stupid airlines

So.

I'll admit that I don't travel well. Especially by airlines. I find that often, they do things that don't benefit the traveller, and instead, benefit the airline.

Like now.

I flew to Qatar October 4th. At least, I attempted to. On that day, some pretty nasty storms grounded most of the flights going into Chicago, where I'd make a connection for the next leg of my trip. As my flight to Chicago was booked through Qatar Airways, but operated by American through a codeshare agreement, I figured everything would be okay.

Unfortunately, this was not the case.

I sat on the tarmac in Kansas City for an hour and missed my flight to Qatar. Thankfully, American Airlines booked me for the next flight to Qatar, set me up with a hotel room and meal vouchers and I was able to get to my intended destination, even if it was a day late. I did receive a receipt from this desk agent, but there was no way to access it to print it off or to look at the return trip booking.

It was a great trip, and I really enjoyed myself. However, the trouble really started when I tried to leave Qatar.

I went to the airport trying to get home October 10th, per my original booked ticket. When I got to Hamad International, my seats were nowhere to be found. In fact, they couldn't find my booking in the system anywhere.

I waited to go to the ticketing counter to open up, and while the nice lady at the ticketing counter was pretty helpful, she did note that I was marked as a no-show on my flight, and my ticket was cancelled and I was nowhere to be found in their system. She did not, however, know why, as there were no accompanying notes attached as to detailing the reason for my flight's cancellation, which, she added, was not something that Qatar Airways normally did. She also requested that I send forward my original booking so that they could open up an investigation, which I gladly did. My receipt from American was collected at this time as it didn't apply to this flight home, as again, I was not in the system, so I no longer have this.

I explained that the only thing that could have applied to was that my flight to Chicago on the 4th was delayed due to weather and an FAA grounding of all planes going to Chicago, and that when I got to Chicago, had my flight rebooked by the American Airlines agent at the desk in Chicago as I missed my connection to Doha. The Qatar Airways associate explained that my ticket was non-refundable, so I would have to pay to get home, even though it was cancelled for no apparent reason, and that I would have to contact American as to why my trip home was cancelled.

After trying to figure out why my return flight was cancelled (and I still don't know why), I had to book for another trip home through another city (DC) for the next day, and then pay an additional $1500 to get home. Both airlines have been very uncooperative for giving me information. I am most dissatisfied with how this has been handled by both airlines. I am out $1500 and have had no hope of recovering it. It is not like I didn't attempt to make my flights – and in fact, I checked in for my first flight, so there is no reason for me to be marked as a no-show. American's customer service agents have come across as rude and condescending and have told me to talk to Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways says that this isn't their fault and they accept no responsibility.

My initial email response from AA is below:

October 17, 2013



Dear Ms. Ost:


We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns. In order to review the situation in more detail, we need more specific information regarding your flight.
First, Qatar Airlines is not part of our oneworld alliance. The ticket issued to you on Qatar ticket stock included a flight operated by American Airlines, but sold as a Qatar flight number. We are able to confirm you traveled on October 4 from Kansas City to Chicago and there was an Air Traffic Control delay. Unfortunately, while weather conditions can cause havoc to airline schedules, we do not offer compensation in these circumstances.
In your email you mentioned issues on your return trip. We do not have any reservation information for you regarding your return trip. If the flight was operated by American Airlines, please advise the date and flight number. If you have the ticket number or record locator, that would also be helpful. However, if the flight was not operated by American Airlines, we will need to refer you to the operating carrier for assistance.
While our system does not allow for direct replies, simply contact us again via www.aa.com/customerrelations.
As soon as we receive this information, we'll reply back to you as quickly as possible. We hope to hear from you soon.


Sincerely,

Marilyn K. McKee
Customer Relations

American Airlines
AA Ref#1-1052668808

I did email back indicating how dissatisfied I was with this response (which I found to be pretty flip), and received the following.

October 28, 2013

Dear Ms. Ost:

It is evident from your most recent email that we have disappointed you. Please accept my apology not only for the problem, but also for failing to adequately explain the situation.

Your reservation was ticketed and controlled by Qatar Airlines. Unfortunately, American Airlines is unable to view or verify what transpired on October 10. Please contact Qatar Airlines directly for the information you are requesting.

We regret we are unable to be of more assistance.


Sincerely,


Marilyn K. McKee
Customer Relations
American Airlines
AA Ref#1-1055528907

I have called American Airlines to see if I can escalate this case, and I was not given an option to. Qatar Airways refuses to talk to me about this. I am confused and angry and want to get down to the bottom of this. There is no explicable reason for my return trip from Qatar to be cancelled – I made my flight from KC to Chicago, and it was due only to problems out of my control that I could not make my initial flight to Doha. Along with there being no explicable reason for my return trip to be cancelled, there is no reason I should have had to pay an additional $1500 to get home when it wasn't my fault to begin with.

I'm trying to deal with both airlines and my travel insurance to get compensated for this, because there was no reason for my trip home to be cancelled. At the end of the day, I just want someone to accept that they screwed up.

Please pass this along - airlines right now are very much caveat emptor.

EDIT, October 30, 2013:

I received a response from Qatar Airways. It is as follows.

Dear Ms. Ost,

This is to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 10th October 2013.

We have gone through the history of your passenger Name Record which indicates that:

1. You did not travel on QR992/04OCT13

2. You were rebooked from Chicago to Doha via London by the American Airlines on AA098/QR012/4th and 5th October 2013.

3. You were recorded as "NO SHOW" for QR012/5th October 2013 and hence, as per the normal procedure, the return flights were cancelled.

You may contact the local Qatar Airways for assistance in rebooking the return flights.

We are sorry for any inconvenience that you may have experienced and thank you for your kind attention.

Yours sincerely,

Lisette Smith

Senior Officer Customer Care
Now flying daily to Chicago

Qatar Airways - World's Best Business Class 2013, World's Best Business Class Lounge 2013

I responded back with the following, and included the scans of all of the paperwork that I had from the trip.

No, #2 is incorrect. I was not on this flight AA098/QR012/4th and 5th October 2013. I was booked on the next QA flight 992 on October 5th to Chicago by an American Airlines associate when I was on a grounded plane and could not make my connection.

Enclosed are the original American boarding passes (printed off in Kansas City), my original Qatar Airways E-Ticket, my new itinerary from October 10th, and my return boarding passes from October 11th.

EDIT (again!):

I've received a response to my fax! Unfortunately, it is completely full of bullshit.

October 30, 2013

Dear Ms. Ost:

We have received the itinerary and receipt for your reservation booked and ticketed by Qatar Airlines.

Our records indicate due to the delay and subsequent misconnection on October 4, an agent rebooked on American Airlines flight 7974 (QR 772) from Chicago to Dohar on October 5. Since you did not take this flight, the remaining portion of your reservation automatically canceled.

I hope this is helpful.

Sincerely,

Marilyn K. McKee

Customer Relations
American Airlines

AA Ref#1-1071750362

My response:

This is in reference to AA Ref#1-1071750362.

While I find the information enlightening, it is also completely false.

Flight AA7974 from Chicago to Doha on October 5 does *NOT* leave from Chicago - this flight leaves from JFK.

Flight QR 772 is a flight that leaves from Argentina to Doha via Sao Paolo, Brazil. I was on neither of these flights because I was in Chicago - O'Hare.

Qatar Airways tells me that I was booked on AA098/QR012/4th and 5th October 2013, which is also incorrect.

If you had paid attention to the fax that I had sent in, you would see that I was given a boarding pass that departed from Chicago - O'Hare for Qatar flight 992 for October 5, 2013 by the American Airlines desk agent in Chicago. My new itinerary was for Qatar flight 992 on October 5, 2013. I made it to the check-in counter in Chicago for this flight, gave the Qatar Airways associate the corrected itinerary that originated from the American Airlines agent, and proceeded to get on the flight for QR992.

What I would like to know is where these numbers are being generated from. Additionally, I would like to know why I was marked on as a no-show for a flight I clearly made, and furthermore, why I had to pay $1500 for my flight home.

EDIT, October 30, 8:21p, CDT

I've been DMing on Twitter with the American Airlines people. I laid into them pretty heavily (hey, $1500 is a lot!) and the response I got back was "Rachel, we're always happy to help when we can. Our apologies again."

So. You mean to tell me that their $1500 mistake is my fault and all I get is a sorry? What sort of effed up is this?

Additionally, I am super happy that I have Adobe Acrobat Pro, because I was able to not only squish all of my scans and PDFs together into one big file, but I was able to redact the credit card information further. The evidence is pretty damning.

EDIT, October 31, 2013
HALLOWEEN EDITION!

So, I got a couple of hints from a friend of beckyzoole who works in the airline industry and hope we've got a couple of leads there. It was explained that even though AA did take care of me in Chicago, they dealt only with the outbound and reissued that portion without reprotecting the return. Doing this sent a message to Qatar Airways that changes had been made to the reservation but the return was not reprotected and it was subsequently cancelled. The complete ticket should have been reissued so that the Qatar Airways would see it. It was noted by this anonymous angel "this is something that AA needs to take care of since they basically took control of the ticket at ORD when they reprotected the passenger."

Additionally, it was noted that American should take care of the problem "... because they are the ones that created the problem ..." and "... once another airline reissues part of that original ticket, they take over control regardless of whose ticket stock issued it originally ..."

I also received a call from a local consumer advocate group today and they want to talk to me and get some information. I am hoping that I'm able to talk to them Tuesday when the volunteer dealing with my case will be in again.

EDIT, November 1, 2013

Got a DM from KMBC, a local ABC affiliate. I also got another response from American Airlines. Note the disparities between this email and the previous ones I've received.

November 1, 2013

Dear Ms. Ost:



Thank you for contacting American Airlines Customer Relations.

We have received your additional email. Again, we are sorry to hear about the difficulty that you encountered.

When American Airlines 215 from Kanas City was delayed due to Air Traffic Control on October 4, this generated a message in your reservation to show that you were going to miss your connecting flight 992 on Qatar Airways. We show that they tried to rebook you on a flight. What shows in our system is the following:

Passenger (NO SHOW) on Qatar Airways 12/05 October to London in Y Class.

When this happened, Qatar Airways showed you as a (NO SHOW) in their computer system and your reservation was cancelled. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Since your ticket was issued on Qatar Airways ticket stock, you would need to contact them about being reimbursed for your out-of-pocket expense.

Ms. Ost, we appreciate your business.



Sincerely,


K Hollands

Customer Relations
American Airlines

AA Ref#1-1073700363

My response is as follows. Yes, I'm pretty angry at this point.

This is in reference to AA Ref#1-1073700363.

For the THIRD TIME. I was REBOOKED by an AMERICAN AIRLINES AGENT at ORD onto QATAR FLIGHT 992 leaving 10/5/13 when a delay prevented me from making my original flight, and in the fax that I sent on 10/28/13, it shows the boarding pass stub from this flight. I CHECKED IN on QATAR AIRWAYS FLIGHT 992 I was NOWHERE NEAR LONDON. I couldn't have flown to HEATHROW without those BOARDING PASSES.

Furthermore, how can I be booked on a flight that I was not aware that I was booked on. Who booked the flight to Heathrow? Why was a booked on a flight that I did not have the boarding passes for? It may have been issued on Qatar Airways stock, but the last person that I was aware handled the ticket was the American Airlines agent in ORD. It is YOUR responsibility to handle this.

Edit, November 1, 10:17pm

A couple of things have transpired.

One of which was the following Twitter DM conversation. It is only edited to put it in chronological order.




Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
10/30/13, 7:50 PM
Unfortunately, your help is not very helpful right now. I am out $1500 because of your agent's "mistake".
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 6:38 AM
In continuation - the response I received from your agent on 10/30/13 does not match up with my experience. (cont)
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 6:38 AM
My displeasure with how this case is being handled and swept under the rug is at a bit of a high.
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 6:47 AM
I provided in the fax my proof that I was on the flight that I was booked for on QA by AA. It was the stub of my boarding pass.
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 6:47 AM
Your customer care agent working my case completely ignored it.Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 6:48 AM
Additionally, it was your agents in Chicago who told me that I had to wait for Qatar Airways to open to check in for that flight..
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 6:49 AM
I don't know what happened, but my return trip was not reprotected when I had to rebook in Chicago - and ended up being cancelled.
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 6:50 AM
Qatar Airways tells me I was booked for a flight that I was nowhere near (it was ORD-DOH via London)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 7:17 AM
Our apologies for your frustration, Rachel. We'll share this info with our Customer Relations specialist and they'll (1/2)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 7:17 AM
look into this during regular business hours. (2/2)
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 8:38 AM
What I received does not match up with my experience. I don't know where this trip I was supposedly booked on is. I have no record of it.
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 8:42 AM
We've forwarded your info over to our Customer Relations specialist and they'll get back to you during regular (1/2)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 8:42 AM
business hours. Thanks for your patience. (2/2)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:25 AM
We have requested information from our Customer Relations team and again apologize for the confusion. Due to the Air (1/6)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:25 AM
Traffic Control delays you were rebooked through London to reach your final destination, however, since you never made (2/6)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:25 AM
the flight on Qatar Airways, the return portion was cancelled by that airline as is normal procedure for round trip (3/6)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:25 AM
tickets. Your ticket is controlled by Qatar and purchased through them and our flights are included as part of a (4/6)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:25 AM
codeshare ticketing agreement where they may sell space on our flights as if it were their own, accordingly, they are (5/6)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:25 AM
responsible for any refund due or request for assistance in this instance. We're sorry for any confusion. (6/6)
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 10:32 AM
I don't understand. I was rebooked by AA's agent. Why was I not notified in this instance by either airline?
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 10:33 AM
Additionally, I was not rebooked through London. I never went to London. I was on a direct flight to Doha from ORD.
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:37 AM
Since the ticket was controlled by Qatar, we were unable to see the result of the exchange in their system. Our agent (1/4)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:37 AM
rebooked you to ensure you made it to the final destination and nothing advised in the booking that Qatar would create (2/4)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:37 AM
a duplicate booking in their individual system rather than use the original one. You will need to request they verify (3/4)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 10:37 AM
the information and either refund the original ticket, or the new charges you paid. (4/4)
Rachel/Konstantia (@zephyrofgod)
11/1/13, 10:48 AM
So, you mean to tell me that I was essentially double charged.
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 11:01 AM
Our apologies, Rachel, we're not 100% aware of the details here via Twitter. The extra charges you paid appear to be (1/2)
American Airlines (@AmericanAir)
11/1/13, 11:01 AM
due to a booking error with their system and they are responsible to rectify and refund them as necessary. (2/2)

I also received the following response to my email:

November 1, 2013

Dear Ms. Ost:

Thank you for contacting Customer Relations again.

Unfortunately, this is not an issue that we can help you with. We only have a limited amount of information, since your reservation was booked with Qatar Airways. American Airlines did not cancel your reservation.

You will need to contact Qatar Airways directly for any kind of reimbursement.

Ms. Ost, we appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

K Hollands

Customer Relations
American Airlines
AA Ref#1-1075956492

EDIT, November 1, 11:04pm

I was urged by the American Airlines TwitterBotPersonThing to use the comment form as they told me that they could not "help me further" and asked me to keep supporting them. (REALLY?!)

My response on AA's antiquated system was thus:

This is in reference to 1-1052668808.

I am now being told that I was magically booked to Doha from Chicago via London - Heathrow. on October 4th-5th I EMPHATICALLY did not authourise this rebooking. Can you tell me who did this rebooking and why?

This rebooking caused me to be marked as a no show and end up stranded in Qatar, pay $1500 to go home, and miss valuable time at work and I find this completely unacceptable.

I have also emailed Qatar Airways to figure out who authourised this rebooking, because I certainly did not, and not receiving notification of this booking is unacceptable. (Additionally, American has been known to pull crap like this, so I'm not surprised if something like an agent messing with things and not knowing what they did until I happened to find out on October 10 when I tried to leave.)

Qatar Airways has been slow to answer, so I'm also frustrated with that aspect as well.

EDIT, November 3, 2013, waaaaay too early in the morning (the second 2 am on Daylight Savings Change day)

I received an email back from Qatar Airways with the following. I would say this is pretty damning.

Ref: CR/COMP/2089898/501658571

Date: 02.11.13

MS. RACHEL OST

EMAIL: cowtownchick@gmail.com

Dear Ms. Ost,

This is to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 2nd November 2013.

We have gone through the history of your passenger Name Record which indicates that:

1. You did not travel on QR992/04OCT13

2. You were rebooked from Chicago to Doha via London by the American Airlines on AA098/QR012/4th and 5th October 2013.

3. Since you did not travel on QR012/5th October 2013, you were recorded as "NO SHOW" and hence, as per the normal procedure, the return flights were cancelled.

We hope to have been able to explain accordingly.

Yours sincerely,

Lisette Smith

Senior Officer Customer Care

Now flying daily to Chicago

Qatar Airways - World's Best Business Class 2013, World's Best Business Class Lounge 2013

Finally! Answers I can actually use!

Let's see where this goes.

EDIT, 11/6/13
10:12 am

Still no response from American Airlines or the DoT as of today. I am currently working on a letter to AA's executives. I have received some response from Call for Action, in the way of asking what I have for receipts and communication from AA to me and vice versa, which I've emailed back to say, "here's the PDF, and I'll forward each individual email from AA and QA to you so you have the headers and you know I'm not making this crap up."

I'm still angry, but I'm sort of at the point where I'm considering contacting the Attorney Generals of both Missouri (where I live) and Texas (where AA is located).

Someone has to take responsibility.

EDIT, 11/6/13, 10:36 am

I sent my final email to AA. If this does not yield satisfactory responses, I will be overnighting a letter to Texas to their Important People.

This is in reference to 1-1052668808.

I am now being told that I was booked to Doha from Chicago via London - Heathrow. on October 4th-5th. I emphatically did not authourize this rebooking. Can you tell me why this rebooking was made by your agents without my authorization? Attached to this email below is my communication from Qatar Airways stating who had rebooked this flight.

This rebooking caused me to be marked as a no show and end up stranded in Qatar, pay $1437 USD to go home, and miss valuable time at work and I find this completely unacceptable.

To resolve the problem, I would appreciate it if you could refund the money I had to pay to return home as well as compensation for lost time at work ($1500 USD). I would also appreciate receiving a sincere apology for the service that has been rendered by American's customer care agents since returning home and in trying to resolve this issue.

I look forward to your reply and a resolution to my problem, and will wait until November 12, 2013 before seeking further help from a consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau. Please contact me via reply or by phone at (HOME PHONE) or (CELL PHONE).

-------------
"Ref: CR/COMP/2089898/501658571
Date: 02.11.13
MS. RACHEL OST

EMAIL: cowtownchick@gmail.com

Dear Ms. Ost,

This is to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 2nd November 2013.

We have gone through the history of your passenger Name Record which indicates that:

1. You did not travel on QR992/04OCT13

2. You were rebooked from Chicago to Doha via London by the American Airlines on AA098/QR012/4th and 5th October 2013.

3. Since you did not travel on QR012/5th October 2013, you were recorded as "NO SHOW" and hence, as per the normal procedure, the return flights were cancelled.

We hope to have been able to explain accordingly.

Yours sincerely,

Lisette Smith
Senior Officer Customer Care
Now flying daily to Chicago
Qatar Airways - World's Best Business Class 2013, World's Best Business Class Lounge 2013"

EDIT, November 6th, 3:36pm
Received the following from AA's Customer Care team.

November 6, 2013



Dear Ms. Ost:



We have received your most recent email. I'm sorry that this matter has not been resolved.

In view of the additional cirumstances you recounted, I have sent a copy of your correspondence to personnel in our Risk Management Department.

They have the responsibility to review such situations. Please note that this process could take up to 15 business days. Should you have any further correspondence regarding this matter, please address them to:

American Airlines, Inc.
Risk Management
PO Box 619616
MD 5558
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9616

Ms. Ost, in the meantime, we appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,

Anita Jackson
Customer Relations

American Airlines


AA Ref#1-1077192908

Let's hope this gives me answers. Even better, compensation for the giant pain in the ass of this trip.