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“Why not to use American airlines to fly to South America”

written by donandesther on 30/01/2017

I've had multiple back surgeries and therefore on long trips purchase first-class tickets. I did so for a recent trip from Phoenix through Miami to Medellin Columbia. On the Miami to Medellin and Medellin to Miami legs there were only two rows of first-class seats. However, American, in order to squeeze in and extra row of coach seats, had placed a wall immediately behind the second row of 1st class seats where we were sitting. Our seats would not/could not recline. The cabin staff highly encouraged us to contact American about this problem as it was recurrent and unacceptable.
While on the tarmac in Miami we heard rumblings about not room for the luggage. Indeed, when we arrived in Medellin our first-class, priority tagged, luggage was not on the plane. We can only assume that American had taken paid cargo rather than passenger luggage. Since there is only one flight on American per day to Medellin we had to wait until 9:30 the next night to get our luggage. However, American would not deliver our luggage at night. So, in order to make our 5:30 flight the next morning we had to drive back, approximately one hour, to the airport at 9:30 PM. We were then kept waiting an hour in the hall until all the passengers on that flight had disembarked and claimed their luggage before our luggage was given to us.
I contacted American. It was frustrating. They never clearly accepted responsibility and did not take us seriously. The compensation they offered was almost insulting and less than what would be offered to somebody who was bumped from a flight. This is in spite of the fact that our family has almost exclusively used American for over 30 years and had their credit cards. It is a study in how to alienate customers.