Air Travel

Question:

I have had lugage arrive late due to a cancelled flight (due to weather) and AA sent it home COD, claimimg it did not arrive on the scheduled flight and it was the passanger’s responsibility since the passanger stood by for the next available flight (14 hrs. delay). AA agents on the phone agreed only to give an address for customer relations – no phone or e-mail. I’d appreciate if I could get a phone number and e-mail for AA customer relations.

Response:

<< I have had lugage arrive late due to a cancelled flight (due to weather) and AA sent it home COD, claimimg it did not arrive on the scheduled flight and it was the passanger’s responsibility since the passanger stood by for the next available flight (14 hrs. delay). AA agents on the phone agreed only to give an address for customer relations – no phone or e-mail. I’d appreciate if I could get a phone number and e-mail for AA customer relations. << AA agents on the phone -only have- an address and fax number for Consumer Relations.  To get the phone number, you’ll need to ask for a supervisor.  Call AA at 1-800-433-7300, which is their general toll-free number.  Give the agent who answers your basic info (name, date of travel, and destination) and ask to speak to a supervisor to obtain the phone number for Cons. Rel.  I don’t think they have an e-mail address, but that might have changed since I worked there. For future reference, it’s generally easier to call the above number immediately after  experiencing a problem.  If the agent who answers in unable to help, you can always ask for a supervisor.  The thing is, after 24 hours, info in your reservation is no longer accesible to the people at the reservation centers.  Anything past-date must be handled through Cons. Rel., who can’t access your info as easily, as they have much more info to sift through.   This is why it’s generally better to send or fax something in writing.   Hope this helps, Danie

Response:

writes: >I have had lugage arrive late due to a cancelled flight (due to weather) >and AA sent it home COD, claimimg it did not arrive on the scheduled >flight and it was the passanger’s responsibility since the passanger >stood by for the next available flight (14 hrs. delay). AA agents on >the phone agreed only to give an address for customer relations – no >phone or e-mail. I’d appreciate if I could get a phone number and e-mail >for AA customer relations.

You will find that most airlines will not pay for delivery if the problems started with bad weather…

Response:

>True. In 25 years of fairly frequent air travel within the US I have had >various frustrations caused by bad weather, equipment trouble, etc, but I >have never–NEVER–had a bad time with an airline employee. You don’t even >have to be really really nice to get good treatment. Just being moderately >nice usually is sufficient. I’ve received favors, people have bent the >rules for me, special ticketing has been arranged, upgrades have been >offered–many efforts well beyond the normal call of duty. Compared with >other service industries, airlines are exceptional. >I think a large part of the problem with complainers is that a) they >really don’t believe it’s sometimes dangerous or impossible to take off or >land in bad weather and b) they expect first-class service in economy >class.

Not to mention that the worst complainers are often rude themselves. I’ve had similar experiences as yours. If you are fairly nice to the airline people you will get good service. — The Legacy of Art Modell: THE DRIVE!         |  Pete Babic                                   THE MOVE!  |  CWRU DISCLAIMER: Opinions do not represent Case Western Reserve University

Response:

: >Would you believe this airplane had mechanical problems (radio), and we : >were left sitting at the gate for another full hour?  Oregonians are : >really very patient, and they’re forgiving folk, but this about brought : >the house down.  Bottom line:  Avoid AA at all costs. : I really hate posts like this.  No one likes delays, but what do you want : the airlines to do — fly an airplane that is not in good working order?   : Of course not.  What an assinine comment.  We had every right to expect AA, after 16 hours of delay, lying to us, and generally treating us like cattle, to come up with an airplane that was in good working order.   After all, that’s their home base, so one should reasonably expect their maintenance department to have a fully-operational aircraft available.              

Response:

: If you want to complain: complain about specific policies that : differ from the norm (or why the norm differs from common sense) Easy.  We did complain appropriately.  Blatant, repeated lying is a specific practice I certainly hope differs from the norm, though it apparently fell into the category of common sense for the AA gate agent. As 125 Portland passengers on Flight 1051 will unanimously agree, AA clearly deserves boycotting.

Response:

<< You may be missing the point here.  I have also experienced this same type of thing with AA.  They will look right at you and LIE.  They don’t seem to give a rip.  When things go badly wrong, It seems the airline could at least train their people to be friendly and helpful.  It seems to me that situations like this can be avoided though if you can use AA and avoid going through DFW airport. << Hi, there! I used to work for AA, and we are, indeed, trained to respond to passengers in a friendly and courteous manner.  It is also AA’s policy to give passengers the reasons for a delay, a practice not common in the airline world.   I’m sorry a couple of you experienced problems with AA.  When I worked for AA, I took my duties and attitude extremely seriously, as did the majority of people I worked with.  As the general attitude in the company is one of teamwork, we don’t like to hear when one or more of us isn’t giving their all. I suggest you write a letter to Consumer Relations.  I don’t know the address offhand, but the director’s name is Veronica Lopes.  That department is located in DFW.  I know that complaints AND compliments are taken very seriously.  An agent complaint or compliment is kept in that employee’s personnel file, which is reviewed regularly.   Danielle Feica Noll  

Response:

> I’ve found that the best way to get what you want in situations where > others are freaking out is to be *nice*.

True. In 25 years of fairly frequent air travel within the US I have had various frustrations caused by bad weather, equipment trouble, etc, but I have never–NEVER–had a bad time with an airline employee. You don’t even have to be really really nice to get good treatment. Just being moderately nice usually is sufficient. I’ve received favors, people have bent the rules for me, special ticketing has been arranged, upgrades have been offered–many efforts well beyond the normal call of duty. Compared with other service industries, airlines are exceptional. I think a large part of the problem with complainers is that a) they really don’t believe it’s sometimes dangerous or impossible to take off or land in bad weather and b) they expect first-class service in economy class. —

Response:

>You may be missing the point here.  I have also experienced this same >type of thing with AA.  They will look right at you and LIE.

How do you know that they are lying?  Do you work for the airline? — "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.  I do not shrink from this responsibility.  I welcome it." -John F. Kennedy

Response:

> I really hate posts like this.  No one likes delays, but what do you want > the airlines to do — fly an airplane that is not in good working order? > *All* airlines are going to have maintainence delays. > If you read rec.travel.air long enough, sooner or later you are going to > end up boycotting every airline in the world. > —

I agree – the airlines shouldn’t fly aircraft with mechaanical problems and I can list a number of times the same things has happened to me flying QANTAS, but I stil don’t think that gives the airlines (including QANTAS) the right to treat it’s fare paying passengers like cattle. Frank

Response:

>>Would you believe this airplane had mechanical problems (radio), and we >were left sitting at the gate for another full hour?  Oregonians are >really very patient, and they’re forgiving folk, but this about brought >the house down.  Bottom line:  Avoid AA at all costs. >I really hate posts like this.  No one likes delays, but what do you want >the airlines to do — fly an airplane that is not in good working order?   >*All* airlines are going to have maintainence delays. >If you read rec.travel.air long enough, sooner or later you are going to >end up boycotting every airline in the world.

I think that airlines recently have been so concerned with profits that they are trying to do everything possible to maximize them with no regards to passenger convenience/comfort.  They really don’t care anymore whether you get to your destination on time or not.  From the last 3 or 4 times I flew American Airlines, I was very dissatisfied with their service.  Finally decided to call customer service.  I call the general 800 number to get the number for the customer relations department.  I had to explain for about 5 minutes why I wanted to talk to the customer relations department.  One would think a company concerned about service would like feedback from its customers. Anyway, I called to customer service department and the only thing the lady kept saying was that they had to consider their profits.  I personally hate this attitude.  Unfortunately, I haven’t found an Airline which actually wants to please its customers. Sameer Gupta

Response:

Oregon passengers who were trying to leave Dallas after the Cotton Bowl on New Years were treated horrendously by American Airlines.  Never have I seen such rude, uncaring, inappropriate behavior by airline reps.   After stringing us along for hour upon hour about not having a plane, no crew available, blah blah blah, the airline cancelled the flight at 4 a.m., then left the passengers to fend for themselves. We asked the gate attendant super to put us up for the night and he told us there were no hotel rooms anywhere in the Dallas area.  However, on checking, we found that the hotel directly across the street had over 500 available rooms.  Four passengers from our group actually got another gate attendant to give them vouchers for this hotel, but our attendant continued to deny that rooms were available. To make a long story short (which is pretty hard to do, considering how we were jerked around for hour upon hour), AA finally decided to create a new flight for all the Portland passengers who had been stranded for so long.  So, that next afternoon a plane was brought in and we all boarded, hopeful to finally be leaving Dallas and the confines of AA.   Would you believe this airplane had mechanical problems (radio), and we were left sitting at the gate for another full hour?  Oregonians are really very patient, and they’re forgiving folk, but this about brought the house down.   Bottom line:  Avoid AA at all costs.  At a time when their PR program is already taking a beating, they just don’t have professional staff at their home base who can deal with stressful situations.  They are seriously lacking in communication skills, and they have staff with   little regard for the truth.

Response:

>Would you believe this airplane had mechanical problems (radio), and we >were left sitting at the gate for another full hour?  Oregonians are >really very patient, and they’re forgiving folk, but this about brought >the house down.  Bottom line:  Avoid AA at all costs.

I really hate posts like this.  No one likes delays, but what do you want the airlines to do — fly an airplane that is not in good working order?   *All* airlines are going to have maintainence delays. If you read rec.travel.air long enough, sooner or later you are going to end up boycotting every airline in the world. — "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.  I do not shrink from this responsibility.  I welcome it." -John F. Kennedy

Response:

> If you read rec.travel.air long enough, sooner or later you are going to > end up boycotting every airline in the world.

On the other hand, when most reports seem focused on one airline (Delta these days) and only a few come out against other airlines, should this not be some form of indication ? Over a period of time, or airlines that consistently have problems dealing with problems (delays, cancelations, weather etc) will end up being complained about more than others, won’t they ? So, while I agree that a single complaint does not make an airline very bad, when you consistently get complaints about a particular airline, it might be indicative of a real problem.

Response:

You may be missing the point here.  I have also experienced this same type of thing with AA.  They will look right at you and LIE.  They don’t seem to give a rip.  When things go badly wrong, It seems the airline could at least train their people to be friendly and helpful.  It seems to me that situations like this can be avoided though if you can use AA and avoid going through DFW airport

Response: