[hbb]

June 1, 2009

American Airlines “Customer Relations”[1]
P.O. Box 619612 MD 2400
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612



Dear Mr. American Airline,

If I complained that you have grossly mistreated me, that your customer service is absent, and that your representatives are unresponsive, deceitful, and strangely rude, than I would be concerned that I would be charged with plagiarism. I fly frequently (not with your airline) and felt a bit victimized by my recent encounter with you. At one point I was so entirely angry at the mistreatment inflicted upon me that I began to take it personally. Fortunately for my self esteem, I have learned that you did not specifically target me to demean and abuse. Apparently, you provide this service to many of your ‘customers.’[2]

I would spend time to explain my discontentment and rage, however, your apparent typical response of a $50.00 voucher for the privilege of enlisting in another tour of abuse is not exactly equitable compensation and an unattractive resolution. In consequence, I will be brief.

I paid to fly from Boston to Dallas to San Jose on Thursday March 14, 2009. I choose your airline because I had a conference Thursday night and the 11:00 a.m. flight from Boston allowed me to arrive in San Jose one hour early. The flight in Boston was delayed because of weather. I understand and encourage delaying flights because of weather and would rather miss a trip than engage in a safety risk. I asked your representative as we were leaving the plane whether the flight out of Dallas would be delayed or whether I would miss the flight. With a mocking snide smirk your rep said “Didn’t you listen to the announcement when I said that the flight in Dallas will be delayed so you won’t miss it.” I did not hear his announcement, perhaps because he so terribly struggled with the English language it was difficult to understand him.

With some doubt I tried to speak to the representative behind the counter who told me she could not address my flight questions because she was working on a new flight. I explained that I would cancel my flight if there was a delay in Dallas and pay for a new flight, from any airline, to make my meeting. She was unresponsive. I clearly would not have boarded the delayed flight from Boston to Dallas if the representative had been honest with me.

When I arrived in Dallas there was a flight from Dallas to San Jose but not my flight. My flight either left earlier or did not exist. No representative would address my concern or even speak to me. I was put on a mock wait list for a 6pm. flight which was inconsequential because my meeting, and primary purpose for the trip, was going to occur without me. Number 31 on the standby list does not provide good odds of a seat and as the stories about Las Vegas would suggest I was only 28 seats away from making the flight.

I wandered for some time like a lost Hobbit in the mountains of Mordor attempting to find somebody, even a hostile representative[3], to help me return to Boston. NOBODY[4] would assist. I could not even find a line to stand in to get rejected again. I finally ran into a worker with an AA uniform, who appeared to work in baggage or maintenance. He confided that I should not fly your airline or ever fly into Dallas because you “suck” and you “don’t care” about the customers. I wish I could have met this honest man from Dallas before I booked my flight. I would write him a thank you letter but I am concerned you may intercept the letter, identify this traitor and fire him for possessing ethics that do not coincide with the premise of your company.

I waited in three lines for two hours, was informed I was not getting a flight back to Boston and was given a precious seat for and 11:00pm. flight to San Jose. Needless to say, I missed my conference and you have not been held accountable for your representative’s incompetence, deceit, and utter abuse.

Mr. American Airline, 50 bucks isn’t going to cut it on this one. I missed my conference which cost me $459.00. I paid for flight I didn’t want. I lost over 12 hours (I bill at $350.00 and hour) and was abused. I expect a response, compensation, a phone call, and apology, and an explanation from a live person.

P.S. During my flight I had a chance to read your touching ‘story’ in the in-flight magazine about the angry traveler who wrote to apologize for misbehaving and acting temperamental towards the always gracious and welcoming AA staff. This ‘true’ story was displayed in each seat pocket for all fortunate customers to read and reflect whether their own behavior demonstrated adequate humbleness to warrant a seat on your plane.

P.P.S. Ha ha ha ha ha. Good one. Will Ferrell would be proud.

P.P.P.S. Shame on you.



Sincerely,

Hank Brennan

[1] I would have called to actually address my concerns with a living person but apparently the “Customer Relations” department is not taking calls at this time.

[2] See http://www.airlinecomplaints.org/forumdisplay.php?f=14

[3] If I was to actually find a representative to speak to me the odds were this time in my favor. (That the representative would be hostile – get it?)

[4] Emphasis unnecessary because you probably already knew this.

[mars6423]

i think that you are hilarious! you want more componsation than you are worth the time for, no airline in their right mind would compensate you at your hourly rate and all the compensation you are asking for with such a common complaint, people miss meetings all the time due to weather delays.
Airlines are not responsible for the weather, they cant control it, if they can than i would love to see it! Also staff at one airport cannot tell you accuratly if the plane at another airport will be delayed or not, they have no control over it, they can give an educated guess, hypothesis, and go from that. But it is upto you if you want to cancel your flight and pay the fee, or take the chance that the second flight is delayed, i would go by what the scheduled time is.

Also i think it is funny how you say that you feel they maybe corrupt and go after your mail if you sent a thank you ard to a "trustworthy/helpful" guy. Yeah i can just see them stalking you and watching every piece of mail that you send just so they can waste alot of time and money over a nonissue, it would be stupid and thats your mind that is corrupt.

So where did and how did they abuse you? Is it abusive that you couldnt understand an announcement because you said that the worker "could hardly speak any english", but than you said that he laughed and said you didnt hear the announcement, but in that case the workers english wouldnt be clear unless he can learn english in an instant meaning that you wouldnt have understood him there either, and him/her saying that i wouldnt consider abuse, in fact you saying that the worker could hardly speak english is the most abusive thing i read in the whole complaint haha

and when i read about your standby list, its good to know that you are calling people who are put on standby "mocks" its a list that is there due to more people than seats, get over it theres nothing that can be done

so stop saying that you should get all this compensation in which you wont see any of it, the airline kept their part of the contract by getting you to your destination safely

and if we went by your method of componsation than i should be compensated much more than you but i dont care i am happy with what i recieved and its in the past nothing can change that

take your "losses" and if your under a salarie the fact that you missed those hours wouldnt make any difference, your still paid the same amount that your contract says.

[hbb]

Helpful to know that you troll the "American Airline" list with such vigor that you can post a reply to a post withing 2 minutes. If you didn't work FOR the airline you would possibly appreciate that subtle humor provides more satisfaction than the expected 50 dollar voucher. Or maybe you can't.

Good luck posting Ms. American Airline.

[mars6423]

i love how you jump to that conclusion out of no where just because i didnt take your side

i dont work for american airlines, i dont work for any airline, i dont have anything to do with airlines other when i fly on them

and if you would like to know, i have never flown american airlines, in fact the only american company i have been on was continental, all of my flights are international, i fly with Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa

i was just pointing out things that didnt make much sense

and if you are gonna go on about time that i replied, than that was just pure luck, how the heck was i gonna get this planned haha funny
(if your wondering how i replied to this so fast, i have a email notification popper that tells me when i get new mail and it notifies me whenever someone responds to a complaint that i have replied to.

so dont skip to conclusions unless you have any sort of proof to back it up

[AADFW]

Originally Posted by mars6423

i have never flown american airlines

Well, then you have no frame of reference and therefore you have absolutely no place whatsoever replying to this guy's post. Take it from someone who has seen the customer service crumble into overt hostility at AA over the past several decades - flying with this airline these days is a tortuous and miserable experience even in the so-called "premium" cabins they are strangely so very proud of. Most AA employees hate their customers and let it show with very little fear of reprimand. The airline management knows customers care about one thing above all else: the price of the ticket. Service has become a mere afterthought. If you had to endure AA on any kind of regular basis you'd certainly agree... and you surely wouldn't have responded to this poster in the manner you did!

[mars6423]

it doesnt matter what airline it would have been/was, many airlines are the same way from what i can tell, and i travel alot and i always hear and see AA staff and yeah i can tell they are not nice but that doesn't make them abusive, maybe of their powers but not against people.

i was replying to the comments made about the post, not about the airline so either way it wouldnt make a difference. The compensation for a flight delayed to weather is about the same with every airline, and they cantwont treat anyone specially just to suit them, it would just cost unneeded expenses.

the fact of me not flying with american makes no difference to the outcome of my reply.

[azstar]

Great letter, hbb. And mars6423 misses the point. Although airline employees are frequently frustrated by lack of communication and misinformation provided to them by their employers, and are frequently the targets of attacks by some nasty passengers, they still should not reply with attitude or hostility since it serves only to antagonize people. The flight attendant merely needed to respond with "I believe all flights will be delayed.....", and the gate agent could have taken 1 second to check flight information in the computer and respond. That's all hbb was requesting. He wasn't holding them responsible or blaming them for any delays.

[Silent Bob]

Firstly HBB, don't rely on always gettin a direct answer from an airline employee, the easiest thing you could have done if you were not given the answers you wanted was to call AA (or any airline) reservation line to get flight status updates, which will tell you specifically if your flight is delayed. Or if your not trusting the airline and have internet access, flightstat.com is always a safe bet. It'll save you a lot of trouble and you'll get for certain answers.

Secondly you only got the 50 bucks travel certificate but you're askin for is... well it's out there. Yea you were wronged, but your issues is with what the delay? or the agents? From your letter it would appear its the agents that's your biggest issue, and it looks like you were given no assistance from one city to the next, which I find well... outrageous, not unbelievable, but that no one, not no one wanted to help you is... odd to say the least.

The amount of compensation your asking for is also crazy, and well as you already know isn't happening. Man if I can get back the level of time and money loss from the airlines I would be living lavishly.

And mars is correct in stating it doesn't matter what airline you fly, especially U.S. airlines, they're pretty much the same. Though some would argue AA does a great job, I personally don't like em and avoid em at all cost.