American Airlines: Rip-Off
8American Airlines stole hundreds of dollars from me. But what they did was perfectly legal—according to their policy. Here’s the whole story:
I bought a round-trip ticket for about $400 to fly from Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington DC , to Lambert International Airport (STL) in St. Louis , in November. I was set to fly to St. Louis on Monday, December 22, and fly home Sunday, December 28. However, I had a family emergency.
On Wednesday, December 17, I learned that doctors needed to induce pregnancy for my younger sister due to complications with her pregnancy. We were told to expect her baby to be on a ventilator. I needed to get to the hospital to support my sister and my family immediately. So I called the airline that night to change my ticket.
I was told I would have to pay a $150 fee and then pay for the difference in ticket price. Altogether, it would cost me about $500 to change my ticket. I told the representative from American Airlines the price was too expensive and asked what my options were. She said I had none and that I could not fly standby because it was too early. I even asked if there was a special discount for family emergencies. Again, I was told no and that I would have to pay money, fly home on my original date, or find other transportation. I told the representative I would have to find a different way home. I made it clear that I would have to fly to St. Louis immediately.
I found a one-way ticket (a direct flight) with Southwest Airlines that would leave early the next day. I bought the ticket for just $150. My boyfriend Patrick drove me to the airport in Baltimore (BWI) that morning and I flew to St. Louis in time for the birth of my nephew, Eli. I spent the next four days with my sister in the hospital.
Once my trip was over, on December 28, I was dropped off at the airport (STL). I tried to check in but my ticket could not be found. I learned it had been cancelled. A representative told me this is customary for passengers who fail to take the first portion of their flight. This was the first time I had heard of this policy. I was especially surprised since this was not mentioned to me when I had called the airline previously. When I explained this to the representative, she simply said there was almost no way for me to know unless I would have specifically asked when I had called. How was I supposed to know?
I asked if I get my money back. The answer was no. Even though I had paid nearly $200 for a seat, and was ready to take my seat on the flight to DCA, it was gone. Not only was my ticket cancelled, it was sold to another passenger, which means American Airlines made even more money off of me. I asked if I could fly standby and I was told no—not without purchasing a new ticket for the price of $1000. I started to cry because I felt stranded, hopeless, and like I was just robbed.
I ended up booking a flight on Southwest Airlines for $240. That meant I could fly to Baltimore that day. I did– but this time, Patrick was on a later flight with American Airlines and would be flying to DCA. So I had to then take a shuttle to the Amtrak station, purchase a $20 ticket, and then go to Union Station. From there, I took Metro back up to my apartment in Rockville, Maryland .
I’m sure this policy is probably common knowledge to frequent flyers and those who fly American Airlines all the time. I don’t have the luxury of flying all the time—even though I love to travel. I also book flights based on price, not airline. This policy seems especially harsh and unnecessary. I also believe American Airlines should have contacted me before canceling my ticket. After all, they have no problem e-mail me when there are changes to my flight, when my flight is ready for online check-in, or when they want me to buy more frequent flyer miles, or sign up for an American Airlines credit card. I get e-mails from them on a regular basis, and get offers from American Airlines a couple times a month. Yet, this policy was hidden from me. Of course the airline wouldn’t tell me about this policy over the phone. They couldn’t double their money on my seat had I known.
Has anyone had something similar happen? How often do airlines cancel tickets, sell it to other customers, and then want even more money from the person they just ripped off? Anyone else know of other hidden policies that rob customers of their money, seat, or anything else??? Let me know! I’m pretty furious.
Marsha/Mrsha’s comment, “When you buy a ticket it is a contract. If you don’t show up for your 1st flight, the contract is broken” is really dumb, from a legal perspective.
It’s true that the ticket is a contract. The consideration paid by the passenger is money, not riding the plane. Giving a plane ride is the consideration given by the airline. The only way the passenger can breach the contract is by not paying for the flight. When the passenger actually flies, that actually costs the airline money (especially when they are able to sell the empty seat to another passenger). Something that actually costs the other party to a contract money can’t be consideration.
The real reason for the policy is 1) to extract money from people, and apparently (per Joey) 2) to combat use of promotional fares. That’s fine, but the downside of trying to use price discrimination (in the economic sense, perfectly legal and reasonable) between business and leisure travelers is it leads to bizarre and byzantine business practices that drive people to Southwest, AirTran, etc., as it did with Joey and the blog host.
I recently ran into a similar situation, but knew I would need to buy a one-way back because, if you can think of a way that a major airline will screw you, they will do it. I chose a different carrier for the trip back. Unfortunately, Southwest had just discontinued the route I needed, or I definitely would have used them.
Sorry to hear about your ordeal with American Airlines. I also had a nightmare with them which left me so frustrated I had to put it on the internet just because I didn’t know what else I could possibly do. Please come post your ordeal on my website http://www.worstairlines.com which I made because of American Airlines. Thanks.
I just got the following from my travel agent. I am not an experienced flyer…….so this is really confusing and upsetting to me. I don’t know much about switching planes etc……so that is why we origionally got a non-stop flight. And………they changed our flights from non-stop…….but do you think we will get a discount or anything?? Nope! I will never use them again. EVER! What rip off artists!!!!!!!!!!! (see below)
We just received notice of major changes in your flights to/from Cancun. American canceled their non-stop flights. They are offering flights requiring one change of planes in each direction. You would leave O’Hare at 7:55 a.m. (instead of the original departure time of 8:15), and arrive in Cancun at 1:40 p.m. (instead of 11:45 a.m.). Your return flight would leave at 2:40 p.m. (instead of 1:45), arriving in Chicago at 9:15 (instead of 5:25).
At the moment, we can get you on non-stop Mexicana flights, leaving O’Hare at 10:25 a.m., arriving in Cancun at 2:15 p.m. and returning at 2:45 p.m., getting back at 6:40, for $292. (Neither flight availability nor air fares are guaranteed until paid in full.) The American flights cost you $292.69 per person, so the total cost wouldn’t change significantly. However, although it would we would have to cancel the American flights and get you a full refund of $585.38, which might take a few weeks to show up on your credit card. Meanwhile, you would have to pay for the Mexicana flights in full. Alternatively, you could just accept the American proposal.
American Airlines is the worst airline on the planet as you have discovered – they steal frequent flyer miles whenever they can and don’t care how long you’ve been a customer- I will never use them again and will let ever I know never to use them either.
I’ve worked for AA for over 30 years and Joey H.’s explanation is very on target. When you buy a ticket it is a contract. If you don’t show up for your 1st flight, the contract is broken. The airlines don’t call and ask why you didn’t use the segment. They cancel the return because because that seat might go unused. There are no refunds because the price was based on a round trip as flown. You did the best thing which was find low one way prices with no restrictions. It’s always difficult when you have to change your ticket at the last minute due to emergencies. Most emergency fares are not very low. I’m still so sorry to hear of your experience because I still believe American is a 1st rate airline. Thanks for listening, Marsha
I’m so sorry to hear about your Drama with American Airlines. Clearly the agent didn’t make effort to communicate with you all the ramifications of finding ‘other transportation’ to get to St Louis for your flight. I hope they make efforts to resolve this with you. I know I’ll think twice before ever booking on American Airlines, simply because of the way you were treated.
Lindsey,
This is standard policy not only for AA, but virtually all the airlines. The policy to cancel all segments of an itinerary when you fail to show up for the first segment was designed to combat a strategy that business flyers were using.
You see, many discount tickets historically required a Saturday night stay. This meant that the discount tickets (which were aimed at leisure flyers) were useless to business flyers who did not want to have to stay away from home over the weekend.
So, business flyers began buying TWO round-trip discount tickets. They would use outbound portion of the second ticket and the inbound portion of the first ticket. The other half of each round-trip would be discarded. Buying two discount tickets was still cheaper than a full fare ticket. But the two round trip segments could be timed so they could be used in the same week (no Saturday night stay).
To combat this tactic, the airlines routinely cancel return segments when the first segment is not used.
I sympathize with your situation, but I am not surprised.
This is part of the reason that I almost always use Southwest. If you fail to show up for a flight — for whatever reason — the ticket funds go back into your account for use later. If you want to change your flight, just cancel the first one and rebook. The new fare may be higher, but you won’t lose the value of the ticket you’ve already bought. Plus, Southwest employees are almost always helpful and pleasant, their flights are usually on time, and they seem to go the extra mile to deal with problems.