Questions and Answers

I had an interesting event happen on my most recent flight, and I’m wondering if anyone here can help me. This past Sunday, I was traveling from Dayton, Ohio, to Philadelphia on American Airlines. Long story short, about 5 minutes after takeoff, everyone in the cabin was shocked to hear a loud BOOM, and the plane stopped climbing to cruising altitude. The pilot immediately began to turn the plane around, and once he had completed that (and contacted ground control) he alerted us that we were making an emergency landing back in Dayton. Once we landed and everyone was off, the gate agents were extremely nice, and helped everyone get to another flight. For me, this meant a (compensated) 60-70 minute taxi ride to Cincinnati, where I had a flight home several hours later. I was also given a $12 meal voucher.

In my AA account, I see that I have been credited with my miles from PHL to DAY, but nothing is appearing for the flight on the way back. I want to call AA to ask them about my “missing” miles, and to see if they are willing to offer any further compensation. After all, any mechanical failure is categorically unacceptable, especially in the air, and could’ve (should’ve?) been caught before we took off. However, I don’t want to seem ungrateful for the excellent service I received from the ground staff in Dayton.

What is the best way to go about this?
What, if any, compensation do you think I am entitled to ask for?

Thanks for any and all advice!

Well, first of all, if you’d like TPG’s help then you should really be emailing him and his team at [email][email protected][/email]…;)

However, I’d like a shot at addressing some of your concerns:

Sometimes, miles dont post instantly. I’d wait a couple more days to see if they post. Also check to see whether you’d earn more miles from your original return flight or the new return flight. If the return miles dont post by this coming Sunday, youre within your right to call American to claim the miles.

In regards to further compensation, you can ask though you may not receive much or anything at all. You were compensated for a cab ride to the alternate airport and given a meal voucher. You [I]could[/I] see if the credit card you purchased the ticket with will offer any kind of delay coverage though most require a delay of more than 3 hours in order to qualify for a claim.

While mechanical issues are unpleasant and unaccepttable, things do happen. There could be many reasons why it occurred. Unless specific details about the incident are released (which I highly doubt will happen), it’s hard to say whether it could have been prevented on the ground.

I dont know what reasonable compensation would be in your case, given that the pilot safely returned everyone and the aircraft to the airport and the ground staff did their best to get people to their destination.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 30371, member: 29″]Well, first of all, if you’d like TPG’s help then you should really be emailing him and his team at [EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL]…;)

However, I’d like a shot at addressing some of your concerns:

Sometimes, miles dont post instantly. I’d wait a couple more days to see if they post. Also check to see whether you’d earn more miles from your original return flight or the new return flight. If the return miles dont post by this coming Sunday, youre within your right to call American to claim the miles.

In regards to further compensation, you can ask though you may not receive much or anything at all. You were compensated for a cab ride to the alternate airport and given a meal voucher. You [I]could[/I] see if the credit card you purchased the ticket with will offer any kind of delay coverage though most require a delay of more than 3 hours in order to qualify for a claim.

While mechanical issues are unpleasant and unaccepttable, things do happen. There could be many reasons why it occurred. Unless specific details about the incident are released (which I highly doubt will happen), it’s hard to say whether it could have been prevented on the ground.

I dont know what reasonable compensation would be in your case, given that the pilot safely returned everyone and the aircraft to the airport and the ground staff did their best to get people to their destination.[/QUOTE]

I emailed them a few days ago, and got no response. But stupid me, didn’t do enough vetting before copy/paste. Thank you for calling me out!

Good news: got the miles; they credited me for CVG to PHL, which is good since that actually earns more miles than DAY.

I guess the worst that can happen is that I can ask, and they can say no. I’ll stress that I am a regular American flyer, but that’s about as much leverage as I have. (Though in reality if you fly from PHL you don’t have much of a choice…lol)

Thanks!!!