I’m becoming quite au fait with cancellation compensation these days. For the second time this year on an overseas trip, I’ve had to contact the airline to get some kind of money back due to flights not going when they’re supposed to.
There’s not much that can be done about it when this kind of thing occurs. This time it was much less stressful than last time, so perhaps I am getting used to it.
What Happened?
I was scheduled to fly from Cleveland to Chicago on American Airlines, connecting onto Aer Lingus Chicago to Dublin. This was a single ticket, originally issued by British Airways. Everything was on time and I was at the gate when it was announced the pilots had found a technical issue that needed attention from maintenance. Cue a rolling delay.
Cancellation Compensation
Due to pure luck, I was able to crash at a friends place for the night, saving me what would have been an extortionate hotel fee. My total expenses came to $101.69, which were an Uber to and from the airport, plus some food for dinner. Once I got back to Ireland, I submitted a claim with the airline.
Happily they came back quickly enough and I was offered a $200 trip credit for future use. That will be useful, but it really means my total cancellation compensation was just $99. It doesn’t seem like much when I had a 19 hour delay, does it?
Overall Thoughts
Had I been flying on a European carrier, they would have been on the hook for EC261 compensation for the delay. It is a bit of a grey area though as I was connecting onto Aer Lingus, but it was not the fault of the Irish airline that AA made me miss that service.
Not being a regular in the world of receiving reimbursement for flight disruption, I have no idea whether the $200 credit is appropriate or not. Clearly as a non-AA oneworld Emerald frequent flyer, I was not going to receive any miles, which is completely fine with me.
I would be curious as to other people’s experience in receiving cancellation compensation from American Airlines. Was I offered enough? Too little? Too much? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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You are entitled to what you agreed to when purchasing the ticket, which is your money back if the airline is unable to provide the service. Anything beyond that is a business decision by the airline. You lost me when you decided the price on an international phone call was too big burden to rebook on a more convenient flight. If you don’t value your own time why are surprised a corporation is inclined to throw you little more than a hate tip. A skype call would have been less than a cup of coffee.
It’s interesting to see you focus on the phone call. We were given the option to call AA, and perhaps 15 people elected to be seen at the desk at the gate. The agents were happy to help people; they said people should call AA if they could, as it would expedite the process. This was not foolproof either as several people returned saying the people on the other end of the phone could not see the flight delayed. Either way, I appreciate your thoughts and thanks for taking the time to comment.