Airline Troubles...

[Stuck_At_Work]

Just got back from my honeymoon to Hawaii. The trip itself was amazing, but unfortunately I can't say the same about our flight back...

We were scheduled to fly back from Maui on an American Airlines red-eye on Saturday night (arrive at LAX on Sunday morning). The plane was delayed several times for mechanical failure. The AA representative kept telling us they were planning to fly out, so all 200 passengers waited at the airport late into the night. At 1:30 in the morning, they finally told us the flight was cancelled. We had to wait for our bags to unload at baggage claim, and they then called buses to pick us up. We drove 45 minutes to a hotel on the other side of the island. Now, imagine 200 people checking into a hotel at once. My wife and I didn't get to bed until 3am. We then woke up at 6 to call AA to book a new flight. When we got to the airport, they had booked us on an already fully flight, so they wouldn't assign us seats. Ugh... anyway... we got on the flight... but it was such a frustrating experience.

Question: The new flight was late on Sunday, so we had a couple meals (reasonably priced). Should AA pay me back for those meals? How do I go about getting that money refunded? I kept all the reciepts.

 

[busterbrown16]

Just call AA and tell them what happened. They usually have flags for "particularly bad flights" so you just need to give them the flight number and the date and they can find the history. They might not give you cash, but they may give you a travel voucher, which is better than nothing (especially if you will be flying again anyway, which I am sure you will).

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

Particularly bad? In my personal experience, what you got was pretty much par for the course.

And it's why I will NEVER fly American Airlines again.

 

[kmac30]

i can't stand american. i've had more problems with them than any other airline. that said, if you call them they might give you some help. i've had long phone calls with them. if the first person you get can't do anything, talk to their supervisor. if their supervisor can't help you, as for their manager.

if anyone ever tells you "i can't... because my hands are tied", ask to speak to the person who's tying those hands. when i get up to the managers, i've always gotten what i wanted out of it.