[sandymwp]

In May I booked tickets to Tortola from Knoxville, TN (full fare). A friend was visiting here this weekend and was verifying his return flight info. I decided to look at my itinerary, as our friends from St. Louis's flights had changed slightly. They are travelling on frequent flyer miles and AA did notifiy them of the change. When one of the segments didn't work timewise, AA changed segments to accomodate them.

To my dismay, I found that our initial segment had changed....not the problem.....the problem was that they had not changed to next segment to coincide with the first flight. They had us arriving in Dallas 1.5 HOURS after the second flight departed. This happened on the return also.

When I called AA to have it corrected, the initial agent was very helpful and was going to book us on Delta that middle segment. She had to confirm it with the HELP desk, she said, and they said it couldn't be done. I tried to explain to the HELP desk that it wasn't our change; that they had neglected to follow through on the other flights. Long story short, the only thing they could do, they said, was to have us fly out the previous day. We asked if that meant they would pay for a hotel for that night since it was their error. NOPE. They would do nothing. I WILL NEVER FLY AMERICAN AGAIN. NO WONDER THEY ARE IN TROUBLE. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

We rebooked on another airline ourselves....saved $200 and have a better schedule.

AMERICAN AIRLINES, YOU ARE THE WORST!!! HOPE YOU GO UNDER TOMORROW.
P.S. WE WERE NEVER NOTIFIED!!!

[sandymwp]

Oh, forgot this... Trip is not until March of 2009. Don't tell me they couldn't have made us happy and AA fans. Once, again, I will NEVER fly American again.

[Corbel]

i'll never understand why people want airlines to go under. after maybe 2 or 3 employees at that airline screw up. why wish the people who do care and do help you to loose their jobs?

[sandymwp]

sorry, but that's life. don't mean to sound hard or bitter, as i know that it it not the reps policy that was quoted to me; however, i think that the airline officials themselves don't care about their employees or they would give them something to work with, i.e., policies that will form brand loyalty, not cause hardship for their customers. we were more than willing to accept the schedule change that they had made.......why should i be penalized, however, for their error. they failed to make the appropriate change to the second segment of my trip. can't depart at 11 a.m. when the flight that i'm on doesn't land until 1 p.m.

[Leatherboy2006]

Agreeing with Corbel, hopefully somebody is not hoping with sandy's company or job to be done away with because of the actions of a few or bad policies of higher ups. People that want companys to go under do not take into consideration the innocent people hurt by those "wishes" and their families and all of us in the long run by having to have our taxes go toward umemployment and other benefits that the now unemployed will have to collect from the government.

[Kay]

Most carriers have an automated system that runs and attempts to protect customers on the next available flight. Generall you are contacted when there is a change. Since they are likely dealing with thousands of customer and flights changes they may have an automated system or a live agent call you.
Often times these call are made in date order. So if they have a schedule change 3 months before your scheduled flight, then the customers booked before your travel date will be contacted first.
As for policy all carriers reserve the right to change there schedules. Normally if the there's a schedule change, the customer is offered reprotect on another Carrier or an involuntary refund if what has been offered does not meet your needs.
Try visiting their web site. Check to see if they post the Contract of Carriage rules. Look for the rules regarding flight delays and schedule changes.

[abutterfinger25]

Let me add to Kay's response.

You may be reprotected on another carrier IF your original carrier has an agreement with that other carrier for that route.

[Eagleguy]

Seeeeeveral issues to be touched on.
1.We have a dedicated department that deals with flights changes. They call every single person if a flight cancels. But only if YOU have a valid phone number in your record. Often when you make your reservation through a company, their fax number, business number, 1800 number, and every number are in there except for YOUR personal number. I myself called all the passegers on one of my canceled flights. I had one passenger who came to the counter and complained that I had not called her. I told her her number was not in your record and she had the audacity to say, "Well why didn't you look it up in the phone book?!"

2.There is a fundamental difference between Continental Airlines and American Airlines. CO empowers their agents to use their common sense and do the right thing. Do whatever you have to do to make sure the customer is satisfied. American does not empower their agents. Almost all of my actions are monitored by someone in headquarters in Dallas or Tulsa. It drives me nuts.

Actually well that doesn't stop me per se. A passenger missed her flight last week and she owned up for being late. She was nice to me, sorry she was late, and explained where she had to be. A funeral. Meh so I just confirmed her and did not make her pay a penalty or anything. The airline didn't lose any money over it and it made her happy.

3.I'm a nice guy. I consider myself a good agent. It seems as though all the articles on the news and any kind of media attention the airlines get is negative. What about that one time that one sympathetic agent helped you out? Or that one trip that was made just so much better because of something an agent did? Or that flight that actually arrived 30 minutes early and you had extra time to have breakfast before your next flight? Or the time there was a screaming kid in the aisle across and the flight attendant was like, "hey here's a bottle of wine, hope this helps " Okay well that last one...maybe not so much

[Silent Bob]

Eagleguy, I would have said "here's a bottle of Nyquil" it would have been funnier lol