We had our Christmas vacation flights booked through American Airlines &, thanks to tons of late arrivals &?

Question

departures, all of which were there fault, we missed 4 non-refundable days of our vacation. How should I approach this? Will it make any difference to write a letter detailing our monetary losses?

Answer 1

You can certainly complain about the situation but I would not hold out much hope of getting anything other than an apology. Firstly because the delays and cancellations over the last few days have mostly been caused by the weather in Denver. Even if you didn't fly through Denver, your plane might have been stuck there, and if not, Denver is still a major hub city. Whenever a hub gets painfully backed up, the rest of the country feels it. Delays caused by weather are out of the airline's control and they do not usually compensate in that situation.

Secondly, American has (in my opinion) really lousy customer service. I've been so turned off by their customer service that I just refuse to fly them any more.

I'd use this as a lesson learned for future travel. Avoid non-refundable reservations whenever possible. It costs a lot more to get a refundable ticket and I don't usually opt for that, but I do book all my hotel arrangements directly with a hotel that allows day of check-in cancellation with no or low penalty. Same for rental cars.

I don't want to stop you from complaining if you feel it is warranted but the reality is, with so many flights having been mucked up last week, and all due to weather, the airlines are not going to be feeling particularly sympathetic or generous to you.

Answer 2

Approach customer service with the question.

However, it is very necessary to plan for these events ESPECIALLY around the busiest traveling time of the year. And with all the storms, heavy traffic, and tons of people... It was certainly out of they're hands. Be thankful that the system that in place made it possible for everyone to make it (however late) to their destionations SAFE.

But by all means, write them, maybe they'll be able to offer you some free tickets or something.

Answer 3

If they delays really were their fault, then they already should have compensated you. If it was not their fault (weather) then it was not their fault and they can't help it. These things happen. Maybe you can get the hotel to give you something. If it really caused four days, then you and about 5000 people all missed vacation.