Flight Change Debacle - Call for Suggestions

back_at_skinnys · Post by **back_at_skinnys** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:39 am

Hi folks,
After years of "lurking" in the shadows and living vicariously through all of your fantastic trip reports I have finally encountered a need to register and post.

Our family of 5 has visited STJ several times over the past 12 years. Our 3 boys consider it the greatest destination of those we've visited. It is undoubtedly our paradise.

After booking 5 tickets over Easter week on AA via Orbitz we thought we had pulled off a coup. Each ticket was a reasonable $600 from Michigan down to STT via MIA. Our return on 4/12 was booked at 4pm out of STT through MIA and back to DTW late evening. Out of nowhere, AA informed us this week that our departure from STT was pulled up 8 hours to 8am! Of secondary concern is an 8 hour layover in MIA.

Besides the disappointment of losing half a day on STJ, we can't reasonably catch the 8am flight given the car barge schedule on Sunday, April 12th, nor am I comfortable catching the 6am passenger ferry to Red Hook and getting to the airport in time to check bags and make this 8am flight.

AA agents have been sympathetic but provide no reasonable solutions or compensation for a hotel on Saturday night on STT for our family of 5. Our villa mgmnt company has been very helpful and has suggested we rent our vehicle on STJ and we can catch the 8am flight if we take the 6am passenger ferry. The cost of renting the car on STJ vs. STT is about $250 when you consider the taxi and addt'l ferry costs for our family but likely far cheaper than finding a hotel on STT.

I would be interested in getting other people's opinions of this conundrum. Needless to say, I'm far from thrilled with the customer service and compassion from AA on this.

Thank YOU!!!

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:53 am

The only alternative I see for you on AA/US Scare is an early afternoon flight that goes through Philly and DC and gets to DTW near midnight. It is an 11.5 hour trip. It looks like they dropped all flights out of STT after 8am.

The other cost offset to consider is that you don't have to pay for the car ferry round trip. Isn't that about $100? That might offset the people ferry cost. I would have Rachel or some other private taxi waiting for you at RH to hustle you to the airport. At 6:30 on a Sunday morning, you shouldn't see much traffic. I would print the boarding passes on Saturday. A porter can help you through the airport. I feel like that is the best $20 we spend on our trip.

By the way, welcome to the daylight.

Good luck.

JIM

STTlover · Post by **STTlover** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 12:17 pm

After reading this I went and check my flights because I leave the next day after you. AA is still showing the 4:05 flight to MIA on the 12th. Looks like the culprit may be your flight from MIA to DTW, looks as though they eliminated the direct flight there and now have only connecting flights.

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 1:40 pm

Personally I would NEVER attempt a flight out of STT at 8am. I have taken the (old) 8:35am many times and that was close - once I didn't arrive to the airport until 7:20am after taking the 6am so should that happen to you you would not be flying with only 40 mins to departure - you just never know traffic or if the taxi will be making stops (or waiting on his breakfast for 20 minutes after we all piled into the only cab that was going to the airport as there was only about 8 of us going from the 6am ferry)

Good luck

Pia

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 3:50 pm

This late in the game you might not be able to get a car rental on STJ...they go quick in the high season.

Have you explored other options for alternative flights back home? As in, different connections? Or even a one way on a different airline, assuming AA would give you a refund for half the cost of your flights.

samoka · Post by **samoka** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:18 pm

With a big change like that they will refund your tickets if you can find a better flight on another airline.Worth a try. Good luck.

snorkeler525 · Post by **snorkeler525** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 6:14 pm

You should also look to see if any other airlines have flights home that would work for you. With a major change like they have forced onto you, they should look for alternative ways to get you home, even if it means another airline. And, yes, you can cancel the entire itinerary and book something else but at this late date for so many, it will be hard to find anything that would work. Good luck!

snorkeler525 · Post by **snorkeler525** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 6:28 pm

Jet Blue has a flight with 5 seats that leaves STT on the 12th at 2:53 pm and gets to DTW at 9:56 pm, through Boston. Orbitz also shows a United flight that leaves at 3:32 and connects with an AA/US flight that gets to DTW at 12:13 am on Monday. All the other flights I saw wouldn't get you back until Monday. I would call back AA, ask to speak to a supervisor and get your flight changed to one of those.

shoosh · Post by **shoosh** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:38 am

I checked out various options on kayak and offshot to southwest and frontier.
I agree with previous poster jimg20 that the American flight through philly and dc is probably your best least hassle option. Good luck

back_at_skinnys · Post by **back_at_skinnys** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 9:46 am

You guys have been terrific. Thank you! I've researched possible flights back home on my own via United and American. I have a list that I've collected in preparation for my call to an AA supervisor. I figure that I'm in better shape if I give them the flights I've found.

Thanks again...bb

FlaGeorge · Post by **FlaGeorge** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:02 am

Something similar happened to us. We had booked 9 months out for our past October trip. Doing the same things – connecting through Miami. Well, AA decided to reschedule our trip to where we were losing almost an entire day. I call AA and got an agent that was “Not too helpful” – so in my most nieces, sweetest southern voice – I asked to escalate the call to a supervisor. After some time, I got a supervisor. I explained to her that I paid for a particular fight at a particular time (airline pricing changes by the day/ hour you want to fly) and loosing entire day was not acceptable. Now, here is something that a hotel concierge told me and it works very well – always ask for an upgrade because of some special event. In the case of my airline problem, I told her that it had been 8 years since we were on STJ and had to cancel that trip due to an illness and that this was the make-up trip. So I asked her if she could really help me with the scheduling. After hearing that, she went the extra effort to reschedule me to where I was not losing a day.

What I found works for me:
• Be super nice – kill them with kindness
• Ask for their help
• State that the trip is a special event (2nd honeymoon, birthday, ect…), remember – they are human too.

Good luck

Lovermont · Post by **Lovermont** » Sat Mar 14, 2015 10:16 am

Great advice FlaGeorge. back_at_skinnys, please let us know how this turns out. Fingers and toes crossed for you.

Bigcheeze · Post by **Bigcheeze** » Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:16 am

We too have had 5 changes from AA. But in the end all worked out. We did change our departure the night before out of DTW into MIA with an overnight and the connect with our original 11:15 to STT. They changed it for no cost due to their many changes they had made. We always have to spend the night before we leave...but by doing it this way...we're not getting up at 4 after NO sleep on a hotel bed, too excited to sleep and the travel day won't be near as long.

Safe Travels

Dave

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:46 am

I expect to see more fallout from the AA/US Air merger. I'm checking our April, August and October reservations every week. We are on the 8AM easter morning flight out of STT; staying over Saturday night and leaving early Sunday saved us a lot of money. I just need to book a taxi from our marina at 6AM on Easter Sunday.

We're in the minority - AA fans. I've been flying them for 25 years to the Caribbean. They have the most flights into SJU/STT. Getting into MIA in the morning pretty much guarantees you some kind of same day service to STT. I had some long layovers in MIA in 2014 when my morning flights were delayed. Its not the worst place to sit, probably the best for me. United is our #1 since we have direct from DC an its our airline for Europe and California. But we had United cancel our October 16 ticket when they canceled their nonstop - no alternative, refund and booked on AA.

AA was the last airline to do a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It could have been popular, but was saddled with pre-deregulation era contracts that the other airlines had shed. I expect to see more optimizations that impact travelers over the rest of 2015. In the past, AA has done the most schedule changes. Its a pain, but we stay on top and fix any problems that occur.

Travel is stressful, but I'm reconciled with the airlines. It is one of my few expenses that is cheaper today than it was in the 80s.

Cheers, RickG

back_at_skinnys · Post by **back_at_skinnys** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 1:21 pm

Well, after several Twitter DMs with AA, 3 separate calls with their CR and a ridiculous "form-reply" from their CR email, we are back in business. Ultimately, I found a far more sympathetic and determined individual to locate alternatives. Amazingly, she was able to find space on the 3pm out of STT to catch the evening departure to DTW. I have to admit that it was really weird how it came to fruition though. After she explored countless return options, the best of which required us to fly STT to MIA, then MIA to PHX and catch the redeye to DTW, I asked how many seats they had on the 3pm out of STT. After a few minutes she said, "we have plenty of seats on that flight". WHAT????? Why wasn't this the first option you sought??

Oh well, she pushed it through and after 4 days of the ticket "pending" on aa.com, we're in business.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions..... 19 days till I enjoy that Easter dinner at Skinnys......

usvi-on-line