[spongebob]

Yesterday me and a group of 4 friends were heading to managua nicaragua on flight 985 AA from mia-MGA direct service. Upon checking in at the airport at 3 pm we were informed the flight had been delayed until 9:30 pm due to weather. At 9:30 the flight was delayed again until 10:45, at which time we finally boarded. We were sitting on the runway for 2 hours until finally we were told the plane couldn't depart because the Managua airport had told AA that it wouldn't allow any flights to land past a certain curfew. THen we unboarded the plane with tons of angry passengers. We overheard someone at the gate saying the plane had had a "technical problem" and that was the "real" reason.
Upon trying to contact AA for hours without success and not many agents available at that time of the day in the miami airport, this RUDE! agent said all we could do was try to get in another plane to managua even if it was in 2 or 3 days, and that we were not elegible for any compensation. All AA flights on the next day (today ) and tomorrow were booked. The only flight we could all get in was one to Houston texas and then make a connection to managua on continental, but we wouldn't get to our destination until at least 8 pm today(and even this we found out on our OWN) At this point (by then will have lost a day an a half of my 4 dys of vacation and no sleep for 2 days)i feel that this is a shameful situation. we have already lost hundreds of dollars in our hotel and american doesn't care...truly..now i'm here in houston have to wait till tonight to board another plane to nicaragua. We asked them if we could change our flight coming back to a later one (since we have lost 1 1/2 out of only 4 vacation days) and they refused.

[airhead]

The agent should have been able to extend your return trip to another date. If I were you, I would have called reservations and spoken to another agent. Don't let the action of one agent stop you from getting you what you want. The agent may be unaware of the ticket rules...many of us are not trained and/or do not have enough experience.

As far as delays, their is not much we CAN do except book you on another flight with available seating. Sometimes another airline is possible if their is an agreement with that airline. It never hurts to take the initiative and ask.