reason to avoid American Airlines - charged extra £2500 due to hurricane Irene

[disneyholic family]

i almost forgot to post this...

well folks, my enthusiasm for American Airlines has officially been nipped in the bud!

why?

AA's handling of hurricane irene issues.

my son and his wife flew AA on our recent trip (the rest of us were on a different airline - other than the internal US portion of the trip).

When it became clear that hurricane irene would cause a delay in their return home, i advanced their flight by a day to avoid the storm (she's a brand new teacher and had to be back in time for the start of school).

I should add that the US airlines announced that there would be no charges for hurricane related changes.

wrong.

when i called up AA to change their flights, i was told i would have to pay £2500 for the change (for two tickets). WHAT???
but what about the no charge for hurricane changes?
the AA rep said that i was making a change too close to the flight (i called 3 days before the new flight).
i responded that i couldn't make it any earlier as the change was because of a hurricane - how could i know about that in advance???????

in any case, i had to pay the £2500 to get them on the new flight.

i should add that their original tickets cost just slightly more than that - and those tickets were all the way to chile and back.
so basically, we paid the price of brand new round trip tickets.

so given that hurricanes (and ash clouds and who knows what) can occur when traveling to the US, i can no longer recommend using American Airlines for your flights across the atlantic.

 

[disneyholic family]

i should add that it was lucky i changed their flights - their original flight was cancelled so had i not changed their flight in advance of the hurricane, they would have been delayed by at least 4 days (the earliest people on the cancelled flights were getting out was on wednesday).

 

[pad406]

Ouch!!!!

 

[wayneg]

It was same with Delta and the ash cloud last year, if you rang to change in advance you paid, if you waited(as we did) until they cancelled they changed you free. Thankfully we could enjoy 3 extra days, difficult for anyone that had to be home on time.
The risks are so low to me it doesn't matter but it does to others.
Another problem is the airlines deal with each incident differently so you can't know who is best to go with.

 

[disneyholic family]

It was same with Delta and the ash cloud last year, if you rang to change in advance you paid, if you waited(as we did) until they cancelled they changed you free. Thankfully we could enjoy 3 extra days, difficult for anyone that had to be home on time.
The risks are so low to me it doesn't matter but it does to others.
Another problem is the airlines deal with each incident differently so you can't know who is best to go with.

we informed our credit card company that we are disputing the charge.

it was marked on our account even before the charge was posted by AA.

it will be interesting to see if the credit card company is able to reduce the charge.

i understand them charging for a change.
i didn't expect it for free.
But to charge us the cost of 2 brand new tickets is outrageous.
we actually saved them work later on.
DS and his wife would have been two more people the airline would have had to deal with in the aftermath of irene.
but because i'd had the forsight of advancing them, the airline didn't have to worry about how to get them home after the storm.

 

[paulfoel]

we informed our credit card company that we are disputing the charge.

it was marked on our account even before the charge was posted by AA.

it will be interesting to see if the credit card company is able to reduce the charge.

i understand them charging for a change.
i didn't expect it for free.
But to charge us the cost of 2 brand new tickets is outrageous.
we actually saved them work later on.
DS and his wife would have been two more people the airline would have had to deal with in the aftermath of irene.
but because i'd had the forsight of advancing them, the airline didn't have to worry about how to get them home after the storm.

I dont think you'll get anywhere with the CC company unless it was charged fraudulently or incorrectly. Not just because you think it was too expensive.

Otherwise, everyone would do this if they thought the cornflakes were too expensive in Tesco!

 

[crabbie1]

That is disgusting Beth. Not the customers fault yet they have to pay the premium.So sorry you had so much expense.

 

[disneyholic family]

I dont think you'll get anywhere with the CC company unless it was charged fraudulently or incorrectly. Not just because you think it was too expensive.

Otherwise, everyone would do this if they thought the cornflakes were too expensive in Tesco!

it doesn't hurt to try.
it's Amex - they're pretty good about disputes with suppliers.
this was a case of taking advantage of a customer in a compromised position.

there was no way i could fight AA at the time. They had me over a barrel.
and to charge the full price of a new round trip ticket is an egregious abuse of their power.
i asked to speak with a supervisor but was refused.

in any case, i won't be any worse off and maybe Amex will be able to help.

the reason i use Amex when i'm traveling and not mastercard or visa is because they've provided outstanding service whenever there's been a problem. So i'm hoping they'll help in this regard as well.

you could be right that they won't be able to help, but i'm hoping they will.

one thing's for sure - AA has lost my business forever. I won't even fly them internally in the US if i can help it.

 

[wayneg]

it doesn't hurt to try.

you could be right that they won't be able to help, but i'm hoping they will.

Exactly, you have nothing to lose.

Airlines mostly stick to the T&C's, it would be far more benificial for them to be human rather than do what the computer says, they might actually please customers enough to fly more with them.

 

[disneyholic family]

Exactly, you have nothing to lose.

Airlines mostly stick to the T&C's, it would be far more benificial for them to be human rather than do what the computer says, they might actually please customers enough to fly more with them.

some airlines think out of the box more than others..

i've had a few good experiences with Delta (as bad as they can be, they occassionally are human)...

 

[paulfoel]

it doesn't hurt to try.
it's Amex - they're pretty good about disputes with suppliers.
this was a case of taking advantage of a customer in a compromised position.

there was no way i could fight AA at the time. They had me over a barrel.
and to charge the full price of a new round trip ticket is an egregious abuse of their power.
i asked to speak with a supervisor but was refused.

in any case, i won't be any worse off and maybe Amex will be able to help.

the reason i use Amex when i'm traveling and not mastercard or visa is because they've provided outstanding service whenever there's been a problem. So i'm hoping they'll help in this regard as well.

you could be right that they won't be able to help, but i'm hoping they will.

one thing's for sure - AA has lost my business forever. I won't even fly them internally in the US if i can help it.

Yeh. Worth a try.

I'm with AMEX too and they are good. I phoned to speak to them the other day about a duplicate charge from tesco (it was for identical amounts something like 25.19 on the same day).

They checked and said it had gone through an hour apart but they just refunded me out at their cost with no argument.

 

[Kath2003]

I have to say that I think any airline would charge you to change* a flight that hadn't been cancelled and was 3 days out. Weather conditions change so much that airlines can't cancel hundreds of flights that far out. If your son and daughter-in-law had gone to the airport and seen that their flight was cancelled (or even waited until it had been cancelled then called), the airline would have had to change their flight for free. No, it's not ideal but airlines can't simply rebook everyone that far out from a predicted weather event.

(I am a teacher and got stuck in the USA with American Airlines for 10 days due to the volcanic ash - they rebooked us on 5 different flights for free before one was operable, either over the phone or at the airport, but they would not rebook us until our flight was cancelled, which was at most 12 hours before as the forecasts meant that NATS was only making airspace open/closures based on the weather conditions at the time).

(NB: you weren't changing, the flight was operable at the time you rang and rebooked an alternative flight)

I do sympathise, really I do - but I don't think you'll get anywhere on this one. You chose to cancel and rebook a flight that, at the time, was still operating, so the airline will simply show this was the case.

 

[disneyholic family]

I have to say that I think any airline would charge you to change* a flight that hadn't been cancelled and was 3 days out. Weather conditions change so much that airlines can't cancel hundreds of flights that far out. If your son and daughter-in-law had gone to the airport and seen that their flight was cancelled (or even waited until it had been cancelled then called), the airline would have had to change their flight for free. No, it's not ideal but airlines can't simply rebook everyone that far out from a predicted weather event.

(I am a teacher and got stuck in the USA with American Airlines for 10 days due to the volcanic ash - they rebooked us on 5 different flights for free before one was operable, either over the phone or at the airport, but they would not rebook us until our flight was cancelled, which was at most 12 hours before as the forecasts meant that NATS was only making airspace open/closures based on the weather conditions at the time).

(NB: you weren't changing, the flight was operable at the time you rang and rebooked an alternative flight)

I do sympathise, really I do - but I don't think you'll get anywhere on this one. You chose to cancel and rebook a flight that, at the time, was still operating, so the airline will simply show this was the case.

i didn't cancel their flight - i changed their flight. There is a difference.
Their tickets were not nonrefundable tickets (i originally bought more expensive tickets so that i could make changes later - for a fee).

unfortunately, when i made the change, my TA wasn't working - the offices here were already closed. Had he made the change with the local AA office the price charged would have been much lower.

My problem was i was dealing with AA in America. And the AA America rate desk.

rates in america are different than rates in europe -for the same route, even starting in the same airport. It depends where you're ticketed.

but all of that was irrelevant at the time i made the change.
first of all, they refused to let me speak with a supervisor - so there wasn't anyone of authority i could plead the case with. i couldn't even speak with the rate desk to explain the issue.

this reminds me that i haven't spoken with my TA yet. I meant to contact him to see if he can speak with the local AA office and see if he can obtain an adjustment from them. i completely forgot to contact him. I'll send him an email now.

 

[Kath2003]

But the tickets didn't allow you to change the flight without a charge unless the flight was cancelled. Which, unfortunately, three days out, it wasn't.

This is the problem with weather events - the forecasts can say: hurricane's coming, going to be causing major problems for 3-5 days - but until the airline says "flight's cancelled" - which is rarely more than a few hours before - your ticket can't be changed without a fee (unless you bought a super-flexible ticket, which would have cost you a fortune in the first place).

As soon as they say "flight's cancelled" AA have to change your flight at no addtional cost.

That's the problem here.

If you'd been in the UK, at the airport, at AA headquarters, wherever - they still would have said the same thing until the flight was cancelled. It's the fact that you were using common sense and trying to change the flight because you, and everyone else, could see that the flight clearly wasn't going to depart even three days out, that stung you here, because until the airline says "you can't fly, we need to rebook you" all the charges apply. And that means buying the rack-rate no-discounts sold-enough-to-run-the-plane-so-screw-them-for-all-they-got flight prices.

If you had waited, and gone to the airport or called on the day of the flight, the changes would have been free. And this is what the airline will get you on if you do dispute the charges - they didn't "have you over a barrel" because you changed a flight that was operating at the time you changed it. The change was therefore voluntary and you "consented" to it (although it obviously doesn't feel that way at the time).

I know it sucks. Trust me. We wound up stuck in our connection city (3 hours from Orlando, where we had never been before) during the volcanic ash because our transatlantic flight hadn't yet been cancelled (even though we clearly knew it would be - and it was, before we even landed in our connection city). But, if we hadn't got on that flight, we would have "missed an operating flight" from our own choice - and, like you did, we would have been forced to buy a new ticket. It sucked. But, they got it all in the Ts&Cs so you don't have a leg to stand on.

 

[disneyholic family]

But the tickets didn't allow you to change the flight without a charge unless the flight was cancelled.

wrong - the tickets i purchased permitted a change in flights for a $250 change fee

actually, i had a problem with AA 3 years ago.

DD and i had to change our orlando to houston flight.

When i called AA, they told me there was no way for me to change. That i would have to purchase a new ticket.

on that occasion i had time to get my TA involved. He immediately got our flights changed with no penalty.

my problem in this case was the local office of AA was closed for the weekend.

had they been open, there would have been a change fee, but not $4,000.

maybe the local office will be able to make an adjustment, but it's probably a problem once new tickets have already been purchased and used (and those tickets were purchased from AA america, not the local AA office - which has completely different rates for the same routes). I'm guessing my only hope is Amex at this point.

by the way, there was no question that the flight would be cancelled - kennedy airport was closed for two days. It was closed long before the hurricane was anywhere near new york.

 

[Kath2003]

wrong - the tickets i purchased permitted a change in flights for a $250 change fee

actually, i had a problem with AA 3 years ago.

DD and i had to change our orlando to houston flight.

When i called AA, they told me there was no way for me to change. That i would have to purchase a new ticket.

on that occasion i had time to get my TA involved. He immediately got our flights changed with no penalty.

my problem in this case was the local office of AA was closed for the weekend.

had they been open, there would have been a change fee, but not $4,000.

maybe the local office will be able to make an adjustment, but it's probably a problem once new tickets have already been purchased and used (and those tickets were purchased from AA america, not the local AA office - which has completely different rates for the same routes). I'm guessing my only hope is Amex at this point.

by the way, there was no question that the flight would be cancelled - kennedy airport was closed for two days. It was closed long before the hurricane was anywhere near new york.

Wow - I'm sorry, I didn't understand that the tickets were transferable. All I can say is I would NOT have been paying a penny more than $250

 

[paulh]

is this a case of price gouging(think thats what they call it it the USA)
when there's a stae of emergency declared there not aloud to rip there customers off
Paul

 

[disneyholic family]

Wow - I'm sorry, I didn't understand that the tickets were transferable. All I can say is I would NOT have been paying a penny more than $250

had it been me, i would have just been stranded and that was it..

but this was my daughter in law - a brand new teacher - she was just hired straight out of university....it's a big deal that she was hired into one of the top school systems.....she was so upset that she might be late...
i just couldn't do that to her...

it was worth it to me for her peace of mind....and for mine...

 

[Kath2003]

had it been me, i would have just been stranded and that was it..

but this was my daughter in law - a brand new teacher - she was just hired straight out of university....it's a big deal that she was hired into one of the top school systems.....she was so upset that she might be late...
i just couldn't do that to her...

it was worth it to me for her peace of mind....and for mine...

Yeah I appreciate that, but if the airspace is closed then it's closed - her school would have HAD to understand because most NQTs would never buy a transferrable ticket on their wage I would probably have gone to the airport, and changed it for free, probably flown home by myself if they couldn't get both of us on a flight.

You are a VERY good MIL but there's no way as an NQT I could have afforded £1250 for a one-way journey PLUS the additional cost of a holiday

 

[wilma-bride]

Never mind...