Ok guys...here's why I am upset... Last weekend Refgal and I moved her son to Lubbock for his first year at Tech. They drove in his car and I flew up and met them Saturday via Continental Airlines. No problem. I had purchased return tickets for Refgal and I for Sunday afternoon at 5:30 on American. We were to return home by 8:55 and get back before 10:00 so I would have a full night sleep before my morning hearing in bankruptcy court. Fast forward to last Sunday. The kid drops us off at the airport at 3:40pm (early, I know). I get a phone call on my cell 5 minutes later to go to the American Airlines desk. I immediately go in and to the desk. My flight had been cancelled. The kid behind the counter either had no idea what was going on or did not care. I asked him how they were getting me home. He told me he could fly me out of Lubbock the next morning. If they would have let me know 30 minutes earlier, I could have driven to Dallas and caught my connecting flight. No dice. So...at 4:20pm, we had to rent a car and drive to IAH to drop off the rental car and pick up my car. It was almost 600 miles. Instead of getting home at 10:00, we got home at 2:45am. This week really sucked as a result. End of rant.
They should have at least given you a full refund and extra ticket voucher. If they were decent, they would have booked you on another airline if flights were available. And you're right, they should have notified you way before if they knew.
See, here is the problem with the general public and airlines. Most people don't pay attention or think about the situation. You got to the airport at 3:40PM for a 5:30 dept. You where notified over your cell to go to the desk. Your flight was canceled for whatever reason. It was probably canceled just then. And not 30 mins before like you wished for. So you cant act like "they could have told you before hand." See, planes dont fly from Lubbock to Dallas all day everyday. The serve multiple cities. If your plane was flying from College station to dallas and hit a bird and damaged a plane that bad, then it may have been canceled because they cant just a pull a plane out there ass. As far as I know, there was no WX in dallas, so I expect it was a mechanical cancel. AA is required to put you up in a hotel. I assume they did and you choose to leave that out. As far as the agent goes, there are horrible employees for every single company no matter what company it is. You got stuck in a bad situation. Sucks, but Safety > Priority.
Actually, they did not offer me ANYTHING. The "manager" behind the counter just told me it was cancelled and said nothing else. When I asked what they were going to do, he told me they would fly me out the next day. He did not offer me a hotel or anything else. As far as the availability of planes, you are wrong. The plane was coming from DFW. They had several flights to and from DFW all day. Since this plane was originating from DFW (American's home base of ops), I seriously doubt they had no other planes in the hangar. Sure, there would have been a delay, but we would have gotten out of there. I also seriously doubt that their systems are so fast that there was no delay between cancelling the flight and having the automated system send the messages. This is especially true given the "fast acting" crew they had running the show in Lubbock. As I have found out since then, American Airlines is notorious for this stuff. All the other airlines seemed to have no problems. Go figure. As for vouchers, why would I want those, so they can strand my ass again later?
I know it sucks but I have friends who go to/went to Tech and make/made the drive from Lubbock to Houston on a regular basis.
Unless the flight is cancelled due to an 'act of God', I believe airlines are required to provide lodging. You should always ask for stuff. I have received travel vouchers from Delta because they had the wrong meal when I did a special order as well as one because the screen was messed up on a flight. I have easily used the vouchers easily for future flights for myself and others. You should call and ask for retroactive compensation. I assume they refunded your ticket price.
They said they are refunding the $320 for the two tickets, but it has not showed up yet. If it goes a full week without refunding onto my card, I will dispute the charge with my bank and they will hound the airline for it.
A ref would have given that pesky kid behind the counter two technical fouls and thrown him out! I just hate the whole airport scene. Hugh grant said there was love all over, but I just get frustrated at airports.
Due to to our policy on overbooking and cancelling flights, your flight has been overbooked/cancelled... One thing I know is- no matter how far or close you are to an airline's hub, when there's no plane there's No plane. They can't just call up headquarters and get a plane out there stat
This is exactly what I mean. Airplanes fly to more cities then just DFW and LBB. Also, planes dont sit in DFW for hours and hours. These types of planes are to be turned in 30 mins. That means, as soon as the door opens to let people from the inbound flight off to closing the door with everyone going out on and the pilots popping the brakes. They only get 30 mins. After that, its considered a delay. Dont tell me I am wrong. I work in the industry and you have clearly have no idea how it all works. It sounds like you dont even know why it was canceled... They have to tell you something. They probably told you in something you didnt understand, or refused to listen to. So what exactly did they tell you? Cant say they told you nothing. I wouldnt have walked away from the counter without some reason. You have to think outside your little world every once in awhile.
I have hated American airlines since 1997 when it took them 32 hours to get me from Paris to Houston. Then I was forced to use them in 2002 and it took them about 10 hours to get me from DC to Chicago. Both times it wasn't just the delays or ridiculously crappy planes (sorry, this plane can't fly in the rain!)...it was also the service and stupid things like getting on the PA and announcing that 6 flights were cancelled and everyone has to go to one gate to talk to one or two people to resolve the issue. Hate hate hate hate hate American.
The Chicago part of your second story may have more to do with that than the airline. I just don't anyone who regularly flies through there hasn't been stuck in a multi-hour layover, regardless of the airline.
They told me I had to call reservations to find out why it was cancelled. At that point, I was more worried about finding a way to get to my hearing in the morning than I was about why it happened. The fact of the matter is that things like this have NEVER happened to me on any other airline (I fly about 10 roundtrips a year), and have happened to me many times on American Airlines. Coincidence? Maybe...but I doubt it. I will just continue to fly Continental/United and Southwest. I have never had more than a 2 hour delay with either of those. Oh, and your snotty "I know everything about airlines and you must be an idiot" attitude is simply charming.
The United merger has really taken a toll on Continental, they have become a significantly worse airline over the past year, I am beginning to no longer use them. I try to fly exclusively southwest at the moment
I didn't have too much of a problem with American, except when I came through customs---but that wasn't American Airline's fault. Not that I'm discounting your experience at all. Unless United has changed greatly in the last couple years, I won't fly them again. Maybe if I'm forced to do so?
If you have to go through Immigration/Customs a lot, look into the GOES program. I recently got approved and when I went through in Detroit from Sao Paulo, it took me about 1 minute to clear immigration. There were at least 50 people in line, but I got to walk right up to a kiosk and get approved. I then got to go through a special customs line and didn't have to wait there either.
I agree that Continental is not nearly as good as they used to be, but the few times I have flown them since the merger announcement (including last weekend) was pleasant enough. I usually fly Southwest when flying within Texas. They have become very expensive though.
Well I checked the boards constantly that day and no other airlines were canceled or delayed (there was not a weather issue). And, again, the whole "all of you people from multiple flights can only talk to this pone person" act was familiar and annoying with them. I do not fly American. Continental is worse since the merger but is still way way ahead.
