American Airlines lost my bag on my flight back from San Francisco last night. They also lost the bags of six other passengers on my flight. They give you a number to call. You talk to a machine. There is no way whatsoever to speak to a human to find out what is being done or what American Airlines lost baggage reimbursement policy is. They do not consider your bag to be lost until it has been missing for FIVE days.
Go to the American Airlines website. Try to find a phone number that allows you to speak to a human about a problem. There is none. You cannot speak to a human at American Airlines if you have a problem with American Airlines. It is clear that customer service is not a big concern at American Airlines. (But i am sure they are concerned about search engine placement and so I will do my very best to optimize this complaint.)
So, I called the PR department at 817.967.1577. I identified myself as a blogger and told them that I will blog my experience and hoped they would do what they could to make it pleasant. I was switched to Carol Alexander, the assistant of Mr Shawn Battell (SP?) who is Manager of Customer Relations.
I know that bags get lost. I’ve had bags lost before. By American Airlines. And the bags came back a day or so later. What is so outrageous is the way they handle customer service about lost baggage. My favorite boots and two of my favorite jackets are in that bag. I want them back. I want a human being to assure me that they are looking for my bag and that if, god forbid, they don’t find it, they will re-imburse me at full value for what I lost. I want someone to care. But nobody at American Airlines wants to be bothered with customers. At least not anyone I have met so far.
American Airlines Customer Service Sucks
Ms. Alexander said that she would make sure that someone called me back. When pressed, she said that someone would be a baggage specialist. I asked the name of the head baggage specialist. She refused to provide a name.
“We have a lot of baggage specialists,” she said.
I said American Airlines promised me when I got on the plane that my bag would arrive in New York.
Why should I believe that someone from American Airlines would call me back , I aksed, when so far, no promises have been kept? I asked for her phone number so I could call her back if someone did not get back to me and she said
“We do not give out our phone numbers. You can choose to believe what you want to believe or not.”
Not being the type to give up easy, I called back the PR department and spoke with someone named Carol. She told me she would switch me to Jeanette Holland, secretary to the person to whom Mr. Battell reports. She refused to give me Holland’s phone number, but it is 817.967.1201 I got her machine. She also refused to give me the name of Ms. Holland’s boss.And she hung up on me. That’s where the story is… so far.
And of course my bag is still missing. Anyone have any advice on how to make more noise about this?
Here’s the followup email I sent to American’s corporate communications department:
Hi: Regarding the issue I called about earlier and about which I spoke to Carol, here is my first blog post on the problem I am having with American Airlines and my lost bag.
Of course I know that bags get lost, and bags get found. The issue is the way the problem is handled and the fact that the AA website has absolutely no phone number or other way to reach an actual human being who can help with a problem.
That is simply not acceptable, and neither is the way my problem is being handled.
B.L. Ochman
You may want to try the Telephone Cheat Sheet offered by Paul English at:
http://gethuman.com/
It might help.
That’s a great resource. Thanks. But it won’t solve this problem. That required getting to the chairman’s office.
Too bad gethuman’s not searchable, and not a wiki so people can add to the list.
I’m sure it will keep getting better.
BL, I read your other post saying you got your baggage back – whew! I think you’ve demonstrated a great understanding of the potential for change latent in this situation. Great job grabbing the bull by the horns and calling for change. And your point is dead-on – why should everyone have to go through the same rigamarole you did, every time, when a simple support system could speed everything up?
I also remained civil throughout, which is hard to do in this situation. And their staff didn’t. Change is gonna come.
At the end of the flight they say they know you have a choice and thank you for choosing American. They are right, I won’t choose American again.
BL, I’m a little late joining the fray here, but wanted to say I’ve had similar customer service issues with AA. Wrote a post about it, but it just seemed to convuluted an issue, so I never posted it. Your post suggests maybe I should.
I checked-in online the day of my flight, but my reservation was canceled. When I called they said my wife had done it – or someone with the same name. My wife grabbed the phone and insisted that she did not call as she was at work at the time. The woman actually said to us, “Do you have someone who doesn’t like you who would have done this?” WHAT? We asked if a password or ID verification was needed to cancel reservations. She said, “sometime yes, and sometimes no.” That’s what scares me.
We ended up getting back on the flight. It had been canceled 5 days before, if the flight had been booked we would have been screwed. Strange goings on over at AA. Very strange.
NOT TO PILE ON AA BUT THEY DO SEEM TO HAVE THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE OF ALL AIRLINES.
Dear Mr. Bentel:
I am having a difficult time understanding why my complaints are not being addressed and my e mails are being ignored.
I received an e- mail on May 16 (which I inmedately replied saying that it did not address the issue Please find my reply in the attached file AMERINAIRLINES.TXT
Since I haven;T received any replies in spite of my 15 day wait since I asked to be contacted, I’m inmediately placing all my unanswered e-mails on a Web site (BLOG) for anyone that cares to read it and find out how little effort is put by your subordinates into addressing complaints.
Mr Bentel: Have you been informed that an American Airlines female baggage handler at the Miami Airport told my wife and me (AND I QUOTE) “You can do this the easy way or you can do this the hard way”. I wonder if that is a line that is given during training to your employees or did the employee managed to think and utter the threat on her own?
Sincerely
Rodolfo Ruiz Huidobro
707 642-5138
PS: this is the perplexing mail I received. Seems it was written by a computer high on electricity rather than by a thoughtful executive of America Airlines. Please find it attached as a text file. (nonreplyAA.txt). Please read it and tell me if it seems like being responsive.
——————————————————————————–
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
——————————————————————————–
Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates.
Plain Text Attachment [ Download File | Save to Yahoo! Briefcase ]
MS RICHARDS: I have no idea what this e mail is about. I have a
grievance. Me and my wife were mistreated by an employee of American Airlines
acting in her official capacity. Your email absolutely confuses me.
What have you done to investigate and resolve this situation? Your e mail
does not offer much light as to this matter. I respectfully request
someone contacts me VIA TELEPHONE IN ORDER FOR THIS MATTER TO BE
DISCUSSED. MY NUMBER IS 707 642-5138
THIS IS THE E MAIL i JUST RECEIVED WHICH AS I SAY EARLIER DOESN’T EVEN
ACKNOWLEDGE THE SITUATION AND SORT OF MUDDLES THE ISSUES. PLEASE MAKE
SURE SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING SO I DON’T HAVE TO READ THIS SORT OF
AMBIGUOUS MESSAGES IN THE FUTURE.
begin quote
May 16, 2006
Dear Mr. Ruiz Huidobro:
Thank you for contacting us again. I am sorry this matter hasn’t yet
been resolved to your satisfaction.
Please accept my apology for the misunderstanding conveyed by our
previous response.
Our review of this situation with our Manager at Miami airport was
Intended for internal action only. We shared your comments to ensure that
we might better handle a similar situation in the future. Since we
responded to you on behalf of American Airlines, it was never intended
that someone from that office would contact you as well. Again, I regret
we left you with a different impression.
Mr. Huidobro, we look forward to having you travel with us again soon.
It will be our pleasure to provide you with the quality service
ENDQUOTE
Plain Text Attachment [ Download File | Save to Yahoo! Briefcase ]
May 16, 2006
Dear Mr. Ruiz Huidobro:
Thank you for contacting us again. I am sorry this matter hasn’t yet
been resolved to
your satisfaction.
Please accept my apology for the misunderstanding conveyed by our
previous response.
Our review of this situation with our Manager at Miami airport was
intended for
internal action only. We shared your comments to ensure that we might
better handle a
similar situation in the future. Since we responded to you on behalf
of American
Airlines, it was never intended that someone from that office would
contact you as
well. Again, I regret we left you with a different impression.
Mr. Huidobro, we look forward to having you travel with us again soon.
It will be our
pleasure to provide you with the quality service you expect and
deserve.
This is an “outgoing only” email address. If you ‘reply’ to this
message by simply
selecting the reply button, we will not receive your additional
comments. Please
assist us in providing you with a timely response to any feedback you
have for us by
always sending us your email messages via AA.com at
http://www.aa.com/customerrelations.
Sincerely,
Wanda S. Richards
Customer Relations
American Airlines
american airlines is the worst at customer service. I have had three recent issues with them traveling thru europe the states and mexico.
A lost bag, which I tried to locate for three weeks. No one ever called me after everyday leaving a message, not even a call to say we can not find your bag.
I did recieve an email stating that sorry your bag was not found only after I sent FOUR fed ex letters to corporate (over $100 it cost me to get this sily response with no contact reply) (email pasted below). I have flown 197,000 miles with American all i wanted was a human response. I do not nor did I care about compensation just a human reply.
Well I have decided that after this I will no longer refer business from my hotel, nor will I ever fly the airline again.
I wish everyone with an issue that is not responded to would do the same.
Bye American and I guess hello Delta and anyone else who will treat me as a human.
(Letter I recieve today via email)
August 22, 2006
Dear Mr. Slover:
Thank you for contacting Customer Relations. I am pleased to have the opportunity to
assist you.
I’m sorry you have not been able to locate your garment bag or that you have not been
contacted by our personnel. Most misplaced items which are retrieved by our personnel
or turned in by other customers are held in our baggage service office for about 15
days, depending on the worth of the item. Valuable items such as cash, cameras and
jewelry are normally held for a longer period of time. For obvious reasons,
perishable items are only held for 3 days. Because of limited storage space, after
those time frames expire, we have found it necessary to dispose of these articles.
Additionally, due to the volume of items missing and turned in, we only contact
customers if we have located the missing item. I am sorry.
As you might imagine, we are disappointed by your intention to travel with other
airlines as a result of this experience. I am truly sorry you no longer believe
American Airlines can satisfy your travel needs. I hope that in time you will
reconsider your decision. It would be our privilege to welcome you aboard once again.
This is an “outgoing only” email address. If you ‘reply’ to this message by simply
selecting the reply button, we will not receive your additional comments. Please
assist us in providing you with a timely response to any feedback you have for us by
always sending us your email messages via AA.com at
http://www.aa.com/customerrelations.
Sincerely,
Vince Marchello
Customer Relations
American Airlines
Just wanted to say thanks for posting that phone number – I also had a problem with American Airlines and couldn’t speak with someone. I called that number and got a MUCH better response the second time around. :)
Airline Travel in the United States
My wife and I recently returned from a week’s vacation in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. It could have been a perfect week in paradise had it not been for the shameful performance of American Airlines. As I recount the events of our trip home, I want to emphasize that none of the delays / mistakes had anything to do with Homeland Security or potential terrorist threats. It had everything to do with poor communication, lack of urgency, and reactive vs. proactive decision-making. If many people perceive that the airline industry doesn’t care, it is situations like this, that give merit to those perceptions.
Sunday, August 13th was a clear, hot, humid day in Tortola. My wife and I had flight reservations on American Eagle Flight AA5071; departure time 3:35 pm for San Juan, Puerto Rico. Unless Puerto Rico was home, you had a connecting flight out of San Juan to your final destination. In our case, we had the 5:53 American Flight AA0792 to Baltimore BWI. We felt comfortable that the 1 ½ hour lay-over in San Juan was sufficient to make our connecting flight.
We were aware that there was increased security at the airports following the August 10th arrest in England of terrorists plotting to bomb airplanes bound for the United States. With that in mind, we arrived at the Tortola Airport three hours before scheduled lift-off. We immediately saw that the airport was very busy. American Airlines had huge, long lines. We were not aware at the time, but they had cancelled their 1:00 flight, and two other flights were delayed (including ours.)
The line moved very slowly. There were only two employees working behind the counter and there was nothing in their actions or body language to indicate urgency. No quick movement; 3rd parties would come to the counter and the employees would have short conversations, smile and get back to their customers. It was easy for us to observe, we had three hours before our plane was scheduled to take-off. As we stood in line, we became aware that others were not as fortunate. It is troubling, the lack of empathy / sensitivity, the airlines show toward their customers. Regardless of the problem, “Get back in line, and we will deal with it when you get to the counter,” is the standard answer. Problem is, when you finally get to the counter, there is no willingness to deal with the problem.
After an hour and a half in line, we were able to check-in our luggage and get our boarding passes. As we were stepping away from the counter, my wife asked if the flight was on time and we were told that it was running 20 minutes late. The counter employee never thought it important to tell us that our flight was running late – knowing we had a connecting flight in San Juan! Still, that left a one-hour layover and we would probably be OK. Next, we moved to the security checkpoint and on to the waiting area for boarding. There, we found out that our flight had been delayed one hour. Time was now critical, most flights board approximately 30 minutes prior to take-off; our safety margin was gone. We also found out that we would have to collect our luggage and go through customs; then re-check our luggage with American prior to boarding the plane. Many of the passengers began cueing up at the check-in desk to get assurances that American was working on alternate plans, holding connecting flights, making arrangements to ensure passengers would not be stranded. The employee behind the counter was clearly overwhelmed. She announced the crowd in line that American Airlines was aware of the situation, and making adjustments for all connecting flights to ensure we would reach our final destinations. Some passengers wanted to believe that this was the case and sat down, others persisted to no avail.
American Flight AA5071 landed in Tortola at 4 pm and began boarding ten minutes later. Passengers hurried out to the plane in an attempt to speed the turn-around time; hoping to get the plane off the ground earlier rather than later. But it was not to be; we watched the baggage handler slowly load one bag at a time – walking back and forth to the baggage mover carrying one bag instead of two. We sat and watched, and when he was done, we sat and waited. We asked the stewards on-board what the hold-up was; explained the need to get to San Juan for our connecting flights. But Flight AA5071 was being held to see if there were any passengers to fill vacant seats. So we waited, and at 4:45 we began take-off for San Juan, Puerto Rico.
During the flight, many passengers tired to get updated information about connecting flights and gate number for flights, but the flight crew was unable to get any information. All passengers had to go through customs, pick up their luggage, take their luggage through customs, then recheck their luggage with their connecting flights before boarding. Given the time remaining, I would have to accomplish this in thirty minutes or less.
When the plane landed, we raced through the airport to customs, completed the necessary paperwork and moved through to baggage claim. My wife tried to leave the area to speak to an American Airlines representative; to see if flights were being held or alternative arrangements made. None of the passengers could do this until they had picked up all of their luggage; so again we waited on American Airlines. It was thirty minutes before the first bags showed on the revolving carousel. There was no-one from American Airlines in the area, passengers could only wait and hope that something was being done behind the scenes. After we got our bags, we were able to get through customs quickly to cue up in a line at the American Airlines service desk. It quickly became clear, that no advance preparation had been done. There were three employees working the desk, every passenger had to explain their circumstances before possible solutions could begin. In our case, the employee was happy to book us on a flight to BWI leaving Monday at noon – arriving approximately 4 p.m. at BWI. We explained that we had to get back Sunday night; both of us had to be at work Monday morning. No flights were available. We had to suggest checking flights to other airports with connecting flights to BWI – any method possible that would get us back to the area in time. We were willing to fly all night if there was a way to achieve this goal. Nothing was available. After repeated attempts to find combinations that would get us home – the employee offers that there is a flight leaving San Juan in 1 ½ hours for Miami that she could get us on. She cut us a ticket (no seat numbers), and we were on our way.
I would like to make a couple of observations at this point. Clearly, American Airlines was dealing with a difficult situation, but they did nothing to minimize the impact on their passengers. They had at least three hours to plan and react to everything that was happening. They had the ability to see how many passengers would be impacted by these delays. They could have looked for / booked connections where available to get passengers on their way. They could have had representatives in customs talking to passengers – letting some know that while they may be getting home later than planned – they would be getting home that night. They could have prioritized passengers; those that had a chance to move on could have been called aside and expedited on. A representative could have met with us and explained that there was no way to get us home tonight and explained what they were prepared to do and options available. Passengers may have been upset, but would have seen that they were trying to help. The employees behind the counters were not empowered; they had long-since run out of compassion. While I think the quality of their service personnel needs improving; I place the blame on the leadership at American Airlines.
The flight to Miami was uneventful. I had hoped that when we landed at 10:30 p.m. we would have a chance of booking a flight on to BWI. I wasn’t sure if American Airlines had checked other available airlines – and frankly, counter assistance at AA failed to convince us that they were trying everything possible. Upon landing, we were directed to a carousel for baggage claim. Sadly, as bad as things were, they were about to get worse. Miami has many luggage carousels but on August 13th, they chose to load 4 flights onto the same carousel. Assuming the average plane holds 50 passengers – you have 200 people trying to get luggage from one single carousel!
The American Airlines representative was overwhelmed. The luggage carousel was full of luggage that continued to go around and around; because passengers couldn’t get to their luggage, the carousel wasn’t emptying so no more luggage was being placed on the carousel. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to place one flights luggage on the carousel at a time; or better yet USE ALL OF THE CAROUSELS THAT WERE AVAILABLE!! The AA representative, unable to deal with the mess; simply walked away. In his absence, passengers moved into the roped off area attempting to find their bags. At one point, the desk phone rang and my wife answered. She told the caller that it was chaos and AA needed to get some people down here to organize and assist. The caller hung up. After 40 minutes the representative returned and announced that our flights luggage was being sent to another carousel. We were directed to the other side of the terminal. At first I was happy until I realized that the carousel we were directed to already had five flights queued up on it. More chaos. The American representatives, there were two, stood behind their podium and stared at their computer monitor – desperately trying to be invisible. They were no use to the passengers at all. The passengers however, began working together –pulling luggage off the carousel and passing it over the crowd to owner. As the belt emptied, I had to go to the two representatives and ask them to call someone and let them know to put something on the carousel. Over the course of 15 minutes, the carousel jammed and stopped five times – the representatives never looked up / never reacted. Useless. It took us 1 ½ hours to claim our luggage and there was a lot of people there when we left. It was well after mid-night; we were exhausted. We never checked on other flights, we got AA to give us complementary hotel reservations and called it a day. At 1 a.m. we were calling business associates to make alternative arrangements for work on Monday.
Our flight on Monday had some minor irritations – more indications of an Airline industry with unprofessional, poorly trained personnel. By 2 p.m. we were on the ground at BWI heading for our car. The nightmare was finally over
I’m not writing this seeking an apology from American Airlines. I will tell you that I will never fly American Airlines again. If they are the only airlines servicing my destination, I will either drive, boat, walk or swim before considering American Airlines. There is a huge disconnect between the company perception / advertising and the real-world experience that passengers endure every day. Mine was not an isolated occurrence; in the weeks since my flight I have heard numerous stories of shameful service by the airlines – many involving American. If a restaurant, retailer, business or politician performed as poorly – they would be out of business inside of a year. Airlines are convenient, a necessary evil, to get from point A to point B in a short amount of time. I’ve lost all sympathy for American Airlines and the airline industry in general. They buy, pay for, slick commercials promising service, timeliness and safety – they should invest that money in their people. Teach, train, empower, lead and innovate – let their passengers be their advertisement. Until then, they should be honest. They should tell you that if you expect anything more than arriving alive then you’re setting the bar too high.
Wayne Fish
August 2006
I also lost my bag once, but got a wonderful tagging device installed. Helped me to find my bag.
You can talk to customer relations, it just takes a little trick and alot of pissed off because they cancelled your flight and wont refund it! Anyways, you call the corporate office in Dallas, do not indicate that you have a touch tone phone and you will get an operator. Tell them you were talking to someone and got mistakenly transferred to Public Relations when you needed Customer Relations. They will transfer you right in. THEY DO HAVE PHONES!! I am on it right now with them!
You just need to contact our staff members. They will surely help you.
Haha! That’s hilarious.
And it’s 12 years too late.