AA stranded me and my family in MIA, is there anything I can do?

[AsherO]

Hard to believe these clowns keep us safe  #securitytheatre

[incendia]

Hard to believe these clowns keep us safe  #securitytheatre

they dont keep us safe they are supposed to make us feel safe

[Something Fishy]

they dont keep us safe they are supposed to make us feel safe

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater

[Shmelly]

Completely OT, but I flew AA out of MIA on Feb 3. Got to the gate at 5:44 for a 6AM flight, and they closed the gate behind us. On the plane they announced "just sit in whatever seat is closest to you, we need to go now!". The plane started taxiing while people were still putting things in the overheads. No pre-flight check, nothing. Never experienced anything like that. 

[dealfinder85]

Completely OT, but I flew AA out of MIA on Feb 3. Got to the gate at 5:44 for a 6AM flight, and they closed the gate behind us. On the plane they announced "just sit in whatever seat is closest to you, we need to go now!". The plane started taxiing while people were still putting things in the overheads. No pre-flight check, nothing. Never experienced anything like that.

shady
but good if you made it

[Shmelly]

shady
but good if you made it

One of my bags didn't make it and was put on the next flight out.

[caliheat]

Hard to believe these clowns keep us safe  #securitytheatre

They are completely incompetent!
In JFK a few months back, I left my backpack at the TSA area for over half an hour and it stayed in the same spot, nobody even noticed it!
On the current topic, I had an almost similar situation, made it to gate as door was closing, thankfully they (US) let us on..

[bubble347]

They are completely incompetent!
In JFK a few months back, I left my backpack at the TSA area for over half an hour and it stayed in the same spot, nobody even noticed it!
On the current topic, I had an almost similar situation, made it to gate as door was closing, thankfully they (US) let us on..

That was not the case here as the door wasn't shut until approximately half an hour after I arrived as they were going through the standby list one by one clearing everyone. The plane did not leave until 11:57 and was scheduled for 11:35.

[joeb1]

so they responded same day with some load of crap

Thank you for contacting Customer Relations. On behalf of US Airways and the new American Airlines, we appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.
I'm sorry you missed boarding of Flight 1510. If passengers are not checked in and present in the boarding area at least 15 minutes before scheduled departure time, reservations may be canceled. In order to ensure an on-time departure, our gate agents begin the flight close-out process 20 minutes prior to departure. In addition, our pilots have the discretion to depart the gate 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time.
Again, thank you for bringing these concerns to our attention. We look forward to the opportunity to welcome you back onboard a US Airways and new American Airlines flight soon.

[joeb1]

so they responded same day with some load of crap

Thank you for contacting Customer Relations. On behalf of US Airways and the new American Airlines, we appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.
I'm sorry you missed boarding of Flight 1510. If passengers are not checked in and present in the boarding area at least 15 minutes before scheduled departure time, reservations may be canceled. In order to ensure an on-time departure, our gate agents begin the flight close-out process 20 minutes prior to departure. In addition, our pilots have the discretion to depart the gate 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time.
Again, thank you for bringing these concerns to our attention. We look forward to the opportunity to welcome you back onboard a US Airways and new American Airlines flight soon.

heres what i wrote to them

I showed up to the gate 22 minutes prior to departure and
was denied boarding along with my wife and 3 year old son
because the agent informed me I missed final boarding. 1.
There was no announcements for final boarding 2. this was
22 minutes prior to departure 3. they were still boarding
the plane but chose to give away my seats to stand by
pass over me because they had so many cancellations that
day. There was no compensation offered and I ended up
sitting in the airport until 8:45PM that night in order
to get home.

[Dan]

Write to DoT.

[joeb1]

I did sent same letter to DOT ahuld I have added any further details or was that enough?

[Marco Polo]

I did sent same letter to DOT ahuld I have added any further details or was that enough?

Always better to be as detailed as you can.

[bubble347]

Always better to be as detailed as you can.

Just keep the DoT complaint simple.
You were at the gate at T-17 and witnesses can attest to that and you were IDB.

[Marco Polo]

Just keep the DoT complaint simple.
You were at the gate at T-17 and witnesses can attest to that and you were IDB.

You don't need to write a book, but details are important.

[yakrot]

Same thing happened to me. I was booked on  the 742 departure on Feb 2, I believe that I arrived at the gate more than 15 minutes before, when I arrived there was no one present at the gate and there were an additional 4 people standing around in utter confusion. At about 740 an agent came out and informed us that we "missed our flight".  After arguing pointlessly with the agent who lied to my face and told me that the gate was open until 730 I went to rebooking to see what I can do there.  I explained everything that happened very strongly to the rebooking agent who told me all they can do is put me on (priority) standbye which she did.  I asked to speak to a manager who first told me that she will see when they closed the gate based on the last tickets scanned.
After clicking around for a little (and presumably finding that the gate closed waay too early) she changed tactics one and said it does not matter what time the gate closed,  but would depend on when I arrived which can only be determined by checking the cameras. After a quick phone call to the "camera guy"  he was in a meeting and couldn't be reached.  The manager said that she will call me if she hears back from him later.
In the meantime I had to go on standbye for the next flight (which thankfully I made.  The manager did call me back and told me that I arrived 14 minutes prior to departure, not fifteen. And she admitted to me that the gate closed 12 minutes prior to departure, but that was none of my concern. (manager claimed she had a time stamped picture of me arriving 14 minutes prior, however I have no way of knowing if the picture was taken from when I just arrived or from the 15 minutes after I arrived when I was waiting for a gate agent.  Never even saw the picture as I got on standbye for the next flight)

[yakrot]

Same thing happened to me. I was booked on  the 742 departure on Feb 2, I believe that I arrived at the gate more than 15 minutes before, when I arrived there was no one present at the gate and there were an additional 4 people standing around in utter confusion at about 740 an agent came out and informed us that we "missed our flight"  after arguing pointlessly with the agent who lied to my face and told me that the gate was open until 730 I went to rebooking to see what I can do there.  I explained everything that happened very strongly to the agenda who told me all they can do is put me on (priority) standbye which she did.  I asked to speak to a manager who first told me that she will see when they closed the gate based on the last tickets scanned.
After clicking around for a little (and presumably finding that the gate closed waay too early) she changed tactics one and said it does not matter what time the gate closed,  but would depend on when I arrived which can only be determined by checking the cameras. After a quick phone call to the "camera guy"  he was in a meeting and couldn't be reached.  The manager said that she will call me if she hears back from him later.
In the meantime I had to go on standbye for the next flight (which thankfully I made.  The manager did call me back and told me that I arrived 14 minutes prior to departure, not fifteen. And she admitted to me that the gate closed 12 minutes prior to departure, but that was none of my concern. (manager claimed she had a time stamped picture of me arriving 14 minutes prior, however I have no way of knowing if the picture was taken from when I just arrived or from the 15 minutes after I arrived when I was waiting for a gate agent.  Never even saw the picture as I got on standbye for the next flight)

I appoligize if this post is somewhat incoherent as I typed this up on my phone.

[avromie7]

I appoligize if this post is somewhat incoherent as I typed this up on my phone.

it's not bad no it isn't either a professional article but clear enough that i didn't need to scratch my head to understand like for some other posts...

[avremie]

Does that fact that it was an avios ticket make compensation more difficult?

[lunatic]

these are uneducated minimum-wage workers.
To have an entire family of 5 wait for 45 min and miss your flights for a small water bottle scan, when it can all just be thrown into the garbage is ridiculous.

There should be TSA managers on location to weed that out.

When I flew a few weeks ago,  they took away my cream cheese.  I asked for a supervisor because it was for my kids,  and the supervisor said it was forbidden because it was a cream 😯