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American AArogance
Cheap Charlie · April 2, 2001

On the ground, in the Northeast, the Storm of the Century stalled and didn't turn out to be such a big deal at Boston's Logan Airport, and New York's JFK and La Guardia.

But on the ground at Miami International, it was a disaster that spread across flights heading to Europe, South America and the other states as well as those heading to the Northeast.

In Miami, ticket and gate agents were, frankly, overwhelmed. These agents, who are grossly underpaid and have to face the public every day, were dealing with too many people, too many delays, too many cancellations, too many overbookings and in some cases have no idea of the laws and policies of their own company.

The system in Miami at American Airlines broke down when they involuntarily bumped a passenger from a Miami to Madrid and then handed him coupons for an overnight in Red Roof Inn, meal vouchers with no instructions on how and where they could be used, and a reservation on the next day's flight.

At that point, they had only forgotten one thing: the law regarding denied boarding compensation.

There are only two real laws that are imposed on the airlines by the federal government relating to customer service. Only two.

One protects the airlines, dictating that the maximum payment due any passenger whose luggage is lost will be $1,250.

The second states the minimum involuntary denied boarding compensation and instructs that the airlines will give anyone who asks a written statement outlining that compensation and the airline rules about how they determine who gets involuntarily bumped.

This bumped passenger had checked in for his flight almost two hours prior to the departure time. AA checked his baggage.

The passenger was informed that the flight was oversold and he would be given a seat at the gate. He went to the gate and handed his ticket to the gate agent. The gate agent told him to sit and wait for his name to be called.

He then sat about 20 feet from the gate agent. He never left the gate area, even to use the restrooms.

He walked up and asked the gate agent at least twice about when he might get his boarding pass and about the situation.

Both times, the gate agent told him to sit down and not bother him. Then, according to this passenger, the gate agent muttered about being bugged by impatient standby passengers. Eventually, the jet way was pulled and the plane departed and left this passenger still sitting ten feet from the gate agent in bewilderment.

The passenger was clearly involuntarily bumped, but the gate agent said and did nothing about it. He handed the passenger hotel and meal vouchers and told him he had a reservation to fly the next night.

The passenger meekly left. He called and came to a friend's house where we served him dinner. I listened to his story. I suggested that we immediately drive back to the airport to speak with a customer service representative (CSR) at American Airlines. That was easier said than done.

America Airlines was so understaffed that only one overworked CSR who could help us. He looked into the record and said, "I've never seen anything like this before." He called another agent over and said, "It seems this passenger's name disappeared from the system between check in and the oversold standby list."

He immediately upgraded the passenger to business class on the next day's flight, making a big show about how generous he was being. We thanked him.

Since this passenger's luggage was now winging its way across the Atlantic, we asked if the CSR would send a message to AA in Madrid and ask them to pull the luggage from the luggage belt and secure it when it arrived. The CSR said that this was done automatically. We noted that luggage sometimes rides in circles for a long time and that we would appreciate a message being sent. Nothing ever happened that evening.

We then asked whether the hotel assigned to the passenger could be changed to one closer to friends and family, about five miles down the road.

The CSR tapped on his computer peering deeply into machination of SABRE. He then looked up and said, "You have to take that hotel because the computer assigned it to you." He continued, "We no longer have control of where passengers are assigned, the computer does it all and issues hotel and meal vouchers." (More on this in an upcoming column.)

I looked at the vouchers. The hotel voucher was clear. It said Red Roof Inn. The breakfast, lunch and dinner vouchers said "Good at any participating establishment" or something very close to that wording.

I asked, "What are the participating establishments?" The CSR looked at me blankly. "Eat at the Red Roof Inn," he said.

Now, I am not familiar with dining establishments at Red Roof Inns, I have never seen one other than vending machines and a continental breakfast in one here and there.

I then asked if he has list of restaurants where the passenger could use these vouchers that American Airlines bestowed upon him. The CSR said he did not know of any such list and really didn't know where the coupons could be used other than at the airport and the assigned hotel.

We then asked specifically about denied boarding compensation.

This is where the federal laws come into play. The passenger asked the CSR for the ruled about involuntary bumping since he felt he has complied with every requirement of AA. The CSR said, "I don't really know about them."

I then pressed the agent for a "written statement about his denied boarding rights" as required by law. He said that since I was not the passenger, he would not speak with me any more.

The passenger asked the same thing and the CSR said again, "I don't know about that."

I found this beyond belief. I asked him to put his ignorance of the denied boarding rules in writing. Of course, he refused and then refused to speak with us again.

Total AArogance. He knew that there was no one else with whom to speak. The passenger and I left. I was fuming. I really couldn't believe how American Airlines treated passengers whom they had clearly wronged.

It was now 11 p.m. I drove this passenger to the Red Roof Inn and dropped him off. I headed back to the home where I was staying. When I got home, there was a message that the Red Roof Inn was overbooked. Amazing.

Overbooked!

The hotel called American Airlines to tell them that they were overbooked. American said, "Send everyone back to the airport."

Now, facing American Airlines and their stellar customer service was the last thing this passenger wanted to do. The passenger took a cab to the nearest Holiday Inn that had availability and spent the night there.

I can't write any more right now. My stomach is churning.

More next week.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at leocha@aol.com or access his Web site.