[karikay]

It took me over an hour and several disconnects before I got a live person on the line to rebook a flight when American canceled all their flights for 4 days. I explained that needed to rebook a flight. She said they only had a flight arriving in birmingham from DFW at 9:10PM. I hate driving at night which is why I booked an EARLY morning flight. I asked 3 times if there was an earlier flight and was told no each time. Since I HAD to get there I accepted the late flight. After I hung up, I checked and there was a flight that got in at 1:40 which she FORGOT to mention. I spent over 2 hours calling back and getting disconnected before I got a person. The whole 2 hours I was refreshing my screen watching the few seats on that flight disappear. The lady started talking and their were 2 seats left. By the time she brought my reservations up the 2 seats were gone. SO SORRY!!!!!! Nothing they could do. Unreal.

[airhead]

Maybe at the time you were on the phone, their were NO seats available on that flight. Seats can open up in the blink of an eye and reservations agents do not have crystal balls to know when that can happen. During a time when there are large scale cancellations, everyone else is on the phone too.

[karikay]

I guess 14 people all decided at the same time to cancel their seats on the earlier flight and which caused them to be open when I checked after hanging up with the ticket agent.
I no longer fly American. They still owe me for a flight they canceled out of Austin. S/W was still flying and yes I do realize that American had to cancel because flights from other parts of the US could not make it to Ausint due to the weather. I once again spent several hours on the phone before I finally got a confirmation for a refund for my flight. Never ever got the money, plus I was out a hotel, dinner and breakfast waiting on the next S/W flight home from Austin. They did the same thing to my husband, ARMY, when he was trying to get back to his base. All flights out of DFW were canceled for 1 day due to weather. Our son, ARMY, was on Delta and they bent over backwards to help him, while American left my husband hanging. I have tons of AA points and even gift cards for flights, but I will never use them unless they are the ONLY plane flying where I need to go and so far that has not happened.

[The_Judge]

You're complaints are valid, most of them. But I'll never understand how people figure they are out dinner, breakfast, etc. You said you were out a hotel and dinner and breakfast. Don't you have to eat anyway?? Airlines don't serve food anymore and if they do, most likely you're gonna have to pay for it so how are you out?

[karikay]

No if I had been home as planned I would not have had to pay for food at the hotel or in the airport. Eating at home is MUCH cheaper than at a hotel. The hotel I was at did not offer a free breakfast and I do not tip myself when I eat at home which is 99.99% of the time. Forgot the child care cost because I was not home to care for my child that night. SO even though the hotel gave me a discounted rate and I ate really cheap, the canceled flight cost a great deal more than the loss of the refund for the ticket.

Too many canceled flights with ZERO help from AA each time.

[airhead]

I am sorry to hear about your experience and I usually try to walk in the shoes of passengers to understand. It is very possible a school team of 14 decided to rebook. It happens. I see it all the time. I am glad you made it home safely. I am thankful for those in your family serving in the armed forces.

You should always be prepared for bad travel days. In the event of bad weather I can't do much but offer a discount hotel rate. Sometimes the hotel has complimentary food. Still, you should be prepared since you are far away from home. Good luck to you.

[Eagleguy]

Another example of an irrational passenger just complaining for the sake of it. You think we all lie to the passengers....that we take your money and put it in our pockets and smirk and grin after you leave. Shame on you.

Weather happens and it happens more than once.

And whenever I call reservations (and I don't have a magical number either, I just use 800 number) I seem to get through without having to wait on the phone for 3 hours...I also don't get hostile with the other person so they never hang up on me.

Try some savvy next time.

[ChrisH]

Chances are, the earlier flight was booked full, which is why it wasn't mentioned. If a flight is full, they cannot book you on it. Anytime I have to book someone, I tell them which flights are available, based on what flights actually have open seats. I will mention other flights, that are full, and offer them standby on it, along with confirming them on a later flight, but some agents choose not to even mention the earlier flights. If there are no seats, technically the flight isn't "available".