Recent good experience with AA

[Voyages]

I have recently had some good experiences with AA (not that I had any problems with them before).

The weather was so bad that a lot of planes couldn’t land in ORD (my flight was re-directed to STL for 1.5 hour, sitting on the tarmac) until 11pm. As a result, I missed the connecting flight from ORD to BOS and subsequently missed 2 other flights the following day.

An AA agent called out my name at the arrival gate at ORD, giving me a new boarding pass for the first flight out in the morning and a hotel voucher for a discounted 60 USD at the Hyatt Rosemont (although I thought the room would have been for free with other airlines).

I then got on the phone with AA to rebook my 2 flights for the next day (these flights were on a separate booking). Initially the agent had wanted to charge me more than 1,500 USD for the new flights (obviously fully flexible fares). After I explained the situation, she rebooked the flights for free. This was nice, though I don’t know what AA policies are like with misconnections of flights on separate bookings.

I found out later that I was actually on their stand-by list for these flights (and I was number 1 in their list, according to the agents). I got my seats of course but didn’t get the BPs at the gate until much later on because they’d like to, according to the gate agent, get me “the best forward aisle seat possible”. That was a nice gesture which I appreciated.

Lastly, the 2 rebooked flights were in Y class (whilst the original ones were booked in S class). The SCs aren’t through yet but I wonder if I’ll get the full Y status credits or just the supposedly discounted economy SCs.

 

[MelUser]

My experience is that you will get full Y status credits as this is a full reservation rebook.

Very nice that they rebooked for free.

Do you have status with AA at all or were they just looking at your QF Plat/OWE status?

 

[Dave Noble]

An AA agent called out my name at the arrival gate at ORD, giving me a new boarding pass for the first flight out in the morning and a hotel voucher for a discounted 60 USD at the Hyatt Rosemont (although I thought the room would have been for free with other airlines)

Not for weather related issues. If there was a mechanical issue with the flight, then you would get the room provided but when it is force majeur, then AA ( and afaik other US carriers) will not provide accommodation but give access to a discount rate

 

[Voyages]

My experience is that you will get full Y status credits as this is a full reservation rebook.

Very nice that they rebooked for free.

Do you have status with AA at all or were they just looking at your QF Plat/OWE status?

If I get Y status credits, that will be a bonus

I don't have status with AA, MelUser, so OWE might have helped (in one way or another).

 

[Voyages]

Not for weather related issues. If there was a mechanical issue with the flight, then you would get the room provided but when it is force majeur, then AA ( and afaik other US carriers) will not provide accommodation but give access to a discount rate

I see. Someone suggested that I contact the travel insurance provider to get the hotel expense reimbursed. Do you think that the claim will work? It's worth a dinner there.

 

[Dave Noble]

I see. Someone suggested that I contact the travel insurance provider to get the hotel expense reimbursed. Do you think that the claim will work? It's worth a dinner there.

I would check the insurance policy and see. There is a reasonably good chance that it would be covered , but you would need to check the specific coverage that you have

Dave

 

[straitman]

I see. Someone suggested that I contact the travel insurance provider to get the hotel expense reimbursed. Do you think that the claim will work? It's worth a dinner there.

I would certainly put in a claim. Many policies will cover this type of situation though a few may not. It is also something to consider in the future when buying travel insurance.

 

[Voyages]

Thank you, Dave Noble and straitman

Interestingly, MelUser, the SCs for the first flight have been credited to my account and I was only awarded 20 SCs (discounted econony) rather than the expected 40 SCs (full economy). However, the number of FF points were based on the full economy rate with AA (1 per mile rather than 0.5 per mile). So I'll wait for the SCs for the 2nd flight to come through before I call QFF and inquire.

 

[Dave Noble]

Thank you, Dave Noble and straitman

Interestingly, MelUser, the SCs for the first flight have been credited to my account and I was only awarded 20 SCs (discounted econony) rather than the expected 40 SCs (full economy). However, the number of FF points were based on the full economy rate with AA (1 per mile rather than 0.5 per mile). So I'll wait for the SCs for the 2nd flight to come through before I call QFF and inquire.

I wouldn't contact Qantas. If you contact them, then they will contact AA to confirm details of the booking and AA will probably respond back to inform that the purchased fare was S and you will not get any bonus and could even get the extras received removed. With this situation , if you get extras thanks to the rebooking then it is a nice bonus but I definitely wouldn't try chasing up if you don't receive extras

 

[NM]

I wouldn't contact Qantas. If you contact them, then they will contact AA to confirm details of the booking and AA will probably respond back to inform that the purchased fare was S and you will not get any bonus and could even get the extras received removed. With this situation , if you get extras thanks to the rebooking then it is a nice bonus but I definitely wouldn't try chasing up if you don't receive extras

Indeed true. The Qantas FF program awards status credits and points based on the fare paid, not the booking class you actually flew. You paid for an S class fare so are entitled to discount economy status credits and points. Anything above that is a mistake to which you are not entitled. Bringing it to QF FF attention is not going to result in extending the mistake and more likely going to result in the mistake being corrected.

Think of it like you landed on Community Chest on the Monopoly board, and the card reads "QFF error in you favour, collect xx_x points".

 

[Voyages]

Thank you, Dave Noble and NM,for your thoughts. And I do like the Monopoly reference

Just wondering though, what if the original booking would have given me more (discounted economy) SCs? This is because the new booking had different segments from the original one.

 

[NM]

Just wondering though, what if the original booking would have given me more (discounted economy) SCs? This is because the new booking had different segments from the original one.

If the ticket was issued with a different routing then you can contact Qantas and request credit for the original routing (as ticketed).