American Airlines

Last Tuesday, March 7, my wife and I were scheduled to leave Sint Maarten on American Airlines (AA) flight 724 at 5:02 PM. We were to connect in Miami for our flight to Boston (AA1054). We had used our AA miles to reserve business class seats.

On Tuesday, our AA flight was delayed, then delayed further, then cancelled because of a maintenance issue. After spending 5.5 hours in Juliana Airport, we were given vouchers for taxis, a dinner, and a room at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort. We were directed to a bus, transfered to the arrival area, required to pass through passport control again, pick up our luggage, and get a taxi. After arrival at the Sonesta, we, and all the other passengers from the flight assigned to that hotel, were told to take a seat and wait for the manager to update the system. We tried several times, as did others, to check in, but was told we had to wait. We had to wait over one hour, others over 1.5 hours, to check in. The Maho staff were brusque and unhelpful that evening. I tried to call AA Tuesday night to check on other flights for Wednesday, but no one answered the local AA phone. I could find no international number to call the AA Executive Platinum desk.

The AA app and AA emails later reported that our flight would leave at 7:00 AM on Wednesday, March 8, then the time was changed to 9:00 AM. We checked out of the hotel, then stopped when we met people returning from the airport saying that AA had changed the departure time to 12:00 noon. I called the local AA representative again, connected, and was told that if we wanted to change our itinerary the only available flights would be on Sunday. We went to the airport. AA delayed our flight again, and again, and again, and after waiting 9.5 hours, the flight took off ~ 7:30 PM. In the meantime AA let two other flights to Miami depart on Wednesday - but did not make those seats available to all the passengers from March 7. We missed our connection to Boston again, and had to stay overnight in the Miami International Airport Hotel. We were given economy class seats for our flight to Boston on Thursday, March 9.

We did make it home. And I understand that airplane problems can, and do, occur. But, the lack of AA customer service during those two days was very frustrating for us and the other passengers. It is perhaps time for us to accumulate miles on another airline.

I would contact AA customer service via email. I had a major problem leaving my local airport last year, missed my connection, a day of vacation, car rental, etc. and all due to a maintenance issue. I kept precise notes of the timeline of the events and included that in my email to AA. I really expected little or nothing but they did eventually come through with some miles and that is how I am getting back to SXM tomorrow. AA cannot control the issues with the hotel but they are responsible for their mechanical issues and customer service.

Good luck.

Sadly, just about all the airlines are lacking in customer service. Sometimes you get lucky and other times you don't.

Since the thread you responded to is over a year old, I made your post into a new thread.

Thank you. I had tried to post my message this morning, but clearly did so incorrectly. For comparison, I flew Qatar Airlines to Abu Dhabi a month ago. Their customer service was exceptional. I wish they flew from Boston to St Martin.

Last year when we had cancelled flights leaving SXM in May due to weather related issues we lost our Business First Class seats on our SXM to MIA to SEA flights that were on AA Miles. Long story is we had an extra night at our timeshare for that Friday night at Flamingo for the rescheduled Saturday departure. Got to MIA late so miss our connection. AA put us up in Miami, gave us food vouchers and provided transportation to and from Hotel. When I got home I contacted Customer Service and received the difference plus extra in miles from FC to Business and money vouchers towards next flights which we used to book for this May. They treated us right.

Talk about miles and compensation, trying to book miles with AA now and they want 130,000 per person to St Maarten from ILM. Nothing unusual about our travel arrangements, get the F—K O-T OF HERE! This is crazy.

For comparison, I considered using AA miles to fund a business trip from Boston to Paris in late May with a return in early June. AA required 648,500 miles (and $148.85). The value of AA miles are not what they used to be.

Yesterday March 11, Traveled American NON STOP from SXM to PHL yesterday, Ugh - SXM reader board said go to gate 6, then moved us to 9, then back to 6, then on to gate 1.. outside loaded 1 bus but left the rest of us in the sun for awhile, but OK it's the Caribbean...got to the plane and then sat on the tarmack for over an hr and a half, then back to the gate because Pilot was over limit flying hours (I think due to SXM being SO unorganized) & they got message a rocket is being launched off Virginia coast & now we can't fly...finally pilot had enough time & approval to fly to Miami, there we had to deplane, do the customs thing and try to find where we go because it was never a connecting flight. AA communication was bad because we kept getting conflicting directions, get in line, scan passport and asked for our boarding pass - which we didn't have one! Was like a wild goose chase all over the huge Miami airport following ppl who's shirt I recognized from our flight. Finally made it to PHL at midnight (6 hrs later than orig schedule). I would love to help AA by telling them they just needed to have just 2 guides (front & back of line) to show us where to go as after running all over just to board the same plane (not sure why we had to get our luggage off only to put back on the same plane). The only reason we use AA is because the direct flight to SXM, otherwise I loath them.

Charkey--Sounds like a really bad day. Glad you finally arrived.

This is purely from my personal experiences but we have had flights like this with AA and more recently with JB. Sad to say, it happens and I’m personally not willing to put all the blame on the airlines since the chaos in SXM has much to do with the state of flux the airport itself is in.

The good news, however, is if you take the time to write a thorough and concise explanation of what you experienced, the airlines will probably apologize profusely and compensate you generously with miles and/or vouchers for your inconvenience. At least, such was our personal experience with AA. Not so much with JB who gave away our paid for $$ extra space seats after we had checked in and were sitting in the executive lounge awaiting our boarding call.

We were almost in for shoes a few weeks ago. Booked J w miles, late departure ( juuuuust avoiding an extra might and hotel). Curious, Ive heard vouchers are not as good as cash. Are the vouchers physical like money? And for use only at certain places?

And as AA ExP, I know you guys have more....clout. But how can AA *make* seats available on those other flights assuming they are booked? Did you have seat inventory to view?

It's truly hit or miss. Flown B6 and AA to SXM, each had their issues. KLM had their pax on the ground almost 5 extra nights last week. No airlines are immune so Ive become less loyal to each airline.

And for another comparison our FC/Business return ticket from SXM to SEA cost us 60,000 miles with only 1 connection in MIA.

Reading all the issues with AA, and as some have had issues with JB as well, I had an issue with JB that I had posted in another thread and I also had and issue with UA from last fall. After contacting both airlines for restitution I was told they can make schedule changes and they are not held liable to pay for booked accomadatuons if missed. Both reps stated its in the "Contract of Carriage " and they don't reimburse for that. If it is their issue (plane maintenance, pilot hours etc) they will make good. JB rescheduled our return non stop booked last June from SXM to EWR to an overnight stay in Boston leaving the next afternoon. A hotel would be out of our pocket. Contract of Carriage. Aggrevating to say the least.

debnken--If they make a schedule change before you leave home, to make a non-stop flight into an overnight, you have the right to CANCEL altogether and get your money back. Of course, that is assuming that you could get another flight that you find reasonable in price. If there is not another option, contact them BEFORE!!! the flight and try to get some accommodation from them. For example, changing the day you fly or the connection place, or maybe even get an upgrade. They know that they are required to give you your money back if they change your flight from a nonstop and they would rather not give you your money back.

Carol, after my emails and phone conversation with JB (had to vent) I finally canceled the flight and got a refund. I was trying to say that the airlines have the upper hand with schedule changes because of "Contract of carriage"" that I don't believe many people read or dont understand. I was able to book another flight on another airline 4 months later (checked pricing to get a decent price closer to JBs) for our January vacation. It ended up costing more but no grief coming down. Waiting to see what the return trip holds (flying AA out of PHL)

OK, I didn't understand that from your post. For sure, the airlines generally have you by the you know what hairs, but in some cases, you do have some options. That's not the norm, as in most cases, you just have to put up with it.

You need a travel consultant, and need to get your miles back for that trip and find another way. That is way too many for a trip like that especially having as much time as you do prior to travel, unless it was in the Ethiad Apartment or better. Even with declining AA point value that is near $9k worth of miles.