Flying nightmare and American Airlines

That is a great idea.

They would need to be well educated in all the ways to contact and deal with airlines etc. in tricky situations - the sort of advice given here on CC. It might make a nice retirement hobby for savvy travelers!

1 Like

It would be a nice money making opportunity if you could find enough people to pay for your services.

$2500-$5000 per trip plus they pay your expenses! The other website I found that would have a nurse be your travel companion was 7-10,000! That was each way.

It wouldn’t be a feasible solution for our family. Air travel is becoming increasingly complicated though.

This is just wrong. Don’t treat paying customers like this. Woman claims United Airlines forced fiancĂ© to give first class seat to crew member: ‘Stuck back in coach’ | The Independent

That’s because of the rigidity of labor contracts, which typically stipulate that some seats (a couple of first-class seats in the first row or two for some airlines, and/or a couple of rows of economy seats in the very back of the plane for other airlines) must be reserved for pilots and/or flight attendants on transoceanic flights. Or they don’t/won’t fly.

They said they bumped several first class paying customers b/c the seats for the crew weren’t working right so they couldn’t lie down. So they should fix their planes!!!

It would be aggravating and disappointing at the time, but I guess I can understand why the employees might need them. But the airline absolutely should refund the difference between at the seats at the very minimum. And IMO they should either refund the whole ticket price or comp them/give them a voucher for a future flight.

5 Likes

This actually happens at some frequency. It happened to me a few times, but fortunately, each time it happened, the cabin wasn’t full. The last time this happened was on an AA flight. Seat 1A was reserved for the pilot/copilot and I was sitting one row behind. However, seat 1A failed to recline, so I was asked to move to a different seat, which wasn’t the one I’d select on my own. If a passenger has to be moved from first class to the main cabin, I’m sure the airline would have to offer the passenger compensation (most likely in miles) in addition to full refund/voucher in order to avoid a lawsuit or complaint.

Now back to the thread topic
 I always download the official airline app for a flight that I’ll be on (I may delete the app after the flight). There’re a number of reasons for doing this. One of them is the speed and ease with which you’ll be notified of change/cancellation and able to change flight when necessary. When the flight is canceled, don’t call the airline or wait in line at a customer service counter. It’d take too much time, and your options would likely be limited by the time it’s your turn. Make the change on the app yourself asap and deal with compensation issues later. This obviously would be difficult to do for an 80yo, but someone else (e.g. a relative, who doesn’t have to be on the same flight) could do this for her.

3 Likes

My grandmother used to fly with someone’s young kids (started when they were maybe 8), when they flew from coast to coast to visit their dad for the summer, and maybe at some other times. All she got was free air travel, and maybe a little “pocket money”(like enough to feed them along the way, not even 100s of dollars). She got to go visit her daughters near the dad’s place, and he might have to pay for an extra fare for her if she didn’t stay the entire time.

2 Likes

That sounds like a nice win/win.

When we moved to CO almost 30 years ago, my Dad (who was no longer married to Mom) kindly agreed to get my grandfather from the NY nursing home to the CO nursing home. It was with commercial flights that required layover, but worked out. My husband fetched them at the airport. (While he was busy with that, I got the parent ER duty for our 18 month old who hit his head at childcare and needed stitches. It was a busy day!)

1 Like

It’s funny about age and aging. I know many very sharp 80 year olds, some of whom are running companies and doing other things requiring high levels of skill while other people in their 60s and below are having trouble managing complications of travel these days—we are all different.

This past trip when we were in Denver, I was navigator and H (who is 80) was our driver. We both did a great job in our respective roles.

3 Likes

Yes. Many credit cards offer trip delay and cancellation insurance. Ours offers up to 10K per trip. I wonder if the credit card used to purchase this trip offers that.

1 Like

When I’ve made a claim for trip delay, I had to have a written document from airlines as to the reason for delay or cancellation in order to make the claim. Some reasons were covered occurrences and others were excluded. I was able to get that document shortly after our flight was delayed/canceled. I believe it would be much harder to obtain long after the flight.

1 Like

That’s our experience. As I mentioned upthread, when we got stranded overnight in Philly on a connecting flight, I was able to get reimbursed from my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card under trip interruption coverage because I had an email from AA apologizing for the delay and saying it was due to weather. I also submitted news articles about the storms causing mass cancellations at the Philly airport. By contrast, if it had been due to AA staffing issues, Chase would not have covered it.

2 Likes

That’s so interesting. I would have thought the exact opposite. Weather delays are a “natural disaster” and not the airlines’ doing while staffing issues would be their fault and “controllable”. Live and learn.

1 Like

Remember that I was describing credit card trip interruption coverage. The credit card companies don’t want to cover losses caused by the airlines’ system failures and staffing problems. Given the present problems the airlines are experiencing with those issues, it would be much too big of a risk for the credit card company to cover.

Ah! That makes sense. I missed the nuance. Thanks

1 Like

For further, if anyone plans to claim for CCard, stand in line to get your voucher and/of whatever airline offers and at that point ask them for a written document stating delay/cancellation and reason for it for your insurance claim record and they will give it to you then and there.

1 Like

I meant to say she was a travel agent


2 Likes

I would definitely file for reimbursement through my credit card company, if they had cancellation/interruption insurance, and not make any assumptions that they wouldn’t cover it. I would try to get reimbursed by the carrier, though likely they would only refund your ticket, not pay you back for travel on another carrier. But I’d certainly try to get reimbursed, no matter the reason, via the credit card company.