesty another 10,000 miles for each of the other three cancellations and maybe 3000-5000 miles for the luggage and I would have let it all go and been content. But nope. DENIED.

So I hit up social media. Tagging them on Facebook, which was useless, and on Twitter, which got response. After a few exchanges I received this message:

Sean, we've forward this on to a specialist in Customer Relations for review. You should hear back soon. Thanks for your patience.

Then about thirteen days later the following email was received.

I'm sorry your flights didn't operate as scheduled when you traveled with us. I know you were inconvenienced. Too, we regret your disappointment with the compensation that was previously provided to you.

We wish we could guarantee that planes would always depart and arrive on time. Regrettably, we can't -- but what we can and should do is make every attempt to minimize the inconvenience for our customers whenever our flights are delayed or cancelled. I am sorry that we didn't do a better job of overcoming the challenges we faced that day in order to make your experience a little less trying.

While it is certainly our goal to operate each and every flight as planned, we have the responsibility to make changes to our schedules to resolve problems caused by weather, flight conditions, mechanical difficulties or other operational challenges. Accordingly, it is not an airline industry practice to assume financial responsibility for our customers' personal time lost or for out-of-pocket expenses when extenuating circumstances prevent us from operating as planned. I am sorry.

However, for the additionally issues you experienced, I have credited your AAdvantage® account with an additional 15,000 Customer Service bonus miles.
Mr. Kimmel, we are not unmindful of the inconvenience to you. As hard as we are trying to deliver on respecting your time by operating our flights as scheduled, it just wasn't possible this time. Again, we apologize for the disruption of your travel plans. Please fly with us again soon -- we'll do our best to get you to your destination as planned.

While another 15,000 is another step in the right direction, I think it still falls short. If you are counting that's 25,000 miles total or about $500 equivalent and still no acknowledgement of the damaged luggage. Back on the warpath I went as this was a battle not to give up easy on. I know my demands where high and at the beginning if half was granted this would have been a done deal. But American Airlines just couldn't make things right. And the similar emails with the catchphrases were getting annoying.

I sent another email to customer service.
 

Once again, a total of 25,000 miles is a decent offer. But not anywhere close to what I loss financially due to airline delays & cancellations. I simply dont understand why American wont just out just compensation and own up to responsibilities. Especially when I stand in an airport and constantly hear the airline give out vouchers of varying prices for overbooked flights. I feel like you have compensated justly for 2 of the 4 cancellations & delays, but it seems as you trying to solve this with minimal effort. And still there is zero acceptance about the broken luggage, which IS the airline's responsibility. Once I had off my bags at check in, they should come back to me in the same condition. What is being done about this? Do you I need to send you the pictures and video of the damage? 

I am getting a tired of all these exchanges. It's been a month and half since this happened. I am a reasonable person who just wants treated with the respect and care a customer deserves. Yet it is not happening. Do something to make the luggage situation right.

And course I rampaged on Facebook and Twitter about the situation. I get immediate replies saying please send damage bag info to Customer Service. They respond to all emails. Blah Blah. The next day an email comes stating the following:


Thank you for contacting us. We have received your additional email. Again, we are sorry to hear about the difficulty that you encountered. We are also sorry that you were not satisfied with the AAdvantage® bonus miles that we provided. However, the mileage is intended to convey goodwill and to make amends in some way for the inadequate service you reported. It represents a level we believe to be fair and reasonable.

In reference to your baggage, when this kind of difficulty happens, every effort is made to make amends in a reasonable manner. It is our policy that a report is made with our personnel prior to leaving the airport or within 24 hours of receipt of your baggage. Nevertheless, our staff at each airport and our Security Department have been informed of this reported incident.

Mr. Kimmel, it is never easy to decline a customer's request, and our position in no way suggests that we are insensitive to what happened. Again, we are genuinely sorry for the reported loss of your belongings. Please be assured that we will work harder than ever to restore your confidence in our ability to provide good service.

Once again denied compensation and American does not take responsibility for breaking my brand new luggage. And again, the same generic responses. Now I am very angry. And emailed the again. Unfortunately I forgot to copy it before I sent it off, but it was basically the same as things I just stated.

A friend sent me a link which I will now try, Air Help. It supposedly help you get money back. What do I have lose...nothing. I am sure that my account has already been flagged in some way as hostile. I tried it but nothing as it only works for when you get bumped from a flight for overbooking.

I responded back one more time with my displeasure.

We have reviewed the correspondence exchanged between you and our colleague, and we recognize that you are still unhappy about the damage to your luggage. We work hard to find common ground and to resolve problems to our customers' satisfaction, and we are disappointed that we have been unsuccessful. However, our conditions of liability exclude any damage claim not initially reported in person within 24 hours after the arrival of your checked items.

Ultimately, our position in this matter remains unchanged. We are sorry, Mr. Kimmel. Still, our position in no way suggests that we are insensitive to what happened. Please be assured that we will work harder than ever to restore your confidence in our ability to provide good service.


Denied again. This is a losing battle. At this point, I am basically screwed. The fucking airlines win. Sean loses.

But for next over sea trip in August I booked United. Simply out of principal.




Observation of An Illogical mind by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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