I am trying to figure out what happened to your customer friendly company. On February 16, my friend and I had a flight out of St. Louis that was supposed to leave on American Airlines at 1930 CST enroute to Chicago so we could catch connecting flight #98 to London, England that was scheduled to leave at 2200 CST.
Our problems began when the flight from St. Louis was delayed an hour and a half and then had to circle for another hour at O'Hare airport which caused us to miss our connecting flight to London. Missing the flight to London was irritating but it didn't even hold a candle to what unfolded when we used the red phones to get an American Airlines representative to re-book us.
First off, the representative said he would not have a flight out of O'Hare until the 18th at 0915, which was two days later. That sounded ridiculous. Two days later! There was a flight out the next day, but since the only seats available were first class seats, we would have to pay full price for the tickets. I was Shocked!
I couldn't believe that he just told me that American Airlines could have us on our way to our vacation in London (and eventually on to Bahrain to visit my Navy buddy) but that it would cost a premium price. I have flown American Airlines numerous times in the past and have always had nothing but high praise for the airlines and have felt that customer satisfaction was a priority. So I was shocked that their solution to our malady was to hang around the Chicago airport for two days.
Since first class obviously was not an option at this point and there did not seem to be any other solution at the time, we booked the flight leaving the 18th in the morning. I figured after booking the flight I could talk with the AA representative about how we were going to be reimbursed for the hotel room that:
a.) We were going to need because we were stuck in Chicago and
b.) For the room that we had booked for the night in London that was reserved for the 17th.
The agent informed us that it was not their fault that we had missed the connecting flight in Chicago to London and that we were basically on our own. I could not believe it! Is this the same customer friendly airline that I was accustomed to traveling with in the past??? Not only were we missing two days and our $400 per night hotel room in London because of American Airlines but then we had to pay for hotel/traveling expenses in Chicago also. We were not happy travelers!
By then I just could not listen to the representative anymore so I hung up and went down to get our baggage. When my friend and I got down to the baggage claim area, we were told by the clerk that since they were closing in an hour, the baggage handlers would not have time to get our bags out.
Now we were stuck in Chicago for two days without our luggage. We were furious and extremely disappointed in American Airlines. But what put the icing on the cake was on Saturday morning as we were finally going to board for London, we met another passenger who had experienced the exact same travel problems and he informed us that he had been bumped to first class to compensate for some of the aggravation. Is there not some consistency in dealing with customers? Does it depend on who you are or which AA representative you deal with?
One last thing that I would like to address in this matter is the fact that I have tried to take care of this situation through American Airlines customer relations website and through the better business bureau. Each time though, I receive an e-mail from AA saying, "we're sorry for the inconveniece, but this is not our fault." It's not their fault? Well whose fault it is then because I know it's not mine. Anyway, after all that has happened to us, this matter is just a little too big just to dismiss from an apology letter.
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