In my six series post regarding my trip to LA with my husband I mentioned our disastrous flight and 7 hour delay in Dallas: American Airlines FAIL. I mentioned that I do not recommend flying with American Airlines and that despite the weather delay my comment had to do with customer service and several gate changes that was not necessary.
I took my feelings a little further:
1. Posting on the American Airlines Facebook wall regarding my displeasure. Mainly because those that were complaining about the situation in Dallas that day were being ridiculed for their uncaring nature regarding inspection of the planes for safety. This was not mine nor most of the passengers complaints. I’m sure everyone was happy that American Airlines was bringing in planes to inspect for hail damage and making sure the weather was safe before flying. It was the customer service that was the problem. I’m not going to go into more you can read my original post (linked above).
2. I took it one step further and emailed through the American Airline website my complaint. Though I did commend them for their safety efforts I explained to them why I was dissatisfied.
I received the below response as well as a $100 voucher to American Airlines good for a year.
June 7, 2011
Dear Mrs. Shibley:
Thank you for contacting us. After reading your comments, it is clear that your experience with American did not go as smoothly as we would have both preferred and we are very sorry for not serving you better.
Unfortunately, for us and our customers, severe weather events were the norm throughout the month of May. Thunderstorms at one or more of our cornerstone cities seemed to be an almost daily occurrence — forcing us to delay and cancel literally thousands of flights, affecting hundreds of thousands of customers. The inclement weather put a severe strain on our system and we recognize that many of our customers encountered cascading difficulties as a result. From the inability to connect to our Reservations centers in a timely manner for rebooking, to the limited rebooking options due to the number of flights affected, to limited hotel options during overnight stays, to baggage claiming issues upon arrival — there is no question that our customers were inconvenienced and had difficulty getting the professional assistance that they should expect and deserve. We sympathize that your plans were impacted.
As a gesture of goodwill and to encourage your future business, we have sent you an eVoucher for you to use toward the purchase of a ticket to travel with us. You will receive the eVoucher via a separate email soon.
We would like to reassure you that your experience is not typical of our usual performance. Although we cannot change the circumstances that affected your travel with us on this occasion, we are confident we can do a better job in the future. Please give us another opportunity to serve you.
Sincerely,
Luke Homan
Customer Relations
American Airlines
I do appreciate the time and effort to respond to my complaint instead of just filing it away. I understand at this point that American Airlines can do nothing but offer apologizes and in this case was considerate enough to offer a voucher. I can’t say that this voucher will sway my decision to fly or not to fly with them in the future. I more then likely will not chose them as my first choice. However I felt since I blogged about them in a negative light that it is only fair to let my readers know that they responded to my complaint in a professional and kind manner, and have tried to make amends.
I also just wanted to note that you will find as much as I may complain to companies I’m dissatisfied with I also send the same about of emails and calls for excellent service as well. It is only fair.
Zippy Sandler says
So sorry you’ve had to go through all of that. I fly American to Europe all of the time because it’s my only choice from Miami that’s REASONABLE. I’ve had both good and bad situations, but nothing is worse than some of the European airlines like Ryanair.
Colleen says
I hardly ever fly so I don’t have much to compare too I just know next time if it is in my hands will try a different airline first.
Ali says
Good for you for including this post!
Nan @ Playful Decor says
Gosh, sorry you had a bad experience. But like you say they tried and I’m trying as well to make an effort to give praise to those that do a great job more so than slam the bad ones. Haven’t visited you for a while, goin gto look around more and catch up! Have a great day!
Colleen says
Thanks for stopping back by. I know it is tough so many places to visit. Yes it was nice of them to do what they good and I felt it only fair to share it.
Mike says
I have no idea what the weather was like, but I have flown into thunderstorms – in general aviation aircraft – when I didn’t have any real choice. It can be exciting, to say the least. You grab onto the yoke and s squeeze it until your knuckles are white. And hope you don’t get hit by lightening or hail or turbulence before you find a place to land.
I helos it is even worse.
However, it is clear the problems with this flight were not safety related. I find customer service to be pretty much non-existent on most airlines.
I particularly remember at trip to Liberty in Newark. They delayed the plan at take off an hour. This meant everyones’ connecting flight in Minneapolis was missed. I had to wait 7 hours before I could get a connecting flight to Liberty. They never explained the reason they original flight was held back for an hour.
On a United Flight from Dulles to Ghana last week, one passenger disagreed with the passenger in front of them. Someone was slapped.T he pilot turned back to Dulles where had to dump a large amount fuel. The airliner got an escort back to Dulles from two F15 fighters.
No criminal charges were laid.
I wish I had been there. I have always wanted to see $1 million spent in about an hour. Remember, those F15s cost you and I, not the airline or the passengers… Operational costs for all F15s in 1997 was $16 billion dollars per year.
Patrick Smith, author of Salon’s “Ask the Pilot” column described what happened and why here: salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/
1stopmom says
I am glad to hear that they heard you. Sometimes as consumers we feel ignored. I have contacted companies in the past for both great and poor customer service too.
Donna B. says
I know it doesn’t make up for the experience, but I’m glad they acknowledged your complaint and tried to make some sort of amends.
R Hicks says
Sorry to hear about the troubles. Good to know though about AA.
FairyWater says
Oh wow! That’s one long wait! I had to wait in Dallas for at least 4-5 hours! I think maybe Dallas has the most delays! Everytime!
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Heather says
Very fair post. I had more than my fair share of trouble with American Airlines in the past.