I had an American Eagle (regional) flight delayed about three and a half hours this past week, and within minutes of landing I had an apology email sitting in my inbox — proactively offering 5000 miles.
I thought, “Oh, cool, I didn’t even complain!” And then I thought, “gee I wonder which flight this was related to?” since I’ve had several long delays and missed connections over the past five weeks or so.
I think the text could be better written to begin with the apology and to not bury the compensation piece at the end of the second paragraph.
But I appreciated it nonetheless, realize that it is related to the flight that I had just gotten off of, and think the timeliness of it is especially well-done.
Since receiving this I’ve seen several other reports from frequent flyers of the same thing. They’re all elite members of the AAdvantage program, so I do not know whether this is being done for everyone on a given flight (well, everyone with an AAdvantage number in their reservation) or based on a judgment of customer value. And I don’t know if the 5000 point amount is standard or varies.
It does seem, though, based on reports this week that American is doing this more often. Or maybe there have just been that many more winter delays.
We know how important it is for our customers to rely on the on-time departures and arrivals of our flights. However, there is nothing more frustrating than learning your flight has been delayed – or even canceled – while attempting to get to your destination as planned. Therefore, we hope you will accept our apology for the disruption of your travel plans.
Although our schedules cannot be guaranteed due to the many variables associated with the operation of an airline, we want to show our concern for your disappointment. As a sincere gesture of goodwill and to encourage you to continue traveling with us, I have added 5000 Customer Service Bonus miles to your AAdvantage® account. You can view this activity soon via our web site at http://www.aa.com/AAdvantage.
While the safety of our passengers and crew members will always take priority over on-time departures and arrivals, we hope that you will give us another opportunity to serve you when your plans call for travel by air. It would be a pleasure to welcome you aboard American Airlines.
Have you had any significant delays over the past few weeks, and did your airline proactively offer an apology and miles as compensation?
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I routinely complain to Delta when the last flight (1441 from ATL) into CLT is delayed for 20 minutes waiting for the rampers to free up a gate. And I get 4500 or so miles with a boilerplate form letter. I did also get a voice mail from the station manager.
Delta’s problem in CLT is that they simply have too many planes overnight for the number of gates, so they need to move them into the corner of the alley. But it seems like they don’t take this action until the next plane is already there. Every. Time.
We were delayed about 4 hours BOS to DEN on 12/28 on UA (awaiting inbound aircraft). I’m a gold and took a $200 travel cert, my wife is a GM and took $150. We were on discounted First fares fwiw.
I was bumped from a flight on United and as compensation they gave me 2 x $75 certificates – which I just tried to use today to cover the fee on an award booking and they would not accept them – only if I BUY a ticket!
What rubbish!
My United flight out of ORD, ironically as I was leaving the Chicago Seminar, was delayed about three hours. I am not an elite but did get an email apologizing and offering choices of compensation, including 5,000 miles, which I took.
I got a similar thing from AA back in October when I had at least 12 rolling delays on an ORD-LAX flight that put me over EXP (I was supposed to land at 10:35pm, after several 20-minute delays and deboarding one plane due to MX, we landed at 1:30am).
I got 5,000 miles and actually complained further because the way the delays were communicated was very poor, and got another 5K for 10,000 miles.
Just found my e-mail (which I received after landing but before getting home, so it was a quick e-mail so early in the morning). Mine started with an apology …
“We know that the delay of your recent flight was an inconvenience to you (not to mention disruptive to your travel plans), and we apologize. At the same time, we’d like to offer a more tangible gesture of our concern. Accordingly, we’ve credited your AAdvantage® account with 5000 bonus miles.”
UAL gave my wife and I 3K each when our New Orleans flight was mechanically delayed for 3 hours. We did not ask for it; appreciated it, though!
UA offered me a choice of a voucher or miles after a mechanical delay and I chose the voucher because I valued it ~$15 higher than the miles. Unfortunately, when I tried to use it online, I received error messages that the certificate was invalid and ended up getting the run-around on my “goodwill gesture”. Lesson learned: next time get the miles.
Jeez. I had an emergency landing/diversion into CMH on 12/12 on an AA Eagle flt from RIC – ORD. Flight cancelled. No alternative options for 24 hours due to last day of class for OSU. I eventually rented a car and drove to CLE (my final destination that day). I’m EXP (plus CK) – and I’ve gotten nothing! I can’t even get a refund on my ticket price or reimbursed for my rental car! ($80)
Also, believe it or not – it was my 2nd diversion of the week (1st was during Dallas ice storm).
3.5 hour delay resulted in $100 voucher and 2 hour delay on USAir received no miles or credit.
Trying to pre-smooth any merger difficulties over for you maybe?
I like how UA gives a choice… miles or travel moolah.
I’d be happy with up to a two hour delay if it meant earning an extra 5000 miles on my primary airline, unless I needed to reach my destination on time, or the delay was likely to cause cascading problems due to regional or systemwide IRROPS. Also, I’m much more averse to delays at odd hours (e.g., IAD after 11:00pm), or at small outstations without much in the way of restaurants and bars.
I volunteered off of a flight at BWI for $500 onto a flight that was delayed by almost 10 hours. I had overheard the captain saying that the crew on the delayed flight was going to “time out” so they were moving the crew from my oversold on-time flight onto the delayed flight since the plane was now fixed and ready to go. So, in the end I got $500, first class and arrived earlier than had I stayed on my original flight. Upon arrival I had an email from American apologizing for the delay and offering me 12,000 miles. I am AA Gold. Quite the good day.
3 hour weather related delay in Dallas en route to PHL with AA on 12/29. We’re AAdvantage members but without status. No communication from AA (of course, none expected).
Had multiple delays with Delta last week ended up netting 25,500 total with no complaint letters. I wish I could have been on time but nice to get something out of it. Nice touch from Delta.
My daughter, an AAdvantage member, flew international J class, with the last leg, MIA to TPA, scheduled to depart MIA at 10:25 pm for TPA. She did not leave MIA until well after 1:30 am, arriving in TPA after 2:30 am. This was several weeks ago. So far, no apology, no explanation, nothing.
After an 18 hour delay, I was compensated with 10k AA miles.
Delayed 3 hours on United JFK to SFO they said the crew got in late the evening prior and needed to meet the required resting period. Nothing from United!
Delayed over 4 hours from DUS to ORD. No communication from AA. I write and said EC 261/2004 should apply, but no response in a week. What intelligence do you have, Gary, with AA and EC 261/2004?
Back in october i got the same preemptive 5k email from AA after a 4 hour mech delay result in a missed connection and overnight stay. Was AA gold at the time. Figured no one starts out with their best offer, so i called and was given a further $300 voucher.
This week, 3 hour mech delay getting me into DCA at 2 AM. Plat at this time. Nothing out of AA. Emailed customer relations. Silence. YMMV.
UAL used to be extremely generous with compensation for delays. 3 or 4 years ago we had to stop to refuel in PHX on a BOS-SFO non-stop. When I landed I already had an email offering me $350 or 20,000 miles! Interestingly, I’m a 1K and had been upgraded, while a colleague with no status was offered a much smaller compensation.
Another time on the same route there was an equipment change from a 757 (domestic 2 class) to a 767 (international 3 class w/flat beds). I had received a complimentary upgrade, but since they “bumped” me from first to business they emailed to offer generous compensation for the inconvenience.
Nothing like that has happened recently, especially since the merger. I still feel like I get a good deal as a 1K, but it was especially nice a few years ago.
No AA status. Delayed overnight due to mechanical issues that turned into a cancelled Eagle flight. Given room and food vouchers. Next morning flight was also cancelled, probably same plane from night before. Wasn’t put on any flight after. Had to ask a supervisor at airport to add me to standby for afternoon flight, they wanted me to wait several hours later. Barely got on the afternoon flight. Had to send and email. 10,000 miles.
Delta gave 2,500 miles to my non-elite wife for the first of their 3 weather-related cancellations for DCA into DTW last week.
Nicely written letter. The points showed up in the third para. First: “On behalf of Delta Air Lines, I would like to extend my personal apology for the inconvenience you experienced as a result of the cancellation of Flight DL1444 on January 06, 2014.” (omitting 2nd) Then 3rd: “To demonstrate our commitment to service excellence and as a gesture of apology for our service failure, I am adding 2,500 bonus miles to your SkyMiles account….”
You’d think that Delta would be more generous than AA, given the low use value of sky pesos. But, on the other hand, they did have a lot of people to mollify for those couple of days.
Does anyone have a sense of the carriers’ finances for these “gifts”? How do they account for skymiles delivered as opposed to outright cash?
My daughters flights were delayed due to weather then cancelled. She got stuck in Salt lake for 2 nights. No compensation for anything offered. She did get an apology letter and 2500 bonus miles and that was it. Wrote a letter but got nothing more. Delta
United is NEVER proactive and I am one of their top tier flyers. I always have to write, explain what happened and then have to ask for some sort of compensation, either a voucher,miles, etc.
3+ hrs= 5,000
overnight= 10k + hotel (of course)
On January 3rd we were flying Southwest from MSY to Houston to CLT. We were bumped to a flight 1 hr later when leaving MSY. When we got to Houston we saw all the original people we should have flown with and happily waited with them for the Houston to CLT flight(4 hr wait for us). Of course we were 1000 richer. By the way we used points for the hubby and companion pass for myself. We can either use that for a fantastic family trip to Puerto Rico or five smaller trips.
Prefer voucher to miles. Use voucher to fund MR for EQMs.
Southwest: delayed FIVE DAYS due to multiple weather cancellations. Nothing offered proactively. $75 voucher upon complain.
Just had a 3 1/2 hour delay on SW from BNA to BWI. I had to badger the gate agent into a $50 future flight credit after I was denied dining credits or anything else for both that delay and a cancelled flight two days prior that resulted in a 3 hour wait for the next flight. This was all while traveling with a 6 year old.