Questions and Answers

Wanted to share my poor AA experience/ask whether this is worth pursuing further.

I traveled on a short haul flight yesterday, and went with a companion who was ticketed on a separate PNR. At the Admiral’s Club, I asked whether she could be added to the upgrade list, and the agent agreed. She was placed last (at #2) on the list. Only one seat was unsold, but we figured that if there was a no-show, she’d make it.

When boarding completed, #1 received the upgrade and there was still an empty seat left. The gate agent even came onboard to gate check a bag, so she should’ve seen that there was an empty seat. Nevertheless, she did not get the upgrade and wasn’t allowed to sit in first with me.

What really irks me is the response from customer relations. First, they said “we checked, and she was never on the list.” That was flatly untrue, and I had a photo of the upgrade list to prove it. Then, they said “sorry, the seat was broken.” Also untrue, since it was a ticketed seat with a no-show, and the flight attendants confirmed that the seat was operational.

Anyone think it’s worth it to make a bigger deal out of this? I don’t appreciate customer service lying to me. The lack of the upgrade on our hourlong flight wasn’t a huge deal, but it certainly would’ve been if it were a transcon flight, which I take frequently with AA.