[irritatedfrequentflyer]

AA Flights 1274 and 1553. Upon hitting the time allowing me to check in on line for BOS-Miami and return, I opted for purchasing the extra leg room seats for my family. The only seats left were Emergency Exit Row seats. It was clear that we would have to be "willing to serve" in case of an emergency. Before take off on the first leg of the flight, we had to agree to be responsible for the duties asked of us if necessary. Of course we said no problem. Upon leveling off at 39,000 feet, I tried to get comfortable but realized I had no real arm rest against the exit door and worse, all of our seats were fused in the upright position. I was exhausted but every time I fell asleep, my head would fall forward and I would snap back to reality. I asked for a complaint form and the attendant rather rudely said they would look for one. I never heard back from that one. I asked another and he said to file when I got to my destination on line. I did and got a nice letter from a Mr. Sean Bentel at AA who said they would "look into it." He left a phone number to call Customer Service. I called and spoke to a lovely sympathetic sounding person who assured me that AA doesn't refund parts of the flights but would refund the whole trip. Of course, I was happy. Unfortunately, we got the same seats on the return flight and had the same issue, but worse. When the attendant asked if we were willing to accept the responsibility, I asked if there were any other seats and she yelled "just answer my question!" I said no. But we were stuck as there were "no other seats." I filed an additional complaint upon arriving home. I was only asking for a refund of our money for the extra "room." The person responding from AA on line told me we got the seats we had asked for. The airlines has the rights to fuse the seats in the upright position.:
My point is that they never disclosed that, charged extra for the room anyway even though the folks held captive in those emergency exit row seats are serving the airlines on emergency reserve duty. Finally, on the return leg, the third person in our aisle seat was an unfortunate morbidly obese person with obvious physical limitations and severe sleep apnea. She didn't fit into the Airlines criteria for being in the emergency exit row in any shape or form. American Airlines is totally wrong on this. This is another sad example of what is happening to our great country. The American public is getting screwed. Businesses are successfully ripping off their customers. Customers are no longer always right.

[cliff7080]

Are you saying that, when asked, you refused to accept the responsibilty of bring in an exit row and they left you there anyway? I suggest you file a VERY serious complaint with the FAA... that is flat out ILLEGAL forcing someone to st in an exit row who refuses to help in the event of an emergency asnd is VERY dangerous...

[irritatedfrequentflyer]

I will contact the FAA. On the return flight, the attendant avoided the discussion, yelling at me to say yes or no but insisting there were no other seats available first. She was not nice at all. In fact she was quite rude. I also think the fact that the aisle row was filled with someone not fitting the criteria at all, in fact putting the whole plane load at risk if there was an emergency, is also a reason to write the FAA!

[irritatedfrequentflyer]

I did contact the FAA and they passed it on to the Federal DOT. Thank you for the heads up.

[irritatedfrequentflyer]

The FAA sent me to the DOT. The DOT spoke to the American Airlines. Another low level employee wrote me back denying any responsibility, saying that they have the rights to do what they did to us. No refund. Just an attempt to belittle the consumer. I sincerely hope that AA goes bankrupt in the very near future. Good luck US Airways!