One Mile at a Time covered the downgrade of a Brazilian celebrity from premium economy to coach on an American Airlines flight.
Actress, comedian and tv host Ingrid Guimarães was flying American from New York JFK to Rio de Janeiro. She was onboard in her seat when she was told she was being downgraded to coach, she says, because a business class passenger had a broken seat and that passenger was being given hers in premium economy.
- She says she was threatened that if she didn’t move, she would be banned from American
- Employees reportedly announced that they were being delayed because of this woman’s intransigence
- There was no offer of compensation – she was just kicked out of the cabin
- Eventually she moved to economy, and she reports she was offered a $300 travel credit.
Her story has been liked half a million times on Instagram. But the real action appears to be on American Airlines social media where reportedly tens of millions of comments have flooded in. I assume that bots must be involved, since it’s a country of 211 million.
An American Airlines spokesperson offers,
Our goal is to provide a positive and safe travel experience for all our customers. A member of our team is reaching out to the customer to learn more about their experience and address their concerns.
First of all, in the event of an involuntary downgrade the passenger is legally entitled to the difference in fares between the cabins – not a travel credit. However, airlines have a tendency to minimize that difference, for instance comparing the cost of an advance purchase premium cabin fare to the most expensive coach ticket paid on the flight. Nonetheless, offering a travel credit alone was improper (although they might offer the refund and a travel credit in recognition of the disservice).
Second, I sort of expected the poor service from American in Brazil but that things would have been handled better by the airline at a hub in the United States. But it’s New York JFK, where an American gate agent declared last year that they didn’t care about DOT rules.
The customer had already boarded, though, and shouldn’t have been removed from their seat. The social media backlash in Brazil almost unheard of. As one airline employee put it, it’s approaching David Dao levels although fairly localized to that one country (there, a United Airlines passenger who had already boarded was forced to give up his seat – and bloodied by Chicago airport police when he pushed back).
I wonder, in American’s push for premium, whether they should just buy all of their employees Will Guidara’s book.
Remember you’re only getting one side of the story. There’s a procedure airlines use for downgrades, they just don’t “pick on” a random person.
It would be interesting to know what her actual compensation was. That’s a nearly 10 hour flight, and it’s conceivable that if there had been no seats in premium, she would have chosen a different flight. To find out after you board the plane that you’re stuck in coach is supremely unfair, and I think she should be compensated far in excess of the $300 credit she claims to have gotten.
After another poor flight on AA, if someone wants to ban me from AA – “Oh please, B’rer Bear – don’t throw me into that briar patch”.
Brazil has much stronger airline consumer protection laws than the United States. They would pay many times the airfare if they pulled this in Brazil . . . and she can still sue in Brazil regardless of what she agreed to on the plane.
But had she been given a free upgrade to the Premium Economy seat in the first place or did she actually buy a premium economy seat when she purchased her ticket?
This happened to me last week with Air France. Checked in at noon for my business class seat and by the time I’d walked to the gate they’d given my seat away to a more valued passenger. I used to work for Pan Am, United, & Northwest Orient, and the way it works is that you deny boarding to the passengers who are WAITING for a seat, you do not go into the passenger list and choose whom to downgrade. And by the way, I am SkyTeam “Elite” so am entitled to preferred seating but of course when you’re downgrade a few minutes before departure you get a nice middle seat between two people equally as fat as I. I guess that’s the French way — it’s not my way, and all Air France did was refund the fare difference without even an apology or a “mea maxima culpa.” They will never see my ugly face in their aeroplanes again.
@Mak — If only we had something like EU/UK 261 or Canada’s APPR in the US. Alas, we are so brainwashed by corporate propaganda and the special interests lobby our elected officials against ever doing anything that would meaningfully protect us as consumers here. When will we learn that there’s a better way. *sigh*
American Airlines hates you.
It’s amazing, and improbable, but they individually and personally HATE every single human on the planet.
Other airlines hate you too, but not nearly to as personally or vehemently.
Gary! I just read your Dr. Dao reference! Brilliant! He’s a hero, especially after United tried to defame him afterwards. Hope he got a juicy cash settlement.
@Clayton R Hollowell — You’re not wrong. Maybe Stockholm syndrome is real, after all. We are just gluttons for punishment, it seems. Bah!
Flying buses, with attendants on power trips, that’s all they are these days. I’ll only fly if I can’t get somewhere any other way.
I wouldn’t fly American if it was free…
I hope she does sue in Brazil. Maybe she should hire the Brazilian lawyer who was originally seated next to her, to make sure he isn’t hired by the other side and not testify. If the crew actually called her out, that could possibly be defamation. Some airlines have bad employees that need to be weeded out with lawsuits causing the airlines employing them large losses.
As for hearing the side of the airline agents and flight attendants, they could come onto forums and blogs and explain but the company probably has rules against it. It is like they lawyered up. I really wish that some would come and explain the other side but I doubt it will happen. Maybe in court with a less than forthright version.
Gary, your callback in this post to the AA agent(s) at JFK who “Do Not Care About DOT Rules” is indicative of what happens when we deregulate and/or abolish agencies that are supposed to protect the traveling public from such abuses of power.
Some folks on here who regularly bash those agencies won’t care until it affects them personally (basically the definition of being a ‘conservative’).
If you lack empathy, it’s not a strength—it’s weakness. Cruelty is dumb.
And how long had the seat been broken for?