Impressive service from American Airlines

[online]

Arrived back in the UK from Florida yesterday, on rather a convoluted flight - Olando-Miami-Raleigh-Heathrow.

We had one checked bag, which unfortunately did not appear at Heathrow.

Went to AA service desk, and was impressed that they already knew about the bag.

The bad news was that it had got missed off the flight from Miami-Raleigh, but the good news was that it was on the direct flight from Miami-Heathrow. This was due in about another hour. We didn't want to wait for it, and after giving some details were told it would be delivered to us in Oxfordshire early evening.

Sure enough, at 6.30pm it was delivered to our home by a courier.

I know they shouldn't have missed the bag off in the first place, but was pleasantly surprised by the efficient way the problem was handled.

[Jill]

Nice to know they can handle some things in a timely fashion.

Last year Andrew was flying Raleigh to New York and we were meeting him to fly back on the AA morning flight to Heathrow. Unfortunately due to a bad storm his plane could not take off so he missed the flight from New York. We were unable to get anyone at the AA desk in New York to leave a message for him from us and when we got back to Heathrow they would not confirm whether he was on the night flight. Absolutely useless for customer service.

[SunLover]

Amanda

That sounds a breeze compared to Easy Jet's recent c*ck up which saw them losing our bag between Gran Canaria and the UK.

In the end it took the best part of a week to get the bag back and then it was "we'll deliver between 7am and 9pm" !!!

It was my first time with E.J. Can't say that I will be rushing back to sample their "service" again anytime soon. [msnwink]

[sunseeker]

Don't blame the airlines for lost or misplaced luggage, thats down to the baggage handlers. Once your airline rep has attached the label to your luggage ( which i always check has the correct destination on it ) it then goes into the hands of a different company to the aircraft.

Dave

[online]

Actually this is the second time that AA have turned up trumps for us. A couple of years ago we were flying back on New Years Eve to London via Chicago. A bad snow storm in Chicago delayed the take off from Orlando by a couple of hours.

When we got to Chicago, the bad news was the plane to London was delayed again while waiting to be de-iced.

The good news - we found they had upgraded us to Business Class[msnsmile2] So what was turning into a nightmare journey was instantly transformed into something extremely pleasant. I can cope with sipping champagne whilst waiting for take-off anytime[msncool]

[Sniff]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunseeker
Don't blame the airlines for lost or misplaced luggage, thats down to the baggage handlers. Once your airline rep has attached the label to your luggage ( which i always check has the correct destination on it ) it then goes into the hands of a different company to the aircraft.

Dave
[/quote]
That's just too easy a way out for the airlines, and should not be accepted as an excuse!!

As a customer, my contract is with the airline, not the baggage handler. If the airline chooses to out-source that task to a 3rd party, that's up to them. But if my bags get lost I expect the airline to know about it, to deal with it, and to get it back to me in a timely manner. I don't expect to have to deal with the baggage handler myself.

[steph_goodrum]

My daughter was flying direct to Boston with AA last year and they asked at checkin if she would fly via Chicago instead (with $500 compensation) of course she said yes, made the necessary phone calls at their expense to rearrange pick up the other end, and asked if she could leave her bag checked to go direct as it had already been done. They said no for security reasons it has to travel with the passenger. When she arrived in Boston her bag didn't (after she had rechecked it in Chicago). It took 2 days to turn up but they were very good and told her to submit claims for any necessary items she bought. She was very good and didnt abuse it and only claimed about $20 for new underwear and just begged, stole and borrowed clothes from her boyfriends family to keep her going. Now she always takes at least one change of clothes in her hand luggage just in case.
Although it was a bit of a hassle the compensation mostly paid for another flight so she could live with it.

[sunseeker]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Sniff
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunseeker
Don't blame the airlines for lost or misplaced luggage, thats down to the baggage handlers. Once your airline rep has attached the label to your luggage ( which i always check has the correct destination on it ) it then goes into the hands of a different company to the aircraft.

Dave
[/quote]
That's just too easy a way out for the airlines, and should not be accepted as an excuse!!

As a customer, my contract is with the airline, not the baggage handler. If the airline chooses to out-source that task to a 3rd party, that's up to them. But if my bags get lost I expect the airline to know about it, to deal with it, and to get it back to me in a timely manner. I don't expect to have to deal with the baggage handler myself.
[/quote]

I didn't say the airlines used it as an excuse nor did i say you had to deal with baggage handlers to sort out any problems. I believe you're correct in saying the airlines are responsible for your luggage as i too would and have spoken to an airline about missing luggage, but the airlines don't have their own baggage handlers and are forced to use those working at the airports to do the job for them.

Dave

[Sniff]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunseeker
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Sniff
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunseeker
Don't blame the airlines for lost or misplaced luggage, thats down to the baggage handlers. Once your airline rep has attached the label to your luggage ( which i always check has the correct destination on it ) it then goes into the hands of a different company to the aircraft.

Dave
[/quote]
That's just too easy a way out for the airlines, and should not be accepted as an excuse!!

As a customer, my contract is with the airline, not the baggage handler. If the airline chooses to out-source that task to a 3rd party, that's up to them. But if my bags get lost I expect the airline to know about it, to deal with it, and to get it back to me in a timely manner. I don't expect to have to deal with the baggage handler myself.
[/quote]

I didn't say the airlines used it as an excuse nor did i say you had to deal with baggage handlers to sort out any problems. I believe you're correct in saying the airlines are responsible for your luggage as i too would and have spoken to an airline about missing luggage, but the airlines don't have their own baggage handlers and are forced to use those working at the airports to do the job for them.

Dave
[/quote]
Some airlines do have their own baggage handlers, some don't - it usually depends on which airport you're talking about and whether that's a a key hub for them. Some airlines will sub-contract to another airline if they can (especially within a code-share group) and others will sub-contract to a 3rd party company (often the airport operator).

The point I was trying to make is that you SHOULD blame the airline if your baggage goes missing. It's irrelevant to you as a customer who handles your baggage.