[mojacar]

I am an AAdvantage Executive Platinum flyer with over two million miles with American Airlines and life time Platinum status. You'd think that would mean something. Not so. My family and I booked a New Year's trip to Budapest using six (three each way) VIP upgrades. We did this booking in August and were confirmed on first class/business class all the way to Budapest and back. Last week I received a call from American Airlines telling me that the Budapest route was being discontinued and I had two choices. I could either go with a new itinerary and let them take me to another European city (Madrid or London) and then proceed to Budapest via coach seats on the Hungarian airline or cancel the trip in it's entirety. I told them I had purchased these tickets in August with the expectation of upgraded travel (I could not do a three night trip to Europe in coach comfortably...be more like a chore) to a European city for New Years. They said they would try and book me to another European city for the same dates and first class/upgrade seating. They jerked me around for nearly a week with this to finally tell me I was out of luck. My only recourse was to book and entirely new trip (at a considerably higher fare) to another city and be wait listed (with a November effective date) for upgrades as if the cancellation had never happened. I was very disappointed with both the Executive Platinum Desk and Customer Service at American Airlines. I've never been told so politely that I was out of luck and too bad I trusted them. I hate to forfeit my Exec Platinum status with AA....but I am shopping for a new carrier for me and my firm.