http://www.aa.com
4333 Amon Carter Boulevard
Fort Worth, TX 76155
(817) 963-1234
(800) 433-7300
How to get through to an operator
dial 00, then say “agent”
Overview
American Airlines is a solid, middle-of-the-road airline when it comes to customer service. Which is to say, there is no abundance of horror stories coming from American. But, at the same time, when it comes to marginal cases where a little bit of good will could take it a long way, it often hesitates – especially when it comes to paying out damages or issuing vouchers. All in all, American could probably do better. It could also do much, much worse.
If you have a customer complaint, please read this before contacting the company.
Customer service resources
Contract of carriage
Customer service main page
Email form
Primary e-mail
According to American Airlines, there is no general e-mail address that is monitored. It prefers all inquiries to be sent to its form.
Primary contact
Mark Mitchell
Managing director, customer experience
(817) 963-1234
mark.mitchell@aa.com
Secondary contact (*)
(Note: American says e-mailing its executives is the slowest way to get a response from the carrier. Slower than sending it a letter. Slower than using a carrier pigeon.)
Daniel P. Garton
Executive vice president
(817) 963-1234
daniel.garton@aa.com
Chief executive (*)
Gerard J. Arpey
President and chief executive officer
(817) 963-1234
gerard.arpey@aa.com
What others have to say about American Airlines
Aviation Consumer Protection Division Air Travel Consumer Report
Consumeraffairs.com
Epinions.com
Airline Quality Rating
This information has been collected from publicly-available resources and is believed to be accurate at the time of the last update. If any of this information is inaccurate, please e-mail me.
* Executives should only be contacted when your letter or email has not been acknowledged within six to eight weeks.
Sign up for my 
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Last leg on a long trip.
On 8 August 2007 I had a seat reserved on the 4:10PMflight from Miami to Orlando. I arrived at about 1:20PM on my AA connecting flight from Caracas and checked the departure schedule which listed Flight 1990 as confirmed but with no gate assigned. I waited patiently checking the screens regularly when finally at 3:45PM I decided to ask at a gate if they had any information on my flight. They did and said it had been canceled! I was directed to the re-ticketing counter where after about an hour’s wait I was told I was scheduled to spend the night in Miami at American’s expense as Flight 1990 was out of service. I had just flown from Rome, to Lisbon, to Caracas and I was not interested in spending the night in Miami. I asked about getting me on another flight and the attendant said it had 45 on the standby list. I asked about other airlines and he checked and said they were all full also. Then I asked about a voucher for a car rental and was told to go ahead and rent a car and submit a claim.
So I waited over 2.5 hours because American does not care sufficiently about it’s passengers to list cancelled flights. However that was not the end of the “no service”. I was told my bag would be on the next flight to Orlando that day and I could pick it up at the airport on Wednesday night or have it delivered. I called Thursday morning and the representative said my luggage would be delivered on Thursday. During this time that I was waiting for my bag, I was assigned a lost bag number and told I could check status on the internet. Each time I entered my claim number it reported that the bag had not been located yet. That status continued past delivery of the bag. After no delivery, I again called on Friday morning and was promised my bag by 6PM. That time came and went and no bag. Finally about 11PM I received a call from a delivery man saying he would deliver my bag that evening. I told him to just leave it by the door as there had been a signed note to that effect on my door for 2 days. That was not good enough for the lonseome delivery man. He persisted in calling and waking me at almost 2 AM saying he was ready to deliver my bag.
I submitted the receipt for the rental car and tolls to the American Claims Department and copied the President of American Airlines as well as the Department of Transportation. What I received was 5,000 miles added to my mileage account as well as a voucher for $200 for future travel on American.
Now if they had told me that they would not pay for my rental car I may have decided to spend the night in Miami and have dinner at American’s expense as they so offered. However I was lied to by the attendant about American paying for the car rental.
I really question if the support people that American has working for them are so incompetent, can we not infer that the pilots are of the same nature?
We were also told at the ticket counter that AA would pay for the car to pick us up since the plane they sent to St. Martin was too small and totally over booked. We live in NJ and airport was JFK-needless to say that the van to pcik us up (7 people)-was $250/one way and when we submited the receipt for reimbursement, was told that they would not pay it! I have since contact the CEO of AA and we will see where that takes me.
What are they talking about – solid airline? HAH! AA stinks. See my below message. AA ignored me and did nothing!
Sept. 19th, 2007
Dear Representative:
My family and I had an American Airlines flight from Bogota, Colombia to Orlando Florida on 8-12-07. There were 3 of us including my wife and 2 year old son. They charged us a full fare ticket for my 2 yr. old which I thought was abusive. We paid 2,336.00, this was not a discount flight. The flight 914 was scheduled to leave Bogota at 7:30 am, stop in Miami to change planes to Flight 816. It was delayed, supposedly because AA stated there was a 40 minute delay due to a flat tire. At 8:00am they informed us it would be delayed another 2 hours because the brakes had some mechanical issue. At 10:00am 2 1/2 hours late, we boarded the plane supposedly to leave for Miami at 10:30 am. From 10:30am to 3:30 pm we sat on the plane, with no food or drink, because of some other mechanical difficulties they had including: a gasoline indicator light in the cabin, and a fuse burned out in the motor. After waiting 2 1/2 hours to board, and 5 1/2 hours on board for a total delay of 8 hours without food or drink, two arguments started on the plane with the crew. People were furious and rightly so. They then took 8 people off the plane and luggage, presumably because they got them another flight and left us there to suffer more. They loaded the plane with more fuel while we were on board which I thought was very dangerous. At 3:30 pm (8 hours late) the plane finally took off from Bogota to Miami.
In the air, they stated all the flight connections had been made for us, this was a complete and total LIE. When we got to Miami at 8PM, no connections had been made and no one helped us find out how to get to ORLANDO our final destination. We had to go to 3 different counters and wait on lines before we could get someone to help us. We finally got a 10:00pm flight to Orlando and arrived in Orlando about midnight. This is a blatant abusive company and I am totally outraged at how they treated us because we are hispanic and they are racist.
I filed a BBB complaint and AA admitted all of the facts I stipulated, including bald tire/flat, bad brakes, gas light, fuse out, 8 hour delay etc. and still they offered NO COMPENSATION. This plane was unsafe and shouldn’t have been allowed to fly at all.
Cesar Ramirez
7550 S. Blackhawk St., apt. 6-105
Englewood, CO
80112
And I took Elliot’s advice, and filed the complaint with the following individuals:
Sean Bentel
Manager, customer relations
(817) 963-1234
sean.bentel@aa.com
Ralph Richardi
Senior vice president, customer services
(817) 963-1234
ralph.richardi@aa.com
Chief executive (*)
Gerard J. Arpey
President and chief executive officer
(817) 963-1234
gerard.arpey@aa.com
Federal Aviation Administration
Consumer Hotline, AOA-20
800 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20591
Aviation Consumer Protection Division, C-75
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20590
Let’s see if I get a response. Have at thee AA!!
Has anyone yet successfully sued an airline for holding them hostage on a plane? AA has not yet responded in a satisfactory manner. In fact, even though I’m writing to their officers, the customer service people pick up the emails. See below.
10-09-07
Michelle F. Simmons
Customer Relations
American Airlines
Since you send emails as an outgoing only email address (please see below) I am required to respond in this manner. I have written in the past to AA customer relations 3 times and have yet to receive a single response.
This is an “outgoing only” email address. If you ‘reply’ to this message by
simply selecting the reply button, we will not receive your additional comments.
Please assist us in providing you with a timely response to any feedback you have
for us by always sending us your email messages via AA.com at
http://www.aa.com/customerrelations.
Regarding your offer of 12,000 miles compensation, please rest assured I do not consider this adequate compensation for the pain and suffering of waiting for a flight delayed 8 hours, or being held hostage on a plane for 5 hours with no drinks or food and a 2 year old for whom I paid approximately $800.00 for a safe easy trip to Orlando which I didn’t receive. I wonder if it would be to my advantage to stop wasting my time in attempting to deal with AA in a reasonable manner, and simply hire an attorney? Can I sue for pain and suffering of being held hostage on a plane without food or drink in a violent environement in which I felt threatened for 5 hours do you think? You’ve made it abundantly clear that you neither care for us as passengers nor as human beings by your actions. I fail to see why I would ever consider flying AA again after having been privy to your total lack of caring, your mechanically unsound airplanes and your complete and total lack of customer service. I have taken the liberty to read your BBB report and they stated and I quote:
Customer Experience
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s).
Lastly I wrote to Mr. Richardi, hoping he would respond, not you. It’s unfortunate he feels he’s too important to handle this matter.
See below.
We received your October 3 email sent to Mr. Richardi.
I have to say overrall, AA has really deteriorated and I am extremely saddened by your loss of professionalism and courtesy. I used to love AA having flown them many times to and from the caribbean with my family. It’s a shame to see what was once a fine company go down the toilet. My guess is you’ll be going the way of Woolworth’s and K-Mart soon. I’ll give AA one last shot, otherwise, I’ll be speaking to my attorney. You have 72 hours to respond in a satisfactory manner. Judge yourselves accordingly.
Sincerely,
Cesar Ramirez
7550 S. Blackhawk St., apt. 6-105
Englewood, CO
80112
I have flown with AA several times over the years, and except for a few grumpy flight attendants, have never had a problem. However, my last flight is making me re-think traveiling with them again. I returned to DFW from a business trip to Washington, D.C. I checked in 2hrs and 15 minutes prior to the departure time. When I got to DFW, my bag wasn’t there. The baggage claim rep told me it hadn’t been put on my plane, but was on the next plane. When I asked why this happened, he said probably because it hadn’t had time for TSA to inspect it or there were already too many bags on my plane. This made no sense as I had checked in early. However, he said the next plane arrived at approximately 7:30 and my bag would be delivered to me between 10:00 and 10:30. When I asked for clarification if he meant 10:00 the following morning or that night he said it would be that evening. At 10:30, when it had not yet arrived, I called the number provided and was told by a rep that it was put on a delivery truck and they had a six hour delivery window, so I should get it by 3:00am. When I said I wasn’t happy with this delivery time, she said they could postpone it until the following day. When I said that wouldn’t work as I had to go to work the next morning and had a prior commitment the following evening, she stated in a sarcastic tone “So when in the next month will you be available for us to deliver your bag?”. I said I didn’t appreciate that and who could I send a complaint to. She told me to submit a complaint on-line, which I did. At 3:00 am my bag still hadn’t been delivered, so I called again. The agent checked with the delivery company and said, “Actually it wasn’t put on a truck until just recently, so it should be delivered to you between 6:00 and 7:00am. At 7:00am when it still hadn’t come I called back. This rep told me that the delivery company stops delivering at a certain hour and didn’t resume deliveries until around 7:00 or 8:00 the folllowing morning. I told her I wanted to speak to a supervisor. After being put on hold for quite a while the supervisor said she didn’t know why I had been told 4 different stories but that the delivery company should calll me and set up a delivery window of 4 to 6 hours. When I said I needed to be at work and wanted a specific delivery time, she said she’d have the company call me. An hour later they still hadn’t called, so I called AA again and said I wanted the number and information for the delivery company so I could call myself. The delivery company said they had my bag there in their warehouse. Apparently AA had lied to me all along and it was never put onto a truck at all. The delivery company was very nice and put it on a truck immediately and had it to me within the hour. I did not appreciate being given the run around and being lied to. If they had just said up front they didn’t know when it would be delivered, while I wouldn’t have been happy, at least I wouldn’t have been getting up in the middle of the night and early the next morning waiting for deliveries that never came. I found the majority of the baggage claim reps I talked to to be rude as well. And, according to AAs’s policy which I later found on their website, they are supposed to give the passanger a brochure at the claim desk which explains their baggage delivery policy. I was never offered a brochure, but was just given a claim ticket with the tracking number and a phone number and was told it would be delivered that evening. AA needs to do some retraining of their baggage claim staff on manners and policy.
My husband ans I were on our honeymoon and left JFK in New York on the 11th of Jan. Our luggage was sent on another plane to another Island we let management know as soon as we arrived at Punta Cana to learn this and at Club Med . We were told that our belongings would be here later ,then later came still no luggage We were told tomorrow between 3pm and 6pm we sat in our room waiting we were dressed for 30 degree weather and now in 80 degree weather so now we were forced to purchase clothes to get us by till our clothes get there the clothes didn’t fit we didn’t like them we were then told tomorrow your stuff will be here and once again it wasn’t. we sat in our room every day waiting for our bags and they didn’t get there it the day before we were coming home so we ended up having to buy more clothes we asked what was the price in American money they told us we will find out when we put it on our credit card. We ended up spending $1300.00 on colthes we didn’t want or didn’t need we had all we needed in our luggage that’s what we needed. We just want to be compensated for our clothes our vacation was ruined. After reading about other peoples problems this just sounds like AA dosen’t care. Why is that? I guess we will have to get a lawyer involved also. I also got in touch with Tappy Phillips from Channel 7 news All AA need is a little bit more bad publisity. Thanks for listening
My friend and I flew AA from LAX to MIA – we were supposed to have a 3 hour layover in SFO, but our original flight out of LAX was so delayed that we would have missed the connecting flight, so we got on standby for a direct flight. Fortunately, we made the flight, unfortunately, our bags continued to SFO where they missed the connecting flight. We were going on a cruise and were advised in the Miami airport that our bags wouldn’t make it to our ship in time to leave, so we should purchase clothes to hold us over until the following day when our bags were supposed to be flown to our port (Freeport Bahamas) and delivered to the ship. Never happened. After spending the majority of my vacation on the phone with AA’s worthless customer relations, being blatantly lied to and condescended upon, we arrived back in Miami, still without our bags. The desk took our claim for up to $500 reimbursement (they originally offered $75/person!) and told us that we would have to contact customer service to have more than the $500 covered. They could not offer us a phone number and we had no access to the internet, which left us no choice but to email once we were back in LA. I have now contacted AA 18 times (between phone calls and emails). I finally received the $500 reimbursement, but was told by customer service that a higher reimbursement would have had to be done in MIA! Lied to, AGAIN. It’s now been 5 weeks since I originally checked my bag at LAX, and they have yet to find it. Also, I was just informed I would receive a “depreciated” value for my lost items. My friend and I have both been writing American and have been getting standard, templated responses. I just sent another email today – Here’s hoping something will actually happen!
The same thing that happened to Susan and Odojoe happened to me!! I was scheduled to leave for Rome from HPN with a connecting flight in Chicage O’hare. Boarding time was 12:45 and we had a close connection time. Nevertheless we were sent to board the plane at about 1:45pm. Once on board, the captain asked himself over the pa why it had taken so long to get us to the gate since the plane had been ready for boarding as of 12:15 (we wouldve had an on time departure) he even went so far as to say we all deserved travel vouchers but that he didn’t have any on hand.
Once on the plane we were stranded at the gate for nearly two hours during which I called AA’s 800 number and tried to make alternate plans. The phone rep told me to get off the plane because there weren’t going to be any flights from ORD to Rome until Wednesday and we wouldn’t receive hotel accomodations because it was “weather related”.
I then proceded to ask if we would be reimbursed for the transportation from HPN back home and the next days cab fare from home to JFK (we were rerouted on a nonstop flight the next day) and she said: “American takes great care of its customers, just save all of the receipts for additional expenses incurred because of the delay and contact customer relations, they will take care of it for you”. I followed her instructions and what did they say? A big fat NO, they say they do not cover expenses for weather related problems but my problem was not weather related it was caused by the gate personnel not sending us out on time and then getting the flight delayed because of other problems. I will keep trying as there are about 500 dollars in additional expenses due to cab fare and 1 hotel night that was charged. Good luck to you all!!
Cesar writes … “I am totally outraged at how they treated us because we are hispanic and they (American Airlines) are racist.”
Get over the fact you are Hispanic, I am Anglo and got the same treatment. I’m tired of people like you pulling out the Race Card. They dont owe you anymore than they owe me!
Michael
I have a little tip for you now. With a little ingenuity and a lot of luck,
I found the number for the corporate offices of AA in DFW ((972) 425-2469).
Now this number will take you to an unused extension, but by pressing 0 and
then 1, you can dial by name (last then first).
I also managed to get the name of the Claims Department Manager – Debbie
David. Her direct number is (972) 425-6551
Spread the word. AA can no longer rebuff our calls with their phone
sentries who” can’t transfer you to anyone”. Now All you need is a name and
you can get connected right to them and give them an earful if they deserve
it.
Ken
Two years back, I took a personal trip to India on American Airlines ticket. During my return flight, the domestic carrier for the leg, Air Sahara, had a “technical problem” and cancelled the flight on 24th April 2004 between Calcutta and Delhi. As I was supposed to fly to Chicago via Delhi and the following flight from Delhi to Chicago was not till next evening, American Airlines agent promised me full refund of cancelled domestic sector ticket as they “couldnt” book me on a different carrier which was operating the same route that evening. Since I had to come back to Chicago as soon as possible due to professional reasons, I had no option to wait till the following day and had to purchase a 347.50 USD ticket to reach Delhi from Calcutta with Indian Airlines (who had the most helpful staff). After I reached Chicago, I immediately sent the ticket to the agent who filed the refund claim.
It has been almost two years now, I am yet to get a penny from American Airlines. I hope they have one more disclaimer in their contract of carriage – “We reserve the right to cheat passengers”
With best regards,
Kaushik Das
335 Bluesedge Ln
Alpharetta, GA 30005
678 225 6412
I was scheduled to fly out of SFO to Miami on Wednesday, April 9 (during the grounding debauchle) on the red eye. I was packed, ready to go and then waited 40 more minutes past departure only to be told over the loud speaker that “we have some bad news, your flight has been canceled, we have no staff.”
I was to fly on a 757, so this obviously was a bi-product of all the other cancellations. They could not re-ticket me as I was scheduled for a cruise the next day that they could not get me there in time for. I am now at a loss of one night at a hotel, an ENTIRE cruise and a chance to visit a group of friends that took 6 years to get a trip planned we could all attend. This incident seems like something they could have forecasted with all of the cancellations and I would have had more options to get to Miami!
This was following a horrendous trip with my 2 year old from SFO to West Palm that took 26 hours and included rerouting us, promising someone would meet us in Miami at the gate to get us to the destination (no one was there), waiting almost 2 hours in line and then being put on a super shuttle for 3 hours to West Palm Airport to PICK UP OUR OWN LUGGAGE! Customer service was nil and they had no power to do anything to help us- or so they claimed.
I am over it. This recent grounding of planes scares the crap out of me that they were allowed to be negligent with their fleet. They take full responsibility, but spin it like it’s more of a customer safety issue. If they really wanted us to be safe they would have kept up with their Preventative Maintenance. Now we all suffer. Thankfully, there were no fatalities.
As a Platinum Elite member with NWA, I received the announcement shown above. Whether the following quotation is legitimate or not, it is certainly appropriate … not only for this merger, but for those previous and the ensuing brouhaha to follow.
We trained hard . . . but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronius Arbiter, 210 B.C.
Dear Mr. Elliott
I am looking for some help with , what I feel ,is an unfair charge from American Airlines.
I originally had a ticket from Tucson- Boston, then US Airways Boston- NY and back to Boston, and AA back to Tucson on April 21st.
On the evening of April 20, I fell down a flight of stairs at my daughter’s in Quincy, MA and was taken by ambulance to Quincy Medical Center.
I was in the ER for several hours with a head trauma and 22 stitches in my arm plus several other bruises and abrasions. They did a CAT scan and the Dr said I could not fly for 24 hours and wrote a note to that effect. My daughter, Amy Griswold faxed a copy of this along with a letter when we returned home that night.
Since I was laying in the ER, I had someone call to cancel my flight the next morning and rebook it for April 23.
AA charged me an additional $448.02 for my ticket plus $100. to change the ticket and $15. for the phone call.
I don’t mind paying the change fee, but I feel they shouldn’t charge an additional ticket fee- this was done for a medical emergency- not for fun. Plus that, when you are in the ER what choice do you have but to make a phone call- that $ 15. an insult charge.
I am contacting as many advocates as I can because I think this is entirely unfair- A neighbor of mine had her ear drum punctured a year ago and all she paid was the $100. change of ticket fee.
To top it all off, you cannot talk to Customer Service- you must do it through Email- they call that Customer Service? How about all the people who don’t have computers?
At some point, they contacted my daughter and offered me a $100. voucher on my next ticket. I don’t think that is acceptable.
Thank you for your time and I hope you might have some success on my behalf with an adjustment from AA.
Sincerely
Lucia M Griswold
520-577-1609
5020 N Via Gelsomino
American Airlines worker is Racist on Flight 267 August 12, 2008
267 Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 08/12/2008 08:20 pm Honolulu, HI (HNL)
I was on this flight, it was pretty packed, and had six kids with me going to Honolulu for our holiday.
A passenger sitting in front of me was not feeling well and complained that I was moving the seat and/or tray too much which may her feel “sick.”
There was nothing I could’ve done about this, as I was not using my tray anymore then anyone else. I was also playing card games with me kids and occasionally they had to go out to use the restroom. It is tight, but it is economy class after all.
Half way into our flight, the passenger in front of me (a white female) went and asked for a seat change and/or complained about me.
Heidi, a flight attendant working in business class came over, and instead of talking with me in a civil manner, already assumed I was guilty of my accusations charged against me.
I tried to tell her that I did nothing wrong and that’s there was nothing I could do. This lady in front of me is super sensitive. Maybe she has motion sickness, but there’s nothing I could do.
Heidi, then shock my seat and show me what it must feel like for the lady in front of me and I got really upset, as I NEVER did anything like that.
The discussion went around in circle where I tried to say: 1. the tray was not working well… as it would get stuck when I tried to close it. 2. this is economy class seats. 3. I have rights to as well to enjoy my flight with my family. 4. I did not like being accsue of something I did not do… which is to purposefully disrupt the lady in front of me.
In the end, Heidi, the American Airline employee yelled and me and moved the lady to the front in business class.
As I disembarked the plane, I went over to tell her how I thought she was out of line accusing me of doing things to the lady that I did not do.
She said, well, “that lady was really upset.”
I replied, “well, now I’m really upset.”
She never apologized, and did not want to listen to my side of the story.
This has been the worst flying experience I have ever had as I fly all the time.
I said, “I’m going to write a strong letter to American Airlines. I think you think your job is secure, so your customer service goes down.”
Heidi’s reply, “yes it is. and I do a good job.”
My reply to her, “not today, not with me.”
I wonder if Heidi knows that maybe that white-lady played her and got an upgrade.
My friend said, “its interesting how a white blond lady, just sided with another white blond lady right away” which makes me think that Heidi may have a racial biases. If she does, American Airlines should not have her flying the most multicultural flight in America: the one to Hawai’i, America’s most diverse State.
If you are a lawyer, and have some information and/or advice for me on how to follow up on this, I would appreciate it. In this day and age, this kind of treatment is uncalled me.
If you have expereinced something similar by Heidi on American Airlines flight 267 or other flights to Hawai’i please write and comment as well.
Key words: American Airline, American Airlines, Heidi, flight 267, LAX to Honolulu, Heidi is a racist.
American Airline Inc.
Agent 10 Jun /20.31 /2 N Y.
JFK, JFK 42 NY 1931 10 Jun 2008 6B 55 EB
File locater= SK JOL X
Subject: Tagging luggage to BAHRAIN and giving boarding card to PESHAWAR
Dear Sir,
While going from London to J F K as mentioned my bag was delayed. Forget about that.
But now once again, it is quite surprising that your agent at JFK (flight no. 104 12 sep. 635 p m) made a blunder by issuing me boarding card (4 072 5699304571) for London, Bahrain and Peshawar; while tagged my luggage (four pieces for two passengers) upto BAHRAIN.
The inconvenience caused me great pain and financial loss; besides setback to your reputation. Mind it, my family and I use this airline over a decade.
I would request you to hold proper enquiry and take severest disciplinary action against lady who tagged luggage at JFK. I may also be compensated within the ambit of you laws.
I reserve my legal rights.
Hazrat Sultan
Ticket no. 07256699304573
Newyork to London to Bahrain to Peshawar
September 12, 2008 Fight no, A A 104 V
Board. Card= 4 072 5699304571 1
I have become a new member of the AAdvantage team. Is there an answer why we can’t use past miles, even though UNITED allows it. I don’t understand, I know I wasn’t a member before but I have flown numerious of times and didn’t feel that it would benefit me to apply to frequent flyer miles. But now that I am a member why shouldn’t I be able to back track to flights that I have taken with this airline.
Just a thought.
reading thru this crap,makes me laugh, i was a 20 yr American airlines employee,
folks,you did this to yourself.
you wany to fly for free and want a full service too.
In my time at American ive seen it all,
do you remember the early years of flying
up to the 70 s people dressed to fly,and had respect for each other,
now you have slobs and people that think the world owes them
Im not saying American is totally innocent cause their not,
but you get what you pay for.
Ive seen flt attendants punched,pilots spit on
and it wasn’t cause they were rude
job cuts,pay cuts downsizing,
but joe traveler wants to fly from ny to los angeles for $100 and have prime rib
for dinner on an airplane not gonna happen.
so lets stop playing the race card,lets stop blaming the front lines employees of any airline and remember this
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
Several months ago I booked a flight with AA which I was forced to cancel due to illness. The cancellation was done over the phone and in accordance with AA’s stated policy for cancellations. The representative I spoke to on the telephone told me to “hang onto my ticket, as it will be good for a year”.
More recently, I had another trip to make and while attempting to book with AA, tried to apply my “still good” ticket for credit. The web site responded that the ticket in question had already been credited in 2003 (I tried several times with the same result). So, I sent an inquiry to Customer Service via e-mail, including the ticket number. More than a month later (well after I’d taken the trip in question), I got a response, also via e-mail, stating that the web site was not set up to handle credit requests “of this nature” and that in any case my ticket was non-refundable.
I was given a snail mail address to which I could send “my tickets” (I sent a photocopy) and told that I must explain to whoever answers the mail there why I believe myself entitled to a “refund”. So I did that, basically stating that I paid for a ticket and was told by AA’s employee that in exchange for my money I would receive a ticket.
It’s been two months now and I haven’t had a word in response. I suppose if they wait long enough the ticket they won’t honor will expire and then they’ll tell me that. Planning to try again. Will keep you all posted. Meanwhile, I am hoping for the development of high speed rail.
In response to what Nick wrote on Dec 13, 2008:
Hello! The airlines didn’t have to cut prices. They didn’t have to stop providing service. They could have maintained prices, reduced market share, but maintained profitably–if indeed they were ever profitable. For a long time, airlines depended on the government to make ends meet. I dressed up when I flew until the 90s when the seats became so cramped that sweats were needed for the contortionist positions required just to get from the window seat to the aisle to use the restroom.
Most businesses set a price based on cost. Why can’t airlines do that? No one forces an airline to lower its prices. There are some people who would pay a little more if service was provided. Alternatively, knowing I am only paying $200 RT to fly ORD to RSW, I expect to have no room and to have to bring my own food. I do get what I pay for. However, I do not pay to be treated rudely, I do not pay to be held hostage on the tarmac, I do not pay to have my precious vacation time wasted because the airline is incompetent and doesn’t deliver my bags upon my arrival. If an airline can’t deliver what is purchased, it shouldn’t be in business.
Dear American Airlines,
In 2008, I booked tickets with American Airlines for a flight from Miami to Temuco, Chile, for a family vacation. The traveling passengers were me (Ben Greenfield), my wife (Jessica Greenfield) and our twin 9 month old baby boys (River & Terran Greenfield).
The trip record locator for this trip was GAQMOA. The itinerary was to be:
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
American Airlines # 917
Miami International (MIA) to Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM)
Departure: (MIA): January 13, 4:30 PM EST (afternoon)
Arrival: (LIM): January 13, 10:05 PM PET (evening)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
LAN Airlines # 601
Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM) to Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez (SCL)
Departure: (LIM): January 14, 12:40 AM PET (morning)
Arrival: (SCL): January 14, 6:00 AM CLST (morning)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
LAN Airlines # 231
Operated by: /LANEXPRESS – Please check in with the operating carrier
Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez (SCL) to Temuco (ZCO)
Departure: (SCL): January 14, 8:30 AM CLST (morning)
Arrival: (ZCO): January 14, 9:55 AM CLST (morning)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
LAN Airlines # 254
Operated by: /LANEXPRESS – Please check in with the operating carrier
Temuco (ZCO) to Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez (SCL)
Departure: (ZCO): January 20, 7:45 PM CLST (evening)
Arrival: (SCL): January 20, 9:05 PM CLST (evening)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
LAN Airlines # 600
Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez (SCL) to Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM)
Departure: (SCL): January 20, 10:35 PM CLST (evening)
Arrival: (LIM): January 21, 12:20 AM PET (morning)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
American Airlines # 2110
Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM) to Miami International (MIA)
Departure: (LIM): January 21, 7:35 AM PET (morning)
Arrival: (MIA): January 21, 1:10 PM EST (afternoon)
Upon booking the tickets through Orbitz, I called American Airlines to inform them that we were traveling with infants. The American Airlines representative informed me that I would simply need to pay “taxes” on the infants for international travel. Later, I found that this was not indeed the case. Actually, according to the AA website:
“International (outside the United States/Canada and Hawaii/Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands)
For fare purposes…
an infant is defined as a passenger under 2 years of age
a child is defined as a passenger 2-11 years of age.
Availability of fares for infants and children varies depending on your travel plans. AA.com is currently unable to book a reservation for an infant traveling internationally as a lap child. When traveling outside the U.S., infants under age two who do not pay a fare may be required to have a ticket. In addition, taxes may be assessed which can be significant. Please contact Reservations for further assistance. “
Regardless of this information, on 01/06/2009, the American Airlines representative who I spoke with on the phone informed me that she had taken care of the infant “taxes” and charged my Visa credit card twice for $322.45 per infant. The ticket numbers appearing on my credit card statement are 0012119170341 and 0012119170343. The “reference” numbers appearing on the bank statement, if you need them, are 247170506GW756F26 and 247170506GW756F2E. The representative said nothing about “ticketing” the infants.
On January 13, we arrived at the Miami airport to check-in for AA flight #917 to Lima. Upon check-in, the ticket agent informed us that there was no indication on our travel information for Miami, FL to Temuco, Chile that we would be traveling with infants, and said that we would need to buy two additional tickets for our infants. She charged us a total of 363.45 per infant, and issued the tickets with the following serial numbers: 001 2191090707 4 & 001 2191090708 5. The stock control numbers were 00113156323913 and 00113156323865. She also checked 4 pieces of luggage using AA ticket tags from Miami to Temuco. These tags were 0001137476, 0001137477, 0001137478 and 0001137479. She said if we had indeed already payed “taxes” on the infants that this would be refunded, but in order for us to get on the plane, we had to make these additional purchases.
So we paid and got on flight #917. Interestingly, although both “infant tickets” listed breakfast and dinner for the flights, neither were offered.
We arrived in Lima, Peru and went to the gate for our ensuing LAN flight #601 to Santiago. At the gate, we were informed that our lap infants were not ticketed and did not have seats on that plane. We stood with two crying infants and watched the plane, with our bags, food, medicine, and clothing, depart the gate for Santiago. Apparently the AA ticket agent in Miami only issued tickets to get us as far as Lima, although she knew we were going to Temuco, as she checked our bags all the way through.
For the next 7 hours, I stood at the LAN counter (“American Airlines partner”) in Lima Peru, and finally, they issued me two separate round-trip tickets for each infant from Lima to Temuco and back. These ticket numbers were TN5442112105145/TN5442112105146 for the departing trip and TN5442112105147/TN5442112105151 for the returning trip. My Visa was once again charged for the first two tickets (120.43) and the second two tickets (260.86).
Due to this mistake by American Airlines, our overnight stay in the Lima airport lost us an entire valuable day of vacation and the first night of our pre-paid hotel stay in Chile. This was turning into a nightmare. Due to our re-routing via the “infant” tickets, our flight was changed to:
Lima to Santiago via LAN Flight 5531
Santiago to Osorno via LAN Flight 255
Osorno to Temuco via LAN flight 254
$1752.01 later (not including $33.07 spent on food and drinks during our delays) we finally arrived in Temuco completely exhausted and robbed of an entire day-and-a-half of our vacation.
I was determined that we would not experience the same horrible, nightmarish travel scenario on our return flight. Therefore, I called both American Airlines and LAN airlines on 01/20/09, prior to our departure, to ensure that we were traveling “as Greenfield party of 4” with two infants. I was informed by both airlines that everything would be fine.
At the Temuco airport, I stood at the ticket counter for 1 hour and 10 minutes as the agent explained to me that there was a problem with getting me onto the flight as there were no electronic records that Jessica and Ben Greenfield were traveling. In other words, she only showed a River and Terran Greenfield on the flight. After pouring all my travel receipts onto the counter, she was able to figure things out, and we had to run through the airport to catch LAN flight 254 Temuco to Santiago.We then took flight #5600 from Santiago to Lima.
In Lima, were once again forced to hassle with the ticketing agents, who informed us that our infants were seated in the same row, and the airline couldn’t accommodate this travel scenario due to seating regulations. Isn’t this why I called ahead, to ensure that this problem would not happen? Is this because the airline does not take into consideration “two” infants traveling simultaneously? Shouldn’t this have been anticipated by the airline beforehand? As someone who works from my computer, I had now missed over 10 hours of work that I would normally do on my computer while waiting in an airport, instead standing at agent counters arguing with American Airline and LAN ticketing personnel.
Finally, we arrived in Miami on American Airlines flight 2110. Due to weather conditions, the plane arrived about 20 minutes behind schedule.
Here is where things get interesting:
We are from Spokane, WA, and had booked a separate itinerary from Miami to Spokane that would enable us to continue home after arriving into the Miami airport from Lima. The AA flight record locator is BTDBZC and the itinerary was as follows:
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
American Airlines # 1960
Miami International (MIA) to Tampa International (TPA)
Departure (MIA): January 21, 3:05 PM EST (afternoon)
Arrival (TPA): January 21, 4:00 PM EST (afternoon)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
US Airways # 454
Tampa International (TPA) to Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl (PHX)
Departure (TPA): January 21, 5:15 PM EST (evening)
Arrival (PHX): January 21, 8:06 PM MST (evening)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
US Airways # 587
Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl (PHX) to Spokane International (GEG)
Departure (PHX): January 21, 9:11 PM MST (evening)
Arrival (GEG): January 21, 10:54 PM PST (evening
When I had called American Airlines from Chile on January 20th, they informed me that “Greenfield party of 4” would also be fine for this flight. However, after claiming and re-checking our bags in the Miami airport customs and arriving at the security line with 45 minutes left to catch our flight, we were denied entrance due to our infants not appearing on the tickets. The security agent, who informed us that “we would not be late for our flight” sent us back to an individual kiosk in the Miami airport, where an agent issued us new tickets that included infant boarding passes. These tickets were 001 7552755692 6 and 001 7552755693 0. Unfortunately, this process took nearly 20 minutes.
Due to this delay, we were forced to sprint nearly a mile from customs to gate D50 in the Miami airport, to catch flight #1960 Miami to Tampa. The plane was sitting at the gate when we arrived and the doors to the tunnel were open, but we were denied entry. We stood once again with our crying infants and watched our food, medicine, clothes and daily necessities fly away.
The American Airlines agent at gate D50 said, “We can still get you to Phoenix to catch your US airlines flight #587 to Spokane. You’ll just need to go to the ticket re-arrangement counter outside security”.
I left my wife at the gate and sprinted to this gate. A man named Rich informed me that to change our tickets to the American Airlines flight to Phoenix would cost over $600 per ticket, and that we would not make it to Phoenix in time to catch our flight to Spokane because this flight was delayed 30 minutes. I do not know the number of this flight.
Rich then informed me that in order for us to go home, we would have to purchase new tickets, because this was not American Airlines fault, but rather the problem with weather conditions making the American Airlines flight 2110 from Lima arrive late. He was very calloused and rude during this process as he explained that we would have to remain in Miami for an additional day. I had no choice but cancel all my work for 01/22/09, losing me nearly $400 in lost work, but also to buy two more tickets for 290.80 per ticket. These new ticket numbers were 0012191191717 and 0012191191721. We were offered no meal vouchers and a single hotel voucher that had us take a shuttle four miles from the airport and pay 77.17 to stay overnight at the Howard Johnson, with no bags, because they had all been sent through to Spokane.
I have traveled via airline 5-10x per year for the past 5 years. I have never gone through anything that resembles the horrible tribulations that we experienced through American Airlines.
The AA supervisor in Miami instructed me to write AA customer relations to request a refund for tickets 0012191191717 and 0012191191721, which is why you are receiving this letter.
I have made a phone call to American Airlines. A woman named “lopez” the AA supervisor at the North Carolina reservations office has informed me that the first two tickets 0012119170341 and 0012119170343 could be refunded, and these were not “taxes” as I was told by an AA agent on the phone, but rather, paper tickets that had been sent to our home (which I never received). The record locator she gave me is npxsbe. She said she would approve this refund.
If you did the math during this letter, you’ll know that we paid 2333.61 in ticket costs due to mistakes made by American and LAN airlines. I spent an additional 109.61 in hotel and food costs. I lost one-and-a-half days of vacation, a $200 hotel stay in Chile, and 1 full day of work.
I don’t know who is reading this letter, but American Airlines destroyed our vacation, bankrupted our budget, and left us with two dirty and hungry infants crying and screaming more times than I care to remember. We need this problem addressed. Based upon the advice of my attorney, I propose that you refund the cost of all additional purchased tickets listed in this letter, provide us with 2 complementary tickets for domestic travel on American Airlines, and also provide us with 2 hotel and meal vouchers for any future travel that we have. My attorney and I agree this is a fair and equitable alternative to taking American Airlines to small claims court. Our reservations and tickets constituted a contract, which American Airlines failed to honor. The fact that you have done this to two infants is an even greater travesty. Please contact me immediately to remedy this situation.
Today my daughter and her fiance boarded a flight from Vancouver B.C. to Dallas Ft. Worth with a connecting flight to Puerto Rico where they will overnight and then catch a flight to Tortola BVI to be married. We are leaving on Monday to join them via Delta Airlines.
They arrived in Puerto Rico tonight to discover that neither of their checked bags arrived with them. Nor did any bags for anyone else who had flown from Vancouver on the same flights. My daughter & fiances luggage contained items they need for the wedding and reception as well as an entire brand new trousseau for her, all the groomsmen’s clothing for the wedding, and other personal items.
How can this happen? How can you take an entire planeload of luggage and not get it on the correct plane????????? I am furious. I am upset. We are stressed to the max with planning this long distance wedding and now you have potentially ruined months of planning, buying and prepping.
That luggage had better be found in the next 12 hours and be waiting for them when they return to the airport to fly to Tortola. If their wedding is ruined because of you, I won’t rest until you pay.
I just returned from a vacation in New Orleans.Our flight on AA was a disaster.A delayed flight from Orlando to Miami caused us to miss our connection.We spent 10 hours in Miami airport for our connecting flight.The AA agents were no help at all.We will never fly AA again,nor will anybody I have told.All that time at Miami airport all we heard were american delays & gate changes.What a way to run an airline.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Dear Mr. Arpey,
I am writing to express my disappointment and irritation regarding a trip I took on March 27th of this year. I hope you will take the time to continue reading and will take steps to see that this type of treatment of passengers never occurs again.
I first flew with American Airlines in the 50’s aboard a DC-6’s and DC-3’s and flew often with American through the 60’s. That said I have not had to do a lot of commercial flying since 1975 up until about 5 years ago. During that time on I was flying myself privately. Most of my airline flight time since then has been on SWA and occasionally American or Delta. I am sure that not being a customer who flies daily as some do I would not be a bright red light on anyone’s board when I am unhappy.
My Lady friend and traveling companion however is a different story. Ms. (name deleted) of Overland Park, KS did fly daily and sometimes more than two to three flights a day over the past 3 years. She was kind enough to trade 200,000 frequent flier miles for us to go first class from MCI to FLL to take a cruise. I think she could have actually taken us to Europe for that amount and had I known that at the outset I would have stopped her and we would have made other arrangements.
We were originally scheduled to fly out on Saturday morning, March 28th but the weather forecast on Thursday the 26th of March for MCI was one to two feet of snow. We made arraignments to board a 3:00 PM flight on Friday the 27th instead. Here is where our trip started to fall apart.
We arrived and checked out luggage and went to the gate. We boarded the plane at 2:30 PM in light drizzle with a temp a few degrees above freezing. Normal deicing procedures were followed and we taxied to the runway where we were at the Hold Short line when we were called back to the gate due to ATC having shut down to one runway at DFW due to winds. That’s weather and no one can control that. We taxied back to the gate and sat aboard the aircraft for approximately an hour. We were then advised by the Captain that we would be another hour and he would see if he could get us something to eat. About 45 min’s later we were brought bagels. We sat for another hour and were told we would be wheels up in about 45 mins. That time came and the Capt. advised us that because of temps we would have to deice. The failure on someone’s part to plan for deicing caused us to miss our take off block time to be metered into DFW. That’s not weather and someone can control that. I would have thought that the supervisor would have understood ATC block times and made sure that we were deiced and in position for take off. Not a chance and we ultimately missed 2 take off windows.
We never left the aircraft as we were told they “really would prefer you not leave as if the window opens up we have to go in a hurry. If you leave the jetway area we will consider your seat vacant.” As 9:00 PM came closer several of the passengers had enough and got off. So, the ticket agent began to bring in more passengers causing the Flight Attendants to deal with getting their luggage aboard or in a bin. On top of that they had to do the mandatory evacuation procedures drill for the 3rd time on that flight. To the best of my recollection we got off the ground somewhere around 9:30 PM. Some seven hours after initial boarding.
We arrived in Dallas at approximately 11:00 PM to find that all the food vendors had closed. We slept in the DFW airport having had nothing more than a bagel since 4:30 PM until breakfast Saturday morning. We were put in coach for the trip to Fort Lauderdale and honestly that was fine as long as I made my cruise on Sunday. I remarked to my lady shortly after take off that everything happens for a purpose and nothing could happen from this point forward could ruin my vacation. Oh Lord, I wish I had never said that. Needless to say our luggage was lost.
We went to luggage claims were a description of our luggage was taken by a young lady who quite honestly didn’t seem to care at all. I know that they are covered up with this by the amount of luggage sitting in the area, but I would have loved to have felt that they were actually taking progressive measures to find our luggage or were the least bit sympathetic. She gave us a phone number that she said was to her desk and we would be able to call her or her relief for further information. However we later found out that this was an automated number that got you through to no one at all. The lost luggage agent also said she would call my cell phone when our luggage was located. We found out the number she had provided went nowhere because we went to the ticket counter to speak to a supervisor because I was upset with the entire experience in the lost luggage area. No, I never ever talked to a supervisor because he/she would not leave the secure portion of the airport as he/she was “busy”. So much for making us feel better. The ticket counter representative tried the number I had been given and could not get an answer. At that point I knew I was in deeper.
I asked if they were unable to find our luggage what would happen. We were told that the luggage would be forwarded to our first shore destination. That Sir would have been on Wednesday as Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk do not have airline service. We were told if it was not located we would be compensated to a maximum of $100 dollars. That amount almost covered the $98 dollars worth of meds for my cardiac condition for the week. We bought about $200 worth of clothing to get us through until that point where our luggage might find us in Grand Cayman, 4 days out of the 7 day length of the cruise.
At 10:30 that night after trying the automated number repeatedly Lynn became distraught over the fact that she had over $2000 dollars in shoes and ball gowns, not to mention the regular items in her luggage. I was upset because my meds were missing and my clothing was not going to be a wardrobe that would allow me to enjoy the amenities I had wanted. I called the reservation desk and found someone, and I sure wish I had her name because of my entire experience other than the FLL ticket counter agent, she was the only one who even had a remote appearance of giving a damn. After talking to me for quite a while she found that our luggage had been found. As a matter of fact it arrived at around 7:30 earlier that night. Her going out of her way to handle something that was far from her area of operations was impressive. Had the luggage recovery agents been true to their word I would not have had to spend the money nor would I have had to deal with a distraught traveling companion.
Our luggage arrived at our hotel at 3:00 AM Sunday, March 29th. The hotel notified me as directed and I finally got my first 3 hours of uninterrupted, unstressed sleep in over 24 hours.
My Lady friend called customer service about her miles that we had traveled coach and the problems day before yesterday. She was given 50,000 miles back and I was issued a voucher for $150 dollars which honestly I didn’t want. I talked to agent, Lynn P. Ferguson, in your customer relations department (whom my Lady visited with yesterday) this morning who told me that she could not give her back the miles for the $150 amount and for me to use them. She said the problems were weather related. As a pilot and talking to the Captain on board I know that the ATC was metering aircraft into DFW. We had a block arrival time yet due to the ineptitude of the MCI supervisors we missed it repeatedly. I am really having problems even thinking of flying your airline ever again.
I can tell you exactly what would make my day better but seriously doubt that you can or will be able to accommodate me. I would like to see you return the entire 200 K miles to My Lady friend. She wanted to show me the great service she had received from your airline and to spoil me a bit. I just don’t see it. The fact that no one except a telephone reservation agent and a ticket agent on the ground in FLL seemed to care at all is not conducive to my wanting to “Fly The American Way” as we used to hear in the 60’s.
Sincerely,
I took a red-eye from SFO on May 19, through Boston to DCA, arriving at 10:30 am on May 20 to find that my two checked bags ($40) had not arrived. I reported them, was given a claim number (illegible) and told the bags would be delivered. I was told the driver would call before coming. When I called later that day, I was told the next plane wouldn’t be in until 3 pm and that it would be four or five hours before my luggage came. I asked that it be delivered at 10 pm, since I had things to do, and that it be brought up onto my screened porch. By 10:30 pm, no luggage arrived, and I fell asleep. About 1:30 am, I awoke to find the bags on my porch—no note, no phone call, no nothing. Since I had to work on the 21st, I was unable to unpack until the morning of the 22nd, when, after emptying the hard-sided Samsonite PiggyBack, I discovered that the corner had been punched in. When I called the American Baggage Claims, I was told that I must drag the bag back to DCA, have them inspect it, and then have Rynn’s (from which I have never had a luggage repair that didn’t have to be redone) fix it. I asked to speak to the supervisor, who told me that she could do nothing to fix this situation. I asked to speak to her supervisor, who called me back to inform me that, since I hadn’t reported the damage within 24 hours of its arrival (that would have been 1:30 am on the 22nd), nothing can be done, and that I cannot even recoup my $40 for the non-service I received.It is very clear to me that American Airlines, to which I have been a faithful customer (and Frequent Flyer)for many years, no longer needs my custom. I want to get my suitcase, which is no longer made, but which is still a great way to protect my belongings while traveling, repaired at the local facility which has repaired it before—and I do not feel that I should have to bear the cost for this.
Just thought I would give you a heads up.
Daniel P. Garton
Executive vice president
(817) 963-1234
daniel.garton@aa.com
When I use the email address above, I get this back:
A message (from ) was received at 8 Jun 2009 13:09:54 +0000.
The following addresses had delivery problems:
Permanent Failure: 554_:_Recipient_address_rejected:_Access_denied
Delivery last attempted at Mon, 8 Jun 2009 13:09:55 -0000