American Airlines nearly ruined our Jamaica vacation.

I think all of the people who responded to this must have $$ to burn
and have traveled the world... So what a person wrote an angry letter
to a horrible airline company. You all need to get a life. As far as
the anniversary of 911 what about all of the BABIES that are murdered
everyday because women find a baby INCONVENIENT... if no one stands up
for that then why do you all have time to berate an upset traveler???
All she did was write a letter out of anger and frustration for a trip
run a muck and you all fire away like she was Osamma himself!!.. How
about replying to some real issues LIKE MURDER in the name of
convenience called ABORTION. All of the children who have been
murdered because someone couldnt keep their legs shut!. That is more
in need of a response than a stupid angry letter to an airline.

Good luck on that refund. Don't be too surprised if you get a nice
little care package with their left-over stale peanuts and a coupon
for $25 off your next airline ticket. Look on the bright side-at least
you would get 3 of them...

I'm very sorry to hear that you missed out on part of your Jamaica
vacation. Jamaica's a beautiful place and I'd love to spend a LOT more
time there.

However, you should be thankful that you were late getting there and
got there safely. You could have left on time and never made it, but
the airline obviously placed your life ahead of your busy schedule.

Time to rethink those priorities...?

I feel absolutely terrible for you! Have you considered therapy
(perhaps group would be good since there are 3 of you). Better yet,
have you thought about a class action law suit? (since there are 3 of
you, you'd qualify, I think). And then you can all sue American
Airlines for some type of post tramatic syndrome ailment. That's what
I would do if I were you. I really don't think you're asking for
enough though. Hey, I know, a very good friend of mine is a flight
attendant for American. If you give me your phone number I'll call
him and have him personally look into this for you since he's on the
inside. I'm sure he does this all of the time for people who want to
fly on an aircraft that isn't up to complete FAA safetly rules and who
want to willingly put their lives in danger in order to enjoy their
"all inclusive" day at a resort. Sounds basic enough to me.

I sure hope you haven't recanted this story to every Tom, Dick and
Harry you've encountered since your return from vacation. There
aren't enough toilets in the country to hold the vomit your story
induces.

Get a life!

I agree with the original poster. There's no way a flight should have
been grounded for such a trivial reason. In fact, I'm surprised
something like that would even be on a plane at all. What, is a
midair breakout of zits a frequent problem these days?

...


...


Ohhh, *oxygen* cabinet! I thought it said Oxy-10 cabinet. Nevermind.

Hey, these things happen. I am sorrry you missed part of your
vacation, but would you have rather missed all of your vacation, and
the rest of your life because they didn't fix the loose bolt. Ponder
that question, please.

Gus,
It ain' gonna happen.
The posters that comment on safety first hit the nail on the head.
However, you might get on their No Fly List.
Bill R.

You would rather of left on an unsafe plane . . .when flights are
cancelled due to weather/unsafe planes, you're not going to get a
refund (and why would you get your entire flight refunded anyway . ..
why not just the trip there - which you wouldn't get either)

Be thankful that you got there safely . . . I hope you enjoyed your
stay and didn't let getting in late the first day ruin your vacation.

These flight delays happen all the time. They'd go bankrupt real
quick if they refunded them all. That's quite a chunk of change you
are asking for.

I'm sorry you missed out on the first few hours of your vacation, but
there was a mechanical problem with the plane - I don't think you want
them rushing when they look into something like that. To paraphrase
one of my favorite lines from the TV show Wings, "would you rather be
LATE, Gustela, or THE LATE Gustela?"

And I never experienced or heard of any "planned activities."
Vacationing in Jamaica is all about doing what you want when you feel
like it. Unless you do a tour of the waterfalls, there really isn't
anything that is "scheduled."

And you didn't miss "a whole day of activities/meals." If your flight
had arrived in Jamaica on time, at 11:40 a.m., you wouldn't have even
been out of the airport until 12:30 (going through their VERY slow
Customs). 90 minutes later would be 2 p.m. By the time you got
checked in, to your room, changed into your swimsuit, that's 3 p.m. or
so. Your claim of getting to your hotel in the dark doesn't make
sense -- you would have gotten to your hotel by 7 p.m. -- hardly
sunset time in Jamaica!

My first time in Jamaica, I got to my resort around 8 or 9 p.m. and
still had plenty of time to drink rum punch, get in the hot tub, and
swim in the pool.

You got in 6-ish hours after you were originally scheduled. Shizzle
happens, deal with it. You're not owed any money.

are you kidding me? you need someone to laugh in your face and turn
you away from their services. If I ran United Airlines, I would ban
an ungrateful customer with a false sense entitlement like you from
ever boarding one of my aircraft again. The loss of future revenue
from a low-life scrounger like you would be worth it.

i had the mother and father of all bad experiences with United
airlines a few years ago and they were absolutely heartless. I'm
sorry and i hope they offer you some sort of restitution, but i
wouldn't hold my breath.

Ok, so do you want to hear of my experience getting to Jamaica only 4
short weeks ago...

Arrived at the airport at 5:30 a.m. for an 8:30 a.m. flight. Noticed
Air Jamaica was delayed by 2 hours and expected to leave at 10:30 a.m.
We waited in the terminal until an Air Jamaica representative came
and explained to us that the aircraft was not operational and that we
would have to wait until the flight came in from Jamaica that night.
The flight was scheduled to land at 9:05 but was delayed until 10:15.
That meant that we wouldn't fly out until 12:15 a.m. So, the airline
booked rooms for every passenger at the Baltimore Embassy Suites and
comped us lunch and dinner, sent a shuttle to pick us back up at 10:00
p.m. We arrived in Montego Bay at 2:15 a.m. and at our final
destination, Beaches Negril, at 4:30 a.m. Our original time of
arrival was 11:00 a.m. the day before. So, I'm thinking I missed more
of a day than you did. I did pay for 3 people for that one night of
all inclusive but instead I had to sit in the airport some of the time
and at a hotel room in Good Ole' Charm City for the rest of the time.

But...the difference between you and me...I was thankful they didn't
choose to send me and my children 33,000 feet in the air in a
questionable machine and therefore didn't complain or ask for
reimbursement. Delayed and cancelled flights are a fact of vacation
fun. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.

Just to be sure I am understanding you. . .

American flew you to Jamaica, albeit late because they had to fix a
potentially dangerous problem with the plane, but you still got there
safely and you still checked into your resort and you still had 4 more
days of your vacation. . .

. . . But because you got there a little late, American should
basically pay for your entire trip?

WOW!

I could sit here and tell you how stupid and selfish I think it is to
be this irate over this, but it seems that several other responders
have beaten me to the punch!

So I will leave you with this:

1) you are fortunate enough to live in a country where you CAN fly to
Jamaica on vacation if you want to - many people cannot

2) you obviously have enough money to travel or you would not have
been able to book the trip for your family

3) you are clearly intelligent because you are capable of using a
computer to reach out to a company to tell them of your experience.

With all of these blessings in your life, I am dumbfounded why you
felt the need to make such a selfish demand because of an issue that
was neither intentional nor avoidable and in the grand scheme of
things, was of a relatively minor consequence.

I find it hard to believe that this completely ruined the entire trip.

I feel horrible for you. I never thought last week when I was leaving
my house at 6:45am and returning at 12:00 midnight because of a job
transition that things could be so bad for you. While I was working
two full time jobs and commuting 45 minutes each way, people were
suffering through a five hour delay at the airport on the way to
Jamaica. I feel so ashamed of myself.

I'm not sure I've ever said this, but get over it. Did you sleep on
the beach? Why should you get $200 per person for a night you used?
Because you missed the limbo contest?

Read your ticket!!! Your ticket is a voucher for travel to your
destination. They fulfilled it, even though they were late. I would
have been disappointed also, but happy that it was only 5 hours of
delay. In that 5 hours, you missed 1 meal that you would have
otherwise gotten at the resort.

Anyways, not only will you not get all of that money, you do not
deserve it.

Oh boo hoo.... how sad. If YOU needed that oxygen mask for some reason
to function properly in case of the "oops" human error factor some
pilot may have... or some other scenario.... doubt you'd be asking for
a refund.

Been to Beaches at Sandy Bay.Wonderful Place..top notch......Whoopie
Goldberg filmed parts of a movie "Clara's Heart" there.. recommend you
get yourself some micro pop corn, a box of puffs with lotion, rent it
and learn somethings about "life".
It's a tear jerker. But what a lesson it teaches!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do, by all means, keep us posted.... we care a lot about how people's
concerns are handled by different companies... hope you get a
favorable response and not just one of those "Things happen...deal
with it" form letters thanking you for your understanding and
continued loyalty and patronage. I hate when THAT happens.... but it
often does....

Thank god they found the loose bolt! I would be thanking your lucky
stars you got there the same day and safely! Read the fine print on
your ticket, flight delays happen all the time and you are entitled to
absolutely no compensation if you flew the flight and arrived.
Besides, check in to a resort is usually not until around 4pm anyways!
You got there just in time to check in and begin your stay! Nearly
ruined! Save the drama!

I don't see the problem. You took a later flight. Happens all the
time. Were they rude about it? Were you the only ones on the flight
that had to wait that long? I'm sorry but I REALLY don't see why you
are complaining.

A refund? The airline got you there and back safely, did it not?
Along with every other passenger on the plane (who, presumably, are
more concerned with safety than demanding undeserved refunds).

Like you're the only one in the world to have a delay in arrival.

*sneeze*gimmepig*cough*

You were originally supposed to land at 11:38 and didn't land until 5.
Once you landed at 5 it took you three hours to get to the resort.
So assuming it takes 3 hours to get luggage, cab, etc, if you had
landed at 11:38, you would not have gotten to the resort until 2:38.
How did you miss a whole day and whole night of activities in 5 hours?
At most, you missed dinner since you would not have gotten there in
time for lunch.

Delays happen all the time in the airlines. Weather, mechanical
problems, staffing problems, etc. If the airlines gave a refund
everytime a flight was late or cancelled, they would go out of
business or raise the cost of tickets so high that they would be
prohibitive.

I simply ADDED that comment to the other posters who commented on how
ridiculous her letter was to begin with.

She's asking for compensation for a delayed flight, which caused her
to arrive at her destination late. This does not seem ridiculous to
you?

Think about it.

And the fact that you can't see the correlation between the complaint
(about an airline trying to be safe) and the worst disaster in our
history (which was airline-related) just tells me you're clueless.

If she had posted a valid complaint, I wouldn't have made the
comment.

The complaint was invalid. Period.

I do understand what you are talking about and I do wish that I
replied seperately with my thoughts before making the comment to your
comment. (I thought I did, but I guess not!) I think that her asking
for comp for a delayed flight was silly, because the airline DID get
her there eventually. And I also think that if she wanted comp for the
missed day of events, then perhaps she should have taken that up with
the resort since airline ticket and hotal reservations are seperate
expenses, I thought.

Also, I did not like your comment because her complaint wasn't
insulting to me; yes it was a tad silly, but the OP was upset and I do
understand why she is upset. I would be a little upset if my plane was
delayed, but I would be happy if they got me there eventually. I don't
think she deserves comp. Heck, I'm not sure if I can really explain
what I mean...I just think that, yeah, everyone is entitled to their
opinions, but too many times I see on this website that everyone just
out and attacks the OP. I don't think she meant any harm by posting
her comment the day after the anniversary. Honestly, do you? That is
why I took issue with your comment.

Also, I do not appreciate being called clueless. I understand full and
well what happened on 9/11 and I'm upset that you would think that I
was clueless about it. Thanks.

any questions?

Would you prefer that next time they fly you in a faulty plane that
may or may not crash?

I'd rather arrive a few hours late.

HIGHLY doubt you will see any sort of "compensation".

I hope that despite the ONE day that was "ruined" (who schedules
things on the day they arrive somewhere???) you had a fabulous time in
Jamaica.