American Airlines wronged me. Should I take their offer or keep fighting?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Long story short, I was flying AA to the Caribbean. The plane that’s supposed to take me from Dallas to Puerto Rico is several hours late. As such, I have to spend the night in a mediocre hotel in the San Juan airport and I’m given $17 for food. I end up getting to my destination 18 hours late.

The problem is not weather related, and I have a note stating that from some manager in Dallas, but I think AA believes me on this point.

My contention is that screwing someone out of 18 hours of vacation is a big deal. The Best Western at the San Juan airport is not a 1 for 1 trade for a beach house. Not to mention, $17 for two meals is insulting. AA should know how much food at the airport costs.

So, AA is offering me 10,000 miles, which is 40% of a domestic round trip. (I had asked for a free domestic round trip) For reference, 10,000 miles can be purchased from AA for $250.

What really irks me is that in the email I got from AA, they suggest I look into trip insurance next time. To that I say piss up a rope. They are the ones who should be insuring against their screw ups.

So, does 10,000 miles seem like the going rate for compensation, or should I ask for more?

#2

I would ask for more, but not expect it. With airline deregulation you really have little to no recourse.

#3

You got something? Wow. I’m not too experienced in this–I’ve only had two non-weather-related major flight delays–but I’ve never even gotten money for food before. And one of those flight delays was after being forced to land in an entirely different city because the plane that landed before us crashed off the runway.

I’m not saying to settle now, but…I’d be happy at the $267 level.

#4

I think you’ll find it difficult to get a seat on a flight for only 25,000 miles. And I can’t imagine who would be foolish enough to buy 10,000 miles for $250 today. (There are thousands of people with thousands of miles in their frequent flyer accounts and it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to use them all.)

#5

2 meals: $17
10,000 air miles: $250
Watching Law & Order in a sleep-and-f&ck motel instead of watching Caribbean blue water crash into the beach: priceless.

In short, you’re probably screwed.

#6

If it is not weather related (I got screwed by this excuse by United once) and you have a note to prove it, AA should pony up.

If it were me I’d be asking for:

  • cost of the hotel in San Juan
  • cost of the lost night at the beach house
    in CASH or CREDIT (NOT miles). Push for credit toward a future flight. By only getting miles, they’re ensuring that you either fly more with them, or use one of their FF plans (like using a Citibank cc card) and that’s not really fair. Plus credit toward a future flight is like “real money” - no lower priority than FF seats.
#7

Go here —> http://consumerist.com/ and run a search on American Airlines. There are quite a few horror stories there, but you should find some nuggets that may convince you to fight on.

Next time, join the boycott and don’t fly AA ever again.

#8

If the airlines insure against you missing your vacation, then the cost of everybody’s ticket goes up, even the people who don’t much care if they’re a day late or have to scrounge airline food. I’d rather decide on my own whether I want to pay extra for that than have it bulk-included by the airline.

I’m not saying that delays don’t suck, I’m just saying that I’d rather leave the extent to which the suckage is paid for up to the individual.

TANSTAAFL.

#9

Tell em to shove thier “miles” or “points” or whatever. You want** THE MONEY!**

#10

I think you should sue them into oblivion. We don’t need no stinkin AA, all the others are better and if AA goes out of business flying will be better and cheaper. Trust me on this…

#11

You already have 2 strikes against you. AA will claim that 99% of it’s customers that suffered through similar delays accepted the same offer. Strike two is you had the opportunity to protect yourself.

Their attorneys will use magic words reasonable compensation and personal responsibility. Judges like that kind of stuff. You never stated what caused the delay. How do you intend to prove AA was negligent for the delay?