A comedian had first class tickets on American Airlines, but American wouldn’t allow him to travel in first class. He’s ranting about the experience, and it’s been watched hundreds of thousands of times in just two days.
Jim Breuer bought first class tickets for his family to Honolulu from Fort Myers, Florida. Coming home it’s a redeye through Phoenix in a domestic seat not a flat bed. They pre-ordered their meal. They have bulkhead seats in row 1. But their seats are gon. The flight is overbooked. American Airlines is looking for volunteers to take a bump and a later flight.
First class, though, wasn’t overbooked. But he and his wife were downgraded to coach, while two pilots sat up front.
I went, so you’re telling me you’re taking a paid, first-class customer, and you’re putting, please tell me at least that you have the decency to put me in an exit row or bulkhead. He goes, no, they’re taken. Of course they’re taken. They’re taken by American Airlines employees. which we got to see when we got on the plane.
…Mark in Honolulu, the supervisor. He knows my name. Mark knows my name. Because Mark took my money that I paid for, for my family, for my wife. I go out to work for me. He took it and gave it to one of his buddies that work for American Airlines. Why do I know that? Because I saw the guy pulled off and… Bro.
He was frustrated because nobody explained to him what happened. Nobody told him his rights or gave him options. And they “wait to the very last second” to spring it on him, when he’s stuck. “It was just, hey man, sorry you booked first.”
Now you’re in 18 A and B for the next six hours flying like this on your red eye. Suck it. If he said that, I would’ve had more respect.
…He goes, well, I can give you a $500 voucher. $500 voucher for thousands of dollars for two first-class tickets that I splurged to treat me and my wife before I’m going away for three months. My blood is through the roof.
- The customer’s perspective is this: American Airlines sold him a first class ticket. He paid the fare, they took the money, he’s entitled to first class. Having the seat taken away from him at the last minute, and being offered minor ducats and barely an apology is offensive. He’s right.
This is foul because the way I see it, you stole from me. You stole my ticket. You stole my money. American Airlines employee stole from me. So this shows me… You can book a first class ticket on American Airlines. You can book any ticket on American Airlines and they have no problem putting one of their employees in your seat and then lie to your face and go, it was overbooked. Lie to my face and offer absolutely nothing.
- American’s perspective is this: their contract of carriage let’s them do this. They can take your money, fail to delvier the promised product, and give you compensation equal to the difference between what you paid, and what they determine the price of the product they actually deliver is (not even what you could have purchased it for if that’s what you’d wanted, but the most someone else paid for it).
- It seems likely that a pilot did take his seat. On mainland domestic flights, deadheading pilots are at the top of the upgrade list at the airport. They get first class, but they don’t bump paying passengers. On Hawaii flights, if the airline decides to deadhead a pilot to the mainland, it has to be in first class under their union contract.
American decided they needed the pilot in Phoenix, and took away a paying first class passenger’s seat to do that. That’s the deal, but compensation for this ought to be significant.
This isn’t about one seat. It’s a customer who chooses American Airlines for their premium travel who won’t do that anymore, and who will tell everyone they possibly can not to do it either. It’s both the right thing to do to make good when failing to deliver what you’ve promised, and it can be in your interest to make the customer feel good about the transaction. Instead, this one was left stewing on an overnight flight in back when they’d spent thousands of dollars to avoid that very situation.
He stayed mad because he couldn’t even get a customer service apology for what happened:
I was a big fan of American Airlines. No longer, and I’ll tell you why. We’re going on day three and a half now of not one human being calling me.
…I still have the pulled hamstring. Which is, so my ass is killing, the pain is going down my leg, and literally the seats are like this, while all the American Airlines employees are in front of us with, you know, the bulkhead, and their, you know, their feet are lounging, and listen. They deserve it. I have nothing against the rest of the employees. I have nothing but love for all of them. But this guy, Mark, the supervisor, and the people up at top that have not gotten back to me, I have no respect for you right now.
…We land. I didn’t sleep one ounce, bro. I was sitting there for five and a half, six hours, just staring.
He was told by employees in the Phoenix Admirals Club that no, pilots don’t get first class bumping paid passengers. But that employee is wrong. They’re not thinking about the rules for transoceanic travel.
Here’s what he wants. He paid for first class tickets between the mainland and Honolulu. He doesn’t want a $500 travel voucher. He wants a first class ticket between the U.S. and Honolulu. “And I even say I don’t need round trip. I don’t even need the round trip because [this happened] one way.” I have to say that (1) American Airlines isn’t going to do that, but (2) it’s eminently reasonable. They offered him a refund of the difference in fare between first class and couch which they calculated at $400.
At the end of the day there wasn’t anything nefarious here. American Airlines followed the rules. But their employees handled the customer service aspect of this poorly, and the airline really should do more there.
(HT: Travel Zork)
Yes, American Airlines bargained away the customers and gave it to the pilots. What if a restaurant offered to take food off of a customer’s plate and gave it to the employee as compensation. same thing?
Then they use the fact that they gave away the customers first class seat- to pilots – under a contract that they agreed to, as an excuse – when it should be offered as a confession
Complete malarky.
You can never claim to be a premium airline when this is how you behave.
Elite service providers just don’t have policies like this.
AA policy should be a full comp of the one-way fare. Until that happens it is unacceptable.
Anerican wonders why people compare them to Spirit or Frontier rather than Delta or United. I would choose to walk rather than fly American and tes even from Hawaii. My dad was an executive at American in the 70s so they had to earn my disdain for them and they have. Never again will ai fly them after my last miserable experience 7 years ago.
Most airlines will bump paid first class passengers (if there are no upgrades) out of first/business to accommodate pilots deadheading on a long haul. Presumably they were likely bumped because of no status. It seems as though the gate agent tried to be coy and would not give them an explanation, work to try to reaccommodate them (even on another airline) or try to solicit others with a downgrade offer, albeit on that flight it would have to be very generous to get someone to act. Possibly the gate agent had no choice as far as no offers and was told just to find two people to bump. But it was handled poorly.
” American Airlines followed the rules. ”
Their rules, not Jim Breuer’s.
Absolutely outrageous. No wonder they lose money.
Was he given the option of a later flight in F?
Was this Yup fare, I.e., instant upgrade?
Robert Isom the best airline CEOever got exactly what he told his employees to do. Never spend a dollar more than you have to. They only spent $500 in AA script instead of comping a ticket or recommissions the passenger on a later flight. Mark the supervisor will likely get a promotion for this as he is keeping within AA’s budget and keep costs low.
The flip side is American gets negative e publicity, likely loses higher value paying passengers as they are less willing to pay a premium for first class or won’t fly with AA. So revenue decreases faster then costs but hey at least Mark kept costs down as Eovert Isom told him and all AA employees to do.
I see why American gets their bad rap. He should have been treated better. He has a large fan base and we will get the info out.
On a side not, as a veteran I wanted to volunteer at the USO in DFW because they are short staffed for volunteers. I wrote American an email and asked if there was any way they could help with payment on the direct flight from my airport. So I could volunteer a couple of times a month. All I got back was not only no, but no way would we ever do anything like that. So much for assisting volunteers. Fortunately United has added a flight out of airport and I will give them my business over American.
American Airlines. Where F*** You Isn’t an Insult, It’s a Way of Life
On a one way flight from TelAviv to Rome I was once downgraded from Business to Premium on ElAl for the understandable reason that my row disappeared when the type of aircraft changed. I was rewarded with a business round trip voucher to any location in their system, which I happily used to Thailand.
Result=happy customer.
THAT IS REALLY OUTRAGEOUS. I KNOW THAT COMPANY EMPLOYES TRAVEL FC ON COMPANY BUSINESS WHEN THEY ARE CONFIRMED, BUT IF THERE ARE NO FC SEATS THEN THEY SHOULD BE CONFIRMED IN WHAT IS AVAILABLE.
A LONG TIME AGO BRITISH AIRWAYS OVERSOLD FC AND DOWNGRADED JOAN COLLINS TO BUSINESS. THEY KNEW THEY WOULD REGRET IT AND THEY DID — THEY NO LONGER OVERSELL FIRST CLASS BECAUSE SHE LOUDLY DENOUNCED BOAC EVERYWHERE SHE COULD IN PUBLIC.
AIR FRANCE DOWNGRADED ME ALSO WITHOUT EXPLANATION LAST YEAR. I ASKED POLITELY WHY AND THE BOY AT THE GATE IN BARCELONA JUST SCREAMED AT ME, “BECAUSE IT’S LEGAL.”
The pilots “bitch” about AA not being premium, then they better start aligning words with actions and think customer first and not themselves.
What’s just as infuriating is that they’ll screw him again upon reimbursement. They’ll refund the first class fare that he paid, MINUS the cost of those economy seats. But not what they would have cost when Breuer booked them. No, last minute rack rate. So, rather than maybe $300 per seat (as an example), more like $700. Deducted from his refund. And it’s all in the contrat of carriage. It’s how they screw you hard and you have nothing to say about it.
AA should’ve refunded the full cost of the two return first class tickets, and comped them the economy seats home. If that was unacceptable to the paying customer, they should’ve offered guaranteed seats on the next flight home in first or biz class. AA stole their money. They have a lawsuit. You pay for a first class ticket, thousands of dollars, and get offered a non-equivalent refund for services NOT provided, that’s theft.
I learned something new. Domestically pilots can be in F/C ahead of upgrades but never bump a paying F/C passenger. “Internationally there is a different set of rules..
After American Airlines downgraded and bumped Jim Brewer and his wife back to coach so two pilots could travel in his purchased and reserved first-class seats, since seats were available on other airlines, I’d have told Jim to request American endorse his first-class tickets over to Delta or United, toss in a little extra cash and AAdvantage miles, and maybe a meal voucher—or at the very least, a complimentary bag of peanuts or other salted legumes for the inconvenience. After all, at American Airlines, nothing says “we’re sorry, we suck” like a tiny bag of snacks at 30,000 feet! Bonus points if they deliver it with a dramatic sigh, a Citi®/AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® credit card application, and a napkin that just says, “Oops.”
secret sauce: never select the bulkhead or the aisle in F, and if all that are available is aisles, take the furthest back you can
and he should litigate anyway – file in california not florida or texas
and request immediate jury trial
also, how is hawaii international?