[Robert Essertier]

Dear AA,

I would like to relate my latest experience with AA, a round trip flight from Florianopolis, Brazil to Charleston, SC.

1. The flight was to start at 6:20am and arrive 6:05pm in Miami. You arrived 2 hours late, causing me to miss my connection with AirTrans. Two AA employees instructed me to wait through a line to be rescheduled and compensated for the inconvenience.

2. Your line was more than 2 hours long. Your clerk told me that because I was scheduled with another airlines for a connection there would be no compensation, no rescheduling, nor any sort of assistence. Your clerk said that although AA had a flight to Charleston, it was full for 2 days, so that if I wanted to continue with AA I would have to pay full fare ($600 additional), and arrange to stay in Miami at my expense for 3 nights. In any case, this was my problem, and of no concern to AA.

3. My connection with AirTrans was non-refundable, so I lost that ticket and had to pay $300 for another. It was now almost midnight--too late to get a bus to Charleston, and too late to get a hotel. I spent the night waiting at the airport, and then most of the next day.

4. The next flight got me to Charleston at 6:00pm the following day. Because of AA's negligence I lost $300, and it stretched my flight into more than 48 hours. There was no apology, nor even a smile from any of your employees throughout the flight. Not just towards me, but towards any of your passengers.

5. The returning flight was no better. It arrived 2 hours late in Sao Paulo, and failed to bring luggage for me and 50 other people. With just 2 AA employees to serve the passengers, the wait was more than 2 hours to make a baggage claim. I had been traveling for more than 24 hours at this point.

6. Because of the 2 hour line, I missed my connection to Florianopolis. The next flight left at 3:30pm, which got me to my final destination 43 hours after leaving Charleston.

7. My luggage was due to arrive at 5:30am Saturday. It is now Tuesday, more than 3 days later. Nobody called from AA to tell me whether the luggage was safe. I called yesterday and was told maybe it would be here Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, maybe Thursday, maybe later. Total indifference on the part of AA.

8. The luggage contained items necessary for a scheduled meeting here yesterday, and because I didn't have these items, the meeting was destroyed, and my credibility diminished.

9. At no time throughout my experience with AA did I witness a smile, or a friendly gesture or nice comment from an AA employee towards me nor anybody else. I never heard please, nor thank you. It was shocking to me how AA had changed, and was in stark contrast to the way in which I was treated on AirTrans and on TAM. On those two airlines I saw every employee treating every passenger with courtesy, professionalism, and friendliness. The AA employee was tired, unhappy, and seemed resentful toward his/her clients. The distinction betweeen AA and other airlines is conspicuous. Note that I do not feel singled out; your inconsiderate treatment towards your passengers is clearly universal.

10. My luggage is sitting somewhere in your possession right now, and I would like it back. It is obvious that AA would not "misplace" an entire container full of luggage. The weight and balance of a plane is something that is computed carefully for every flight; this could not possibly be an accident. Somebody, somewhere, made the intentional decision that it was more profitable for AA to not bring this container of luggage on this flight. The luggage handlers in Sao Paulo confirmed to me that "misplacing" containers of luggage has become routine for AA. They knew before they unloaded all the luggage that this was one of these routine flights, and advised us in advance to get in line to begin the claim process.

11. If AA were interested in returning the lost luggage you would have put our luggage on your next flight. Or the succeeding flight. How many AA flights have arrived from Miami since last Friday when you took our luggage? How many other containers of luggage have been "misplaced" since you "misplaced" ours?

12. You caused me to be inconvenienced not by hours, but by several days. You caused me to to lose a connecting flight worth $300. The weather was perfect at every airport, and connections for all other airlines were on time. This I would call gross negligence. But what you are doing with our luggage is much worse. It borders on criminal.

13. I demand that you return my luggage forthwith.

14. Would you like suggestions on how to improve service?
a) Suggest to your employees they use common courtesy,
possibly smiling once in awhile. Explain that some of
your passengers have been traveling for more than 2 days,
and (in my case) have been as much as 30 hours without food.
Friendliness can make a difference.

b) When AA has caused people to lose connections, explain
to your employees that this can be very disturbing, and often
passengers feel inconvenienced. Helping a customer get on the
next scheduled flight would be much apprecieated.

c) Stop selling your cargo space to others, or at least give
priority to the luggage that is traveling with passengers. Our
luggage should come before your additional profits.

d) When you "misplace" a container of luggage, give some
attention to returning luggage to customers promptly. It can
make a big difference having luggage returned within hours,
or having luggage returned a week later.

e) You allow only 1500 characters for a customer to file a complaint.
I suggest that if you increased this by several thousand characters,
customers would have sufficient space to explain to you in detail
how they are inconvenienced by you.


Sincerely,

Robert Essertier

[airhead]

I am sorry to hear about the experience you went through. You went 30 hours with no food? Why? You should be prepared for emergencies. You are traveling such a long distance.

If I were you I would email the said letter above to headquarters and make it official. good luck to you.

www.aa.com/customerrelations

[airhead]

You need to add the flight numbers too. That helps a great deal. Your ticket will have a series of numbers that will start with 001.....................
include that number too.