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American Airlines Gets it Right
Charles Leocha · March 3, 2004

Recently, I was trying to get to Miami from Boston and connect to Buenos Aires flying on American Airlines. The day in Boston was miserable. Heavy snow began falling at 6 a.m. and by 8 a.m. the runways were covered, planes were being de-iced and flights were being cancelled.

As with any storm that interrupts airline travel, this one had a big ripple effect. Planes scheduled to fly to Washington, DC, were flying in from JFK. And they were stuck in the same snowstorm. Only the New York area had been seeing snow for an additional three hours.

I arrived at the airport early in the morning with the intention of flying out on an earlier flight than my scheduled departure. I thought I could beat the storm. It was not to be.

The storm caught me, even before I got up and left my house, Boston operations were being impacted by weather in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Planes scheduled to fly my routes were not even in Boston, or on their way.

After a close look at flight cancellations, the weather and the standby list, which had grown to almost 30 passengers, I decided to relax, read and stick to the original flight plans.

It was a good decision. The weather cleared in the afternoon and a semblance of order was restored by the late afternoon. My flight was originally scheduled to depart at about 6 p.m. Then there was a delay until 6:30 p.m. We were told that the aircraft was in Boston. Then there was another delay until about 7:30 p.m.

In typical airline fashion, no one knew why there were delays. But, the assumption was that weather was involved. Passengers who had been milling about the airport for hours continued to wait.

Finally, American began boarding the flight. The connection time for my flight to Buenos Aires was slipping away. After all passengers were seated in the Airbus 300 and ready to go, the captain announced that some luggage was still awaiting loading and that we would have to go through de-icing.

She noted that the de-icing trucks were over-committed but that she expected them to get to our aircraft in about a half an hour and then the de-icing process would take another half hour or 45 minutes.

The passengers groaned. Everyone with connections knew that the last chance for making the follow-up flight was slipping away.

Several passengers began to protest.

They said that they would rather be stuck overnight in Boston than arrive in Miami and have to search for hotel rooms at midnight. There was spirited talk from some of the passengers about getting off the plane and just catching a flight the next day.

We still didn't know the whole story about the delays. Conversations between coach passengers all seemed to result in the same conclusion - if the delay was because of weather, we were all on our own.

After 30 minutes, the de-icing trucks still hadn't arrived. Everyone got antsy back in coach.

Several passengers spoke frantically with the flight attendants who passed the concerns to the captain. In only minutes, the captain was back on the intercom system. She made an announcement that I rarely have heard from a captain.

She said that all passengers with connections would probably miss their ongoing flights, but that since the delay was a combination of weather and mechanical problems, American Airlines would make arrangements for all affected passengers for overnight accommodations and other amenities.

Wow. Instantly, the tension in the plane eased. There was a collective sigh of relief and a planeload of smiling passengers.

The flight to Miami was fine.

Upon landing at Miami International, an airline representative greeting the plane announced that all connecting flight had indeed departed. Passengers were instructed to deplane and go to the gate check-in counter, at then end of the jet way, where they could pick up tickets for rebooked connections, vouchers for hotels and meals.

Anyone who had gone through the uncertainty of missing connections and never knowing exactly the right person to contact for accommodations and rebooking can appreciate the efforts made by the ground staff at Miami. Their operation was seamless.

Each passenger's ticket and vouchers were already prepared. A full load of passengers from an Airbus 300 waited in line picked up their ticket jacket with everything they needed in less than half-an-hour. It was a beautiful, stress-free scene.

What could have been disaster for hundreds of passengers was a case study in doing things right.

Thank you Captain Boswell. Thank you Miami staff. And thank you America Airlines for getting it right.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of SkiSnowboard America & Canada. His column appears regularly on this site. E-mail him at leocha@aol.com or access his Web site.