[Marilia O. Alvarez]

Rio de Janeiro, October 22, 2008

Passengers’ Assistance
American Airlines
REF: Trip from Antigua to Rio de Janeiro
AAdvantage: UBD 1692

Dear Sirs,

I was scheduled to fly from Antigua to San Juan on October 17 by AA 5027 at 2:39P. From San Juan I was supposed to take a plane to Miami at 6:10Pthat same day, and then from Miami to Rio at 11:10P. So, I arrived at the Antiguan airport that day at 12:30pm. At the time scheduled we boarded the American Eagle aircraft, and the pilot drove it to start departure. However, as you certainly know, he had to turn back to the airport station due to a technical problem in the aircraft. After waiting some minutes inside the airplane, the pilot told us that we had to leave it because it could take some time before it could finally departure.

So, my dear sirs, all of us passengers went inside that airport in Antigua and waited. And waited. And waited. At our inquiries, mine included, American Airlines staff would tell us that they were waiting for mechanics to arrive from San Juan, and that the flight would happen that day for sure. And we continued to wait. And I started to worry because I started to realize that it was getting impossible for me to take my following connections, and that I would not make it to Rio de Janeiro that night.

And American Airlines kept us waiting. Until 9:40P, when finally somebody from AA told us that our luggages would be taken out of the plane, that we would be sent to a hotel in town (more than 30 minutes distant from the airport), and that we would have to be back to the airport at 6:30 the following morning.

One of the things that I still can’t understand is why weren’t we passengers sent earlier to a hotel, since it was obvious that the plane could not leave later that evening. And let me tell you something: around 5:00P that afternoon, I was looking to our AA Eagle aircraft and saw when the steward took his own carry on bag from the aircraft. At that moment I realized that that plane would not leave anymore that night. And why American Airlines made us wait until late at 9:40P, since 12:30P?

Tired, exhausted, disappointed, this 64 ys. old woman that writes to you followed the crowd and went to the hotel where we arrived close to midnight to wake up at 5:00A the next day, carrying bags from the airport into vans-hotel-vans again and then into the airport. There we were given a US$5.00 voucher to “eat breakfast”. All I got with this amount was a cup of coffee and a piece of bread.

We finally departured at 8:30A and arrived San Juan. There I had to wait until 2:00P – in a waiting list - for the San/Juan Miami flight. OK. I made it. Then I arrived Miami at 4.20P to get the AA 905 to Rio at 11:10P.

All together, dear sirs, since my arrival on October 17 at 12:30P in the Antigua airport until my arrival in my final destination, Rio de Janeiro, on October 19 at 9:40A, there were 45 hours and 10 minutes at the disposal and conduction of American Airlines. Knowing this, when I arrived San Juan I asked the AA attendant in land to give me a better seat in my flight back to Rio, an upgrade. She told me at that time that she was reporting, but that it would depend on the flight situation in Miami. There, I explained my long and difficult journey to the AA attendant, but she told me that the plane was full, and that there was nothing she could do about it.

My dear sirs from American Airlines, as you can imagine, when I arrived in Rio de Janeiro I was completely exhausted, tired, unhappy, unsatisfied. To spend 45 hours and 10 minutes under the circumstances above mentioned was too much for me.

Therefore, I am writing to you to request that you be sensible about the experience I had to pass through, and try to compensate me somehow, in the way you know how to do in situations like the one I experienced.

Hoping to hear from you at your earliest convenience, I remain,

Yours truly,


Marilia O. Alvarez

P.S. All boarding passes are attached.