Author Topic: American Airlines Horrible Experience (Read 7691 times)

Wheelerdealer · « **on:** September 15, 2013, 12:57:49 AM »

I just had a really horrible antisemitic experience on American Airlines, and need a customer service phone to speak to someone about this...
They gave the link to the customer relations form online...
Does anyone know of a phone number so I can speak to a live person about this?

popcorn1508 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 15, 2013, 01:18:40 AM »

Care to elaborate

Wheelerdealer · « **Reply #2 on:** September 15, 2013, 01:50:52 AM »

Sure!
Basically I along with 2 others had a 6:50pm flight this past Thursday night from ORD-EWR. I get to my gate about 25 min before my flight and I hand the ticketing agent my boarding pass
And he tells me I'm sorry I'm not letting you onto my plane (no reason , no explanation, nothing!!!!!
I was floored, As I never saw such a thing in my life (there were a few standby passengers watching this and came over to me after and said they have never seen such a thing before!)
The ticketing agent began printing out boarding passes with our seat numbers on them and letting some standby passengers board the plane! And Im watching this happen!!
I asked to speak to a manager/supervisor about this and he told me he'll call him when hes done (by the time he was done the plane was long in the air, and he never ended up getting him..)
When I asked what his last name was as his name tag only said Jay on it...he said Jay is all your getting!!

I've never had such an experience before in my life!!
It was the last flight out of ORD for the night to EWR (they cancelled the 9:45pm flight) and we needed to get home for Yom Kippur
Someone had told us that we might be able to get on a flight to LGA so we ran to that gate which was really far but by the time we got there it was completely sold out.
We went to a supervisor by the LGA gate and explained to him what had happened and he said hes sorry but hes with American Airlines and my 6:50pm flight was with American Eagle so there was nothing he could do.
We asked if they could cover my hotel for the night and he said he sorry but all hotel are sold out (mind you I ended up booking a Sheraton over the phone for that night no problem, which costed about 150.00.)
We ended up getting onto a USAirways flight at 6AM into PHL as that was the only available flight and took a cab to my house (which costed over 200.00) but I didn't have a choice as it was erev yom kippur and I couldn't miss, and went to EWR tonight to pick up my car...
So much for being priority access

caveman924 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:09:33 AM »

Just out of curiosity. When did you check in for the flight? Online well in advance or at the airport?

The reason why I ask is that airlines have the right to "commandeer" seats at their discretion if a passenger has not checked in 45 minutes before the flight (I'm not sure if it's still 45 minutes but I'm pretty sure that's the standard for AA, or at least it used to be). Seeing that you mentioned you were at the gate 25 minutes before your flight the question becomes, when did you actually check in. If it was with less than 45 minutes before your flight than you may actually be out of luck. As much as it sucks that you were terribly inconvenienced before Yom Kippur, the airline industry doesn't care about what holiday you celebrate or anybody celebrates nor will they compensate you accordingly. If however, they took your seat and you were already properly checked in whether online or at the airport well ahead of the preset time limit then what they did may in fact be in contravention of your rights as a passenger and you would therefore be entitled to compensation, based on US law, however it's a preset amount and it will be highly unlikely that you will have your cab and hotel compensated for.

BTW, why did you take a cab from PHL to NYC? It would have been significantly cheaper to have rented a car but I guess thats a whole other issue altogether.

Wheelerdealer · « **Reply #4 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:25:46 AM »

I was checked in at 4pm at the check in counter, got there early as my business meeting ended early...
I was cabbing it to Lakewood...

Wheelerdealer · « **Reply #5 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:26:05 AM »

do you have a phone number?

AJK · « **Reply #6 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:28:47 AM »

Did I miss it? Where was the anti-Semitic behavior?

ahecht37 · « **Reply #7 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:29:29 AM »

Quote from: AJK on September 15, 2013, 02:28:47 AM

Did I miss it? Where was the anti-Semitic behavior?

+1

popcorn1508 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:32:21 AM »

I would guess he felt the guy didn't let him on the plane because he's jewish don't know how anti Semitic the airline is going to think that is

AJK · « **Reply #9 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:36:58 AM »

Good luck proving that. In any event, one should be careful about slinging around that accusation lest it become cheapened by its inappropriate and over-use.

Wheelerdealer · « **Reply #10 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:40:48 AM »

well there was no other motive!
so i figured it was antisemitic or something...

AJK · « **Reply #11 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:44:41 AM »

We just spent the last 25 hours stating with conviction (hopefully) that Gd, and He alone is "yodeah machshavos."

So assuming you're not Gd, and unless you can prove it, I'd tend to exercise caution in levying that charge.

Just my two cents.

Wheelerdealer · « **Reply #12 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:54:08 AM »

was just asking for a phone number....

AJK · « **Reply #13 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:56:53 AM »

That's fine. I was just saying you should probably think twice about using that claim in your complaint.

dirah · « **Reply #14 on:** September 15, 2013, 02:58:42 AM »

As all the others said, you would be better off keeping the anti-semitism out of it if you can't prove it.
The airline can't argue with facts, but they can argue with the motive.
And, it seems like you have a solid complaint without getting into the motive, so why undermine it by giving them something to nitpick with you about.

Wheelerdealer · « **Reply #15 on:** September 15, 2013, 03:10:35 AM »

ur right...

moish · « **Reply #16 on:** September 15, 2013, 04:24:53 AM »

well if you are a semite, and the agent worked against you, he's technically an anti semite...

PlatinumGuy · « **Reply #17 on:** September 15, 2013, 06:28:51 AM »

I don't buy it. There must have been a reason.

Yordai Dooma · « **Reply #18 on:** September 15, 2013, 07:44:22 AM »

Quote from: PlatinumGuy on September 15, 2013, 06:28:51 AM

I don't buy it. There must have been a reason.

+1 me thinks there is more to this story

YOSEF · « **Reply #19 on:** September 15, 2013, 10:50:08 AM »

Was the plane boarded?

Are you sure it was 25 minutes and not less? So you were at the gate by 6:25p?

Assuming I understand correctly, and I'm inclined to agree that some of the details are missing, you would be entitled to IvDB (involuntarily denied board) compensation which I believe is $800 or maybe $1000 plus accomodations, IIRC.