A couple weeks ago, I learned that my mom, who lives in
Houston, had cancer and was scheduled for surgery on Friday, August 15. I
immediately got online and booked a flight on @AmericanAir so I could be there
a day early to visit with her and then stay for a few days after while she was
recovering.
While I always prefer to fly @SouthwestAir, @AmericanAir
flies into Houston’s George Bush airport which is closer to the hospital than
Hobby airport where @SouthwestAir flies in to Houston.
A few days after I booked the flight, my mom called to tell
me that they had moved her surgery up a day to Thursday, August 14. Because
there’s risk with any surgery, I wanted to move my flight up a day so I could
be there the day before her surgery. I called @AmericanAir to move the flight
up one day (any time would be fine), and they told me there would be a $200
change fee (kinda understandable), plus an additional $458 for the ticket – a total
of $658 additional to move it up one day!
I explained my circumstances – so they’d know it wasn’t just
whimsy and me wanting to go a day earlier – and asked if they had any provision
for family emergencies. The agent told me there was nothing they could do.
Sounded more like there was nothing they WOULD do to me.
Needless to say I wasn’t happy with that, so I went online
and found a one-way flight – STILL on @AmericanAir – for only $195.10; $462.90
less than the agent wanted! Yes, I booked it, leaving my other round-trip
ticket in place for my return flight.
On Saturday morning (the day before my booked-and-paid-for return flight), I called to confirm my seat assignment
and try to get boarding passes for my return flight to Nashville. They told me
they had cancelled my whole ticket when I didn’t make the original flight to
Houston – unbelievable, right? How about this: In order for me to get my ticket
reissued, there would be a $200 change fee!
They cancelled my flight – NOT me –
and now they’re charging me $200 to have it back!
I’m a small business owner in Nashville, and I’d been away
for 5 days, so I really needed to get back. My mom was in excellent spirits and
doing pretty well, so I felt OK coming back, knowing I’d probably have to go
back again soon anyway. I paid the $200 change fee.
In total, because of @AmericanAir’s unwillingness to work
with me on the front end and their cancelling my flight on the back end, I paid
$400 additional for my flight – about double the original round-trip ticket I
bought, and enough to book another flight to go back and see her if I fly
@SouthwestAir, which I definitely will do when I go back.
Over the years whenever I’ve flown @AmericanAir, I’ve said, “This
is the last time I’ll fly @AmericanAir.” From now on, I will gladly pay more to
fly another airline and hope to NEVER fly @AmericanAir again!
BUYER BEWARE: Customer service @AmericanAir is horrible!
