[jester1104]

My 20year old daughter recently took a trip to Chile, 6 weeks for Campus Crusade for Christ. In a 2 month span she raised donations of nearly $4000 completely on her own. But she was still a little short. I was very proud of her and I knew how important the trip was to her, so I lent her some additional funds and used some of my frequent flyer miles to secure a round-trip ticket to Miami and back home. We had to pay American $55 to expedite since we ordered it within 4 weeks of her trip. Should be free, but fine, we're ok with that.

As the trip approaches we find that she needs to arrive in Miami to connect for Chile earlier in the day. Its cheaper to buy a new 1-way ticket than to change the existing round-trip ticket. We buy and pay $133 for the 1-way ticket.

She makes her flight down to Miami, makes the connection to Chile.

Now here's where it becomes despicable.

When she arrives in Miami after 6 weeks in Chile to make her connection and return home, she is told that her round-trip ticket (both legs) are cancelled. She is told she will have to pay $150 to get back home. Money she did not have. Put under the stress of what to do, and having virtually no experience with flying and airlines, she is forced to charge it.

So what started out as a wonderful experience, is tainted by the thievery of American Airlines. Using my frequent flyer miles to secure a round-trip ticket. Total cost: $338.

I made the complaint to AA. I got the typical "policy" speech. I thought a contract had existed between AA and the customer for a trip to miami, and a trip home, regardless of whether my daughter used the inbound, outbound, or both tickets. Apparently, they use their little loopholes buried in their pages of policy notes to pick your pocket.

So instead of doing the right thing, they elected to pad their pockets and steal from a young person, instead of refunding her $150.

Oh and by the way, to re-instate my FF miles, would have cost another $150. So I have no intention of doing that.