Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

My poor friend should be on her honeymoon right now but due to American Airlines awful behavior, she is not. The link below is her post on their facebook page. I feel so badly for her. Just some 'likes' or comments on her post will show them that people are aware and maybe help get something done to try to make this better.

LINK

Message edited 7/18/2013 6:31:58 PM.

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

looks like someone on AA responded to her via FB. i hope they compensate them for some of this hassle. even if it is the booking agent's responsibility to tell them about the cancellation... AA seems to have behaved badly

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

American Airlines ruined the beginning AND the end of my honeymoon as well and I will NEVER travel with them. This was 6 years ago, so I am sure it didn't get much better!

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

American has a long history of being uncaring. My father remembers back in his college days they would treat the students very poorly involuntarily bumping them with no comp etc. So doesn't surprise me.

Having said that...does she have trip insurance to help her with any money she is out? The rental car she should have been able to cancel. The hotel she might be out of luck but you never know.

The BIG problem is she booked through a TA. She should be throwing a fit at American Express travel. It was her TAs job to notify her of the change not AA. That is the whole benefit to using a TA. They are supposed to notify you of any changes, they should also be the ones to be bending over backwards to fix her honeymoon. So while she should be upset with AA she should be more angry with her TA. They should be working like crazy to fix everything. If she booked through AEtravel. Maybe she used her AE card? She might have travel insurance to cover some of it. She won't get back that day which stinks but maybe she could get some money back to take a small weekend getaway down the road to make up for the lost day. Otherwise is there a way to extend her trip one day to make up for the lost time?

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

OMG!

And the responses from people are so mean! I booked my HM through Amex Travel---I had enough points for all my flights, should I have been treated like a second class citizen because of it? Absolutely not!

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

That stinks but why isn't she mad at American Express Travel, the booking agent? I mean, maybe she is, but American Airlines is huge and I am guessing cant be held completely responsible for the lack of attention and professionalism on the agent's part. Unless I am misunderstanding how it happened?

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

For the record a similar email/posting has been sent to Amex Travel. This is after being on the phone with both all day. Both companies have treated her terribly all day. Hopefully they get out on the rebooked flight tomorrow and they can deal with it when they return.

But she did get a confirmation directly from American Airlines when the trip was booked, so she should have also received some communication about the canceled/changed flight. I think both companies are at fault and should be held accountable.

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

I used Amex last yr to book my trip to Hawaii and when flights were changed I got notified from both Amex and the carrier. Amex was usually helpful. That being said yes the companies screwed up and this is a horrible time to learn this lesson but always check your itinerary periodically. I usually check 6 months 3 months 1 month 2 weeks 1 week and 2 days. A bit OCD but saves trouble in the long run

Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

Omg! Same thing happened to me and my DH on our honeymoon in May. We booked directly through AA so based in my experience AA is totally at fault. Our flight from Punta Cana (where our wedding was) to San Juan was cancelled bc they discontinued service months earlier and never notified us. We were about to leave for the airport when my DH had a feeling and could not find our flight. We called AA and they were unsympathetic, unhelpful, and rude! They said our flight was on our itinerary but the flight didnt exist. they admitted it was their error and they shouldve rebooked us but they didnt. We couldn't speak to anyone in customers relations to complain and eat compensation. They just kept referring us to a web form to put in our complaint but were told it would take 4-5 days for a response. We were unable to get rebooked that day because there were no other flights. They offered us nothing in compensation. At that point, we just let them rebook us for the next day and stayed an extra night in DR at our expense but we lost the whole day and then had to travel the next day. Our already short HM was cut shorter. We had prepaid our honeymoon so we lost the money on that night in BVI And still had to pay our room in DR. Additionally, we were booked on Jet Blue bc AA no longer flew to San Juan but our connecting flight was an AA airline so we got hit with double baggage fees and we had a lot bc we were travelling with our wedding stuff.

When we returned, we filled out the web form and of course received no response. So we took to tweeting...And we were harsh. We got an almost immediate response and we didn't stop until someone called us or we got a direct number to a person who could address our complaints. Ultimately, they agreed to give us 2 $500 voucher plus enough frequent flier points to upgrade us to first class (our tix were first class). They are reimbursing a night inDR and in BVI plus all baggage fees. We haven't yet received the money but they said it would be a 5-6 weeks so if we don't soon, we will take to tweeting again.

So, I suggest your friend tweet. Clearly, this is not an isolated problem and the lack of customer service is abominable. they admitted it was their error and even gave us the agent number who was responsible in the initial phone call but still weren't going to do anything.
good luck to your friend!

Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

she should take them to Judge Judy!!

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

Mer can you share her status on FB... i cant share it because im not friends with her

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

They definitely handled this poorly but I would be more angry with Amex than AA. Airlines change flights ALL.THE.TIME! Its her travel agent's responsibility to make sure that they are taken care of. Hopefully they have some trip insurance taht will compensate them or Amex does the right thing and refunds them a portion of their HM. Hopefully they can enjoy the rest of it. CR is amazing!

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

She and her DH don't have twitter, so I may tweet it for her.

She has definitely spoken to AmEx Travel a few times and from what I understand they are claiming AA never contacted THEM about the flight change. And AA claims they emailed my friend directly, which didn't happen. It's a mess but hopefully they are almost there by now!

Re: Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

This really sucks for them but it seems that this is AMEX travel's fault.
That is why I always deal directly with the airline and purchase tickets on the web. Much less likely for human errors and no middle man to make them (travel agent).
I hope your friends have a great trip in spite of this.

Sharing my friend's story to make others aware and hopefully get her some support (not money support, just moral support)

This has happened to me a lot. I usually book directly through the airlines - sometimes I have been contacted but, more often than not, I have not.

I agree it's definitely the travel agent's responsibility to keep the client informed of changes- I'm sorry they are treating her so badly.

When I book flights now - I monitor them every month or so to see if there are any changes - since I've been victim to not being informed in the past - I think everyone should do this since there are so many changes going on right now in the airline industry and a lot less flights than there were a year ago (well, at least to the destinations I am trying to travel to for upcoming business trips).