# American cancelled our flights we have had booked for several months!!!



## dixie (Apr 28, 2009)

They have us on a flight that gets in 5 or 6 hours later! We had already booked our rental car and had a good price. They close at 2 pm and now since our plane gets in at at 4:50 we can't use them. the prices are way higher now for a rental car. AA won't do anything for us. Not only are we losing a day in Key West, I have spent a lot of time trying to fit all the pieces together. Still haven't been able to. I have had flights changed by a few minutes b4 but never like this.

They say they are allowed to do this. they will give me no compensation. Do I have any recourse?? thanks for any advise. I will certainly think twice about booking with them again.


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## gmarine (Apr 29, 2009)

You should have an option of receiving a refund for the flights because of the change. You could then try to book another airline.


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## Icarus (Apr 29, 2009)

Are there any AA flights available that will get you there at a better time for you? With a change of that magnitude they should allow you to make changes for free. Or you can get a refund if you can find something better elsewhere.

The way to handle it with AA is to do your own research first, see if you can find a better router/schedule. If you can, call AA, explain the situation calmly about needing to be there closer to your originally scheduled arrival time, and how the newly scheduled arrival time is 5 - 6 hours later and doesn't work for you. Ask about getting rescheduled onto the flights you found. If you can't, ask for a refund if that's the way you want to go.

The airlines change their schedules all the time. If the schedule change is more than just a relatively minor one, you have the option of getting a refund, and in most cases, making fee-free changes if you can find better flight availability.

-David


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## dixie (Apr 29, 2009)

We are using miles. they offered to refund miles. Which we want to use up. Since once they are gone we never plan to book with them again. What we thought was a " handled done vacation" has now thrown us into turmoil.

A 5 hour change is acceptible to them? If wanted to make a change like that it would cost us a lot of money. so their change has already cost me a lot of time on the phone and the loss of a lower cost car rental for the week without any compensation. B4 you book with American Airlines read their fine print. They say that they have the right to cancel your flight or rescedule etc. so if you make a non refundable car rental, or trying to hook up with Friends, Car rentals, or another flight, I would for sure NOT BOOK WTH THEM! I have written to customer service. What a joke!


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## Jennie (Apr 29, 2009)

Have you tried talking to the car rental company? Have you pre-paid already? 

Most companies require your credit card info when you make the reservation but they don't actually charge the card until you show up and pick up the car. If you fail to show up, even if you never call to cancel, your credit card will not be billed unless you got the deal through Priceline of some other package deal that required a non-refundable payment upfront.

Call the car rental company at the Key West location--not through the national reservation number --and ask to speak with a manager. Explain your situation and see if he can offer a solution. If there are enough other people coming in on your plane that have a reservation with this company, they may stay open late to accommodate you.

If not, it is a very short inexpensive cab ride from the airport to most any resort in Key West. You could call the resort and ask for the name and phone numbers of a few taxi services in the area. It would be easy to go back to the airport then next day, by taxi or bus, and pick up your car then.

Key West is very easy to get around on foot, bus, or cab. Traffic is heavy, and parking spaces are very difficult to find, and expensive. When staying at the Galleon, we parked in their lot and only took the car out once the whole week. We never did this on any other vacation. We generally go everywhere by car.

Sorry you are having so much trouble with American Airlines. 

My last trip with them in March (NY to Reno) was the worst ever. A 5 hour trip wound up taking 13 hours!  We changed planes in Dallas and they changed the gates twice, making us ride back and forth on the Skytrain all over that huge airport--with much walking. Then the connecting plane arrived late and had to be cleaned before we boarded. They said we'd be on in a half hour. An hour and a half later they announced that there was a computer problem being fixed and we should board soon. Soon turned out to be 90 minutes later. 

Once aboard, we had listened to the usual spiel about seatbelts, safety exits, oxygen masks etc...and were ready for take-off when suddenly the engines were shut down and the lights came back on. We sat for almost 1/2 hour in sweltering heat without being told what was happening. Finally the captain announced that the computer problem they thought was fixed had come back again and they were waiting for a technician to bring a part from the other side of the airport. We didn't leave until 90 minutes later. By then those of us seated in the rear quarter were drenched in sweat. My friend, who was in first class, said she did not have this problem. 

The final straw was when they allowed passengers who had arrived early for a later flight to come aboard our plane a few minutes before we were ready to take-off.  The biggest man I've ever seen squeezed into the middle seat between me (I had the window seat) and a female who had the aisle seat. This man was about 6'8" tall and heavy all over--not really obese but huge (football player, maybe?). His arms were twice as wide as mine. He kept them scrunched up against his body but still they spilled over into my space and I had to lean up against the wall and window to avoid bumping into him. He didn't say a word throughout the trip. I smiled a couple of times but he just looked off in the distance.  

When we were in the air and able to remove our seatbelts, I climbed past Godzilla and politely asked to be given another seat (or have him moved). The flight attendant very sweetly told me the plane was totally full and there were no other seats available. She apologized profusely and seemed to be genuinely sorry that she couldn't help me. Imagine my anger when I arrived in Reno 3 hours later and found out from my friend, who had been in the first class section, that there were at least 10 empty seats there, that were never occupied during the flight, including one right next to her !!! When I opened the carry-on bag I had stowed under my seat, a bag of chocolate candy was totally melted from the heat of the plane and had oozed out all over my clothing.

When I was supposed to return 6 days later, a surprise snow storm overnight had caused the cancellation of the earlier flight, and our flight was delayed too. I had already made plans to continue on to Sacramento via Amtrak to spend a week with my sister but had time to kill so I went with my friend to the airport to see her off. Then they started asking for volunteers to give up their seats on our flight so they could accommodate some VIPs whose earlier flight had been cancelled. I rushed up to volunteer and received a free round trip voucher to anywhere in the U.S., a meal voucher, and cab fare back to my hotel. I had already checked out but it was right next door to the Amtrak station. 

In case you are wondering, I never intended to use the return part of the ticket anyway.  But it was cheaper to buy a round trip ticket (Reno-NY) than a one way ticket to Reno only.  That's part of the craziness of airfare pricing.

Trouble is, even though it will be free, I am dreading having to go anywhere again on this awful airline. Six months ago they "lost" my husband's checked suitcase when they placed it on the wrong connecting flight, again in Dallas. They had to send a man to deliver it to him the next day on the top of a remote mountain in New Mexico where he was attending an Astronomy conference. It took the driver 4 hours to get there. In all the years we've been flying, we have never lost a bag. Leave it to American Airlines to break the record. 

Give me JetBlue anytime!


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## M. Henley (Apr 29, 2009)

*On Another Thought...*

Have had a HI Express room near Louisville, KY booked for the Kentucky Derby since last year at $70 plus tax.  Fortunately, I have been checking the Priority Club webpage.  Last Thursday everything was fine.  Saturday morning I checked and the price of my "reservation" had jumped to $249 plus tax,

I called Priority Club customer "service" and was placed on hold a couple of times, then told to call back if I had not heard anything wityhin 48 hours.  Called back Monday.  Called back Tuersday.

Last night I used points to book a room in Frankfort, 50 miles away.  This morning I canceled the original $70/$249 reservation because even though the reservation clearly states that I have until 6 PM the day of check-in to cancel I was afraid that they would charge my credit card early and I would then have another battle to fight.

I will call Priority Club customer "service" today and inform them that this is the last year that I will be elgible for Platinum level.


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## LisaRex (Apr 29, 2009)

Yes, it's perfectly legal for them to move you 5-6 hours.  In fact, they can move you to the next _day_, if the flight that you were bumped off of is the last flight of the day. 

"Under today's Rule 240:

If your flight is delayed or canceled, an airline must confirm you on its next flight at no additional cost, presuming there are seats available. 
If the alternate flight isn't acceptable to you, you have the right to be confirmed on a flight on a different airline at no additional cost to you. 
If no alternate flight is acceptable to you, the airline must refund the price of your ticket, even if you're holding a "non-refundable" ticket. "

Personally, if I were flying on miles, I'd just suck it up and take the later flight.  The other solutions won't get you there for free. 

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/features/rights/airlines.htm


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## Cathyb (Apr 29, 2009)

Could you fly into Miami from Texas on an earlier flight?  We had non-stop lax to Fort Lauderdale to go to Key West area in February that was completed eliminated from their schedule.  Our car rental made a year earlier was over $900 cheaper than if we rescheduled.  Took a shuttle from Miami to the FLL airport where are car rental was.  Inconvenient, yes, but it worked.


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## dougp26364 (Apr 29, 2009)

Dixie,

While I understand how annoying this is and the frustration that goes along with it, it's not unusual for ANY airline to do this. It's so common place that, when booking airfare for a cruise vacation, we try to fly in a day ahead of time and, sometimes we end up flying out one day post cruise. I've had major changes of 3 or more hours on nearly every airline we've ever flown. 

As to your car rental issues. Does the car rental counter really close at 2:00 PM? I've never heard of a car rental company closing just after lunch time. I think the first thing I'd have done is call the rental car company to see what options I have. Are you certain they don't close at 2:00 AM rather than 2:00 PM? I'd be curious to know which car rental company your using so that I can avoid them in the future. It's just not that unusual for airlines to make changes that would put your arrival after 2:00 PM. I just can't imagine a car rental company that would shut down so early as to make them essentially useless to airline passengers.


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## Anne S (Apr 29, 2009)

I understand how frustrating it is when ailrines change their schedules, but you should not be so hard on American--as others have pointed out, every airline does this. And the further out you book, the more likely it is that there will be schedule changes. Check AA's schedules, and if there is another flight that works better for you, try to have AA put you on it instead. 

You say that you will get into Key West at 4:30. I am assuming you mean 4:30 PM, not AM, since you say that your car rental closes at 2 PM (Which does seem somewhat unlikely). But since you are not changing the dates of your rental, only the pickup time, they should still honor the original rate. We have often had to change the pick-up time of our rental because of a change in the flight, and the original quote was always honored.


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## Pat H (Apr 29, 2009)

Did you check to see if AA has other flights you can take that day? If so they should be willing to accomodate you on those other flights. It doesn't make any difference how you paid for the flight either. Call and ask for customer service not reservations.


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## Talent312 (Apr 29, 2009)

From suffering thru equipment issues, weather delays, lost luggage, long lines at rental counters and traffic jams in locations as varied as London, Rome (Italy), Miami, New Orleans, and San Franciso, I have learned the hard way that its foolish to plan and prepay for anything for the day of arrival... whether its a show, a tour, a football game, a hotel room or a rental car.  The savings are simply not worth the risk.


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## Cathyb (Apr 30, 2009)

Talent312:  So how do you reserve a night's stay before you venture out on your trip if it is highest season -- say February in Key West?


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## vettebuf (Apr 30, 2009)

Darn! Our return flight was cancelled today but with Continental. The cruise is in October and we need a flight that leaves from Rome after 11 or 11:30 AM. I booked a 2 PM return flight and got switched to a 9:50 AM flight. Of course, they gave me my money back but now I have to start all over and I can't find any other direct flights in the $600 range. 

I can understand the reason for canceling flights but I wish the airlines were more tolerant of the passengers who have to cancel flights and give us some or all of our money back when we need to.


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## Skinsfan1311 (Apr 30, 2009)

Talent312 said:


> From suffering thru equipment issues, weather delays, lost luggage, long lines at rental counters and traffic jams in locations as varied as London, Rome (Italy), Miami, New Orleans, and San Franciso, I have learned the hard way that its foolish to plan and prepay for anything for the day of arrival... whether its a show, a tour, a football game, a hotel room or a rental car.  The savings are simply not worth the risk.



QFT.........


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## exyeh (Apr 30, 2009)

Hi, dougp26364: 

When you said:
"we try to fly in a day ahead of time and, sometimes we end up flying out one day post cruise. I've had major changes of 3 or more hours on nearly every airline we've ever flown."

Would you let me know if we need to do something to prevent the trouble of possible flight change?  We use miles to book AA flight to Anchorage for cruise on 6/18 arriving at 1:05 AM on 6/19. And our train is 11:00 AM on 6/19 (fee paid already). The latest time to take the bus to port is 3:00 PM that day. Is it to risky to have this kind of schedule?

Anybody's suggestion is very welcome, too!!
Emily


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## Talent312 (Apr 30, 2009)

Cathyb said:


> Talent312:  So how do you reserve a night's stay before you venture out on your trip if it is highest season -- say February in Key West?



I usually try for hotels that you can cancel by 6PM without being charged.  I know well that in resort areas, this is often not possible and you have no choice but to pay a deposit and suffer a restrictive cancellation policy.  And if you've booked a TS, well, t.s.  What'cha gonn'a do?  

All I'm sayiing is, it don't make no sense to dig yourself into a hole with a prepaid, non-refundable service... if you can avoid it... unless you know for a fact that nothing will keep you from being there.

Disclosure: I admit to pre-paying a London flat in full.  I figure that, on a non-stop from Orlando, I'll get there _sometime_ on the scheduled date.  But I'm not gonn'a plan to do nothin' that day.  My tickets to Eric Clapton in concert are three days later.


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## JeffW (Apr 30, 2009)

exyeh said:


> ...Would you let me know if we need to do something to prevent the trouble of possible flight change?..



I'm guessing that if you buy a cruise + airfare package from the cruise company, maybe there's some extra assistance.  They can't do much in terms of a flight cancellation, but maybe instead of you having to rebook yourself on a different flight on the same airline, the cruise company can arrange to rebook your flight on a completely different airline.  Just a guess.


Flight changes are nothing new.  A few years ago, I had my MIL booked on Continental from Bakersfield to Philadelphia.  Received a notice to contact Continental, turns out they decided to cancel service to BFL for the summer.  They said she could return from pretty much any airport she wanted.  One thing they wouldn't let he do though is fly on a partner airline, unfortunate since Delta (part of CO in SkyTeam) still was operating out of Bakersfield.

Jeff


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## Talent312 (Apr 30, 2009)

exyeh said:


> We used miles to book AA flight to Anchorage for cruise on 6/18 arriving at 1:05 AM on 6/19. And our train is 11:00 AM on 6/19 (fee paid already). The latest time to take the bus to port is 3:00 PM that day. Is it too risky to have this kind of schedule?



You are prob'ly okay with that.  But you may want to check on what alternate flights might get you there in time, just in case you need to sweet talk a CSR.

For those who moan about cancellations months in advance, at least you're not arriving at an airport from abroad to find that you last leg home is cancelled, you've been switched to a flight the next day, and better yet, you're in Newark, NJ.


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## dougp26364 (Apr 30, 2009)

Talent312 said:


> You are prob'ly okay with that.  But you may want to check on what alternate flights might get you there in time, just in case you need to sweet talk a CSR.
> 
> For those who moan about cancellations months in advance, at least you're not arriving at an airport from abroad to find that you last leg home is cancelled, you've been switched to a flight the next day, and better yet, you're in Newark, NJ.




Wow, a couple of years ago, we had something very similar happen. But we were flying into JFK on a flight that apparently didn't have permission to land and no one knew was coming in. We were met by several armed imigration agents and had to show our passport just to get off the plane. We ended up in a Hilton hotel in across from the airport in Newark and had to do some quick shuffling to find a flight out to get us home. It was definately a trip to remember.


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## dougp26364 (Apr 30, 2009)

exyeh said:


> Hi, dougp26364:
> 
> When you said:
> "we try to fly in a day ahead of time and, sometimes we end up flying out one day post cruise. I've had major changes of 3 or more hours on nearly every airline we've ever flown."
> ...



We always try to fly in the day before the cruise. If the airlines are late, you'll have to play catch up to the ship. If you've booked you airfare through the cruiseline and, if there are enough other passengers for your cruise on the same flight, the cruiseline will often hold the ship for a couple of hours to get everyone onboard. If you booked your airfare yourself, they won't hold the ship at all and, even though the ship may still be at the docks, if you're not checked in by a certain time, they will not allow you to board. IMO, it's always best to either fly in the day before or book your air through the cruise line.

Booking air through the cruise line is often more expensive than flying in the day before and paying for a hotel. Thus, we usually fly in the day before. For instance, I just saved a total of $450 on our flights to Barcelona over what Royal Caribbean was going to charge us. This includes the flights I booked plus the cost of a hotel for 1 night. If time was an issue, then I'd have left the booking with Royal Caribbean and hoped for the best. So far, our flights to Europe have always departed late for various reasons but, all would have landed with ample time to make the ship. I just don't like the "excitement" of a delayed flight when trying to catch a cruise ship that can and will depart without you.

As for you situation coming home from Alaska. Most flights I'm aware of don't leave Anchorage until very late afternoon of early evening. Unless something really unusual happen with the ship getting into port, I wouldn't worry about it. I wouldn't be taking the last bus either but, you should be fine. I would, on the other hand, look at alternate flights just in case and get to know the hotels and their prices around Anchorage in the event something unusual happens. 

If it were me taking the northbound Alaskan cruise, I'd be booking my flight for the same day the ship arrives but, it would be one of the later flights in the day. I would also keep in mind that it's possible to miss a connecting flight. I'd be looking at alternate flights at the hub to see what possiblities there are should something happen and our original departing flight gets delayed. 

Yes I'm an over planner but, I've been stuck enough to know that over planning eventually pays off. When everyone else is scrambling to find out what they can do, I'm on my phone calling reservations to get on the next flight or, booking my hotel room at the hotel of my choice for the night.


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## exyeh (May 1, 2009)

Thank you very much for everyone's input!! We will look into those suggestions carefully!! Thank you. 
Emily


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## Eric in McLean (May 5, 2009)

Something like this happened to us on United for our trip to Carlsbad around Thanksgiving last year.  We got a full refund and compensation of $50 per person which was nearly impossible to redeem.  We could not use the discount online, had to call United on the phone and then had to send the vouchers in within 24 hours using certified mail with return receipt.


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## lily28 (May 5, 2009)

if you are close to an united airport counter, you can also exchange the voucher there within 24 hours.


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