Below is a letter I mailed to Gerald Arpey, The President & CEO of American Airlines about a recent trip my family and I made to Chicago. I received a reply several weeks later from the customer service center stating basically that we were "lucky" to have been given a flight on Delta the next day.
I sent Mr. Arpey a second letter which also attached. I doubt, after reading many blogs, that he will respond to it as well. The problems I have found is that AA executives are very content with their customer service (the lack thereof).
After researching, I have found that their employees are no longer loyal and have given up on the compabny because of cutbacks and layoffs and corporate continues to cry 911 and oil prices as the blame. If that is so, why have the executives received salary increases and bonuses? Just a thought.
First Letter
Mr. Gerard J. Arpey
Chairman, President, and C.E. O
AMR Corporation/
American Airlines, Inc.
P.O. Box 619616
DFW Airport, Texas 75261-9616
May 13
Re: Sunday, May 11
From Chicago O'Hare
To Birmingham, AL
Flight # 4009
FF# 2828HE4
Mr. Arpey:
My family and I: Susan (me); Brian (my spouse); Courtney (our daughter); Amanda (our daughter); Jessica (our daughter); Jesse (my brother-in-law); Barbara (my mother-in-law); were supposed to fly out of O'Hare Sunday 05/11/08 at 3:40 P.M. When we arrived at the airport at 2:00 P.M. And up until 3:30 P.M. The flight was on time according to American Airlines flight board. At 3:30 P.M. The board changed to cancelled.
After a long week of an exhausting family visit for a huge family wedding, and because this was Mother's Day, we were all looking forward to being home that night.
But no, the flight was cancelled. After waiting in line for 20 minutes at G-3 we were finally told via intercom that the flight was cancelled and we were to move to another desk, I think it was G-4 to have our flight re-booked. I instructed my daughters to take my elderly mother-in-law to sit while my husband and I tried to find out what we needed to do. I merely asked the lady at the counter why I was holding guaranteed tickets in my hand and we were not allowed to use them. She said in a very snotty return that she was not in charge of the weather.
This totally shocked me because I used to teach customer service classes for a bank and that type of response was not in my lesson plan.in fact, I would fire anyone using that type of response. I wish I had her name but to go further, she told my husband, a pastor, that he was being too loud and argumentative.
First of all, Rev. Reid has a louder voice than most people because he speaks in church all the time and second of all, he is never rude to anyone. He has nothing but love for people. So, we were taken aback by the American Airlines woman you hired to represent your company. She offered us a flight out on American at 3:40 the next day. Then she offered us a discounted hotel rate of $89.95. We were very low on funds and that was not an option for the 7 of us. She was able to get us on a Delta flight at 7:10 the next morning. She never offered us any information on our luggage or where we could stay in the terminal, etc. I was furious at this point and did not say another word to her.
My husband and brother-in-law went down to the American Airlines desk downstairs and asked if we could get our luggage back to get my blood pressure meds and my mother-in-law's medications out of our checked luggage. The young man he spoke with said he did not think that was possible and the luggage was on its was to Birmingham. If the luggage was on its way, why could we not have been with it? He also said we should check back in 3 hours to see if he was correct; another wrong answer in my book.
Then we all seven proceeded down to the Delta desk and were able to confirm our flight the next morning and the young man gave us security passes to get us to the Delta terminal to sit all night long. We all 7 went through security again and TSA was nice to four of us and harassed me, my husband and our two minor daughters about the security pass they gave us. I started to cry at this point which made everything worse because apparently a woman who quietly cries because she has been treated wrongly on mother's day knowing that she will spend the night at the airport, having to go through security twice, being yelled at by mean people at American Airlines and having to spend her last $25.00 on hot chocolate, coffee and cokes for her family, and now being harassed by TSA, is no doubt in TSA's mind that she is a security threat.
Anyway we got to the Delta terminal and sat for hours. My husband then went back to the American Airlines baggage desk and was told that they could not find all of our luggage. Hours later, he finally was able to get all the luggage and take out our meds. He gave the bags to Delta who stored them for us with no problem.
Questions for you as President of American Airlines:
1. Later, we learned through American that we could have been shuttled to Midway for take off that night to Birmingham. Why were we not told that before? Why was Midway able to fly to Birmingham?
2. I want a print-out from your office showing me the immediate danger of taking off at 3:40 on the 11th at O'Hare for a non-stop flight to BHM. Other flights were leaving for the south especially ATL. Prove to me that there was a weather problem and not the fact that only 15-20 people showed up for the flight and you did not want to fly the plan because there were so few passengers and/or you did not have a flight staff available.
3. Tell me why you could not have delayed the flight like you did on the way up there Wednesday, May 7th (my birthday) I spent a total of 6 hours at the BHM airport waiting on weather and paper-work.
4. Will you tell me why no one from American could explain that there were cots available to stay in a warm area with blankets and pillows? No one at American offered any helpful information.
5. Will you tell me why I can't get a refund of all of our tickets, plus reimbursement for $10.00 parking fee at BHM for the extra day, the additional charges of my dogs at the kennel $60.00, and the reimbursement of all the expensive drinks and food at the airport a total of $175.00? This is what I demand.
I NEVER want to fly American again unless you prove to me why I should. I will go to my grave telling people that they should NEVER fly American Airlines, ever.
I will never forget the way we were treated. I will never forget the sight of my kids and my mother-in-law freezing in a terminal for a whole night.
I look forward to you answers, proof and refund within two weeks of the date on this letter or this matter will be handed over to my attorney. I refuse to be treated this way in the United States of America.
2nd letter:
Mr. Arpey:
I am VERY disappointed that you did not answer my letter of May 13, a copy of which is enclosed along with the e-mail I received from Debbie Mahan in your customer service department. I addressed my letter to you. Your lack of concern tells me that I am not important to you. I am highly offended and even more angered at you and your company.
I will now formally ask that your company REMOVE my name from any and all correspondence. I just received a packet today from Rob Friedman's department stating that I am a member of the AAdvantage program and his employees sent me a sweet little card to carry proudly in my wallet. I enclose this packet as well. Please tell Mr. Friedman and the rest of your company not to EVER send me anything via e-mail or via mail. Besides it seems your company needs the money of the cost of labor and postage to mail anything so that you and your family can fly anywhere in the world and have no problems. I am sure you are always pleased with YOUR service.
I will now proceed to tell anyone and everyone including the Better Business Bureau, my attorneys and anyone else I can tell legally via internet, billboards and newspapers if possible that American Airlines is a horid, horid beast that does not care about its customers.
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