[hydra7000]

Here is approximately what happened:

August 10, 2008
3:00 pm
Flight from LGA to ORD-canceled after arrived at airport

9:00 pm
Rebooked flight-canceled after waiting 4.5 hours at the airport. I was told the cancellations were due to weather.


Spend the night in New York.
August 11, 2008
9:00 am
Rebooked flight-canceled while in route to the airport. I was told cancellation was due to “air traffic control canceling flights.”

8:30 am
Rebooked flight-missed because it took over an hour to check my bags using the self check-in kiosk.


Leave airport because there is nowhere to sit or stand in the terminal.

2:00 pm
Rebooked flight-canceled while in route to the airport.

7:00 pm
Standby flight to DCA-canceled

9:00 pm
Rebooked flight from LGA to DCA-delayed 2.5 hours.


Spend the night at DC Airport on the floor.
August 12, 2008
6:50 am
Connecting flight from DCA to ORD- on time

10:00 pm
Bags deliver to my home 5 hours after the scheduled delivery time.

It is unbelievable that this could happen. An American Airlines representative explained that my flights were canceled due to weather, which is understandable, but I do not believe all my flights over two days were canceled due to weather. I believe the airport was in gridlock because of the disorganization of your airline. The American Airlines check-in area was total chaos and there was no one from American Airlines to tell people what to do. Patrons were cutting in line, and there was no priority system in place help people first who had sooner flights.

I was told by one of your first class ticketing agents that the flight I missed on the morning of August 11 was my fault because I did not get to the airport early enough, when in actuality the flight I missed was not my original flight and only got placed on that flight after the original canceled that morning, and it took over an hour for someone to put a luggage tag on my bag after I checked-in using the self check-in kiosk. I was also charged every time I had to re-check my bags because of canceled flights.


I will never fly American Airlines again.

[airhead]

Unfortunately, weather delays at large airports cause mass confusion. And you are right, if their was a system in place to make things easier, it would certainly be used. Problem is nobody (in any airline or any other infrastructure) has figured out how. If you figure it out you may become a billionaire fast.

We are capable of figuring out who has the tighter connections but it takes one person to go through everyones' reservations and that is one person per flight. If two people were to go through it then the possibility of mistakes doubles. If three people did it then it triples and so forth. Those employees are needed to help passengers standing in line rather in the back trying to figure this out. The mistakes happen while that person is going though your reservation "guessing" what it is you plan on doing. Are you going to take the next flight, rebook, or drive? Then we have to find you. And if we let people cut in line, a riot could erupt.

Meanwhile, upset passengers are standing in line wanting instructions. But the instructions have to be figured out before they are told. When it comes to weather, it is particularly difficult since it is unpredictable. And to top it, the dispatchers are trying to figure out how long a flight will be delayed, how much extra fuel it will need and how many passengers will be on board (for weight purposes). At the same time, passengers are making changes and that makes it next to impossible to figure out how many passengers will be on board. Thus the estimated time of delay is a further educated guess.

Can you see the problem?

As far as the bag charge, your reservation will have a record of whether it is paid or not and even if that was in question, you are given a receipt for payment and should use it so that you do not have to pay it again.

I know it is frustrating to go though lengthy delays. It is frustrating to be behind the counter too. We want you to get to where you want to go. We don't want you upset. Our workday is no fun when you are not happy.

I hope this gives you more insight to how an airline operations works.