Video of a line for customer service was shared to twitter. It wraps around the customer service area and into the corridor of the terminal – and it just keeps going. Naturally this was American Airlines, and naturally it was in Miami.
This is absolutely awful @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/GVpDZcFrXH
— Olin Simplis (@osimplis) October 27, 2021
On the other hand, here’s Dallas – Fort Worth:
.@AmericanAir canceled flights with no explanation. Agents seem not to be too concerned that hundreds of people are in line and stranded. Here I am in Dallas, STUCK. pic.twitter.com/XPPubfq1GL
— Dr. Willie J. Montague (@RepMontague) October 29, 2021
Some key tactics:
- Rebooking can be done in the mobile app… sometimes. You may not see all possible flight options, but may be able to confirm yourself on a flight that works.
- Go to the club if you have access rather than standing in this line.
- Twitter direct messages can also be helpful with rebooking, I DM American Airlines when I’m inflight and can’t call and need to get changed onto a new flight due to a delay.
- Telephone customer service especially if you have elite status and have your calls answered faster may be quicker and easier than standing in line.
- Foreign call centers aren’t free calls, but use an internet calling app (even Skype) to ring up an English-language call center in another country (for American the U.K. and Australia numbers are best, for Delta it’s the Singapore line).
- Get help at your gate if you can rather than customer service, or even go back out to the ticket counter, there are people besides the customer service line who can help when things are this bad.
In fact, try a combination of all of these. Stand in the line and while you’re there start working the phones and twitter. You may get what you need long before being helped at the airport in person. In the meantime, however, you’re advancing in the queue in case you do need physical help on the spot.
It also helps to know what you actually want when you do get someone to help you. I use ExpertFlyer to quickly find flights with availability, but you might just pull up the airline website and search as though you’re buying a new ticket. If they can sell you a seat they should be able to rebook you onto a flight.
During major flight disruptions you’re not the only one looking for help, and you want to get ahead of your competitors (fellow passengers). But since other people are moving around, too, availability for other flights changes all the time. I keep refreshing availability if I don’t see the flight I want. I’ll start calls to the airline even when I don’t see what I want, or see something better than I have, because by the time they pick up options may be better. Or they might not be! Once you’ve been rebooked, you can still keep searching to improve your new itinerary.
And remember when you’re dealing with customer service agents to be nice. You may be having a bad day. It might even be the airline’s fault. But it’s rarely the fault of the person trying to help you.
What’s more, the person in the customer service role doesn’t get rewarded by their employer for going out of their way to solve your problem. Yet they can make a big difference getting you to where you’re going quickly (or not). You want to get them on your side. Joke with them. Ask them about their day. Treat them like a person, because that’s what they are, and they’ll be more likely to go out of their way for you.
If you don’t get what you want the first time, though, ask someone else. Use each of these customer service options as a second and third bite at the apple. Some agents will bend rules, others won’t even give you what you’re entitled to. I usually ask for something at least three times (from different people), and get told no at least three times, before accepting that as the answer.
I stopped watching the video halfway through, the line was THAT long.
The zoo, the zoo sponsored by Mc Donald’s…ooops, I mean AA!!
Ah yes, the infamous re-booking station next to the Centurion Lounge. Always understaffed and no organization whatsoever. Probably a good chance there was a similar line at the main check-in; it’s almost always full.
Perhaps Rep Montague can pull some strings….oh wait he’s not actually a representative just a “candidate” for Congress.
IMHO anyone standing in a line at an airport to rebook a flight is a newby that doesn’t understand the process and has no standing. On the rare occasion I miss a flight I’m almost always proactively rebooked on the next flight (and this is on AA). If I feel I will miss a flight I use the app or elite line to move to another flight.
Your suggestions are good but am I the only one that thinks the people reading this blog already know ways to avoid these lines and those in them don’t even know blogs like this exist?
BTW Gary – please keep ragging on AA. If people have to stand in a line at least that is better than being on hold for 8-10 hours (or more) like happened with Delta this past summer or cancelling flights all over the country with a vague excuse about the FAA (like with SW). All airlines have their issues and when storms hit and there are massive delays and cancellations you can likely find a line like this at any hub airport. You fly AA more so see it more but I assure you ATL, ORD, DEN, IAH, etc all have similar such lines on occasion.
As we know, there are far more unseasoned travelers now than pre-COVID. These individuals are unfamiliar with what to do when irregular operations arise. Given that, it’s not a surprise to see this result. So, on one hand, it’s not an airline’s fault. On the other hand, the airlines know about the shift in passenger profile and they should staff appropriately.
The silver lining is that it wasn’t Spirit and the knives didn’t come out.
Not to pour salt on a wound . . . as a CK, AA calls me . . . I don’t call them.
But, even before I became CK, I would typically receive (non-automated) text messages (but sometimes calls) from AA regarding connections, etc. Perhaps I was lucky or an exception. So, I am somewhat baffled by the complaints about customer service. And, this is coming from someone who believes that customer service in the US has all but disappeared.
Just FYI, asking different CS agents two or three times to get the answer you want doesn’t work. CS agents get absolutely no pleasure “keeping you around” the airport during a cancellation or delay. Once you deal with one CS agent they document the your reservation. If two or three other agents see you’ve already spoken to someone the less time will be taken with you. During cancellations things change and what was once a full flight can turn into a flight with open seats in a hour or two. You’re better off getting confirmed on a flight then using a mobile app to see other options.
These lines are right out a nightmare LOL. I’ve had a lot of luck fortunately through app itself earlier this year during an IROPS situation. AA sent a push notification saying that my first leg would be delayed and I wouldn’t make my connecting flight in CLT but offered a slew of alternates to get me to my destination while keeping my first class upgrades all the way through if available (which fortunately they were). Moral of the story- there is no need to stand in a line- Gary’s suggestions are great and will always take those alternative routes and use the customer service desk as an ultimate last resort.
Tip #7: Avoid flying American Airlines if you can
@RenoJoe……..In your comment you mention CK. What is that? Never ran across that term when reading travel blogs. Thanks.
It has been my experience regarding situations like cancelled reservations, weather, missed connections, etc. that when presented with a viable, reasonable solution, customer services reps will take it rather than having to search for their own solution. Have a couple of possibilities and rank them in your preferred order. Present them one at a time, and ask, “Does this work, can you do it?” Sometimes, someone has already grabbed that solution or it’s outside the rules, but I usually get one of my first two solutions.
Example: This summer, my daughter got an alert six hours out that her BOS-EWR flight was cancelled on United, eliminating her connection to Madrid. The EWR-MAD flight was still happening. There were two possibilities, but it would be tight or not tight at all. I told her to get her stuff in the car and head for the airport with her boyfriend driving. (She never let’s him drive her car.) Option two, the less favorable option, was to get to EWR via another city like BOS-IAD-EWR or LGA (and cross NYC to get to EWR, but any viable flights were close to leaving if she got to the airport. Option one was to stay within StarAlliance and fly Lufthansa BOS-FRA-MAD. That didn’t leave until much later, but we had no idea if United would take it over keeping her on their metal. She’s working the phones on the way to their airport when she suggests option one. They immediately check and say they can do that. Problem solved, they get off the highway and go back home until later in the day. Later arrival in MAD than planned, afternoon rather than early morning, but way better than sweating a couple close connections to get to EWR, which may not even work.
Bottom line, first sign of trouble, start solving the problem with your smartphone or call someone who knows how to work the system. (Note that PCs often have different solutions than mobile apps. Don’t know why, they just do. I often get different/better options on AA.com than the mobile app, so consider going in via Safari or Chrome on your phone. ) Standing in line and begging for help should be your last option, not your first.
As I walked by the long line yesterday evening in Miami, I kept telling people to call the 800 number
Yesterday on my Transcontinental Flagship Dollar Run, the 1st plane was infested with insects (Captain acknowledged & gate agent mumbled ‘cockroaches’ ), as soon as it became apparent that I would miss my connection, I proactively Twitter DM @AA, and called the 800# to get in line for a call back while proactively in line waiting for the gate agent – at that point only 1 person in front of me. The later connection flight had 1 1st Class seat available & I got it through the gate agent. I send @AA a DM that I was good, which they acknowledged. On the call back, the CSA confirmed I was on the new flight in seat 1B
It was a long day with the first flight 2 1/2 hours late and the later connecting flight was 1 1/2 hours late. I wore my mask for approximately 16 hours. And lost out on Miami Flagship Dining, although I did have time for a couple glasses of Roederer Champagne 🙂
Hey Gary, do you recommend a specific international call center for United?
It should have been apparent to people after AA made the announcement that they didn’t have to be responsible for getting you from point A to point B that they were going to run into nothing but more headache from the company.
Easiest solution that doesn’t involve calling or messaging different people: Stop flying with AA.
Biden’s America, this is deliberate, everyone should head to the border with a family, doesn’t matter which one, just find one, you’ll be greeted openly and warmly by Democrat left Wing radicals and be handed a cheque for $450,000, the alternative is to be a tax paying, law abiding American citizen and put up with empty shelves and long lines like this. Remember when we used to pity Russia when we saw lines like this. Welcome to Biden’s America you fools. Now impeach the bastard and jail him. And Jail the woman as well, #cowardbiden
No, pleae don’t ask them about their day or any other chit chat when there’s hundreds of people waiting in line. Get to the point quickly and efficiently.
What do people really think will happen when the people you work for force you to put something In your body that NO ONE has long term data on? It’s only the beginning!
Go home Robbo, you are drunk.
Great Job Mr Parker run it out of business! Go all the way don’t stop now?
You could still bring the airline to its knees with your leadership and people skills
When are AAs customers going to learn its all about the weather problems in Dallas no other issue
In fact to solve the weather problem they are bringing back 1800 laid off workers
Problem solved with those foul winds coming from corporate HQ in Dallas