Travelers share their tales

Road trip

My husband left Kansas City Monday on American for a three-day business trip in Dallas. Yesterday, when I began seeing the stories of the canceled flights, I e-mailed him the details. Turns out his return flight home — planned for 3 p.m. Thursday — was to be on an MD-80. I told him he probably wasn't going to have a flight, and by 4 p.m., his corporate travel agent (of a Fortune 100 company) had contacted him, another gentleman that had gone with him, and a gentleman whose flight to Wichita had all been canceled. Because there were already two days of cancellations in front of them, the travel agent said it would probably be SATURDAY before she could get them to their destinations. Since they had a rental car for their stay in Dallas, they cut their stay in Dallas short and took off for home at 6 a.m. this morning, dropping their colleague from Wichita off on the way back. 10 hours on the road, minimum. Ridiculous. --Stefany Williams, Kansas City, MO (submitted on April 10, 2008)

$550 down

I planned a trip to Chicago for a much anticipated Jason Mraz concert on April 9th, departing from Kansas City International Airport at 6:35 a.m. with American Airlines. We realized the night before that our flight had been canceled through the American Airlines Web site. After signing up for mobile alerts, I then received an automated message from AA stating our flight had been rescheduled and we were to depart at 11:55 a.m. We arrived at KCI at 10 a.m. and discovered our flight had been canceled again! We waited in line for a good hour and after many attempts from the airline attendant trying to obtain another flight, we were stuck in Kansas City. AA guaranteed a full refund of the ticket prices ($300) which was to be credited to my credit card, but as of right now the refund is nowhere to be seen. We were also supposed to check into the hotel in Chicago by noon the day we arrived, so we were unable to obtain a refund from them. And as far as the concert tickets, they are non-refundable. I would have been extremely happy to have given the concert tickets away for free just so somebody could use them, but the venue in Chicago would not help me in doing so. So far I am out a total of $550.00!!!!!! I'm still in tears and at a loss of what to do. --Stacey Wolf, Nevada, MO (submitted on April 10, 2008)

60 hours of hell

My wife has been traveling from Nassau in the Bahamas as of 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. She was trapped for two nights in Dallas. I finally got her a ticket on Contenental to Houston, where she was delayed, missed the connecting flight, and was forced to buy a first class ticket to Phoenix tonight at 9 p.m. We live in Tucson, so I will now have to drive to Phoenix to get her. IF she makes it home tonight, it will be more than 60 hours of hell. American Airlines and the FAA have brought misery to HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of people, these are the same airlines that fought the passenger bill of rights law to defeat, saying that they could regulate themselves. Right now at AA, it is every person for themselves, you are on your own! --Michael Farmer, Tucson, AZ (submitted on April 10, 2008)

Cross your fingers!

I was supposed to fly on American Airlines Friday April 11th out of Austin, Texas, to Dublin, Ireland, with a connecting flight at O'Hare. American called me Thursday morning at 7a.m. CST to notify me that my flight from Austin to Chicago was canceled. After being on hold for an hour, the AA representative was very helpful. I told her my family is flying from all over the states to meet in Dublin on Saturday morning. She got me on a Delta flight connecting in JFK and arriving in Dublin around same time as my original itinerary. I am keeping my fingers crossed. --Anonymous , Austin, TX (submitted on April 10, 2008)

Planes pushing 30

I was in Newark for a meeting and was supposed to fly to Chicago at 7 p.m. After getting a boarding pass, I got to the Admiral's Club, where AA rebooked me on a Continental flight immediately. I stil got stuck in Newark for a total of 7 hours due to weather in O'Hare, so overall the trip was horrendous. AA was very efficient with me, but I am Executive Platinum with them and was in the Admiral's Club. A co-worker of mine got similarly good treatment. My flight home to L.A. from O'Hare was switched from a 757 to a 767, no doubt to use the smaller plane for another route. I am trying to avoid flying until this maintenance mess is over. The bigger concern is that AA's fleet is one of the oldest in the sky. Those MD-80s are pushing 30 years old! Compared to other large global carriers (United, Continental, British Airways), it's a bit concerning. --Paul Hughes, Los Angeles, CA (submitted on April 10, 2008)

Four hours gone

I was supposed to go to Dallas on Wednesday for a conference, but I had to cancel because they canceled all flights from Indianapolis to Dallas. No other airline could get me there before Friday, which by then the conference would have been over. So, after waiting at the airport for four hours, I had to turn around and head home. --Adam Geesaman, Noblesville, IN (submitted on April 10, 2008)

Sharing clothes with my son

At the time my plane was to board in Chicago for Denver, the gate attendant announced the grounding of the MD-80s. After a half hour on telephone hold music, American Airlines moved my reservation to a United Airlines flight to Denver later Tuesday night. Then, I had to stand in line for 30 minutes TWICE at a UA service counter to get my boarding pass because United's and American's computers were not talking properly to each other for United to get the e-ticket information. I had to call American again to get the United ticket number. I was luckier than many other travelers because I was visiting my son who wears the same size clothing as me and my luggage arrived less than 48 hours after the planes were grounded. --Anonymous , Lexnigton, KY (submitted on April 10, 2008)

No warning

My return business flight from Dallas, Texas, to Greensboro, N.C., was canceled without any warning or notification from American Airlines. I was fortunate to have a travel agent that acted quickly to locate an outbound flight(s) on Continential — Dallas to Houston to Greensboro eight hours later. Thousands of my fellow travelers whom I left behind at Dallas-Fort Worth are not as fortunate. Old and young, business and leisure travelers, I share their pain. I spent two hours on hold with American, listening to music. I never sopke with an AA agent. I'll try again this afternoon. When a corporation cancels service on this scale they must be prepared for the customer complaint backlog. AA is not prepared. Sell the stock, boycott the airlines, teach these corporate execs a few lessons in Customer Service 101. --Mark Buchanan, Winston Salem, NC (submitted on April 10, 2008)

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