[rwlanier]

I am booked on a flight to Nashville, TN in July for a conference that was supposed to be held at the ******* Opryland, Hotel. Anyone who has seen the recent news footage can tell you that the the ******* Hotel in Nashville was under 12 feet of water as of Tuesday of this week, which is when the hotel sent me a message, cancelling my reservation and informing me that the meeting I was attending at the hotel was cancelled as well.

Now, admittedly I'm booked on non-refundable tickets, but I sure didn't plan for there to be a 500 year flood in Nashville. I am hugely disappointed that this conference has been canceled. I was looking forward ot Nashville. In short, I did nothing to cancel this event. God and the rains canceled the event and I would imagine there are many, many meetings and events in Nashville that are not going to take place in the next 90 days because of the disaster there.

But American Airlines is only refunding tickets for travel booked to the end of May. I could pay about the ticket's face value in additional travel fare and change ticket fees to travel to Orlando on AA where this meeting is being held. But the penalties in extra fare and change fees is MORE than the flight I could book on USAir. So it's cheaper for me to simply let AA have the almost $400 for my ticket than to hassle with them.

But it's not right. For AA to profit from a disaster like this is just wrong. It's wrong on moral grounds, and ultimately it's wrong on business grounds. If AA Thinks I am ever going to book another flight on AA they are out of their minds. It only makes it worse when I hear that Continental and Southwest are both providing full refunds to people who were planning trips to Nashville that aren't going to happen because of the natural disaster that has occurred there.

[jimworcs]

It is the nature of natural disasters that they are neither the airline nor the passengers fault. Allowing passengers to rebook through the end of May seems fair. It would be nice if they could show some flexibility, but really it is not AA's fault either. Do you have travel insurance? Anyway, by July you may well find that a trip to Nashville will still be pleasant, notwithstanding the conference being cancelled. I woulde just take the trip and try to make the best of it. Disasters happen, and sometimes we just have to accept that God is in control!!

[rwlanier]

I have no wish to travel to Nashville other than to attend this conference. It's a small thing for the airline to refund tickets in cases like this, or at least to provide a credit for future travel. As it is the conference has now been relocated to Orlando so a trip to Nasville over these dates is now not even possible. And, to make it even more annoying, AA doesn't have any seats on any planes to Orlando. So they can't even offer a change in ticket. A Natural Disaster is neither of our faults, and, thus, it seems logical for the airline to recognize this and provide credits, if not full refunds, or to waive reticketing fees, which AA has not done.

[jimworcs]

I agree that the fair thing to do is to not try to profit from a disaster. Therefore, your request for a credit or re-booking without penalty is fair and equitable. Unfortunately, AA have form on this... they previously had tried to rip off a customer after the Haiti disaster, so I am afraid they have a culture of trying to make a profit out of other people's misery. (There is a thread on here about this issue). You might also try and get some media coverage of their gouging customers at times of natural disaster.... it is almost akin to corporate looting.