[nur]

I was schedule to flight Miami-Sao Paulo on March 13th. I was coming from Vancouver and our flight was delayed in Dallas due to stormy weather conditions. I missed flight 907 but knowing that there is two more flights that night I was not worried.

As soon as I arrived to Miami I was put on the latest flight to SP departing at 11:20 PM. To my surprise and frustration (My odyssey started at 6:00 AM in Vancouver) my flight Miami -Sao Paulo f was cancelled due to “technical problems”. Suspicious enough the plane was a 777 and we were not too many passengers...(I learned later on at the hotel that every day the hotel receives 30 stranded passengers from American Airlines and the women in charge of a snack bar at the airport, confirmed that American cancels flights very often)The line grew enormous and slow in order to get vouchers that included hotel and meals. My major complaint was that AA ground staff is not prepared to deal with these kind of situations. Most of the passengers did not speak English and the only AA staff that spoke Portuguese was at the Miami/Buenos Aires flight!!! I know that I’m in an English speaking country but at least one AA staff should have explained in Portuguese or in very slow English what happened and what would be the steps to follow after our flight cancellation. I assumed that responsibility because I realized that some passengers were lost without no indication whatsoever of what was going on. For assuming that position-to help other passengers- I was mistreated by AA personnel as if I was disturbing their work!! They told me that there was nothing to do, that they could not endorsed any flight because other companies flights were sold out, that TAM(Brazilian airline) was closed-like there was not internet connection with them working together as we know???-

They gave meal vouchers :

$US 10 for dinner????
$US 5 for breakfast????? (at the hotel breakfast cost $US 12, price that according to Miami standards is very cheap!)
$US 10 for lunch

Result: no proper dinner and the use of 2 voucher to pay only for breakfast

My biggest complain is the lack of customer relations skills by the staff. It is free to be nice and considerate to people. What could do the passenger that was scheduled to open a congress the following day? ..or the passenger that had to pay his employees the next day??
We should follow the example of European airlines that are fined euros for overbooking, flight cancellations and technical or schedule reasons.
For more info on this, please consult the web at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4271197.stm

(By the way… if you do not have a cellphone…it would be more difficult to tell your family about you delay as you are forbidden to use the phone at the hotel…unless you leave your credit card of course!)

[juissi]

You was lucky. I got $5 for breakfast, $5 for lunch and $10 for dinner. They should stop giving those embarrassing meal vouchers, those are barely enough for tips.

Juha

[Silent Bob]

I like to call those vouchers "middle class food stamps". They are pretty much worthless and when I get stuck at an airport, I'm be better off paying for a meal out of my won pocket. You guys are lucky, some airlines don't give anything. I know there are parents with children that need it though, so they are good for something.

[bdisposition]

At LEAST 30 here form AA this evening. As for phones, I walked up to the "Customer Service" desk that I was directed to...of course no one there. After 15 minutes, I went behind the desk, picked up the phone, dialed 9, and made several calls, local and long distance, never once seeing a customer service agent.

[mafalda68]

I have the same experience but my problems starts on Puerto Rico. I was scheduled to flight SJU-MIA on June 11 and returning on June 15. I was traveling to Tampa for a medical appointment and I found that the flight was delayed for 3 hours in Puerto Rico with no reason. I missed my connection flight from MIA to TPA but knowing that American have more flights to Tampa I was not worried. I called Customer Service and after 1 hour on hold they start to relocate me in a new flight. The call was hang up and I need to call again and wait around 15 minutes for a new agent and start the process again. Finally they find me a flight to Tampa.

But the fight of the nightmare was the connection flight from MIA to SJU on June 15. I was coming from Tampa and our flight was a little delayed.

As soon as I arrived in the Miami airport I move to the terminal and the saga begins....To my surprise the fight was delayed. Later, they change us to another terminal and the fight was delayed again. They change again to the original gate and start the boarding process. When we are on board 1 hour later they notify us that the flight was cancelled due to “technical problems”. They move us to another gate and notify us that we need to wait around 2 hours more for a ship from a flight from Managua. That was to suspicious enough due to at a snack store at the airport, confirmed that American cancels flights very often. That plane arrives from Managua empty, due to no passengers arrive on it. (Yeah, right!!). Again we aboard the ship and when we on board they told us that we have mechanical problems and the ship can't flight in that status. They move us to another gate and after an hour notify us that the crew complete the required service time and need to take the break time for 8 hours. A lot of security agents arrive at the terminal and the AA officials told us that they can offer us a hotel room for 3 hours. The line grew enormous and slow to get vouchers for hotel and meal. As you established, AA ground staff is not prepared to deal with these kinds of situations. Lack of customer relation skills, are so rude and they spend a lot of time with blames instead notify us that they don’t have a flight and locate us in a hotel early, I have a medical condition and I travel To Tampa for a medical treatment and the delay cause a detrimental effect on me. That was the worst experience with an airline that I ever have. I travel a lot and delays always can occur but the way that the airline respond to the customer was very different that the way that AA gave us at on the Flight 1555 from Miami to Puerto Rico on June 15.