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Here is a copy of the letter I sent to American Airlines following two situations where I felt less than appreciated by the airline.
Wednesday, July 15, 1998
Consumer Affairs Division
American Airlines
Fax: (817) 967-4162
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing this letter in order to complain about two separate experiences I have had with American Airlines. The first experience occurred on July 2-3, 1998, and the second occurred one week later on July 10, 1998.
For the first flight, I was supposed to fly from Washington National (DCA) to Zurich (ZRH), connecting in Chicago O'Hare (ORD), and then onward to Geneva (GVA) on a Swissair flight I had purchased through American. This, though, was never meant to be. I arrived at the airport one and a half hours prior to my original flight only to find out that, shortly after I had purchased the ticket from DCA to ZRH, there had been, in the words of the employee at the ticket counter when I checked-in for the flight, "a major schedule change." As it ended up, the flight I was originally supposed to take from DCA to ORD was changed to an earlier flight. Someone from American had notified the travel agent who booked the flight about the rescheduling, but no one from American had ever contacted me. As a result, I missed the flight that American had rebooked me on so many months back-without my knowledge-and the next flight out missed my connection in ORD. As American runs only one flight a day to ZRH, I was not in good shape. The agent first spent a half hour trying to figure who's fault this mess-up was (yours), another half hour unsuccessfully booking a Swissair flight out of New York, then another half hour (at my suggestion) successfully booking on an American flight to London Heathrow (LHR) via ORD, then onward on British Airways. The flights were as follows:
AA 1625 DCA-ORD
AA 66 ORD-LHR
BA 726 LHR-GVA
This rescheduling caused my to arrive in Geneva four hours after I was supposed to, not to mention the stress and inconvenience of having to have this happen on a heavily traveled weekend like the Fourth of July. Both AA flights were completely full, making the situation even more uncomfortable. All along the way, I would ask for some sort of consideration, but the only response I would get is, "sorry, but these things happen." That's not acceptable.
Then, if only to add insult to injury, when I finally arrived in Geneva, my bags did not. They were nowhere to be found. It wasn't until shortly after midnight, 10 and a half hours after I arrived, that my bags were delivered to me. But, by this point, the damage had been done.
- I completely missed a noon lunch appointment
which a had scheduled
- I was unable to attend a previously scheduled
dinner that evening as all my suits were in another country.
- I had to spend out of my own pocket 135 Swiss Francs (about $90 USD) for toiletries, underwear, a clean shirt, etc.
Had I only been notified of the schedule change, there would never have been a problem. I would have made my flight, and life would have gone on. Instead, a lack of a simple phone call informing me of the schedule change snowballed into a royal screw-up on your part.
While my next experience may seem trivial in comparison, it does, in my mind, establish a pattern for American Airlines.
On July 10, 1998, I flew AA 75 from Washington Dulles (IAD) to Los Angeles (LAX). When I got to the counter, I asked about the meals being served in business class for the flight, as I have a few allergies. One of them was acceptable to me (the filet mignon), so I decided to purchase five stickers, for a total of $225 USD, in order to upgrade. The agent at the counter never informed me, though, that it was common for the flight to run out of entrées. By the time I was asked for my selection (I was pretty much the last person on the flight asked for a meal selection), the filet had already run out. The other two choices contained fennel and salmon, both of which I am allergic to. The only meal that I felt safe eating was the chicken strips meal being served in coach. The people sitting across the row from me felt agreed that the situation was horrendous; $225 for chicken strips and macaroni and cheese (a children's meal) is absolutely ridiculous. The purser on the flight explained to me that she had been requesting that more beef entrees be stowed on the flights, but that requested did not help me out in time.
So, you may ask, what am I asking for? I've been thinking about this one for a while, and I believe I have come to an idea of what must be done in order to correct the situation. These things must happen in order for me to let these experiences be water under the bridge:
- I would like to be compensated the 135 Swiss
Francs I laid out as a result of my lost baggage.
- I would like my Advantage account (xxxxxxx) to be credited the five stickers used for the upgrade on flight 75.
Please note that I am only seeking money where funds were directly outlayed by myself. I feel this request, in light of what has transpired, is reasonable. I am willing to continue my relationship with American-which runs about 50,000 miles per year--contingent on these issues being properly resolved.
I made a decision 8 months ago to concentrate the bulk of my flying on American. But as your pilots note at the end of each flight, we, the consumer, have a choice of airlines. Instead of having me exercise that choice, let's make this relationship work. As I will be away from the above address until the end of August, please call or fax me before attempting to send me anything by mail.
While I asked to be phoned or faxed for their response, they still sent a letter, which I received when I finally arrived home six weeks later. The letter informed me that American is not responsible for schedule changes or food selection, and that they could do nothing for me. Of course, as a sign of goodwill, they sent me a $200 voucher. It neither covered the entire extent of my loss, nor could I use it to pay my off the charges associated with their screw-up on my credit card statement. Where's the money I spent? Shame on American, for being so callous as to treat their "valued" customers this way.
Jake Stewart
In mid October a business associate and I were scheduled on Continental Express from Corpus Christi to Houston then 1st class on to Jacksonville, FL. We arrived 35 minutes prior to departure time, and were told by the ticket agent we would have to get a seat assignment from the gate agent. Upon arriving at the gate we were told the flight was oversold and they would call our names once everyone had checked in. Needless to say they never called our name, and upon questioning told us all seats had been assigned and we would have to take the later flight, spend the night in Houston, and go on to Jacksonville THE NEXT DAY . We declined and found an alternate carrier that got us home 4 hours earlier than Continental would have, but THE NEXT DAY as well. I have had more disturbing events occur on Continental, particularly with agents throughout their system and mechanical events, such as a ramp that wouldn't work in Houston for over 40 minutes, causing a missed flight, and a hotel stay with surprise $100 extra charges. Now I have never been at fault for any of these events and am wondering if others have had similar extremely awful service from Continental. I have banned them though they do offer a lot of alternatives to cities I frequent on business.
YOU CANNOT DEPEND ON THEIR SERVICE!!!
A disgruntled 2+million miler.
Kevin Benedict
It's your move. Send us some e-mail.
