Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

American Airlines earned an enemy

david.heinemeierhansson.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 55 posts

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#11

Post by sjtgraham »

The thing I hate most American is they decline all non-US issued cards or non-US PayPal accounts for ticketing, but do so silently in the background while appearing to have gone through. When you get to the airport you find your booking wasn't ticketed, the flight has gone up and have to pay a fee for paying at the airport. To get around this I try to book AA tickets with another OneWorld carrier.

To their credit I took SFO->JFK->LHR this summer. The first flight was insanely delayed (in my experience many AA flights out of SFO are ridiculously delayed), and I had to sprint through JFK to make the connection. I knew my checked bag wouldn't have made it, so I didn't waste time waiting for it. I went straight to the counter and asked them if my bag was in London, it wasn't, it was still at JFK. They apologised profusely and a courier delivered it to my apartment the next day.

If you're wondering why I tolerate AA, it's because I have frequent flier status on BA, and get insane air miles (base plus 100% bonus, minimum) for flying on OneWorld carriers.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#12

Post by perlgeek »

jrockway wrote: post #9

The baggage policy you agree to and pay for is basically, "if we lose your bag or smash it into very small pieces, we will pay you $20." Then when they lose your bag or smash it into small pieces, people want more than $20, and write angry blog posts when they don't get more than $20. I don't get it. Have these people never heard of FedEx or UPS? They will transport your bag on an aircraft and sell you insurance agai…

> The baggage policy you agree to and pay for is basically, "if we lose your bag or smash it into very small pieces, we will pay you $20."

Are there no customer protection laws in the US? I'm pretty sure that in most of Europe, it doesn't work that way, and for a good reason.

And if it really is like that, is that prominently advertised, or is that in fine print written in 8pt in light grey font on white background? From the customer's perspective, that makes a huge difference.

I for one (though mostly travelling from and to Germany, not the US) have never been told "we might lose your bag, and you'll get $20 in that case).

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#13

Post by adammil »

ye wrote: post #7
faster wrote: post #4

American lost my bag on the way back from Italy a few years back, wouldn't answer the phone, called security when I went back to the baggage claim at the airport to ask them what was going on, and when they found the bag, they sent it to San Jose Costa Rica on a boat, instead of San Jose California. Of course I never saw that bag again. I learned that baggage losses are balanced against the cost of paying for more re…

Small claims court. Take them for the maximum allowed in your state.

If you win in small claims court, what's the process to turn that win into an actual check from the company?

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#14

Post by tadfisher »

kelnos wrote: post #10
faster wrote: post #4

American lost my bag on the way back from Italy a few years back, wouldn't answer the phone, called security when I went back to the baggage claim at the airport to ask them what was going on, and when they found the bag, they sent it to San Jose Costa Rica on a boat, instead of San Jose California. Of course I never saw that bag again. I learned that baggage losses are balanced against the cost of paying for more re…

My solution: I never check a bag. I started this practice 6 or 7 years ago, and it's great. I have a fantastic carry-on bag that fits everything I need, plus usually a small laptop bag, and I never let them out of my sight. I've gone on trips 2 weeks long with no trouble, and could easily go longer. The one possible annoyance is staying below the carry-on liquid requirements, but I haven't had a problem with that yet…

I learned this mantra from a jet-setting lawyer:

"Checked luggage is lost luggage."

I survived a month in Europe shortly after with carry-ons. It was doable, pleasant even, but I had to make some sacrifices: one pair of shoes, no laptop, no heavy jacket. It's obviously not ideal and possibly not feasible for someone traveling with a non-ticketed baby to travel this way.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#15

Post by smoyer »

I used to travel a lot and if you choose to make an enemy out of an airline over a lost bag, it won't take long until all the airlines are your enemy ... then you'll either quit flying or pay your enemy.

Here are a few tips:

- Travel lighter! I was very careful to keep track of what I did and didn't use on each trip. There were very few things that went back into the suitcase if they weren't used (a brief-case umbrella and a tiny sewing kit are all I can think of).

- If you're traveling for several weeks, pack 5-7 days of clothes. Often they can be worn more than once without washing, and most hotels have laundry services.

- Traveling with kids is hard (I have four) ... especially infants. If you paid for a ticket for your child, they get a carry-on and a personal item too - even if they can't carry it.

- Rollie's are great but you can make them better. You can strap the handles together so that a whole set of rollies can be pulled via one handle. Some matching sets of luggage include these straps.

- If you do check a bag, make sure you can afford to lose what's in the bag. You will NEVER get the value of that bags contents back from the airline, so keep the value low.

- Keep your toothbrush, deodorant and at least a set of underwear in your laptop/personal bag (unless you also carry on your allowed piece of baggage.

Finally, the whole travel process can be irritating. Ticketing can earn an enemy quickly if they can't deal with missed flights, delays and cancellations in a reasonable way. So the real tip here is to not stress about it too much (hard for type A personalities). If you let a poor travel experience ruin your trip, you've lost more than a bag.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#16

Post by jmcmichael »

jrockway wrote: post #9

The baggage policy you agree to and pay for is basically, "if we lose your bag or smash it into very small pieces, we will pay you $20." Then when they lose your bag or smash it into small pieces, people want more than $20, and write angry blog posts when they don't get more than $20. I don't get it. Have these people never heard of FedEx or UPS? They will transport your bag on an aircraft and sell you insurance agai…

Is it possible to ship stuff (laptops, cellphone maybe) via FedEX or UPS, internationally, and have it arrive at or near the same time/place as your destination w/o having to wait for it to clear customs?

I had considered this but eliminated it as a dependable method because I assume that most countries have their own customs procedures for items shipped via FedEx/UPS and in some cases items might be tied up for days or weeks.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#17

Post by kalleboo »

jrockway wrote: post #9

The baggage policy you agree to and pay for is basically, "if we lose your bag or smash it into very small pieces, we will pay you $20." Then when they lose your bag or smash it into small pieces, people want more than $20, and write angry blog posts when they don't get more than $20. I don't get it. Have these people never heard of FedEx or UPS? They will transport your bag on an aircraft and sell you insurance agai…

The OP was flying to/from Europe, so European law applies

http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/consumer_topics/air_travel...

> If your registered luggage is lost, damaged or delayed, you may be entitled to compensation from the airline, up to about €1,220

Far higher than $20.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#19

Post by tadfisher »

ye wrote: post #7
faster wrote: post #4

American lost my bag on the way back from Italy a few years back, wouldn't answer the phone, called security when I went back to the baggage claim at the airport to ask them what was going on, and when they found the bag, they sent it to San Jose Costa Rica on a boat, instead of San Jose California. Of course I never saw that bag again. I learned that baggage losses are balanced against the cost of paying for more re…

Small claims court. Take them for the maximum allowed in your state.

You mean sue Heathrow? AA fulfilled their duty to get the bags to the baggage carousel. Not their fault that most airports rely on the honor system.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#20

Post by crazytony »

jrockway wrote: post #9

The baggage policy you agree to and pay for is basically, "if we lose your bag or smash it into very small pieces, we will pay you $20." Then when they lose your bag or smash it into small pieces, people want more than $20, and write angry blog posts when they don't get more than $20. I don't get it. Have these people never heard of FedEx or UPS? They will transport your bag on an aircraft and sell you insurance agai…

1.2 million miles (hey hey lifetime gold!) and I have issues with them all the time. Some are hilarious: the flight attendant that threw the peanut packs from the galley to everyone in first class on a LAX-LAS seg; not packing enough main course meals so that flagship first class passengers between Japan and the continental US have a choice of meals.

others not even close: moving departure times by two hours (forward) and not bothering to call, email or text to inform. closing the door then sitting at the gate for 3 hours so that you can say we departed "on time". Twice. fun and games around rescheduling people on delayed flights: no, it's not acceptable to wait 39 hours for a flight between a major focus city and your home hub because you have mechanical issues with your aircraft.

Post reply on HN