American Airlines craziness

1,744 Views | 16 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Hincemm
mrad85
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Long story short-

Wife and my 2 grand kids flying home JFK - AUS one way on Monday.

Cheap me had purchased tickets on Priceline (lotto purchase), but ended up non stop on American

4 hours before the flight she gets email that flight was cancelled. (she was already on the train into NYC)

I try calling AA to get her flight changed. Minimum wait time of 4 hours for a call back

She waits in line at JKF for 3 1/2 hours @ customer service to find out she'll have to come back next day for same flight

Tuesday - they gets to airport 4 hours before the flight, have to wait in line @customer service for 3 1/2 hours to get her tickets. Almost misses their flight.

I know, that's what I get for purchasing through Priceline, but still, American has been bad for quite a while, but this takes it to a whole new level.

Rant over
TXAggie2011
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That sucks. The customer service lines in DFW on Sunday night were insane. At one point, they announced that for anyone trying to get to Grand Rapids, "there is absolutely nothing until Tuesday" followed by some loud groans. I don't think American is the only one having some real cluster****s right now, though.


BTW, I'm just curious, not to being a smartass...could she not change her flight via the AA website? They usually send a text and/or email with a link to do so.
mrad85
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No, evidently, with priceline you don't get a ticket. You have to go to the desk pick it up. She couldn't even use the kiosk.
akaggie05
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mrad85 said:

No, evidently, with priceline you don't get a ticket. You have to go to the desk pick it up. She couldn't even use the kiosk.


I've never heard of this. You should be able to see your airline record locator number somewhere through the priceline materials... there's more hoop jumping but you can use that along with the last name on the reservation to access the booking via the AA website.
mrad85
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akaggie05 said:

mrad85 said:

No, evidently, with priceline you don't get a ticket. You have to go to the desk pick it up. She couldn't even use the kiosk.


I've never heard of this. You should be able to see your airline record locator number somewhere through the priceline materials... there's more hoop jumping but you can use that along with the last name on the reservation to access the booking via the AA website.
It's possible the second day was self inflicted, but definitely couldn't get a change from the cancelled flight the first day at the kiosk. The lady there told her she had to wait in line.

She did have a record locator. I tried to get her a change on-line day 1, but couldn't either
htxag09
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I feel this is more of a rant about priceline and other third party sites than AA. Is this risk worth saving a couple dollars?
Ag CPA
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You probably could have handled all of this in about 10 minutes at aa.com.
iParty
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This is what happens when you pay people to not work.

AA has been asking employees to volunteer to clean lounges. Delta the same. Hotels, airlines, restaurants are all going to feel this for awhile. Lower your customer service expectations asap.

Also, never buy third party. Ever.
JMac03
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They are having thousands of flight changes - thus the long wait times. Back in April in a matter of 12 hours, I had 25 bookings with flight changes. Call queues were ridiculously long. I have about 8 I have to deal with now.

Basically what I'm hearing (for all airlines) is shortage of pilots and staff, so they cancel flights that aren't full. I've seen all airlines do it.

Stat Monitor Repairman
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Is traveling a huge pain in the ass right now?

I keep reading about incidents at airports, fights over masks and ****, delays and cancellations.

Normal travel in 2019 is considered a '10'

What are we at right now?

Haven't gone by air since February but at that time I rank it a 4, as far as the overall experience was concerned.
Petrino1
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Is traveling a huge pain in the ass right now?

I keep reading about incidents at airports, fights over masks and ****, delays and cancellations.

Normal travel in 2019 is considered a '10'

What are we at right now?

Haven't gone by air since February but at that time I rank it a 4, as far as the overall experience was concerned.
Ive flown 5 different times this year to various locations and it was pretty much business as usual, other than having to wear masks in the airport/planes. Only issue I had was a 5 hour delay on one of my flights, but that was due to the Houston floods and stuff like that happened pre-covid as well.
JMac03
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Same. I flew in Oct, Nov and May/June, and it was normal except for masks and no alcohol service on the plane unless 1st. Not a big deal at all.
htxag09
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Is traveling a huge pain in the ass right now?

I keep reading about incidents at airports, fights over masks and ****, delays and cancellations.

Normal travel in 2019 is considered a '10'

What are we at right now?

Haven't gone by air since February but at that time I rank it a 4, as far as the overall experience was concerned.

My wife made the short flight to Dallas last week. There was weather in Dallas so her flight was cancelled. It was an absolute cluster **** for her trying to get a new flight. She was flying aa and they couldn't get her there until the next day. She called her company Amex booking portal and they were able to get her on a later United flight.

Moral is, it's business as usual unless there are delays or issues that arise. My thought is they've cut so many flights with covid, and haven't brought them back yet, so if one flight is delayed or canceled because of weather or something else, there typically aren't a bunch of other flights for those people to move to.
JMac03
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It is the same with every airline, not just AA. I had clients go to the wrong airport last week - and out of every single airline - I couldn't get her to Jamaica the same day. With United it was going to be DAYS before I could get her there. I ended up flying her to Florida and booking a Jet Blue flight out first thing the next AM.

Almost all flights appear to be flying at capacity, with reduced flights, so it makes any type of changes difficult.

And I'm not complaining - while it isn't great - it is a heck of a lot better than where we were 9+ months ago.
htxag09
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Yeah, I wasn't implying it was just AA, I think it's an industry wide thing. That just happened to be who my wife was booked with for this trip. As you said, they are flying at capacity, not slightly below, so if a flight does have issues there is nowhere to move those displaced passengers.
schmendeler
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Is traveling a huge pain in the ass right now?

I keep reading about incidents at airports, fights over masks and ****, delays and cancellations.

Normal travel in 2019 is considered a '10'

What are we at right now?

Haven't gone by air since February but at that time I rank it a 4, as far as the overall experience was concerned.
i've traveled by air 4 times (8 if you view each way as a separate instance) since COVID started and if 2019 was a 10, then i'd say they've all been 9's? literally the only thing different that i've experienced is wearing a mask.

my most recent trip was a week ago.
2wealfth Man
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You are good as long as you don't run into irrops. If that happens make sure you know your options and make adjustments yourself.
Hincemm
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iParty said:

This is what happens when you pay people to not work.

AA has been asking employees to volunteer to clean lounges. Delta the same. Hotels, airlines, restaurants are all going to feel this for awhile. Lower your customer service expectations asap.

Also, never buy third party. Ever.
can't be said enough. as someone who deals in the customer service space, it is extremely frustrating
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