What Exactly is American's Policy?
Does American Airlines follow its own policies? I don't know.
In early May I was scheduled to fly from Dallas to Boston to San Francisco. The departure from DFW was delayed for a variety of reasons including no ground crew, fuel spill, leaking toilet, late incoming flight, and weather, among other things. You can read it all here.
My flight landed in Boston five minutes before my SFO flight was due to depart. We pulled up to the gate right next to my outgoing flight, but as soon as they opened the doors on my plane, the other one pulled away. It was at the gate next to mine, I probably did not have to run more than 100 feet to catch it. If they had delayed the flight for just a few moments, I would have made the connection.
I sent a complaint about this to AA. They replied with an apology, but added that passengers need to be at the gate 15 minutes before departure; obviously I was not. They added, "We certainly don't want to leave customers behind and I'm sorry things worked out like they did on this occasion. At the same time, however, we are doing everything we can to make sure that we operate our flights on time. Like our customers, we believe that everyone is best served when we maintain our schedules." (emphasis added)
Imagine my surprise then when I flew home from Chicago on Friday night, after attending a 2-day conference. My flight, 2491, was filled to capacity and was scheduled to leave at 7:55 p.m. However, at 8 o'clock, the pilot announced that the flight would be delayed to allow passengers connecting from other flights to get to ours.
Those passengers eventually did make it to our flight, but we took off 20 minutes late. So, American Airlines policy said that they could not hold my SFO flight last month for 5 minutes, but there was apparently no problem holding my flight Friday for 20 minutes. True, this was the last ORD-AUS flight of the night, but my BOS-SFO flight was also the last one of the night, and they saw no need to hold it for me.
This leads me to ask, "What exactly is their policy?" I don't know.
In early May I was scheduled to fly from Dallas to Boston to San Francisco. The departure from DFW was delayed for a variety of reasons including no ground crew, fuel spill, leaking toilet, late incoming flight, and weather, among other things. You can read it all here.
My flight landed in Boston five minutes before my SFO flight was due to depart. We pulled up to the gate right next to my outgoing flight, but as soon as they opened the doors on my plane, the other one pulled away. It was at the gate next to mine, I probably did not have to run more than 100 feet to catch it. If they had delayed the flight for just a few moments, I would have made the connection.
I sent a complaint about this to AA. They replied with an apology, but added that passengers need to be at the gate 15 minutes before departure; obviously I was not. They added, "We certainly don't want to leave customers behind and I'm sorry things worked out like they did on this occasion. At the same time, however, we are doing everything we can to make sure that we operate our flights on time. Like our customers, we believe that everyone is best served when we maintain our schedules." (emphasis added)
Imagine my surprise then when I flew home from Chicago on Friday night, after attending a 2-day conference. My flight, 2491, was filled to capacity and was scheduled to leave at 7:55 p.m. However, at 8 o'clock, the pilot announced that the flight would be delayed to allow passengers connecting from other flights to get to ours.
Those passengers eventually did make it to our flight, but we took off 20 minutes late. So, American Airlines policy said that they could not hold my SFO flight last month for 5 minutes, but there was apparently no problem holding my flight Friday for 20 minutes. True, this was the last ORD-AUS flight of the night, but my BOS-SFO flight was also the last one of the night, and they saw no need to hold it for me.
This leads me to ask, "What exactly is their policy?" I don't know.
Labels: American Airlines
posted by Happy Flier | 9:30 AM
2 Comments:
Dear Happy Flier
Holding back flights for connecting passengers always depends of the number of them. For a single passenger, a flight is perhaps not delayed, as other arrangements can be found for him. If there's a group of passengers, who may even hold further connections, it may make sense to delay a flight.
That could explain why you were unable to connect on one day, but were held up on another.
Regards,
bizfreak
Bizfreak,
Thanks for writing! What you say is extremely reasonable. Had AA simply said "We don't hold a plane for one person, but will for several people: I could have accepted that. However, they were very specific in their reply to me.
"We've heard from many of our most frequent travelers just how crucial it is that we operate on time. Accordingly, we established a 15-minute "cut-off" time period (30 minutes for international flights) which stipulates that you must be checked in and present at the departure gate at least 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time of your flight to retain your reservation and a seat. This cut-off period is essential because it gives our airport staff the time needed for completing important last-minute details to prepare for departure."
Notice, if you are not there 15 minutes before departure, you do not board. This allows them to take care of important last minute details.
I just want clarification: that either is their policy, or it isn't their policy. That's all I want to know.
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