Complaint Review: American Airlines - Forthworth Texas

American Airlines Issues

Dear Mr. Doug Parker, Mrs. Alice Curry and to whom else it may concern.

With a very heavy heart I decided to write this letter to share a long list of mistakes made by American Airlines in our last travel experience. We had no idea how much trouble we would be by trusting a company that seemed just about right at first glance.

We are a group of 6 people (3 couples), average ages between 60-70, semi-retired (still working since social security income doesn´t even cover the average expenses) and self-employed. We had been planning this trip for several months since all of us had to close our schedules, save money and make it work according to our budgets. With all the inflation, recession it was already a struggle to make it work for us all.

Everything started with our flight from Nashville to Miami being cancelled only 10 hours prior. We depended 100% on that flight to take an International flight to Samana (Dominican Republic) after only 4h layover.

American Airlines is the only airline with that destination available and has only 1 flight/week to that location, so losing that flight would literally ruin the whole vacation. Our Resort was already reserved/paid for and could not be cancelled, so a no-show would cost us cancellation fee money as well.

Immediately when we were notified that our flight was cancelled we called American Airlines Customer Service, it took nothing less than 1.5h to finally reach a representative and to be honest, she was not helpful at all. One more hour waiting and we finally could talk to a supervisor.

She could not rebook us with American Airlines or any other partner so we decided to start searching flights from Atlanta (checking all other airlines) to Miami and ask the supervisor to change our coming back flight (final destination in Atlanta instead of Nashville so we could leave our car there and have a car to drive back home).

Two hours later we could get our coming back flights changed with final destination in Atlanta but at that point there were no more flights available from Atlanta to Miami. Back to square one we decided to get us a flight straight to Punta Cana and forget the AA flight to Samana since would be impossible to get there in time even if we decided to drive.

I found a flight from Atlanta to Punta Cana (5.5h drive from our Resort) and all of us could get a seat (we purchased from different websites all at once so nobody would be left behind). This flight cost each couple the average amount of $938 (receipt attached at the end). We loaded our Van and drove to Atlanta right away ($165.00 paid in gas). I also had to get a parking space for 7 days which cost us total $87.55 (receipts attached also).

We finally flew to Punta Cana and got a 5.5h transfer to Samana, which also cost us the amount of $412.05 (credit card statement and itinerary attached). After this huge adventure we could make it there 24h later and it was the most stressful and frustrating hours in our lives.

But the mistakes kept happening…

When we got to El Catey Samana Airport, one of the check-in employees (still being trained) made a mistake: he forgot to print the tickets for the flight from Miami to Atlanta for 2 of us (Mr. Dannie Glover and Mrs. Hope Glover), later on in Miami the lady at the gate was extremely rude and unprofessional (her name is Valentina by the way).

Flight to Atlanta was delayed 2 hours and she sent us to Gate D37 (Customer Service) just 5 min before boarding (yes, we were there and they did nothing while we were there waiting to get inside the plane). In an attempt to get them those tickets I ran and fell on the floor, my knees and right arm are badly injured and I have been taking a lot of OTC medications trying to avoid the medical expenses (I don´t have health insurance).

After several attempts to get a supervisor to help us, Mr. and Mrs. Glover ended up not boarding that plane (flight AA1045) but their luggage was not taken out of the plane (ticket and luggage tag attached). After a long line and running like crazy they could be inside the next flight to Atlanta (flight AA2290) while we waited for them over 1.5h sitting in the airport in Atlanta so they could ride back with us.

As far as I know I don´t even know if it is legal to fly the luggage in a plane without the passengers (the supervisor who provided the tickets for Mr. and Mrs. Glover was extremely sketchy about it so some flags were raised).

Anyway, it is a long story and what I can tell is:

ALL THE ISSUES WERE CAUSED ONLY AND EXCLUSIVELY BY AMERICAN AIRLINES and we spent thousands of dollars trying to make our so needed vacation happen.

Here the names and confirmation codes of all involved:

1.    Maria Beatriz de Gusmão Bertolo and Kenneth Brian Robinson – XPFCMQ

2.    Shelia D. Lunsford and Vernon Lunsford Jr. – VLYDHF

3.    Hope Glover and Dannie Glover – UUTFPF

 Expenses:

1.    Frontier Airlines Tickets: $938/couple (total: 2,814)

2.    Roundtrip Nashville-Atlanta Fuel: $165

3.    Park ´N Fly Atlanta: $87.55

4.    Transfer from Punta Cana to Las Terrenas (Samana): $412.05

 Total: 3,478.60

What happened was very unfortunate and we expect getting some help from American Airlines since all of this could be avoided if one domestic flight was not cancelled last minute.

We took the chance and put money out of our pockets because the loss would be greater if we didn´t manage to be at our destination as planned. We really hope all this can be sorted, taken to consideration and solved in a fair and decent manner as soon as possible so the group won´t need to pursue justice through legal actions.

Attachments:

Looking forward hearing from you soon

Maria Beatriz Bertolo

Phone: (615)663-1066        Email: [email protected]