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American Airlines earned an enemy

david.heinemeierhansson.com

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Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#21

Post by jrockway »

perlgeek wrote: post #12
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?…

There are consumer protection laws in the US. That's why it's illegal to buy a bicycle without a bunch of useless reflectors stuck to it, for example, and why you have to file the "lawyer lips" off the front fork to have a working quick release mechanism.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#22

Post by pytrin »

smoyer wrote: post #15

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 umbrel…

I think you missed the point of the post - it's not about losing a bag, it's about the customer service failure that ensued. I had bags lost on a couple of occasions, and usually they are delivered on the same day or the next to the address I stay at. If I'd had such an experience, I wouldn't be flying the same airline either.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#23

Post by crazytony »

sjtgraham wrote: post #11

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 t…

ah crap totally forgot about that: I spent a fair whack of points to send my partner back to the US in style. My non-us credit card was declined and they cancelled the booking only notifying us when we showed up at their airport and they told us that there was no ticket and couldn't issue a boarding pass. But then they took the points as a "penalty" for forfeiting the ticket because he didn't fly....

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#24

Post by eitally »

tadfisher wrote: post #14
kelnos wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It depends on a lot of things (climate, specific personal requirements, etc). My wife & I took our two young children -- 2 and 4 -- to California & Hawaii this summer without checking any bags. It was a 17 day trip. This is way more challenging on business trips when you usually need to pack nicer clothing.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#25

Post by rickyc091 »

The sad and unfortunate thing is that this doesn't only occur with American Airlines. It's basically the same with most airlines. I've had a similar issue with the customer service with Delta airlines. I know a co-worker that struggled to find a lost bag from US Airways. If you search "baggage lost" on twitter, you'll see plenty of people in the same boat. I'm surprised no one has attempted to fix this problem... huge market opportunity right here...

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#26

Post by saryant »

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'm at the end of a 3.5 week trip across Japan and South Korea. One carry-on suitcase, one satchel as my day bag. I can't imagine carrying anything more (though, like you, no kids).

I spent five weeks in India for work last year, one of my coworkers brought an entire suitcase of shoes. He was nothing compared to the guy who brought two overweight suitcases. Our company policy would paid for extra bag fees but not overweight fees. He was pretty pissed when he got hit with those fees by Lufthansa. North of $300 each way out of his own pocket. For the life of me I don't know why he needed so much.

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#28

Post by jrockway »

crazytony wrote: post #20
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…

There's the good and the bad. I've gotten more free upgrades than I can count, and flying first class domestically is at least affordable. (JFK-SFO is half the cost of Virgin, but with a fully-flat bed, for example.) I also miss flights with frightening regularity, it's never cost me anything but time.

The incident I refer above was a ridiculous delay. The 762 they had for my SFO-JFK flight was broken in some way that made the plane flyable, but only fixable in LAX. They didn't tell us this, and loaded us on and taxied us out to the runway. There they told us we would be going to LAX, where there may be a new plane. Two hours later, we're in LAX, and waiting for a new plane. 6 hours after the scheduled arrival time, we're finally in JFK. Just fucking incompetent. Fly the good plane to SFO and board us there.

(Incidentally, I flew this route today, and sure enough, mechanical problem! We had to downgrade from a 763 to a 762, which was not appreciated, but at least we didn't have to fly all over the country looking for a better plane. And since I hadn't actually flown first class on a 762 before, it was nice to check it off my list. The seat was fine. Looking forward to the A321 on this route, though.)

As for flying to Japan, AA is a lot cheaper than JAL or Cathay. You get what you pay for. (AA is about $3000-$5000, Cathay is always $10,000+. JAL floats between the two extremes.)

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#29

Post by smoyer »

pytrin wrote: post #22
smoyer wrote: post #15

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 umbrel…

I think you missed the point of the post - it's not about losing a bag, it's about the customer service failure that ensued. I had bags lost on a couple of occasions, and usually they are delivered on the same day or the next to the address I stay at. If I'd had such an experience, I wouldn't be flying the same airline either.

Nope ... when I read the post, I read that he'd declared himself to be an enemy of a large group of minimum-wage, overworked employees of a company who's executives are simply maximizing profit. I'd be willing to bet they calculate how many people will be angry enough to quit flying and account for this churn in their projections.

These people have a high turn-over rate and absolutely no incentive to go beyond the company policy. My point was that "the best way to win is to not play the game".

EDIT: As I thought about this, I realized we're a bit insulated from the problem, but consider this scenario:

"I tried to call SnapChat the other day to have them delete an embarrassing photo before it got to the recipient - Can you believe there's a company without a phone number? THEY'RE MY NUMBER ONE ENEMY!"

Re: American Airlines earned an enemy

#30

Post by _delirium »

jmcmichael wrote: post #16
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…

You're correct; to take advantage of the personal customs exemption for travelers you must carry the items in your luggage with you, not ship them separately. If you ship them, you might be deemed to be importing them, depending on the country's customs procedures (and even if you qualify for another exemption, they may be held in customs until you go fill out some paperwork to claim them).
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