On May 11, 2015, I was flying from Nashville, Tennessee, home to Florida on the US Air division of American Airlines with a plane change in Charlotte, North Carolina. As I was checking in, "Preferred Access" was offered for this entire trip for $20 which allowed boarding before the masses on both flights. I was traveling with one carry-on with some very important papers in it, and as US Air often seems to run out of overhead space and starts checking carry-ons at the gate, I felt this would be a good investment in that I could get on the plane and stow my bag without worry. I charged the $20 fee to my credit card and both boarding passes stated "Preferred Access" in capital letters under my frequent flyer number. In Nashville, the gate agent called for Preferred Access flyers to board with the Citi Credit Card premium members and all worked fine. In Charlotte, the flight was delayed. When boarding started, the gate agent never mentioned Preferred Access and when the Citi customers were called, no mention was made of Preferred Access. I assumed Preferred Access would be called next; however, since the flight was late, the agent simply called Zones 1 and 2 and a crowd of people descended on the gate from all directions. When I handed by boarding pass to the agent, I mentioned Preferred Access had never been called and she had no idea what I was talking about. I do not appreciate paying for a service sold by the merchant, but then not offered.
On May 12, I emailed American Airlines Customer Relations and related my experience. Since I paid $20 for Preferred Access for the entire trip, I felt I was owed $10 for the flight for which Preferred Access was not offered. On May 15, I received a reply from Dalila Reade at American Airlines which stated they appreciated my feedback but could not offer a refund. She then had a paragraph consisting of one sentence which read, "Please use it to fly with us again soon." There was nothing offered in the letter to be used to fly with them again soon!
I wrote a polite response again explaining my situation, and on May 28, I received an email from Robert Vaseg providing a thorough explanation of what Preferred Access is and stating "the service is non-refundable if you change or cancel any of your flights." I had not changed or canceled either flight for which I purchased Preferred Access. He concluded by saying, "We have a responsibility to decline compensation requests when we feel it is not appropriate."
I next wrote an old-fashioned letter to Doug Parker, the CEO of American Airlines. My next contact was a phone call on June 10 from Siegfried Leal explaining what Preferred Access is and that they would not process my request for a $10 refund. I again stated my case, and he said he was merely calling as a courtesy to let me know they would not be refunding my money. Later that day, I received an email from Mr. Leal explaining the same thing even stating if I bought Preferred Access on a flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia with a plane change in Charlotte, I could enjoy Preferred Access on both flights for one fee. He seemingly disregarded the whole notion that that was the basis of my refund request - I paid for Preferred Access for both flights and they did not offer it on the second one.
On June 18, I called the bank issuing my credit card to dispute the charge. The representative said since it was a service rather than an actual physical item, they would have a hard time disputing the charge with American Airlines' bank; however, my bank offered me a courtesy refund of the $10 because of my many years as a customer. I took it, but urged them to try and get it from American. I realize this may sound petty over $10; however, I do not appreciate being sold a service that is not delivered and I do not choose to make a $10 contribution to American Airlines.
American Airlines continues to be negligent and abusive to disabled wheelchair passengers. On three separate, consecutive flights wheelchair service was not properly arranged even after diligently making requests. Furthermore, on a flight from Miami to Houston IAH the flight attendant disabled the call button so that this disabled medical passenger could not summon the attendants for assistance. The flight attendant admitted disabling the call buttons as they were 'annoying'. The captain of the aircraft was advised of her action as he told me he would investigate. AA admitted some liability but offered no compensation to the painful forced walking of a recently hospitalized passenger who had a stroke and heart attack the very same month as the sorry excuse of air travel from American. American is not really sorry at all and just offering a casual 'sorry' is not sufficient.
American Airlines ticket sales ae misleading. They provide flight cost, and then charge additional fees ($33.92) for each sit during booking. No other choise.
I am going to my son's graduation and taking my other 2 kids with me. I started booking the flight with AA. So far teh cost is very high $682.04 each for a fligh from Los Angeles to Fayettville Arkansas. During the booking and choosing the sits, I found out that the only few availible sits cost $32.92 per sit. No other choice but to purchase them.This means $65.84 additional cost per ticket. I felt very bad when I have no option but to pay for them or not go to my son's graduation. I totaly think this is a very bad business practive since when customers/people see the cost a sit must be ncluded already. Not with AA, I wonder if they do this with all flights. I wonder how many millions of $$ are ripping off from customer that same as me fly for needds and not for pleasure. I am very disappointed with this airline's practices. I feel rip off and I think this is not and honest practice from a well-known company. I think the extra unnecessary cahges forn teh ONLY SIT AVAILABLE in the aircraft must be refunded.
I am writing this message on behalf of my wife, my son and myself. I demand that this letter be sent to a senior manager and that this incident and our concerns be escalated to the highest priority. This letter supersedes all other prior communications.
Our family purchased these tickets and flights months ahead of time. The sole purpose of our travels is to attend our son's (Frank Han Chen's) West Point graduation ceremony. This is something that we have planned and anticipated for several years.
The evidence will show that on or about August of 2014 we had already booked our hotel stay and pre-arranged other accommodations in our itinerary for the purposes of attending our son's military graduation and then that subsequently on or about January 20th 2015 we had successfully booked and paid for our American Airlines flight.
On or about March 12 2015 it was brought to our attention that American Airlines arbitrarily and capriciously canceled our flights months ahead of time and without just cause. This was not a weather or mechanical related cancellation, nor was it a change or cancel requested by us or caused by us. Also this flight and the timing coincidences with West Point and peak graduation period, so there is little to no possibility of flights being canceled for the reason of merging flights to balance load. The change and cancellation inflicted upon us by American Airlines has the effective result of directly causing us to miss the most important portions of our son's graduation ceremony. This is a priceless event with no monetary equivalence. American Airlines has insulted my family and has repeatedly refused to correct and atone for its wrongs. We have requested to be justly compensated for this unprecedented harm inflected upon our family at the hands of American Airlines and these requests have been denied. As a direct result we have suffered economic setbacks and much emotional damage and mental anguish.
Throughout the years we have flown American Airlines countless times and in the past four years our family has spent tens of thousands of dollars on American Airlines flights since our son entered West Point at New York four years ago. We have never in our entire life experienced the sort of unprecedented and capricious and arbitrary flight cancellations and nor do we know of any other case in which something similar had happened to ourselves, or families or our friends. Nor have we in the past ever contacted American Airlines to file any grievance or complaint.
When my family called American Airlines to inquire as the the reason the flights was canceled months ahead of time, we were told by an American Airlines representative that "we don't know", and in effect there was "no reason". Then, the airline further insulted my family by stating that it will consider waiving the change fee. American Airlines unilaterally, arbitrarily and capriciously cancels our flight without just cause, without equitable monetary compensation, without giving any reason, and having gave no reason at all - or having affirmatively stated that there is no valid reason - then decides to insult our collective intelligence by stating that it will consider waiving the change fee! This is not professional and no way to treat a long time loyal customer.
Furthermore, given the nature and the route and the timing of this flight and the totality of the circumstances, we have reason to believe and we do believe and suspect that we may be victims of discrimination, deception and fraud. Our theory : it is possible and quite likely that American Airlines surreptitiously kicked us off that flight in order to cater to a first class customer or a last minute customer who may or may not have been willing to pay inordinate amounts of monies in order to secure a seat at the expense of a customer or customers who had already purchased an earlier ticket at a substantially less cost.
We are hereby notifying American Airlines in writing that we will be keeping a very close eye on the flight(s) and if it turns out that the original flight that we booked was indeed not canceled, then we will have sufficient grounds for a lawsuit on the basis of fraud, deception, and racial discrimination and discrimination based on national origin, and discrimination of handicapped and disabled persons, since we have advised American Airlines and American Airlines knew and had reason to know that my wife is medically handicapped.
We have evidence of documented receipts and purchases for our hotel accommodations and other pre-planned and pre-purchased event and accommodations and we do not and will not accept anything less than just compensation. If the airline decides not to justly compensate our family in a fair and equitable manner, and if it turns our original flight (or the original flight route or flight time window, regardless of actual flight number) was indeed not canceled or not changed, or if American Airlines changed or canceled our flights or impacts our travels in any way and did so under false pretenses, then the airline is hereby notified that we will do everything possible under the law to seek full justice including but not limited to exposing any potential scandals to the news media.
Please respond and confirm the receipt of this E-Mail. Thank you in advance for your time and assistance in rectifying this matter in a fair, just and fully equitable manner.
US Air / American Airlines ripped me off. I was flying to New York to pick up my grandchildren for Easter break, bringing them back to Florida. I first flew to Philadelphia then had a short layover before continuing on to Binghamton, NY. Imperative that I arrive that day because the 4 of us had flights out of Binhamton, NY the next morning at 6am.
After arriving in Philadelphia, they cancelled my flight. I had to scramble, rent a car, paid $409 for the car and drove frantically to New York (4 hours of traveling) in order to be able to catch the 6am flight the next day.
They refuse to refund me any part of my money because they said they would fly me to NY the next day..................the 4 of us would have missed our flights that left at 6am.
Then to make matters worse, they also cancelled my return flight (the one where I was returning to Florida after I returned my grandchildren to NY).
When I arrived at the Binghamton airport they were confused but were able to put me on the plane because there was room (only coach seats on that flight).
When I arrived at Philadelphia I was advised that not only did I not have my First Class seat they would have to check to see if they had any room for me on the flight.
Eventually they were able to place me in coach...................I paid for First Class and my ticket cost me $920.00
They agreed to reimburse me for the difference between first and coach...............what about all the aggravation.
Enclosed is your Travel Check Voucher. This Travel Check Voucher can be redeemed for a certificate for 2 rofund trip airline tickets to anywhere in the continental US from any major international US airport. Certain restrictions may apply. Vacation Getaways and Cruises are available for a limited time.
We have attempted contacting you on several occasions. This will be your last chance to respond.
Note that this check voucher must be redeemed by September 19.,2014. If you do not claim your award, ti will be transferred to the alternate. This is a limited time offer and may be withdreawn at any time. Flights fill quickly.
Please reference your check voucher number 137-526-251. This travel check must be certified to be valid.
I reserved two different dates on a return ticket for my daughter from Denver, CO to Raleigh, NC The ticket was put on hold for twenty-four hours with American Airline. A cheaper ticket was found on Southwest Airline from Denver from Denver. The return ticket was purchased from American Airline. Instead of giving American Airline the right locator for the return ticket from Raleigh to Denver they were give the Denver to Raleigh locator. I called American Airline and spoke with Supervisor Tony Marin after I discovered the error to booking a double flight from Denver. Mr. Martin stated “the ticket is more than the rebooking fee of $200.00. It would be better to purchase another ticket and forget about the $170.00 I had already paid for the other ticket.” He spoke hard nose and did not care if I had paid them $170.00 dollars. I immediately replied that to me “I was an average working person living from paycheck to paycheck just as any other disabled senior citizen. In addition to this I mention that I was purchasing the ticket to get my daughter to the family reunion. This is an airline with such greed for money until you only become a number for dollars to them. I have flown this airline for years and have never seen such inconsideration to passengers concerns. My advice to anyone that decides to fly with American Airlines be prepared to pay extra for just asking to do the right thing. It would take H*** FOR FREEEZ OVER BEFORE I HAVE ANOTHER BUSINESS TRANSACTION WITH THE. If you fly with Southwest they listen to people concerns with compassion. No extra charge for rebooking a flight and no greed fees for those bags. American Airline is just like blood suckers they would rob your grandmother if given the opportunity. Anyone looking at their website complaints and checking the BBB reports tells you they are thieves in the night that rob you by day.
I have a flight on the 10-9-2014. Five days ago, I checked up with American Airlines phone assistance to change the flight to 12-17-2014, and I was informed that I could do it for $231.
Today, on 7-22-2014, I called them again with the intention of do this change, but the attendant said that it would be $605. I don't understand how this works, but as I said, five days before I was told that I could do it for $230 and now I have to spent $605. In these five days, I spent the money that I had saved for this change, and now I don't have enough for paying my way back to Brazil.
I think that this is a wrong thing to be done by a company that I always heard about as being one of the biggest in the world. I expected more respect, in the way that I was told one price, but now I have to pay three times more. I am writing this with hope that American Airlines can read this and do something to help me, unless they think that this "false purpose" that AA did to me is the way that the company wants to deal with its clients.
American Airlines, Inc. Reviews
On May 11, 2015, I was flying from Nashville, Tennessee, home to Florida on the US Air division of American Airlines with a plane change in Charlotte, North Carolina. As I was checking in, "Preferred Access" was offered for this entire trip for $20 which allowed boarding before the masses on both flights. I was traveling with one carry-on with some very important papers in it, and as US Air often seems to run out of overhead space and starts checking carry-ons at the gate, I felt this would be a good investment in that I could get on the plane and stow my bag without worry. I charged the $20 fee to my credit card and both boarding passes stated "Preferred Access" in capital letters under my frequent flyer number. In Nashville, the gate agent called for Preferred Access flyers to board with the Citi Credit Card premium members and all worked fine. In Charlotte, the flight was delayed. When boarding started, the gate agent never mentioned Preferred Access and when the Citi customers were called, no mention was made of Preferred Access. I assumed Preferred Access would be called next; however, since the flight was late, the agent simply called Zones 1 and 2 and a crowd of people descended on the gate from all directions. When I handed by boarding pass to the agent, I mentioned Preferred Access had never been called and she had no idea what I was talking about. I do not appreciate paying for a service sold by the merchant, but then not offered.
On May 12, I emailed American Airlines Customer Relations and related my experience. Since I paid $20 for Preferred Access for the entire trip, I felt I was owed $10 for the flight for which Preferred Access was not offered. On May 15, I received a reply from Dalila Reade at American Airlines which stated they appreciated my feedback but could not offer a refund. She then had a paragraph consisting of one sentence which read, "Please use it to fly with us again soon." There was nothing offered in the letter to be used to fly with them again soon!
I wrote a polite response again explaining my situation, and on May 28, I received an email from Robert Vaseg providing a thorough explanation of what Preferred Access is and stating "the service is non-refundable if you change or cancel any of your flights." I had not changed or canceled either flight for which I purchased Preferred Access. He concluded by saying, "We have a responsibility to decline compensation requests when we feel it is not appropriate."
I next wrote an old-fashioned letter to Doug Parker, the CEO of American Airlines. My next contact was a phone call on June 10 from Siegfried Leal explaining what Preferred Access is and that they would not process my request for a $10 refund. I again stated my case, and he said he was merely calling as a courtesy to let me know they would not be refunding my money. Later that day, I received an email from Mr. Leal explaining the same thing even stating if I bought Preferred Access on a flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia with a plane change in Charlotte, I could enjoy Preferred Access on both flights for one fee. He seemingly disregarded the whole notion that that was the basis of my refund request - I paid for Preferred Access for both flights and they did not offer it on the second one.
On June 18, I called the bank issuing my credit card to dispute the charge. The representative said since it was a service rather than an actual physical item, they would have a hard time disputing the charge with American Airlines' bank; however, my bank offered me a courtesy refund of the $10 because of my many years as a customer. I took it, but urged them to try and get it from American. I realize this may sound petty over $10; however, I do not appreciate being sold a service that is not delivered and I do not choose to make a $10 contribution to American Airlines.
American Airlines continues to be negligent and abusive to disabled wheelchair passengers. On three separate, consecutive flights wheelchair service was not properly arranged even after diligently making requests. Furthermore, on a flight from Miami to Houston IAH the flight attendant disabled the call button so that this disabled medical passenger could not summon the attendants for assistance. The flight attendant admitted disabling the call buttons as they were 'annoying'. The captain of the aircraft was advised of her action as he told me he would investigate. AA admitted some liability but offered no compensation to the painful forced walking of a recently hospitalized passenger who had a stroke and heart attack the very same month as the sorry excuse of air travel from American. American is not really sorry at all and just offering a casual 'sorry' is not sufficient.
American Airlines ticket sales ae misleading. They provide flight cost, and then charge additional fees ($33.92) for each sit during booking. No other choise.
I am going to my son's graduation and taking my other 2 kids with me. I started booking the flight with AA. So far teh cost is very high $682.04 each for a fligh from Los Angeles to Fayettville Arkansas. During the booking and choosing the sits, I found out that the only few availible sits cost $32.92 per sit. No other choice but to purchase them.This means $65.84 additional cost per ticket. I felt very bad when I have no option but to pay for them or not go to my son's graduation. I totaly think this is a very bad business practive since when customers/people see the cost a sit must be ncluded already. Not with AA, I wonder if they do this with all flights. I wonder how many millions of $$ are ripping off from customer that same as me fly for needds and not for pleasure. I am very disappointed with this airline's practices. I feel rip off and I think this is not and honest practice from a well-known company. I think the extra unnecessary cahges forn teh ONLY SIT AVAILABLE in the aircraft must be refunded.
To Whom It May Concern At American Airlines :
I am writing this message on behalf of my wife, my son and myself. I demand that this letter be sent to a senior manager and that this incident and our concerns be escalated to the highest priority. This letter supersedes all other prior communications.
Our family purchased these tickets and flights months ahead of time. The sole purpose of our travels is to attend our son's (Frank Han Chen's) West Point graduation ceremony. This is something that we have planned and anticipated for several years.
The evidence will show that on or about August of 2014 we had already booked our hotel stay and pre-arranged other accommodations in our itinerary for the purposes of attending our son's military graduation and then that subsequently on or about January 20th 2015 we had successfully booked and paid for our American Airlines flight.
On or about March 12 2015 it was brought to our attention that American Airlines arbitrarily and capriciously canceled our flights months ahead of time and without just cause. This was not a weather or mechanical related cancellation, nor was it a change or cancel requested by us or caused by us. Also this flight and the timing coincidences with West Point and peak graduation period, so there is little to no possibility of flights being canceled for the reason of merging flights to balance load. The change and cancellation inflicted upon us by American Airlines has the effective result of directly causing us to miss the most important portions of our son's graduation ceremony. This is a priceless event with no monetary equivalence. American Airlines has insulted my family and has repeatedly refused to correct and atone for its wrongs. We have requested to be justly compensated for this unprecedented harm inflected upon our family at the hands of American Airlines and these requests have been denied. As a direct result we have suffered economic setbacks and much emotional damage and mental anguish.
Throughout the years we have flown American Airlines countless times and in the past four years our family has spent tens of thousands of dollars on American Airlines flights since our son entered West Point at New York four years ago. We have never in our entire life experienced the sort of unprecedented and capricious and arbitrary flight cancellations and nor do we know of any other case in which something similar had happened to ourselves, or families or our friends. Nor have we in the past ever contacted American Airlines to file any grievance or complaint.
When my family called American Airlines to inquire as the the reason the flights was canceled months ahead of time, we were told by an American Airlines representative that "we don't know", and in effect there was "no reason". Then, the airline further insulted my family by stating that it will consider waiving the change fee. American Airlines unilaterally, arbitrarily and capriciously cancels our flight without just cause, without equitable monetary compensation, without giving any reason, and having gave no reason at all - or having affirmatively stated that there is no valid reason - then decides to insult our collective intelligence by stating that it will consider waiving the change fee! This is not professional and no way to treat a long time loyal customer.
Furthermore, given the nature and the route and the timing of this flight and the totality of the circumstances, we have reason to believe and we do believe and suspect that we may be victims of discrimination, deception and fraud. Our theory : it is possible and quite likely that American Airlines surreptitiously kicked us off that flight in order to cater to a first class customer or a last minute customer who may or may not have been willing to pay inordinate amounts of monies in order to secure a seat at the expense of a customer or customers who had already purchased an earlier ticket at a substantially less cost.
We are hereby notifying American Airlines in writing that we will be keeping a very close eye on the flight(s) and if it turns out that the original flight that we booked was indeed not canceled, then we will have sufficient grounds for a lawsuit on the basis of fraud, deception, and racial discrimination and discrimination based on national origin, and discrimination of handicapped and disabled persons, since we have advised American Airlines and American Airlines knew and had reason to know that my wife is medically handicapped.
We have evidence of documented receipts and purchases for our hotel accommodations and other pre-planned and pre-purchased event and accommodations and we do not and will not accept anything less than just compensation. If the airline decides not to justly compensate our family in a fair and equitable manner, and if it turns our original flight (or the original flight route or flight time window, regardless of actual flight number) was indeed not canceled or not changed, or if American Airlines changed or canceled our flights or impacts our travels in any way and did so under false pretenses, then the airline is hereby notified that we will do everything possible under the law to seek full justice including but not limited to exposing any potential scandals to the news media.
Please respond and confirm the receipt of this E-Mail. Thank you in advance for your time and assistance in rectifying this matter in a fair, just and fully equitable manner.
US Air / American Airlines ripped me off. I was flying to New York to pick up my grandchildren for Easter break, bringing them back to Florida. I first flew to Philadelphia then had a short layover before continuing on to Binghamton, NY. Imperative that I arrive that day because the 4 of us had flights out of Binhamton, NY the next morning at 6am.
After arriving in Philadelphia, they cancelled my flight. I had to scramble, rent a car, paid $409 for the car and drove frantically to New York (4 hours of traveling) in order to be able to catch the 6am flight the next day.
They refuse to refund me any part of my money because they said they would fly me to NY the next day..................the 4 of us would have missed our flights that left at 6am.
Then to make matters worse, they also cancelled my return flight (the one where I was returning to Florida after I returned my grandchildren to NY).
When I arrived at the Binghamton airport they were confused but were able to put me on the plane because there was room (only coach seats on that flight).
When I arrived at Philadelphia I was advised that not only did I not have my First Class seat they would have to check to see if they had any room for me on the flight.
Eventually they were able to place me in coach...................I paid for First Class and my ticket cost me $920.00
They agreed to reimburse me for the difference between first and coach...............what about all the aggravation.
They ripped me off.
Enclosed is your Travel Check Voucher. This Travel Check Voucher can be redeemed for a certificate for 2 rofund trip airline tickets to anywhere in the continental US from any major international US airport. Certain restrictions may apply. Vacation Getaways and Cruises are available for a limited time.
We have attempted contacting you on several occasions. This will be your last chance to respond.
Note that this check voucher must be redeemed by September 19.,2014. If you do not claim your award, ti will be transferred to the alternate. This is a limited time offer and may be withdreawn at any time. Flights fill quickly.
Please reference your check voucher number 137-526-251. This travel check must be certified to be valid.
Call 1-877-770-5597
I reserved two different dates on a return ticket for my daughter from Denver, CO to Raleigh, NC The ticket was put on hold for twenty-four hours with American Airline. A cheaper ticket was found on Southwest Airline from Denver from Denver. The return ticket was purchased from American Airline. Instead of giving American Airline the right locator for the return ticket from Raleigh to Denver they were give the Denver to Raleigh locator. I called American Airline and spoke with Supervisor Tony Marin after I discovered the error to booking a double flight from Denver. Mr. Martin stated “the ticket is more than the rebooking fee of $200.00. It would be better to purchase another ticket and forget about the $170.00 I had already paid for the other ticket.” He spoke hard nose and did not care if I had paid them $170.00 dollars. I immediately replied that to me “I was an average working person living from paycheck to paycheck just as any other disabled senior citizen. In addition to this I mention that I was purchasing the ticket to get my daughter to the family reunion. This is an airline with such greed for money until you only become a number for dollars to them. I have flown this airline for years and have never seen such inconsideration to passengers concerns. My advice to anyone that decides to fly with American Airlines be prepared to pay extra for just asking to do the right thing. It would take H*** FOR FREEEZ OVER BEFORE I HAVE ANOTHER BUSINESS TRANSACTION WITH THE. If you fly with Southwest they listen to people concerns with compassion. No extra charge for rebooking a flight and no greed fees for those bags. American Airline is just like blood suckers they would rob your grandmother if given the opportunity. Anyone looking at their website complaints and checking the BBB reports tells you they are thieves in the night that rob you by day.
I have a flight on the 10-9-2014. Five days ago, I checked up with American Airlines phone assistance to change the flight to 12-17-2014, and I was informed that I could do it for $231.
Today, on 7-22-2014, I called them again with the intention of do this change, but the attendant said that it would be $605. I don't understand how this works, but as I said, five days before I was told that I could do it for $230 and now I have to spent $605. In these five days, I spent the money that I had saved for this change, and now I don't have enough for paying my way back to Brazil.
I think that this is a wrong thing to be done by a company that I always heard about as being one of the biggest in the world. I expected more respect, in the way that I was told one price, but now I have to pay three times more. I am writing this with hope that American Airlines can read this and do something to help me, unless they think that this "false purpose" that AA did to me is the way that the company wants to deal with its clients.