| legion |
09-25-2019 04:56 AM |
At Least They Weren't "Reaccommodated"
Between the total loss of civil rights at airports and on airplanes, and the fact that airlines treat passengers like mindless cattle, I quit flying 5 years ago. Every time I read something like this, it reinforces my decision. And the fact is, that it takes me the same amount of time to drive or fly to places like Atlanta (which is an 11 hour drive).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-american-flight-that-wouldnt-take-off-11569403806
Quote:
Flight 988, a seven-hour trip from Lima to Dallas-Fort Worth on an 18-year-old Boeing 757, suffered four different mechanical problems that kept it grounded three days in a row starting on Sept. 9. Each day passengers boarded and taxied out, only to end up back in the terminal standing in lines to re-enter Peru, collect luggage and ride shuttles to hotels.
It’s a case study of the choices airlines make when flights go badly wrong, and how that impacts travelers. In this case, American didn’t take extra steps to resolve a bad situation, and it went worse fast.
“It was lather, rinse and repeat. It was the same response every time,” says Angie Thomas, a passenger on the flight and program manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
…
American says it didn’t switch the regular 757 it flies to Lima from Dallas to a larger 767 to help get stranded passengers out. It also decided not to ferry in a replacement 757 because it kept believing, Mr. Freig says, that each of the four different mechanical problems would get fixed and the plane would be on its way faster than a replacement jet could fly them home.
American didn’t set up a separate check-in line for the 171 passengers of Flight 988, so each day they had to wait in long lines. It didn’t send in extra ground workers to help, and travelers say communication from the crew and the ground staff was sparse.
“We were literally prisoners,” says Andrew Perez, a mediator from McAllen, Texas.
The problems began Sept. 9, when the 11:47 p.m. departure had a glitch in the intercom system pilots and flight attendants use to communicate, a necessary safety item. Maintenance workers determined a replacement part would have to be shipped in from Miami. The flight was, in effect, delayed 24 hours.
Passengers lined up to re-enter Peru through passport control. It was about 2 a.m. and only two officers were on duty. Passenger Ryan Kost, a mountain guide based in Colorado, says he was the end of the line and he stood for close to two hours. Then passengers had to retrieve luggage and shuttle to a hotel, paid for by American. It was 5:15 a.m. when he got to his hotel room.
The next try to leave, scheduled that Tuesday at 11:47 p.m., experienced the next breakdown: An indicator showed a problem with a door and its emergency slide, which was repaired with passengers on board. At about 12:40 a.m., passengers say, the plane taxied out for takeoff. Spirits lifted.
And then they didn’t go anywhere. At about 1:30 a.m., the captain told passengers that “paperwork” wasn’t completed before the airport closed at 1:30 a.m. for planned runway repair work. American’s Mr. Freig says the captain was waiting for final weight-and-balance numbers from dispatchers, usually a routine and quick calculation. American says it’s looking into what happened.
The aborted departure meant another night in Lima so the crew could get required rest. Many passengers didn’t get to hotels that night until 4 a.m.
Wednesday’s attempt was no smoother. The crew didn’t show up for the 10:30 p.m. departure until 10:15—ground staff said they were stuck in traffic. American says that’s not all that unusual in Lima.
Before boarding, a battery failure was discovered on the plane. Given another delay, American says it moved 35 passengers to United and Delta flights. With a repair made, the aircraft began its taxi at 2:14 a.m. Then an engine problem. American finally said after 4 a.m. it would rebook all passengers on other flights.
Passengers and American tell conflicting stories about how hard the airline tried to rebook them during the three days. American started rebooking right away, says Mr. Freig, but other airlines didn’t have many available seats. American says it moved a couple of customers the first night—business-class and top-level frequent fliers typically go first—and 25 after the second. Some took “their own destiny in their own hands,” Mr. Freig says, and found seats when the airline didn’t. About 115 remained.
Yet American was able to rebook all passengers on other flights Thursday after the third cancellation, many to Miami. By the time they got to their destinations, it was well into Friday.
Some passengers who tried to get out earlier say they were told by American’s ground staff they weren’t going to rebook them because the plane would be repaired and on its way.
Allan Dumlao, a biotechnology expert from San Francisco, called American’s reservation line the first night and an agent rebooked him on LATAM to New York, connecting to San Francisco on American. When he got a confirmation, it was instead back on the Dallas flight. Members of the Kansas church group say they had a similar experience—rebooked on LATAM through Miami by their travel agent only to find American didn’t move their tickets to LATAM.
Ms. Thomas, trying to get to New Mexico, was told that if she wanted to fly another airline, she’d have to pay for it herself. She did, purchasing a $1,100 for a ticket to Cancún, Mexico, then on to Albuquerque on United through Houston.
American says it will look into how rebooking was handled, and the company is reaching out to passengers to apologize. Yet two weeks after the three-day nightmare ended, four of the eight passengers I talked to said they hadn’t heard from the airline.
Ms. Thomas says she did get a call in response to the complaint she filed and request for reimbursement of the $1,100 ticket home. At first American offered a voucher, then sent an email offering to refund $620 from her original $1,500 ticket for the two flights she didn’t use, plus 40,000 frequent-flier miles, but refused to reimburse the ticket she bought to get home on United.
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