Back from vacation
Posted by BrianI’m back from a longer than usual vacation. I was visiting the in-laws on the left coast. It was a good trip and the wife and I were able to steal away to Vancouver, B.C. for five days sans kids, which was very welcomed. It’s a great city to visit and we certainly enjoyed ourselves (while coming in below our vacation budget!). The return trip to Huntsville, however, left a great deal to be desired - keep reading.
Unfortunately the trip left me three lectures behind in what has turned out to be a fairly challenging, time consuming course on dynamics this semester. And work remains busy as usual. Posts will be light as I try to catch up and tread water and I apologize if I fail to respond to comments or emails promptly. Priorities.
I did get a new toy while on our trip. I finally got a laptop, well one that actually works. You gotta love sales tax free Oregon. The wireless is finally up and running after some choice words. Maybe this will mitigate some of the drop off in posting giving the other things that are keeping me busy.
Ok, I mentioned the return trip. I’ll just paste a copy of a letter I’m sending to American Airlines tomorrow, which should sum up the day pretty well. When my wife read it she said it sounded like I made it up, but I assure you everything is 100% true and I even left out some details that only make it sound worse.
I am writing to describe the agonizing details of a recent American Airlines flight. On Wednesday, September 26, 2007 I traveled from Portland, OR (PDX) on AA Flight 1380 to Dallas, TX (DFW) and was supposed to continue from there to Huntsville, AL (HSV) on AA Flight 3529. I was traveling with my wife and three kids (ages three, two, and one). The flight from Portland to Dallas was uneventful, but the day quickly descended into what can charitably be described as hell. I am writing this letter for the sole purpose of seeking financial compensation - not in the form of a travel voucher - for expenses we incurred as a direct result of a mechanical failure on an AA flight.
In Dallas we boarded the flight to our final destination on time, but had to wait on the tarmac for approximately 80 minutes due to what the pilot said was inclement weather that was forcing all departures to use a single flight path and space take offs every twenty-five miles. When our plane was finally next in line to take off the pilot went across the runway and came to a stop. At least ten minutes went by before the pilot finally told the very anxious, upset passengers what happened: a mechanical failure with the navigation system.
We had to taxi back to a gate and de-board. Of course we were not allowed to retrieve our gate checked items, which included two strollers. Instead we were forced to carry all of our carry on baggage as well as an infant and chase a two year old who would have been otherwise restrained. We stood idly by for a lengthy period of time before we were appraised of the situation at which time we were told the plane was being fixed and that we should stay near the gate.
After approximately half an hour we were told that the plane was not going to be fixed and that a new plane was ready at a nearby gate. We proceeded to the gate and were told that the plane would be boarded within fifteen minutes. By this time it was already after 6:00 PM - later than when we were scheduled to arrive in Huntsville. After half an hour no one was boarding the plane. The AA staff announced that the flight had now been canceled. The staff did not announce the reason why the flight was cancelled even though a second plane was available. The only later flight to Huntsville was already sold out and we would have to stay overnight and try to get on a flight in the morning.
The AA gate agent offered us a hotel room as well as meal tickets for dinner and breakfast. Normally if I were traveling without kids this would be reasonable, but by this point we were at our wits end. Our children had not had the opportunity to take naps and were consequently not as well behaved as normal. We had spent the last hour and a half trying to move about the airport without the benefit of our strollers. We had not packed enough diapers and other supplies to last an extended period of time; we only packed enough for our scheduled flight plus modest reserves. Furthermore, we weren’t prepared to stay in a hotel with an infant since we didn’t have a portable crib with us.
We worked with an AA supervisor named Brett (last name unknown) who arranged for us to take a later flight to Nashville, TN (BNA) on AA 324 that arrived sometime around 10:35 PM. We arranged to rent a vehicle that could accommodate three car seats (Toyota Sienna) to drive back to Huntsville that night. Brett was very polite and helpful, even taking pains to personally ensure our luggage arrived with us in Nashville. He informed me that despite the fact that AA was offering to provide a hotel room and meals that he was not authorized to pay for rental cars in advance for liability reasons. He did give us a $50 meal voucher, which we used to purchase approximately $25 worth of food at TGI Friday’s. Annoyingly, even though we only used about half of the value of the voucher we still had to leave a tip out of pocket. We also had to purchase juice for the kids, again out of pocket, at another establishment that we would not have had to purchase if it were not the AA mechanical failure.
In the end we made it back to Huntsville at about 1:30 AM on 9/27/07 - seven and a half hours after our originally scheduled arrival time of 6:00 PM on 9/26/07. We incurred additional costs that were a direct result of the mechanical failure and subsequent flight cancellation on AA Flight 3529. I am not soliciting, nor do I desire, any type of voucher for future travel on American Airlines. I only request compensation for the additional costs incurred, which are itemized below:
Rental car: $296.27 (Receipt attached)
Fuel from Nashville to Huntsville: $22.83 (Receipt attached)
Incidentals: $10Total: $329.10
Note: Incidentals include food and additional items needed to travel with small children.
I appreciate your prompt response with reimbursement check to my letter. Please do not hesitate to contact me by phone or e-mail with any questions.
That rental car price isn’t a typo. It cost nearly $300 for a one day, one way van rental. That’s a freaking car payment.
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October 9th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Glad you survived it all, such as you did! I will be interested to know what you hear back from them.