Back in September, Kim, Lucas and I headed off on a trip to Grenada.
Along the way we had some issues with American Airlines due to switched flights and a broken stroller.
We flew from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Miami before heading off for our final destination. Upon arrival in Miami, I noticed that something was wrong with our stroller and it turned out that it had gotten broken along the way.
I filed a report at the airport and hoped) that AA would do right by us and cover the cost to replace our stroller.
After months of calling and tweeting American Airlines, our stroller situation finally got resolved (at the end of January).
Overall, I’d say that American Airlines Customer Service was pretty awful with handling our case but in the end there was a positive outcome.
Here is a brief description of what took place.
The Bad: Just about the whole experience!
- Calling the customer service # to get an update was a total waste of time. The phone was always experiencing unusually high call volume and it wouldn’t let you wait on hold. I left a bunch of messages which were never returned. When I tried other #s, I was told that only somebody at the busy # could give us info. I was even told that there were a lot of complaints about this, but over the course of our problem, nothing seemed to change.
- It seemed as though the forms/ receipts- screenshots I sent in were never received in the beginning (I did resend the info just to be safe). I was given different stories about the situation but (based on trying to call at all different hours) I know the department I was supposed to contact never picked up the phone so maybe these reps just didn’t know the answer.
- The story changed with AA about compensation from- you will get compensated to maybe you will, to somebody will review your case. It seemed like there was no straight answer as to what was going on!
The situation was FRUSTRATING to say the least!
The Good: The outcome!
- After months of pretty much no response, Kim received a phone call from an AA rep. The rep apologized for the delay and mentioned that it was due to the merger with US Airways. (I had wondered if this was the cause all along.)
- We got mixed info regarding whether or not an original receipt was needed to get reimbursed. (FYI- We don’t have a receipt for our stroller that broke since it was purchased close to four years ago). We were told that a screen capture with the price would suffice when I called in at the beginning of this ordeal. Then I was told that I’d need the receipt a couple of times! Luckily the AA rep who called Kim said to just send a screen capture of the price of the stroller.
- We were reimbursed by American for the full amount of the stroller.
In the end, American Airlines came through! It was a painful and stressful situation but I guess that our broken stroller incident report finally made it to the right person’s desk!
Have you ever filed a damage claim with American Airlines or any other airline? If so, was your claim honored?
Why did you redact the amount of the compensation? (More specifically, was it a confidentiality requirement by the airline?) I don’t really care about the actual amount, but considering how badly you were treated by the airline, whether they also impose a secrecy requirement on any settlement for damage.
Due to a bag delay of 24 hours, I had to buy 2 polo shirts in Cancun (resort dining dress code). This was November 10th. On the 15th i called AA and they assured they would reimburse me the cost of $85.00. I got all the paperwork together and faxed it that day. I received the check March 4th. I think 3.5 months to be reimbursed is absolutely absurd. I called just about every 3 weeks ago and heard the same sob story about the merger and winter storms putting them behind.
It’s not like i needed the $85 urgently, but it’s a matter of principle. More importantly to me it shows the downgrading of American’s customer service since the merger. One thing that kept this ORD flyer very loyal to AA (vs UA) was when an issue arose, I could call AA and usually get it fixed immediately. I think the new management has taken away tools from front line employees to fix problems in the name of nickle and dime-ing. After seeing the ill will and real loss of customers that type of management resulted at UA, i’m surprised AA has dropped their standards.
I still think AA is light years ahead of UA, but with the strides UA seems to be making in the customer service front I would have to see AA lose ground on that aspect of their business.