[attyholguin]

May 24, 2009
RE: Flight 263/2-24-09/Dulles to LAX
To Whom It May Concern:
I was booked to fly out to LAX on Sunday, May 24, 2009 from Dulles airport. When we checked in at the gate, I overheard a conversation that there was a problem with the plane. I overheard conversations about whether to board the plane anyway or to call maintenance. The plane was boarded. However, after we taxied to the runway, we sat for 15 minutes while a mechanical problem was worked on. It could not be fixed, so we went to the gate almost a ½ hour later. While at the gate, we sat for another hour, before we told to that a part had to be ordered and that it would take another 2 hours. So we were allowed to leave the plane.
However, we were informed almost two hours later that the flight was cancelled, that we would be given vouchers to a “nearby” hotel, that we would be given vouchers for dinner, and that a shuttle would pick us up. This was all so upsetting; the lines were long; and confusion reigned at the check in desk. After we were given the hotel voucher, we discovered that one of a meal voucher for my daughter was in someone else’s name. I sent her back to get a correct voucher. When she came back, we discovered that she had been given a check in paper, not a meal voucher. By this time I had been at the airport for six hours and was too tired to deal with going back again for the correct voucher.
We then had to go to baggage to get our bags. We waited another 20 minutes for this. We then went outside with all our bags to get the shuttle. We were informed that was no shuttle to this hotel, and that we had to pay for a cab. I did not have enough money for cab fare. We took all bags back into the airport and called American Airlines and were told to go to ticketing. We went up to ticketing, stood in line and then presented all of our issues regarding hotel, meals, and cab fare. After another 20 minutes at this counter, we were given cab vouchers, meal vouchers and told to return to the airport at 4:30am for a 6am flight.
We then took our bags and went back out past baggage claim to the cab area. We then took a cab ride that was 20 minutes outside of the airport. The hotel had a convention and was packed. It was loud and not accommodating given the long day of waiting, anticipation, and disappointment.
My daughter was flying home from a graduation and had a party planned in Los Angeles that evening with friends, also travelling in from out of town. Because of American’s delay and cancellation of our flight, she missed her birthday party. She was extremely disappointed and sad.
I have liked American Airlines because of its punctuality and customer service. To say I was disappointed in the professionalism and courtesies afforded us is a vast understatement. There is something terribly wrong with your airline. Your personnel never should have allowed customers to board a plane that was known to have problems. That is no way to treat them. If you had been truthful in the beginning, you could have provided alternate flights, or permitted these people to find flights on their own. As it was, you left little choice for us all for alternate travel plans.

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

I did not have enough money for cab fare.

When I read this my first reaction was 'you deserve the problems you found yourself in!' Then I read this...

I have liked American Airlines because of its punctuality and customer service.

Its been over 30 years since this statement could have applied to American Air. I'm sure, now, you will agree that using Southwest--even though it means a trip to Baltimore, and a trip FROM Burbank, would have been worth the inconvenience. Is that how you, finally, made it to LA? Or maybe you used another first choice--Jet Blue to Long Beach?

People need to understand that domestic air travel, today, is much like walking down a dark street, in a bad neighborhood, while wearing lots of gold (1970s imagery.) If you don't, first, do some homework you'll probably be the next victim of some thugs who go by the names of American, United, US Airways, and Delta/Northwest. If you can't, or won't, prepare to be "jumped" by one of aforementioned four "thugs" then don't cry when your "gold" is stolen. Accordingly, someone who shows-up at the airport without even enough extra money for cab fare is asking to be punked by the airline they are traveling on. In addition to cab fare you should have enough money to pay for an unexpected motel stay. If you're too poor to afford this then either consider Greyhound, or don't travel at all.

As I've mentioned in other posts baggage is another area where people allow themselves to be, needlessly, victimized by these thugs. Compare the replacement cost of what is in your checked baggage to the cost of what UPS, or Fedex, charges you to ship your bags to your destination. At the very least NEVER put anything in checked baggage that can't be easily, and cheaply, replaced. Sometimes purchasing, at your destination, items which you would ordinarily pack, can turn-out to be the cheapest, and most reliable, means of resolving the problem of baggage-eating airlines.

Accepting some inconvenience (as previously described) and NOT focusing on the lowest fare, but maybe paying as much as $50 more, can save a lot of money, time, and aggravation. Another way to look at the issue of cost: WHY does that airline have the lowest fare? Spirit Air, almost always, beats-out its competition on any given route when it comes to price. However, when was the last time you saw anything positive, on this board or elsewhere, written about Spirit??