A Letter

January 4, 2007

American Airlines Customer Relations
P.O. Box 619612 MD 2400
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612

 AUTOTEXTLIST To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to you to let you know that I was extremely disappointed in the service I received on my return flight to Los Angeles from Atlanta on Tuesday, December 26/Wednesday, December 27, 2006.  I feel as though everything that could have gone wrong on a trip pretty much did, save a disaster on the aircrafts themselves.

I arrived at Hartsfield airport around 5:30 p.m. to catch my 7:34 p.m. flight to Chicago O’Hare.  This flight (#4445) was scheduled to arrive at O’Hare at 8:45 p.m., giving me a one-hour layover before my 9:55 p.m. flight to LAX (#1071).  However, upon checking my boarding pass, I noticed that my Atlanta flight had been delayed approximately 20 minutes.  By the scheduled boarding time, the flight had again been delayed, this time for an hour.  The attendant at the gate was very kind and redirected me for the following morning’s flight out of O’Hare.  In addition, she added to my record (#GSNXIZ) to be given vouchers for a hotel and food for an overnight stay in Chicago.  She encouraged me to see the attendant at the gate where we disembark in Chicago as soon as I could to make sure my vouchers were printed and I was taken care of.

However, when we arrived at O’Hare (Concourse K), there were no American Airlines attendants at the gate.  I began to make my way toward the departure gate (H10) to see if there might be someone there who could help me, when I found an attendant at a nearby gate in Concourse K.  She told me to hurry to H10 to see if my flight was still there (obviously not because my flight wasn’t leaving until 6:50 the next morning).  After finding no one, I used a courtesy phone at Gate H7 and spoke with Kim.

Kim was very helpful.  She placed me on hold while she tried to find out if a baggage claim attendant could print my hotel voucher (Ticketing and all Gates were closed and completely unoccupied).  After a few moments, she returned and directed me to see the baggage claim attendant and request my hotel voucher.  When I arrived there, the gentleman was not nearly as kind as Kim.  He informed me, disdainfully, that he was not authorized to print vouchers and couldn’t help me – I would need to go to Ticketing.  I tried to explain to him that Ticketing was closed and therefore, I was sent to him, but he would have none of it.  He directed me to the courtesy phones near ticketing and suggested I call back.

In addition to this small fiasco, the woman I had spoken with earlier at the gate showed up while I was speaking with the baggage claim attendant.  She quietly went about her business behind the counter while I explained my situation and received no help whatsoever.  My question is this: if she, as a gate attendant, was authorized to print vouchers, why didn’t she offer to help, OR why didn’t the baggage claim attendant request her assistance on my behalf instead of sending me back up to the courtesy phone?

When I called the second time, Kim answered again and let me know that I would need to book a hotel on my own, but to keep my receipts and American would reimburse me.  She promptly connected me to Hotels.com so I could make my reservations.  Unfortunately, the gentleman at Hotels.com informed me that the entire Chicago area was completely booked for the night, leaving me to spend the night in the unsecure area of Chicago O’Hare International Airport.  I spent the following eight hours, overnight, sitting on the concrete floor of the American Airlines ticketing area in Chicago with only a light jacket to shield me from the 31*F weather outside as it slowly penetrated the glass wall and doors of the airport.

Finally, around 4:30 a.m., the ticketing counters opened back up and I was able to get my boarding pass for the morning’s flight (#2099) to LAX.  In compensation for my “troubles,” my food voucher was still printed for me so that I could get a bagel before boarding.  At the point of departure, I had been awake

for approximately 24 hours.  A relatively uneventful flight, aside for the cliché screaming baby the entire trip, we finally arrived at LAX at approximately 9:30 a.m. PST.  I made my way to baggage claim and waited for my suitcases with the rest of the passengers.  As the carousel went around, various passengers removed their belongings and walked on outside.  Shortly, it was only me and the carousel – without my bags.

I went to the baggage information desk and let them know that my bags were not there, to which I was told that they should arrive on the next flight from Chicago (#1049), at approximately 12:19 p.m.  I was assured that they would be delivered to me and very kindly apologized to for the inconvenience.  Finally, around 4:00 p.m., I decided to call the 800 number on my complaint receipt as I had not heard from the delivery company nor the airline regarding my bags.  I was told that they were still lost and that the airline was trying to recover them as quickly as possible.  Around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, I received a call from the baggage claim desk informing me that my bag (singular) was waiting for me to pick it up.  I promptly gave the woman my receipt number and she assured me that my bag would be delivered the next morning.

At 8:30 a.m., I received another call stating that both bags had been found and would be at my door by noon.  I waited and waited and never received a call or visit, so I walked to my apartment lobby around 11:45, hoping my bags would be there soon.  My suitcases finally arrived at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, December 28, 2006 – a full 37½  hours after I was originally scheduled to land in Los Angeles.

I apologize for the length of this letter.  However, I wanted you to understand exactly what I went through on my return trip to Los Angeles.  I have flown several times, even with large groups, and in a group of 15+ people, not a single thing went wrong.  I feel that my frustration is mostly warranted in that there was at least one empty hotel room sitting in Chicago that had an occupant who could not get to it because your airline did not have someone available who could make that possible.  Instead, I spent the night, not sleeping, on the floor of the airport.  A young, single woman, I did not feel as though it was safe to sleep, being in an unsecure area of the airport.  I am, without a doubt, extremely disappointed in the disservice I was given by American Airlines at this time.  Also, I feel that the food voucher that I was given (which was reserved for me anyway by the attendant in Atlanta) was not nearly enough compensation for my troubles.  I know American strives to be an excellent airline and provide passengers with the best care in their travel needs.  However, this time American really dropped the ball and let one passenger down in the worst way possible.

 AUTOTEXTLIST Sincerely,