My friend Jay Berman recently sent this letter recounting his recent experience with American Airlines. It is reprinted here with his permission. It speaks for himself:

July 27, 2010

Mr. Craig S. Kreeger
Senior Vice President – Customer Experience
American Airlines Customer Relations
P.O. Box 619616
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9616

Dear Mr. Kreeger:

I could rant like some dissatisfied customers about the series of events I am about to describe, but I thought I’d just describe it chronologically and let you decide whether American handled things properly or left two customers virtually abandoned and stranded at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport last week:

4 p.m. July 21: My wife and I arrived at Bradley International Airport for American Eagle Flight 3803, due to leave at 5:45 p.m. for Chicago. (All times are local).

6:55 p.m. July 21: Flight 3803 takes off 70 minutes late after passengers are told the plane will be flying at 10,000 feet because the cabin is not pressurized. Because it is flying at a lower altitude, we were told, more fuel would be used, and some luggage — it was never clear how much — was being left behind for later transport and would arrive at our final destination or be taken to our homes.

8:20 p.m. July 21: Passengers on Flight 3803 are given the gate at which they will be landing, presumably so they can make connections. They are not told, however, whether any of those connections might delay departure to accommodate them.

8:25 p.m. July 21: Flight 3803 touches down at O’Hare, 25 minutes before American Flight 607 is due to leave for Los Angeles. It taxies toward a gate, but the captain tells the passengers “We’re sorry for the additional delay, but a gate will open up in a few minutes.” Shouldn’t some consideration have been given to a flight that was already more than an hour late?

8:35 p.m. July 21: A flight attendant tells passengers they are at the gate, but “we don’t have anyone at the jetway to open it for us.” More minutes are lost.

8:46 p.m. July 21: My wife and I arrive at Gate H6, to be told that Flight 607 has already pulled back from the gate (it was due to leave at 8:50). It is American’s final flight of the night to Los Angeles. An angry passenger who also was on 3803 and has missed 607 remarks that it was probably the only American flight to leave early all day.

9:05 p.m. July 21: My wife and I are given vouchers for United Air Lines Flight 655, which we are told leaves at 10:05 p.m. Because it is two terminals away — a fairly long haul at O’Hare — we begin walking.

9:15 p.m. July 21: We arrive at Terminal 1. Many other passengers, apparently from all over the nation, are trying to get onto United 655. We wait in line.

9:35 p.m. July 21: United agent G. Bird is about to put us on the plane when she notices two American Airlines baggage stickers on our folder. “You have luggage,” she says. We explain that we have no idea where our luggage might be. She repeats “You have luggage. American hasn’t given us your luggage. We would be responsible. We can’t take you.”

9:40 p.m. July 21: I reach American customer service on a cell phone. I am assured that we are actually on United Flight 655, but I tell the customer service voice — who tried the best she could — that I am standing away from the line while G. Bird is putting other people on the flight. The customer service agent says she has never heard of anything like this in 25 years.

9:55 p.m. July 21: We return to G. Bird with our tickets and assure her that American says we are confirmed on her flight. “This flight is full,” she says, emphasizing “full” and tossing our tickets back at us.

10:10 p.m. July 21: We make our way through the darkening hallways — stores are closing, the Hudson News people are putting bags over their merchandise — back from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3. I am 70 and my wife is 65, it’s been a long day, but we’re doing the best we can.

10:20 p.m. July 21: We find a woman at an American Eagle desk. She may be the final airline representative still at work. We explain what has happened, and the lady — American Eagle agent Barbara Mataczynska — says “I can help you.” She is the only person who has said that, and she is the only person who did so. She gives us a voucher for a hotel and a coupon for $10 in food and books us on an early-morning flight. It’s not her fault that we wait for one hour for the shuttle to the hotel, or that the returning shuttle is at 5 a.m., leaving us with three hours sleep. And it’s not her fault that Flight 2099, scheduled to leave Chicago at 7:35 a.m., leaves the ground at 9:09 a.m., meaning our two American flights are a combined three hours late on takeoff.

11:05 a.m. July 22: My wife and I get off the plane at LAX, 12 hours and five minutes after we were supposed to have done so, wearing the same clothes we’ve had on for 24 hours. Our luggage arrives on the same plane, somewhat to our surprise.

We still wonder how this all happened. We followed every rule, removed our shoes at the appropriate lines, I said nothing when a TSA agent pushed me back behind his scanner because I had come through before he wanted me to, and we paid cold, hard cash, as they say, for our tickets. We don’t think we received good return for our investment. We weren’t injured, and nothing was lost or stolen, other than 12 hours of our lives and a decent night’s sleep.

What do I want? I want you to know how badly the system can fail for ordinary fliers, not just the ones who show up late and those who try to bend the rules. I want American to succeed, in part because fewer airlines in the sky mean higher prices from the surviving carriers.

But I’d like more than a boilerplate apology and a $100 voucher riddled with restrictions. I think unrestricted tickets for two anywhere American flies in the U.S. would be appropriate. Note that I’m not even asking for international flight. I just want to think we didn’t go through that miserable stretch of time on July 21 and July 22 for nothing.

And I’d like Barbara Mataczynska to be told her work was appreciated by two travelers trying to get home to California.

Sincerely,

Stephen Jay Berman
Irene Machuca Berman
Manhattan Beach, CA

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