American Airlines - Customer Service At Its Worst

5/4/2010: I’m sitting here on the bed at the Comfort Inn near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. It’s an okay room, but the problem is that I am supposed to be in Michigan and instead I’m sitting here on the bed at the Comfort Inn in Dallas. No suitcase, no change of clothes, no vitamins, etc. The man at the desk was kind enough to give me contact lens solution and a toothbrush, because I didn’t even have that.

I’ll be getting up at 4 a.m., and riding back to the airport, hopefully to get a “stand by” ticket on the earliest AA flight out. According to American Airlines, I’m lucky I don’t have to pay for the ticket (although I do have to pay for the hotel). I’m here because of a mistake by their employee; however, they don’t care.

This is a pretty lousy ending to what was a very nice trip with friends to Miami. We rented a condo at the Fontainebleau, and had a great long weekend. I was supposed to fly home tonight, and get back to work in the morning. Unlike my trip here, first class and non-stop, this trip was economy, and two flights.

From Miami, I flew to Dallas/Fort Worth, where I was supposed to catch AA Flight 2500 at 7:45 p.m. to Detroit. I landed here at 7:00 p.m. (Florida and Michigan time). I thought that meant I’d be leaving 15 minutes after landing, which was perfect for me.

I went to the appointed gate; D28, and asked one of the two employees standing behind the desk if this was the right gate for the flight to Detroit. “Oh yes,” the man answered, “But you are not boarding in 15 minutes. It’s only 5 o’clock here; we’re on central time.” I said, “You mean I have over two hours to wait?” “Yes,” he said.

I was disappointed. I was wearing heels, carrying a heavy laptop bag, and I was ready to go home. He told me there was a lounge I could sit in upstairs and watch TV. So I did. I went up and sat in the comfortable chairs, watched TV, read my book, had a glass of wine, and then went down to the Pro Shop and got a shirt for a family member.

At 9:00 p.m. on my watch (which meant 7:00 p.m. in Dallas, according to the American Airlines employee), I went back to the gate and sat down. It was pretty quiet, and I wondered why there was no notice about the flight on the sign at the gate.

Finally, at 9:15 p.m. my time, I went to an American Airlines employee at D30 (since there was no one at D28). She said the flight had left an hour earlier, and since it was so late, I’d have to pay for another ticket! I told her I’d been informed by an American Airlines employee that there was a 2 hour time difference between here and Miami, and asked for a supervisor, thinking they would help me out.

The supervisor wasn’t much better. She asked me what the employee looked like, and when I described him, told me she didn’t have any employees like that. She said it was probably someone who came over to push someone in a wheel chair.

What??? I told her there was no one around to push; the gate area was empty. She said, “Yeah, but sometimes they hang around.” I told her he was behind the American Airlines desk at the very gate I was to leave from, and he confirmed that the Detroit flight was scheduled to leave from that gate. Moreover, there was a female employee standing right next to him when he told me that it was only 5 p.m. (when I thought it was 7 p.m.), and she had said nothing when he told me there was a 2 hour time difference from Miami.

“Maybe she wasn’t listening,” she said. “So,” I asked, “You are saying that because I believed an employee behind your desk who wrongly told me there was a 2 hour time difference, and although the woman employee right next to him did not correct him, and therefore I missed my flight, that I am stuck here with no flights out until the morning??”

Yup. That’s what she was telling me. In fact, at first, since my ticket was purchased with rewards points (apparently American Airlines also penalizes you for spending thousands of dollars and thereby earning enough points for a plane ticket), I couldn’t even get the earliest flight out. No, I was stuck there until about noon, thereby killing another day.

On top of that, I had to pay for the hotel room! But not to worry! I would get their “special rate.” (Not to mention that I hadn’t had any dinner, which they also were not going to cover.) I told her I needed to get back to work and asked about the 6 a.m. flight. “Well,” she said disinterestedly, “If you want to come early and try to fly stand-by I guess you can do it.” (Turns out there were 20 empty seats on that earlier flight. But far be it from American Airlines to be accommodating.)

So without my luggage, or any necessary toiletries, I took the shuttle to the Comfort Inn. There, I called American Airlines to see if maybe there was someone at the Airline who did give a care about their customers. Sadly, there wasn’t.

Instead I was transferred to another, equally accommodaating supervisor who told me I could send AA an email if I wanted to, or try to find someone to talk to at the airport in the morning. Thanks a lot.

The bottom line to this story is that I am stuck in Dallas in a hotel I don't want to be in, hoping to “squeeze in” stand-by on a flight with 20 empty seats in the morning. And what does American Airlines propose to do to compensate me for the inconvenience, the aggravation, the wasted time, and additional cost?

Absolutely nothing. They could care less if I ever get out of Dallas. Be forewarned if you ever make the mistake of flying American Airlines. If there are any glitches, whether yours or theirs, you are simply out of luck. They don’t care about you.

Usually I like to write about positive, upbeat things that happen in my life. There are other airlines I've flown who have been absolutely wonderful in their customer service.

For example, once on a United Airllines flight, we were grounded in Chicago for several hours due to high winds at our destination(clearly not their fault). Nevertheless, they gave us all a voucher to compensate us for the inconvenience. We didn’t even have to ask!

And I just returned from a wonderful trip to Japan on Delta, and to Hong Kong on ANA (Asian National Airways). I was served excellent meals, free wine, and was treated with the utmost courtesy in every way. Not to mention, the flights went smoothly and they offered a variety of free movies. This, although they had to communicate every message in at least three different languages! They were up to the challenge, and the airline employees’ communication skills at both airlines reflected excellent training in customer service.

In sharp contrast, American Airlines treated me shabbily, showed me no consideration despite the fact that it was due to the incompetence of their employees that I missed my flight. In fact, when I told the supervisor that I have a fairly popular legal website and I was going to warn the readers of my blog about the bad service I experienced at American, she responded, “You can go ahead and write on your blog if you like.” Nice.

But I’ve learned my lesson, and I hope my experience will save you the trouble of flying the unfriendly skies of American Airlines. At a time when most are still struggling to recover from the global recession, it seems that American Airlines is doing so well they don’t need my business, and therefore don’t have to treat me with courtesy or respect. They don't have to worry. They won't be getting any more business from me.