American Airlines - Rena Dyer AA fraudulently kicks off family of West Point graduation for profit

I had a very similiar experience, the agents weren't happy that I voice recorded them at the airport:

https://soundcloud.com/user832863127/aa-charges-for-premium-seats-when-flight-was-canceled-and-never-even-sent-a-plane

https://soundcloud.com/user832863127/aa-cancels-flight-refuses-refund-for-one-day-return-flight-hangs-up-on-support-calls

Booked on Orbitz a month ago (~ March 24) for a one day flight from DFW (Dallas) to SEA (Seattle) returning on April 25 (one day). 

American Airlines sent me two misleading disinformation alerts assuring me up to ONE hour before the flight was supposed to board that my flight 4/24 out of DFW to SEA at 6:10PM was going to be "on time". Then less than half an hour before takeoff we receive an alert that flight was canceled. Found out later that they never even sent the plane from Seattle to Dallas, so they knew and had every reason to know the flight was canceled and yet still sent out erroneously several alerts that the flight was "on time". 

Suffice it to say, due to my trip being only one day, and with AA manager admitting on voice recording record that there was absolutely zero flights out (whether through AA or any of their sister companies or partners) they refused to give me any refund, stating that it was a “non refundable” ticket. 

Then the manager backtracks, stating that due to the weather concerns and the alleged tornadoes that “all bets are off”, “here call this 800 number and they will take care of you”… He told me this just to get me out of the airport.

DFW, being AA’s hub, only had one customer service agent working at D24 (their customer service center) and then they increased it to a measly total of TWO customer service agents when the line backed up to hundreds of customers that were all notified at the very last minute of their canceled flights. I waited in line for two hours just to take a customer service person by the first name of Connie who rudely told me that she was too busy to have to ‘deal with me’. All I wanted was for a full refund and they couldn’t even do that.

Upon returning home, I called their 800 number just to get repeatedly disconnected and hung up on by their automated service without so much as ever speaking with a live person.

Then to my utter shock and dismay, the next morning I logged into my Bank of America to discover that not only had AA not given me a refund for my base ticket, but also continued to charge me an extra $50 bucks for premium aisles seats in 8D on the Boeing 737-800 that they called off. The flight was canceled, they refused to refund me, they didn’t reschedule or rebook me on another flight, all my calls to customer service went unanswered or dropped, I waited two hours to speak with a rude agent at D24 who said she refuses to help me, escalated to a manager who gave me the go-around and told me to call the same 800 number that didn’t work; and then they have the audacity to still charge me extra for the premium seats that were nonexistent, for the airplane that never showed and for the last flight of the day that they canceled at the very last moment. 

On top of that, AA even gives Orbitz the runaround - AA lied to Orbitz about processing a refund - after hour long wait.....

Go figure.... 

I am strictly just talking about your "consiracy theory" aspect of  your report.  If you had come here without all of the extra baggage and your theories you may have had a valid complaint about having SOME compensation.  But once you added in all of this other **** you lost all credibility.

So since you obviously can predict the passenger patterns, and know everything about how an airline should schedule their flights.  You should go to careers dot aa dot com and submit your resume. 

@Robert,

There are just too many coincidences and circumstantial evidence for all of these facts and dots to line up to anything less than very suspicious at the least…

For example, through all our four years of flying to New York and our son flying back and worth, we have always gone the DFW/EWR route and almost always the ticket (round trip) was $600+ or more. The flight that they canceled will not only be our last trip to New York (for the purposes of West Point) but indeed our last flight back. We had to book hotels LAST YEAR in order to get what we wanted, and in accordance to fit our carefully crafted itinerary we booked these flights way earlier and were surprised to get locked in at a round trip price of slightly more than $280 (the lowest cost we have ever paid for such a trip!)

Our May trip TO West Point the flight was not altered, that is because the graduation thing is like a whole week or more and everyone tends to get there when they get there, in essence the schedules are flexible and relatively spread out for who arrives and when and where. But on the way back is different. After the graduation ceremony there is always a mass exodus of sorts, and a lot more parents will be trying to head back or head out at or around relatively the same time.

So first AA tried to put us on a 1PM flight on the return flight, which would cause us to miss the ceremony if we were to catch the flight.  The way they did it was intentionally sneaky to say the least. They sent out an innocuously looking email with the title and heading stating it was a ‘flight number change’ or something to that effect, and mentioned nothing whatsoever about a change in the actual flight, or flight times, etc. Nor anything about a canceled flight which is what they later claimed or purported it to be. We didn’t get a call, no other forms of notification, verification or confirmation for such a disturbing change, and in point of fact, the way the email was written was meant to confuse because any reasonable person in a reasonable mind reading that email would have glanced over it thinking it was nothing more than a flight number change. It was only because my wife was super meticulous about these things and read past the first couple of paragraphs full of rhetorical fluff and actually got to the very bottom that the fine print details appeared at the very end of the email finally stating that our flight times had been changed. If they had indeed canceled the entire flight, and went about notifying people the way they ‘notified’ us, you can bet that there will be at least half a plane full of people complaining to them when they found out at the very last minute that they flight had been changed and the times changed. It seems to us AA would only do this sort of quasi-notification if it was just to secretly boot off a few easy pickings customers in a very hush hush way. They still send out the notification but to far fewer people and can do it in a cunning way so then later they can state in a lawyer-esque manner that “hey we notified you, not our fault you didn’t read the fine print”.

It stands to reason that no parents going out of EWR post-graduation will be taking the earlier 1PM flight. That makes no sense whatsoever because it would mean they would actually miss the graduation ceremony altogether. There is no reason for AA to cancel the 5PM flight in favor of the 1PM flight because quite the opposite, the 5PM flight is where all the demand should be. The 5PM flight, we were told, was the last flight home that day. So first they try to move us to an earlier flight causing us to miss the graduation then they try to push us to the NEXT day and refuse to give any monetary compensation for the hotel, dining, transportation, time and other costs that we would directly incur as a result of AA’s actions, then they tell us we should be happy that they are not charging us a change fee for their cancelation of our flight that we had already booked and paid for.

Therefore, given all of the facts above, it still seems very likely that AA did a sleight of hand here. 

Your updates basically prove you have lost all touch with reality. 

First of all I really don't know what "Crystal Ball" you have to be able to state with total and 100% certainty that not only everyone booked on that specific flight will show up BUT there will also be additional Standby Passengers wanting to get on this flight.   But what ever you are using to predict the future could you please pass along next weeks winning Powerball Numbers.  Oh and before you say that I am doing the same thing saying there will be...WRONG.  The odds are that there will be at least a couple of No-Shows and the airlines bank on this to be able to fill seats of "standby" passengers.  However, this could be a case where everyone does show up...but there is NO way you can state that this will happen and be taken seriously.

I really don't know what the "height" of graduation season means.  Are you really saying that the only reason people are flying from this major airport on your flight is because they are seeing someone graduate.  Because if you truly believe that I really think you are so far out there that nothing anyone states will make any sense to you.

But let me take one more attempt at helping you out.

You failed to mention what your original flight times were, but I am going to take a stab at it and say you had a Non-Stop Flight.  So I did you a favor and took a look at the schedules for 5/23(the Internet is great in finding out when the Westpoint Graduation is). 

Do you know when the last Non-Stop flight from EWR to DFW is currently?  I'll give you a hint..you are currently booked on it.  So if in fact you were booked on another Non-Stop flight that departed later, that flight no longer exists.  So contrary to what you may think they didn't cancel an entire flight because of some vendetta against "foreign sounding" names.

In fact this would show another thing you are stating is incorrect...your suggestion that the flight will be full.  Again, airlines do NOT remove flights if the seats are selling.  So it is very likely that the flight you were on and the earlier flight were no where near being full, so they were combined. 

Where in the "peak" graduation season, wouldn't most people want to fly later in the day?  So if they are cancelling flights wouldn't they cancel the earlier flight?  Again...your theory just doesn't pan out.

Another part that basically blows your theory.  If you look at the Friday before, they do have a later flight at 3:59PM, perhaps this is the one you were booked on for the Saturday.  Which again shows that there probably was not enough passengers to make the flight valid on Saturday.  So they cancelled it about 3 months in advance. 

I will give you one "out".  Perhaps you didn't have a Non-Stop flight.  But EVERY flight that was not a Non-Stop is at least in part due to a Code Share where you are not even flying on "American Airlines" but other carriers.  So even in those cases it may have been something one of the other airlines did.  By the way out of curiosity what was your original Intinerary for the return trip?

Personally I would take the flight the next day, spend the couple hundred bucks and have a good night on the town in New York City to celebrate your son's graduation.

As you are aware, it is peak season for graduation. We had already booked hotels months and months ahead of time, because as you may also know, last minute there are no hotel vacancies in the vicinity at all! 

We are going from DFW to EWR. Our trip back from West Point will be EWR to DFW. It is THAT return trip that was changed without our consent. AA first tried to bump us up to 1PM flight, basically having us take a much earlier flight. Well it just so happens that that particular day is the day of the graduation ceremony and we would have to start leaving at around 10AM just in order to make it on time and hence missing the actual graduation ceremony itself. Then AA said fine we will push you back to the NEXT day, but they won’t cover for any hotel or expenses. There won’t be any “no shows” on the return flight at especially at return date and time of our original flight because everybody is heading back at the same time. First they tried to make us take an earlier flight which has the effect of causing us to miss out on the graduation, then they ask us to take a later flight the next day which means we will have to scramble to even find another place to stay for an extra night, never mind the cost. We purchased these tickets months ahead of time and got locked in to a good price, so even if they offered us a full refund, if we were to repurchase tickets with any other airline the price will be inflated astronomically.

So here is that we think happened. Everyone tries to get on the same return flight that we had reserved way ahead of time at much lower cost. There is literally zero seats left and trust me there will be zero “no shows” on this particular flight and plenty of standbys. Instead of doing the legit method of offering to offering to compensate someone for staying behind and taking a later flight, AA decides that it can make more on the margins to clandestinely boot us off the peak flight time and tell us to take an earlier/later flight at our significant expense so AA can then turn around and give that seat to some politician or hotshot willing to pay $$$$ to get on a last minute flight at the expense of kicking us off what we had already booked and paid for.

They probably went down the list and checked which customers paid the least amount in price and of those which ones had foreign sounding names that seemed like to be the easiest to pick on who they counted on probably not reporting and exposing their schemes. 

@Robert

As you are aware, it is peak season for graduation. We had already booked hotels months and months ahead of time, because as you may also know, last minute there are no hotel vacancies in the vicinity at all! 

We are going from DFW to EWR. Our trip back from West Point will be EWR to DFW. It is THAT return trip that was changed without our consent. AA first tried to bump us up to 1PM flight, basically having us take a much earlier flight. Well it just so happens that that particular day is the day of the graduation ceremony and we would have to start leaving at around 10AM just in order to make it on time and hence missing the actual graduation ceremony itself. Then AA said fine we will push you back to the NEXT day, but they won’t cover for any hotel or expenses. There won’t be any “no shows” on the return flight at especially at return date and time of our original flight because everybody is heading back at the same time. First they tried to make us take an earlier flight which has the effect of causing us to miss out on the graduation, then they ask us to take a later flight the next day which means we will have to scramble to even find another place to stay for an extra night, never mind the cost. We purchased these tickets months ahead of time and got locked in to a good price, so even if they offered us a full refund, if we were to repurchase tickets with any other airline the price will be inflated astronomically.

So here is that we think happened. Everyone tries to get on the same return flight that we had reserved way ahead of time at much lower cost. There is literally zero seats left and trust me there will be zero “no shows” on this particular flight and plenty of standbys. Instead of doing the legit method of offering to offering to compensate someone for staying behind and taking a later flight, AA decides that it can make more on the margins to clandestinely boot us off the peak flight time and tell us to take an earlier/later flight at our significant expense so AA can then turn around and give that seat to some politician or hotshot willing to pay $$$$ to get on a last minute flight at the expense of kicking us off what we had already booked and paid for.

They probably went down the list and checked which passengers or tickets had the lowest price, and then of those, which one had foreign sounding last names and those were the first to get the boot. 

I am very confused here.

Just to be clear what you are saying(or not saying).  Is that American Airlines cancelled your flight.  They refused to put you on another flight(even if it is one you don't want to take), and are not wiling to give you your money back. In effect you are accusing them of stealing your money.

Is that really what you are saying?

But out of curriosity even though it is, in your words, the peek of graduation season.  You are really going to come here and say that their isn't a single flight available any longer that will get you to West Point.  I mean you are 90 minutes out of New York City which as 3 of the biggest ariports in the US.  Yet not a single flight is available?

I really do like your conspiracy theory though.  So by your (il)logic, the only reason you selected that route at that particular time is because you MUST be going to West Point.  So because of this they have someone in some back room who has nothing better to do than to just say...yea let's cancel these people because I am a Navy guy.  All for what reason?  Oh yea on the possibility that a couple of months down the line there might be a last minute customer who needs to get on that flight and since American Airlines has a Crystal ball they know it will be two people.

Again, that is what you want everyone to believe right?

Let me give you a little hint...airlines bank on people not showing up.  It is not uncommon to have at least a few people as "no shows" per flight.  They are not going to give away any money on the "hopes" that they would have had a full flight and your seats were the only one that were going to be available.   Worst case for them is that on flight day they "bump" people to another flight by offering some sort of compensation...happens ALL of the time and there is NOTHING unique about this flight or you that would change that....you are just not that special..sorry. 

 Do YOU just walk around and have that crap just falling out of your mouth?? Sorry but YOU DONT DESERVE AN EXPLANATION!!!!! The airline is under ZERO obligation to inform you of the WHY!!! Its NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!! YOU got YOUR refund. Get over it. YOU will get NOTHING ELSE from them. YOU may be educated but YOU are dumb as a post. A brilliant dummy as it were. There are MANY BUSINESS reasons why a flight is cancelled. YOU SHAME YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY with your words. YOU accuse them of racial discrimination yet show NO PROOF!!!! Where EXACTLY have YOU been discriminated against?? OH THATS RIGHT!!!! YOU HAVE NOT!!! So argument point blasted away. So what else are YOU going to claim they did? Did they kill your dog too?? Maybe th3ey poured gasoline on the hood of your car and lit it on fire? No?? Then YOUR argument is just SOUR GRAPES. YOU ARE WHINING TO WHINE!!!!! I hope for YOUR SAKE that AA doesn't see this post. Its defamation!!!! Im thinking Im going to send a nice email to AA legal and let THEM have a look at YOUR POST. Which YOU freely and of your own FREE WILL placed on the web. I cant wait until that westpoint graduate gets to tell ALL of his friends how mommy and daddy NOW have to pay EVERYTHING they have because daddy couldn't keep his mouth shut online. do YOU really and truly think that YOU get to defame someone online WITHOUT having to pay the price?? You are definatly a brilliant dummy. Someone who is educated AND self entitled. NOT a good combination. But since YOU chose to post this tripe of a story, then YOU get to deal with the fallout of your own words.