STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

warning, this is long, but i am sooooo upset!!!

this is a big-time rant about american airlines!

as i write this, my little sister (she's 19 and she's traveling alone) is on her way out to visit me. she booked a ticket from hartford, ct to san francisco, connecting in st. louis. she should actually already be in san francisco, but things got, um... complicated around st. louis.

so apparently, there was really bad weather (a hail storm) in st. louis as her flight approached, so they started circling to wait for clearance to land. they were on a commuter plane, so it was pretty small. 18 rows of 3 seats, i believe. well, they started to run out of fuel as they were circling, so they landed at some small airport about 2 hours driving distance from st. louis. fine, american airlines can't control the weather, whatever. they landed, refueled, and then waited for word that they could fly/land in st. louis. the airport in st. louis was extremely backed up, due to the weather problems. fine, that's not the airline's fault either. so they wait and wait and wait. then they tell the passengers that they are first in line to take off for st. louis (their destination). there were 3 or 4 other flights stranded at this little po-dunk airport as well. they never take off. they wait and wait and wait some more. they are crammed in on this small plane and then the bathroom breaks! so the plane starts to smell really awful. at first, they won't let them get off the plane and go into the tiny terminal because there's no "security." no security at an airport??? (you can see that they are in the middle of nowhere.) finally, they allow people to leave the plane to use the bathroom one at a time. they get escorts (from who knows where, because they didn't even have security) to walk the passengers to the bathroom. wtf? then they finally decide to let everybody out to get some air because it is becoming extremely uncomfortable on the plane. another hour or so goes by and then they finally say that they are really taking off! i was on the phone with my sister at this point, and she was so relieved and excited. so they start to taxi down the runway, they pick up speed, they're about to take off....and then they stop. and the pilot announces that they cannot take off because the windshield has just broken. how scary is that???? and what a hunk of junk! first the bathroom breaks, then the windshield?? thank god they were still on the ground when they discovered that. i'm still getting sick to my stomach just thinking about what could have happened to my sister....

it gets worse. so they obviously can't go anywhere in this plane. my sister calls my mother and completely breaks down on the phone (a combination of frustration, fear, exhaustion). then the flight attendants tell the passengers that american airlines is going to send a rescue plane to come get them and take them to st. louis. keep in mind that st. louis is barely one hour away by plane. well, they wait and wait and wait and the rescue plane never comes. at this point, they've been on this runway for at least 4 hours. finally, passengers start fending for themselves because the airline is doing absolutely nothing for them. the flight attendants are actually admitting that they are stranded and that there is nothing they can do. everyone gets off the plane and starts making their own arrangements!! people call relatives in st. louis to come out to this random airport to pick them up, people call for car rentals, etc. one woman (a passenger) started calling bus and taxi companies in saint louis and arranged for a limo/bus to drive down and pick up 25 people who need to get to st. louis for connecting flights, including my sister. they are paying $20/person. the passengers are paying their own way to get to their destination!! how is this okay??? all the while, the flight attendants are just watching people leave and saying, "we're so sorry."

so my sister is about to be picked up by this limo/bus and they're driving to st. louis. they'll arrive in the middle of the night and then she is getting on an 8:30 am flight out here to san francisco. she will arrive at 10:50 am, more than 12 hours later than originally planned. how ridiculous is that?? isn't the airline responsible for getting its passengers to their destination safely?? my sister's plane was left stranded for hours with no food and no working bathroom. completely unacceptable! i called american airlines and the idiot woman that i talked to had no idea what was going on with the flight. i had to explain to her what was going on. she was saying, "oh, it looks like that flight was cancelled." and i said, "no, my sister is still on that flight. they never made it to st. louis!" so so frustrating.

i told my sister to raise hell when she checks in for her flight in the morning. i told her to demand food vouchers to get something to eat in the airport. i think american should be giving every passenger round-trip tickets as well. how should we handle this? what can we do to make sure that she is compensated? should we write a letter, call... what is most effective?? has anybody ever successfully gotten anything out of an airline when you have complained? i'm just so angry and upset that my sister has been traveling all day and night and has gotten nowhere!

anyway, just a word to the wise- don't except american to help you out if you ever get stranded on one of their flights!

-- Edited by sfcaligirl at 01:39, 2005-10-21