They owe you a lot of $ if they couldn’t rebook for several days. Bumping & Oversales | US Department of Transportation. I hope this applies to flight cancellations too.
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Unfortunately, there are many places where many routes are effectively under a monopoly situation with the dominant airline at the airport. No surprise that customer service is worse for customers who have no choice.
We have a family friend who is a flight attendant and a good portion of her job is being on the phone with American Airlines putting out fires and advocating on behalf of her clients. She usually puts her clients on other airlines if she can, but sometimes American is the only choice or the significantly cheaper choice to a certain destination…
@bluedog23 again I am so sorry.
My mom has basically decided not to travel anymore because of the anxiety of air travel these days.
She’s not internet savvy and being stuck at a connection is just more than she can handle. I’m very sympathetic to this, but it is limiting for all of us as my sibling and I have other complications to our holidays and celebrations.
You can pay an additional fee for an airline escort to help with the connection if that works
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Mom has wheelchair assistance.
Once her flight was canceled when she landed in Philly and at first they said she couldn’t get a flight until the next day. Thankfully they did get her a flight out that day but she didn’t land until midnight. Since she is highly anxious, she hadn’t slept the night before and was a wreck. And her tracphone kept getting cut off, mostly because she didn’t know how to use it and kept hanging up. After that every flight was a huge anxiety attack.
The last time she flew home from my house, she claimed that the wheelchair attendant took her to the wrong gate and she missed her flight. I have no idea what happened but I think she got confused because there were two flights to her city next to each other and she picked the wrong flight. Even though I had everything printed out for her.
Then she called the friends who were picking her up on their landline instead of their cell phone to say she was delayed. They had already left for the airport but mom missed the first flight, thankfully got on the next flight, an hour later. Her friends were in a panic when mom didn’t show up. It was a mess.
The last time my mom flew, she fell down the steps at my daughter the next day. And now is in independent living. She can fly to my siblings but I think her flying days to my house are over. I’ll fly there.
My mom is not cognitively impaired. At all.
Sounds like a wise decision. For others who may be reading this post, anyone can obtain an escort badge to accompany some to/from the gate quite easily at the airline check in desk.
I’m so sorry your mom had such an awful experience. I hope some of these tips above help you get reimbursed.
We mostly fly United because we and S have status on it and so far have not had the experiences you and your mom have, thankfully.
When American diverted us to Greensboro instead of Charlotte last summer, due to weather, they told us it was a “small station” and they couldn’t accommodate us and all the other planes that had landed there. ?? WTH. Fortunately we had reserved a car at our destination, Madision, Wisconsin, so Alamo gave us a car (everyone else in line was told, sorry, we have no cars) so we could drive to Charlotte. I got on the phone and the American agent said, “Sorry, there are no planes to Madison tomorrow.” I informed her that we had allowed a whole extra day to make sure we didn’t miss an event, so she needed to find us seats on a different airline. It took her awhile, but she finally did. She said look at your app and you’ll see the confirmation number. I did and turned off my phone.
When we got to our hotel in Charlotte, I looked at the app and the confirmation number had disappeared!!! No joke - I will remember to write it down the old-fashioned way in the future. I got on the phone with United and it took an hour, literally, for them to find us in the system. By this time it was after midnight so I got less than four hours sleep. We had to fly through Denver to get to Madison. It was a nightmare. We were exhausted by the time we arrived.
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Air Travel Consumer Reports | US Department of Transportation may be of interest – it lists rates of typical problems (delays, cancellations, involuntary denied boardings, mishandled baggage) by airline and airport.
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That is awful. I get that weather, plane problems, etc. happen. But the airlines should at least make an effort to help their passengers… not strand or totally drop them in the grease.
Yeah, I was appalled. American should have put us on buses or something. I looked it up later, and I think the other passengers on our plane didn’t get to Charlotte until mid-day the next day.
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Southwest is not a revenue sharing airline with others so they won’t put you on another airline and other airlines won’t put you on SW. If YOU make a connection, you have to retrieve your luggage and move it yourself. To the OP, you won’t get any kind of relief (on the price or a refund) from SW. You certainly should press AA for the price of the SW ticket as part of your AA refund.
You have to know why they cancelled the second half of her outbound flight. If it is weather, they still have to get you to the end location. Once they board you and you take off, you are their responsibility.
I’d make a long list of all the costs: new tickets, taxis, meals, tips. I’d send it to American and to your (her) credit card, and to FAA customer complaints. I’d emphasize that they cancelled the second half of the outbound and she had no choice but to move in some direction since she doesn’t live in Dallas.
They are looking into airlines having to pay for all the delays and cancellations, but even Buttigieg says this will make the price of all tickets skyrocket.
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Sent three emails to AA with each new issue. So far only an automated reply.
I follow The Points Guy on Facebook. He has handled some situations involving airline problems. Or try a local consumer advocate in the media.
What happens is that when you don’t show for one leg of your trip, the airlines cancel the return flight, although in this case THEY cancelled.
My dad is 97 and I booked him to come to his grandson’s wedding. I booked a non-stop flight even though the airport is more inconvenient for me to pick him up. That way if he is ‘stranded’ he will either be at home or with me.
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The only way to do a non stop flight from her town is to fly private unfortunately. She lives 3 hours away from a major city so driving there is not an option either.
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Do you mean she is a travel agent? Never heard of flight attendants doing this.
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No intercity bus available to the city with the airport with nonstop flights?
There is a bus, but not safe for an elderly women traveling by herself. Also the logistics make it complicated getting to the airport from the bus terminal.
I’m going to answer for @bluedog23.
No
The nearest airport to me that is not a regional airport is Detroit. Which is 4 hours or 250 miles away. No bus service, no public transport. This is quite common in small towns.