I recently wrote about how I missed a connection while flying American from London to Chicago to Miami, with a delay that started due to a late inbound aircraft resulting from a maintenance issue.
Under UK261 regulations, that misconnect entitled me to £520 in cash compensation. I don’t make the laws, but those are the rules, so of course I made the request to receive that payout (just like an airline would charge me if I wanted to change flights, and there was a fare difference).
However, the customer relations representative who responded wasn’t truthful about the cause of the delay, blaming it on air traffic control. Even when I confronted him with facts to the contrary, he doubled down. Well, I now have an update…
In this post:
American agrees to pay UK261 compensation that’s due
Yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call from American, so I answered. There was a nice woman on the line from American’s “customer success” department. I’m not sure if she called because of my blog post or because of my email back-and-forth — unfortunately I’d assume it’s due to the former.
She immediately apologized for what happened, and said that American would of course pay the government mandated compensation. She just asked me to confirm my address for sending the check. Okay, great!
She then asked me if I had any other questions. So I asked her about what exactly happened in my communications with her colleague. I explained to her that the flight notes with the reason for the delay were very clear, that the flight was primarily delayed due to a late arriving aircraft resulting from a maintenance issue.
I inquired as to whether she had any insights for why her colleague had insisted that there was an 81-minute delay resulting from an air traffic control issue, which simply wasn’t true. Of course I understand she’s a customer service representative and doesn’t make the rules, but still, I figured this was an important point to understand.
What was her answer?
- She explained that American’s notes on the cause of delays are pretty lengthy, and that maybe it was a newer representative who was answering my claim
- She explained that the notes for the flight did indicate that the flight was held due to air traffic control, but if you look more into the report, the majority of the delay was due to mechanical issues (this exactly matches what I explained in my email and in my post)
- She assumed that the previous representative didn’t see the part in the report about the mechanical issue, but she assured me that American will provide additional training so that this doesn’t happen again in the future
What do I make of this compensation saga?
I’m of course grateful that I got this issue resolved, though I also recognize that I likely only had a positive outcome because I wrote about this. I had waited to write about my experience until after I had some back-and-forth with agents and got nowhere, because I wanted to get the “real” experience.
Of course we have to be honest here, and acknowledge that making it very difficult to request government mandated compensation isn’t exclusive to American. When it comes to situations where airlines are forced to pay out, so many airlines lie, lie, lie, lie, and then lie a little more. Again, I’m not talking specifically about American, but that’s true of a majority of airlines, sadly.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve had readers reach out with similar experiences across airlines. To me, it’s a real flaw of these government programs that mandate compensation. Great, you’re entitled to compensation, but the airlines will lie to no end to get out of paying it, and as consumers, we have limited recourse, short of suing, or something.
I appreciate that the representative actually addressed my question about why the other representative didn’t follow regulations. She was more transparent than I was expecting, in terms of confirming that the flight notes said exactly what I expected they would, about the primary cause of the delay being due to a late inbound aircraft resulting from a maintenance issue. That’s not just an opinion, it’s a fact.
That being said, does anyone believe that this was an honest oversight, and not part of a systematic attempt to deny compensation claims? I mean, in many ways, it would actually be worse if this were an oversight. I repeatedly provided the agent with proof, and he completely denied it, and even after some exchanges, he claimed to have “thoroughly reviewed” the file, and still didn’t change his stance.
Bottom line
I finally got my UK261 compensation request with American taken care of, as a friendly representative called and apologized, and immediately processed the claim. That being said, I suspect that this only happened because of my blog post (which I wrote about after an extensive exchange with customer relations).
The agent I spoke with insisted that it was an honest mistake, and that the other representative might have just been new, and not read the notes properly. However, given the way so many airlines act with these claims, I have a hard time believing that…
What’s sad here is that I’m not really sure what the moral of the story is. Usually I like to tackle these issues with hopes of bringing about positive change in terms of how airlines (and other travel providers) interact with customers. However, I don’t think this behavior will change, and I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that. That’s frustrating.
Firstly, congrats on getting what was clearly owed to you. There was never any question, in the mind of a reasonable person, that the circumstances and law meant you were owed compensation by AA. What troubles me, as well as others here, is that the average Joe does not have the heft of a high profile blog behind them. AA knows this and will act accordingly to their low standards.
@Ben, I'm speculating here but is there a chance that these frontline customer service agents are somehow "scored" negatively when they honor this kind of compensation and favorably when they "save" money for the company (by whatever means)?
So, this would mean that AA is not necessarily instructing their agents to lie but simply rewarding agents who avoid as many "hits" as possible, and the initial agent handling your claim might have been trying...
@Ben, I'm speculating here but is there a chance that these frontline customer service agents are somehow "scored" negatively when they honor this kind of compensation and favorably when they "save" money for the company (by whatever means)?
So, this would mean that AA is not necessarily instructing their agents to lie but simply rewarding agents who avoid as many "hits" as possible, and the initial agent handling your claim might have been trying to do just that (which can be extrapolated to the way some airlines reward gate agents for catching as many passengers as possible with "non-compliant" hand luggage). This way companies can always blame these cases on "training" and save face when accused of intentionally deceiving customers.
What's crazy to me is it isn't too hard to have a step for the GA at the connecting gate see pax who are connecting and missing. They could easily add the ability for them to communicate directly with you (phone call or text) to confirm you are running to make the flight. This entire saga could have been avoided by waiting mere minutes and resulting in a flight that would have still arrived early...
What's crazy to me is it isn't too hard to have a step for the GA at the connecting gate see pax who are connecting and missing. They could easily add the ability for them to communicate directly with you (phone call or text) to confirm you are running to make the flight. This entire saga could have been avoided by waiting mere minutes and resulting in a flight that would have still arrived early for all pax. But alas the simple steps and small improvements to the tech stack to make it a better experience are overlooked.
I'm glad you received compensation from AA in this situation. I wasn't as lucky, last year I was supposed to fly SXM to CLT but the pilot they sent to SXM didn't have enough hours to make the return flight back to CLT so they instead flew us to Miami. The pilot actually announced that he started his day early to get extra hours for his pay and with the 20 minute tarmac delay leaving...
I'm glad you received compensation from AA in this situation. I wasn't as lucky, last year I was supposed to fly SXM to CLT but the pilot they sent to SXM didn't have enough hours to make the return flight back to CLT so they instead flew us to Miami. The pilot actually announced that he started his day early to get extra hours for his pay and with the 20 minute tarmac delay leaving SXM he timed out and could only reach MIA. My non stop flight back home from the Caribbean became a fiasco. They gave us 1.5 hours to make the connection with immigration and security, myself and probably at least 50 other people missed the flight standing at the gate looking at the plane sitting there with doors closed for probably 45 minutes while I waited to speak with the gate agent. The only option they offered was flying on standby and *hoping* someone doesn't show because all flights were full back to CLT the next morning, so I took the last flight to RDU got a hotel because I landed at midnight and rented a car the next morning because I had a work obligation and was disgusted with AA. AA blamed "weather" and I got 10k miles for my trouble, which frankly is an insult. No refunds for my expenses or apology for the massive inconvenience because AA couldn't fly a pilot to a remote island who has enough time remaining to make the return flight. I'm CLT based so avoiding AA is challenging but now whenever possible I fly another carrier. Things happen, I get that part but the way AA treats people when something does go wrong is shockingly insulting.
What prevents the airline for just putting weather delay in the notes for all delays regardless of the real reason?
Nothing stops them from noting everything as weather, and they absolutely do this already in many situations where weather was either a complete non factor or so indirectly related to your flight as to be laughable. Scenarios where there is weather in Minneapolis, so the plane going from Minneapolis to Chicago to Jacksonville gets delayed. But your flight from Chicago to Houston gets delayed or cancelled because your plane got assigned to the Jacksonville flight....
Nothing stops them from noting everything as weather, and they absolutely do this already in many situations where weather was either a complete non factor or so indirectly related to your flight as to be laughable. Scenarios where there is weather in Minneapolis, so the plane going from Minneapolis to Chicago to Jacksonville gets delayed. But your flight from Chicago to Houston gets delayed or cancelled because your plane got assigned to the Jacksonville flight. Calling that "weather" is an insane stretch, yet the airlines do it. Or the 10 minutes of weather that somehow cancels a flight. Or the weather that is 50 miles east of the airport, yet cancels the flight coming from the West.
It can be total luck of the draw in these situations, and presumably the airlines prioritize flights with certain factors - perhaps to a hub, lots of high status fliers, less common plane that can't be easily swapped, alternate options available, or revenue on flight.
And yes, I am still seething from the situation I was in with AA where the ground crew (who were in the terminal explaining the situation) , the FAs and the pilots all stated the plane was delayed due to no ground crew. Yet AA claimed weather at the next airport when I missed my overnight international connection, and the nastiest desk agent in the history of airports said there was absolutely nothing that could...
And yes, I am still seething from the situation I was in with AA where the ground crew (who were in the terminal explaining the situation) , the FAs and the pilots all stated the plane was delayed due to no ground crew. Yet AA claimed weather at the next airport when I missed my overnight international connection, and the nastiest desk agent in the history of airports said there was absolutely nothing that could be done. The system said weather and there was no one who could change it. Finally the third person at the EP call center sent a hotel voucher.
“Not read the notes properly”. Oh come on do they think we are all idiots?
"I’d assume it’s due to the former."
Come on man. We all know its because of the blog.
I had a recent EU261 flight delay claim with Lufthansa due to maintenance delays and it was approved and paid within a few days without any further follow-up required. My guess is that a lot of the outcome depends on the person who initially reviews the claim.
Ben says "I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that. That’s frustrating."
But you did, Ben: you wrote about it in One Mile At A Time.
Your modesty does you credit but you're a leading blogger in the space and there isn't the slightest chance American is unaware of the size and stickiness of your audience, or of the prestige you enjoy. There are people in that company, who know this went badly,...
Ben says "I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that. That’s frustrating."
But you did, Ben: you wrote about it in One Mile At A Time.
Your modesty does you credit but you're a leading blogger in the space and there isn't the slightest chance American is unaware of the size and stickiness of your audience, or of the prestige you enjoy. There are people in that company, who know this went badly, know they pissed you off and want to prevent a repeat. Well done.
This 100%.
Weird how inconsistently claims get processed. UA comped me several days after I wrote them a brief generic email about EU261.
What do you make of this saga - simple without your blog post you wouldn’t have gotten that call nor would you have received the just compensation
i.e. peasants are us are screwed.
This isn't necessarily true. I've received three calls over the past week about a mechanical delay on a domestic flight that made me arrive home three hours late and get downgraded from a purchased first class ticket. I am not happy with AA's compensation, but it is what it is. It's the first time AA or any airline has called me about a complaint. I don't have a blog, so it must have been my status (Exec Plat) that motivated them to call me.
The exec office is now referred to as "Customer Success" I believe.
@ Terence -- That's what it was, thanks!
Flew British Airways in May and delayed flight due to maintenance out of Chicago to London resulted in a missed connection to Florence and an 8 hour delay. Filled out the form online and money was in my bank account within the week. Could this be a bigger issue with US airlines?
The easiest way to make airlines pay just compensation is to make it so that they have to pay triple plus some legal fees if they lose a fight in the legal system.
Time for airlines to lose the status quo and be forced to introduce automatic refunds based on facts rather than excuses and ways not to pay passengers. Of course some kind of revenue protection is needed with oversight for both parties but these dirty tricks can and should be dealt with.
Its systematic. They paid you but they denied 250 other passengers from that flight who received the same 2 emails as you did due to "the agent didnt read the lenghty report" AA is a joke and they will say how sorry they are and that they will accept your feedback. Its been 10 years of feedback and nothing changes!
I wish you asked her if AA was going to reach out to every other person affected by this delay and remind them to apply for the compensation. I wonder how many people called and were given the same story as you, and just gave up?
Good work Ben. Because of the blog you remind those with similar issues stand up for what is right.
It's systemic. They've clearly turned it all over to AI, loosely supervised by a human perhaps (my favorite was when the fake name the AI-Human used was "Email"). You can tell it's AI because no one at AA was able to write complete grammatically correct sentences a few months ago. AI's customer service pattern is mirrored on insurance companies - they immediately deny the claim, they may respond a few times, but ultimately they say...
It's systemic. They've clearly turned it all over to AI, loosely supervised by a human perhaps (my favorite was when the fake name the AI-Human used was "Email"). You can tell it's AI because no one at AA was able to write complete grammatically correct sentences a few months ago. AI's customer service pattern is mirrored on insurance companies - they immediately deny the claim, they may respond a few times, but ultimately they say no and stop responding. Very hard to escalate it to an actual human. Yours got escalated because you have a blog that people at AA read.
Not hard to read between the lines on this one, unfortunately.
Exactly. Would have been nice if Ben would have checked to see if the other affected passengers got compensated also.
What it means that increasingly you get either a bot or someone poorly trained and lacking knowledge responding to you. A few of the agents I've talked to on the CK line were totally clueless so even the highest food chain is getting stuck with subpar.
Ditto the ACs.
I am surprised that a class action lawsuit has not happened yet considering how widespread this practice seems to be.
Class action lawsuit will let the lawyers earn $15M and each passenger get a coupon for $2.50 on the next flight, booked in advance, round trip only with Saturday night stay.
Class action lawsuits are a scam for lawyers to earn a lot of money and a few crumbs to the class.
It may be a scam for the consumer, but it does prevent bad behavior from corporates since they do actually have to pay someone (mostly lawyers) real cash.
Of course you did. But my family member whose luggage was destroyed by AA's gorilla baggage handlers will not.
I have to say, American surprised me this week. I had a first class ticket (paid) from DFW-PWM through DCA last month with the DFW-DCA leg being hours late. AA changed me to a nonstop to BOS which arrived three hours late (after midnight) resulting in having to spend the night in BOS and a rental car to PWM the next day. I filled out their complaint form and had forgotten completely about it until...
I have to say, American surprised me this week. I had a first class ticket (paid) from DFW-PWM through DCA last month with the DFW-DCA leg being hours late. AA changed me to a nonstop to BOS which arrived three hours late (after midnight) resulting in having to spend the night in BOS and a rental car to PWM the next day. I filled out their complaint form and had forgotten completely about it until yesterday when a check for 450.00 showed up with a portion of my complaint in the payment memo section.
The last time I got a check from AA (earlier this year) they (I sincerely believe) purposefully mailed it to the wrong address hoping that I would forget about it. Despite having my correct address through my AA Exec Card, my AA profile, the AA customer service form, confirming my address with the AA rep the first time, somehow it magically ended up being sent to a different address. I had to get back in...
The last time I got a check from AA (earlier this year) they (I sincerely believe) purposefully mailed it to the wrong address hoping that I would forget about it. Despite having my correct address through my AA Exec Card, my AA profile, the AA customer service form, confirming my address with the AA rep the first time, somehow it magically ended up being sent to a different address. I had to get back in touch with them so that they could stop payment on the first check and mail a second check to the correct address.
Nonsense! They know what they did!
I can already title your next article on this issue:
AA Removes Comments Section From ExpertFlyer Flight Status Search
It was not an honest oversight, and everybody knows it.
The “customer excellence” woman you spoke to is guaranteed somebody very very high up their communications food chain, and likely somebody who reports directly to or 1° of separation from a C-level individual.
Yes, you only got this response because of your blog, for which I’m very glad. It’s just too bad that seemingly everybody else gets screwed.
The perks of being famous :)
Good for you and hopefully a cautionary tale for AA customer service..
(and pigs have wings!)
Two years ago I had a months-long saga with UA over EU261 which ultimately ended with me getting only a $200 voucher for goodwill. I'm glad you got what you had coming to you, even if it's because you have a decent-sized platform.
A win is a win!
We have companies in Europe specializing in getting peoples claims from airlines, the one I mostly used was flightright. They check the case automatically and the chance of the payout, then they fight for the payout. Airlines know the platforms and likely don't want to go to court, so they pay. The platforms take a share + VAT from the compensation amount and pay the rest to you.
If you don't want to take...
We have companies in Europe specializing in getting peoples claims from airlines, the one I mostly used was flightright. They check the case automatically and the chance of the payout, then they fight for the payout. Airlines know the platforms and likely don't want to go to court, so they pay. The platforms take a share + VAT from the compensation amount and pay the rest to you.
If you don't want to take a lawyer to get claim your rights, that is a pretty efficient way.
Here are also some competitors to flightright, @Ben - Maybe this makes sense for an own article?
https://www.flightright.com
https://www.airhelp.com/en/
https://www.fairplane.de
Awesome ! Ben won’t be pushed around.