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American Errlines
ChrisCrossings · August 19, 1999

Q: My six-year-old son and I recently tried to return to New York from San Jose, Calif., on American Airlines and because of mechanical failure, the first leg of our flight was canceled. We spent the night in San Jose and left at 6:30 the next morning. When we arrived in Chicago at 1:00 p.m. we went through five separate airplanes and gate changes -- all of the airplanes were broken. Finally at 10:15 p.m. we left and arrived home at 1:30 a.m. We were offered nothing. I had pushed for and received meal vouchers. I wrote a letter a few days ago to American, insisting on restitution, but I think I will hear nothing from them. Any ideas?

-- Sharon Kroll

A: I hope American Airlines answers your letter. I had a hard enough time getting it to cough up its Conditions of Carriage at an airport ticket counter, as required by federal law. A kindly agent in the first class check-in area finally produced a copy of AA's rules.

The contract is a slippery beast that doesn't hold much promise for you. As I see it, paragraph 4 on "force majeure events" applies to your situation the best. It states that in the event of such an event (contract wording here, not mine) the airline may "without notice, cancel, terminate, divert, postpone or delay any flight or the right of carriage or reservation of traffic accommodations without liability except to issue an involuntary refund." It defines a "force majeure" as, among other things, "any shortage of labor, fuel or facilities on AA or others."

Meaning that if you took the flight, you aren't entitled to anything more.

Now even though American Airlines is abiding by the letter of the law, I think it is in flagrant violation of the spirit of the law. The Conditions of Carriage are meant to outline the carrier's obligations to you, not to protect the carrier from someone wanting compensation for a nightmare travel experience. It's regrettable that American's contract is so watertight that you can't seek any redress from it when you've had a flight from hell.

As I read American's rules, it didn't even have to give you meal vouchers when its planes were delayed. The ground crew in Chicago should be commended for doing something they didn't have to do.

The airline can ignore your complaint if it wants to. It may send you a form letter with a coupon good for future travel on American Airlines. But based on my own experience dealing with complaints, and having written a few such letters myself, I'd say your grievance will probably end up in a circular bin in a DFW office building.

To be fair to American, most passengers who have experienced a bad flight tend to ramble on for pages and pages about their pain and by the time they get to the point, they've already revealed themselves to be raving lunatics, making a response unnecessary. I'm sure you didn't do that, but for argument's sake, let's say American gave your note short shrift. What now?

- Write another letter. Make it no more than a single page, double-spaced. Use large type, since AA scans all its letters into a computer.

- Address the complaint to Maryanne Cipperly at American Airlines.

Her address:

Customer Relations
PO Box 619612
MD 2400
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612

- Include your flight number, your name, record locator, and the date that your traveled.

- Describe the problem -- briefly.

- Tell Maryanne what you want in the way of severance. Be even more brief.

- Send a carbon copy to the US Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection Division.

The address is:

US Department of Transportation
Room 4107, C-75
Washington, DC 20590

- It wouldn't hurt to cc a few consumer travel journalists like me or your local TV station.

- If you're really upset, try mailing a copy to your senator or congressional representative.

- Wanna really make trouble? Insist that your representative forward the letter to Norman Strickman, the guy in charge of the Aviation Consumer Protection Division. It will be counted against the carrier in the DOT's complaint stats and the airline will know you mean business.

- Do not e-mail your complaint. It will be ignored. (Airlines will take your ticket orders online, but they don't do complaints.)

- Don't fax it either. It'll get lost in a shuffle of curly paper clippings.

- Certify the letter so that you know it's been received.

Good luck, Sharon. I hope you get what you deserve from AA. Next time, try calling the airline before driving to the airport to make sure your flight is still running. And try scheduling your flights earlier in the day so that if you miss a connection, you'll be able to catch a later flight.

Christopher Elliott's column appears on Thursdays. He can be reached at christopher@elliott.org. Or visit his home page at http://www.elliott.org.