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 American Airlines Travel Nightmare
Posted Tue March 24, 2009 12:00 pm, by Brandon R. written to American Airlines, Inc.
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On February 26th my boyfriend and I flew to Chicago on flight 4474 for a friend's wedding which I was standing up in. Unfortunately on this day what was scheduled to be a two and half hour flight turned into a 13 hour travel nightmare.
First we were delayed leaving Jacksonville because our plane was over weight. The staff asked for two volunteers to stay behind, let me mention this is after they had already let two passengers on that were flying stand by. Now I have never worked for an airline so I could be wrong but I thought that you only were able to get on a flight stand by if there was room. Why would your staff let two additional passengers on the plane and then delay the flight because we are over weight? To me this should be an easy fix, tell the two stand by passengers that they were wrong and there was no room on the flight. But your staff did not do this. They threaten that if no one would volunteer that they would have to choose themselves. They did offer vouchers and someone did volunteer.
At this point we figured that since this was a non-stop flight it should be smooth sailing to Chicago even if we were a little delayed; little did we know how wrong we would be. After being in the air for roughly 3 hours the pilot came over the loud speaker and announced that we would be landing in Grand Rapids, Michigan due to lack of fuel. We land in Grand Rapids and the pilot assures us that once we refuel we will be on our way to Chicago . Once fueled we are again advise that we are over weight and that they need three volunteers to get off the plane. Your staff offered vouchers and four passengers did choose to leave the plane. We think at this point that finally we are on our way, even more late but on our way. Once the plane backs away from the gate we are advised that we are still over weight. The plane pulls back to the gate and two more passengers volunteer and get vouchers.
Now our plane is at the right weight and we believe that we are again on our way to Chicago . But once again we are disappointed, while in line waiting to take off we are advised that Chicago has closed the airport. So we wait to see if the airport will reopen, and we wait some more. Finally the pilot comes back into the cabin and talks to all of us and a decision is made. Since we are all hungry and stiff, we are going to pull back into the gate and deplane so that we can stretch our legs and get something to eat.
Once off the plane we notice that there are no restaurants open in our concourse. So we head down toward the main area of the airport, where we are advised that we are unable to leave the concourse because security has already shut down the gate and we would be unable to get back to the plane. So after a phone call on the courtesy phone to talk with security and talking with your staff they agree to reopen the gate for us and we are able to leave. At this point it has been around 7 hours since we boarded the plane. Even though we are cranky and tired we are handling this all in stride and are polite to your staff because we understand that this is not their fault and there is no reason to take our frustrations our on them.
After roughly 45 minuets in the Grand Rapids airport we are advised via loud speaker that we are going to be bused to Chicago and to pick up our luggage at the carousal. When we arrive to pick up our luggage there is an American airlines staff member picking up everyone's luggage who advises us that the pilot has decided that we can fly and to head back to the gate. Which we do, only to be informed when we get there, that the staff member was wrong and that indeed we are being bused to Chicago . The bus will not arrive for another hour so there is more time to be wasted.
When the bus finally does arrive at 830pm a TSA agent who is waiting outside informs us that 7 other passengers threw a fit and received vouchers for the inconvenience. She stated that she wanted to let us know because she felt it was unfair for some passengers to receive vouchers and others to receive nothing. But the bus was boarding and we chose not to delay this trip any longer and boarded the bus with everyone else. After a four and a half hour bus ride we do finally arrive in Chicago , ten hours past our scheduled arrival time and having missed the rehearsal dinner.
I do understand that your airline does not control the weather and that there are times when traveling that can be tiring and irritating. But what I do not understand is that just because we chose to behave in a polite and courtesy manor why we received nothing for our troubles and the passengers that acted out received vouchers. Can you please explain to me how this is fair?
On our way home from this trip we were delayed again. The plane had bald tires, which they were not aware of until we boarded. Again we were asked to leave the plane and were delayed for another hour. But at least for this inconvenience they offered everyone on the flight free drinks.
I would like to see your company offer us some sort of compensation for all that we went through on this flight. I do not believe that it is fair that only the passageners that behaved badly recieved anything. Please contact me as soon as possible to let me know how you are going to make this situation right.
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