Questions and Answers

So, last night I checked in for my flight from LGA to ATL on the AA app. Economy one-way fare. I’m not a “Gold” member and only have about 15,000 miles in my AA account. This morning, I arrived to LGA’s Terminal C — where the app said I should report — a few hours early so I could take advantage of the Priority Pass lounge in Terminal B and get some work done (and have a few free beers!).

I give the lady at the counter my passport and tell her I’m headed to ATL and would like to check a bag. She charges my card, gives me a paper boarding pass, and paper luggage receipt, and tells me I have to go to Terminal B for the flight, which I found odd, but assumed it was because of the construction.

I walk in the sun and noise and dust of construction to Terminal B — where I assume my flight will depart from and where the Priority Pass lounge is anyway — and, on the way, I notice my boarding time is an hour or so earlier — sweet, I assumed she just wanted to help me leave earlier without charging me a difference. But then I look again and notice that the name on my — different time — boarding pass and luggage receipt is NOT MINE. It’s a totally different person. So, I go to the AA counter in C and complain, and the guy dismissively tells me, “this happens all the time” and informs me I will have to go back to C to make sure my luggage won’t be screwed up. Ok, this sucks, because I want to be in the lounge and now I will need to go back to C, get my issue fixed, and then go back to B for lounge time, and then return again to C for my (original) flight.

So, I hop the shuttle back to B, and the lady is apologetic, but offers no compensation — in fact, she takes my credit card again, which leads to me being double-charged $25 — once for the wrong person and now, again, for my correct ticket.

Personally, I think this is a big deal — talk about a major security lapse! The original lady had my PASSPORT and didn’t even look at it properly to notice the name was totally different on the boarding pass and luggage ticket she was handing me. Fixing this problem also took about 45 minutes to 1 hour out of my day — when I could have been working in the lounge.

I requested AA compensate me with some miles and also refund the baggage fee.

AA’s response was to apologize, award me 2,000 miles, and then say they could not refund the baggage fee (although they claim the extra charge will be refunded).

What do you guys think? Should I push harder and also try to get the $25 fee refunded? It’s true my bag arrived in Atlanta — it arrived earlier on the wrong guy’s flight and was waiting for me when I entered the luggage area outside the office — but making sure it would be there, and fixing the documentation, took an hour of my time. So, is 2,000 miles fair? Should I also try and get the fee refunded? Get the fee refunded and ask for more miles?