Travel Addicts/Advice Thread

Sundry Chitchat
1848

Might have been this site, which often has those corporate customer service contacts: American Airlines Customer Service Contact Support Via Phone Email Exec Contacts - Elliott Report. I’ve done the email/call to the CEO’s office before when I really thought I was getting jobbed and it worked.

Through normal channels you’re probably SOL on getting reimbursed for another carrier’s ticket after they re-accommodated you (albeit 24 hours later). And the partial refund makes sense on a connecting ticket - probably another thing where they are covered by their contract of carriage.

But the squeaky wheel gets the grease sometimes, so it’s worth trying corporate for some type of compensation, either cash or miles.

Flyertalk is also a good place to ask or research what to expect/not expect in these situations.

1849

Just in case anybody is looking to go:

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1850

What tool are you using there? Looks tasty.

1851

Scotts cheap flights - I think it’s worth the price. They started doing domestic deals as well.

I found flights roundtrip to Paris from Seattle in January, 2020 (for travel over Thanksgiving, 2020) for $275 each.

Of course, they got covid cancelled, but still. That was quite the find.

You can use my code and I think I get a kickback of some sort if you decide it’s worth it:

1 Like
1852

Looks like Scott’s Cheap Flights to me. Which is worth every penny.

2 Likes
1853

I joined and of course they’re asking for closest U.S. airport.

Sucks for me.

1854

Total grunch here. Best way to get cheap last minute hotel deals? Historically I’ve had good luck with hotwire, but even that is through the roof right now.

1855

Generally speaking, I think you’re going to find rate parity across most booking platforms. You could try HotelTonight. But if pricing is high, it’s going to be high everywhere pretty much - it’s summer travel season.

I think Priceline does something now where you can book a “mystery” hotel for a lower cost, and I’ve heard they usually provide enough information that you can deduce what you’re going to get. Have not done it myself, though.

1856

almost certainly. maybe if you have status with AA. it’s possible with enough bitching and moaning you’ll get the full AA ticket refunded.

sometimes airlines will rebook you on other airlines, but if you go do it yourself and then try to get them to pay for it later they are just going to tell you to fuck off

1857

Lol as if that was an option with their hours long hold times and lines in the Dallas airport.

1858

Eh, highly doubt AA was going to put you on another airline with you at their hub anyway.

I think you just need to look at the Delta ticket as the cost of getting home earlier than AA could re-accommodate you, which you saw as having value.

1859

Agree with this. The US places ~0 protection or consumer rights in situations like this. If you need to go faster you’re just going to have to suck it up, since there is no way it will ever get regulated or reimbursed by airline companies that have a captive audience.

1860

Yeah I’m not super mad, knew this was a risk.

1861

I posted a similar situation with Southwest last year.

After a lot of effort, got the cost of tickets refunded and travel credit on SW for the fare difference.

My wife just kept calling and bitching until she found the right dept. Probably 2-3 hrs of total effort, excluding time spent on hold which was spent doing other things while waiting.

1862

Weird. SW fucked around with my flights last October. Bounced them around a few hours weeks before the flights.

They sent me $300 in travel vouchers unprompted. I think I paid like $230 for the flight originally.

1863

After an amount of planning that feels like it has been going on for several years, I have nailed down the details of my US trip. Behold the details of where I am going to be each night.

Date Location
Tuesday, July 19 Seattle, WA
Wednesday, July 20 Seattle, WA
Thursday, July 21 (trek)
Friday, July 22 (trek)
Saturday, July 23 Seattle, WA
Sunday, July 24 Olympia, WA
Monday, July 25 Mount Rainier, WA
Tuesday, July 26 Mount Rainier, WA
Wednesday, July 27 Olympia, WA
Thursday, July 28 Portland, OR
Friday, July 29 Portland, OR
Saturday, July 30 Portland, OR
Sunday, July 31 Jackson, WY
Monday, August 1 Jackson, WY
Tuesday, August 2 (trek)
Wednesday, August 3 (trek)
Thursday, August 4 (trek)
Friday, August 5 Jackson, WY
Saturday, August 6 Denver, CO
Sunday, August 7 Estes Park, CO
Monday, August 8 Estes Park, CO
Tuesday, August 9 Estes Park, CO
Wednesday, August 10 Dillon, CO
Thursday, August 11 New Orleans, LA
Friday, August 12 New Orleans, LA
Saturday, August 13 New Orleans, LA
Sunday, August 14 New Orleans, LA

I’m already getting a lift from @Fatboy8 from Seattle to Olympia, for which I am most grateful, and possibly saying hi to a couple other Unstuckers at the same time. If anyone else is on my route and wants to grab a beer, let me know.

4 Likes
1864

That trip looks pretty incredible but New Orleans at the end seems kind of random (though I think you’ll love it).

1865

AA decided to board us all on the plane last night without pilots to turn the AC on. We set there for over an hour with no circulation is sweltering heat. Covid chances went up exponentially after that experience. Garbage airline.

1866

I’m absolutely never flying American again.

1867

It is random but I’ve always wanted to go there and it seems like fly in fly out is a decent option because of general “lol the South” + advice from people here that other Southern cities are more or less worse versions of New Orleans.

I actually adjusted my trip dates a bit and cut out random time in Colorado so I’d have the weekend in New Orleans. Don’t have to fly out on Sunday until 8pm. One thing I’m quite pleased with about how the trip has shaken out is that my Saturday nights are all spent checking out good cities - Seattle, Portland, Denver, New Orleans.