Not surprised, but another step in the long path toward making air travel more miserable.


A new policy at American directs airport agents not to rebook economy passengers on competing airlines — with no stated limit on how long they must wait for a seat on another American flight. A manager can make exceptions in a few cases, such as people flying to a wedding or funeral and those who would be stranded overnight with no hotel room.

Agents can still put economy passengers on American's international partner airlines, but that won't help customers flying within the U.S.

By contrast, American told agents in late September to help the airline's best customers get to their destinations quickly, even if it means putting them on Delta or United.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/articl ... 289920.php

Largely same at UA. Keep passenger in order of preference online, JV partners, Star, and then OALs, with DL as last resort. Such guidance obviously based on elite status, class of service etc.

So, the airline A.net people love to hate (DL) seems to be more willing to send their customer on their merry way (including by competitors airplanes) than UA or AA. No further comment needed I guess.

I work for AA and I haven’t seen a directive regarding this. Any other employees have any insight on where to find this policy?

Where the world (including Gary) first learned this:
https://twitter.com/xJonNYC/status/1046007470504726530

tommer419 wrote:

I work for AA and I haven’t seen a directive regarding this. Any other employees have any insight on where to find this policy?

Schedule irregularity - Other Airline Protection 25Sept18

Airlines should do what's right for their passengers first and if it means sometimes they fly to where they are ticked to when AA screw up, so be it.
What goes around comes around - AA will get just as many one-off passengers back when DL / UA and the rest can't provide seats as booked.

TC957 wrote:

Airlines should do what's right for their passengers first and if it means sometimes they fly to where they are ticked to when AA screw up, so be it.
What goes around comes around - AA will get just as many one-off passengers back when DL / UA and the rest can't provide seats as booked.

doubt it. According to the arrticle, AA isnt going to be sending 'regular' non-elite passengers to OAL's. Thats because AA knows if it starts putting its own passengers on DL metal, they will realize how nice it is to have IFE at every seat and an airline that actually cares about its passengers.

Well this is unfortunate for the passengers, however I can see why this is a problem for the airlines. For example, I and some friends were flying United and were delayed due to late aircraft. The UA agent put us on Delta. After checking in with Delta, they were overbooked and gave us all $1000 vouchers to take a later flight. That means Delta forked over three thousand bucks worth of travel for us guys because UA overbooked their flight. Thanks United!

WayexTDI wrote:

So, the airline A.net people love to hate (DL) seems to be more willing to send their customer on their merry way (including by competitors airplanes) than UA or AA. No further comment needed I guess.

You have that completely backwards. DL was easily the worst offender at this. And they still may be.

Seems to me that the rebooking issue started when airlines started asking an arm and a leg from the OAL. The smoke about who was responsible for raising rates was coming from Atlanta.

jumbojet wrote:

TC957 wrote:

Airlines should do what's right for their passengers first and if it means sometimes they fly to where they are ticked to when AA screw up, so be it.
What goes around comes around - AA will get just as many one-off passengers back when DL / UA and the rest can't provide seats as booked.

doubt it. According to the arrticle, AA isnt going to be sending 'regular' non-elite passengers to OAL's. Thats because AA knows if it starts putting its own passengers on DL metal, they will realize how nice it is to have IFE at every seat and an airline that actually cares about its passengers.

I'm confident the reason is cost.. not because passengers will realize how amazing DL is

toering wrote:

Well this is unfortunate for the passengers, however I can see why this is a problem for the airlines. For example, I and some friends were flying United and were delayed due to late aircraft. The UA agent put us on Delta. After checking in with Delta, they were overbooked and gave us all $1000 vouchers to take a later flight. That means Delta forked over three thousand bucks worth of travel for us guys because UA overbooked their flight. Thanks United!

Delta either had inventory still available to sell or they force overbooked their own flight (United would not be able to do that themselves). Both scenarios are more of a Delta problem.

MSPNWA wrote:

WayexTDI wrote:

So, the airline A.net people love to hate (DL) seems to be more willing to send their customer on their merry way (including by competitors airplanes) than UA or AA. No further comment needed I guess.

You have that completely backwards. DL was easily the worst offender at this. And they still may be.

Seems to me that the rebooking issue started when airlines started asking an arm and a leg from the OAL. The smoke about who was responsible for raising rates was coming from Atlanta.

Right? Didn’t Delta cancel all of their inter line agreements with UA and AA, which doesn’t allow them to protect passengers in IRROPS?

jetmatt777 wrote:

MSPNWA wrote:

WayexTDI wrote:

So, the airline A.net people love to hate (DL) seems to be more willing to send their customer on their merry way (including by competitors airplanes) than UA or AA. No further comment needed I guess.

You have that completely backwards. DL was easily the worst offender at this. And they still may be.

Seems to me that the rebooking issue started when airlines started asking an arm and a leg from the OAL. The smoke about who was responsible for raising rates was coming from Atlanta.

Right? Didn’t Delta cancel all of their inter line agreements with UA and AA, which doesn’t allow them to protect passengers in IRROPS?

They did cancel it with AA but a few IT outages later they reinstated it....

Stupid move in my opinion. If I were an economy class passenger on a cancelled AA flight and they rebooked me on DL or UA so that I could arrive (almost) as per the original schedule, I would think "At AA they do care about their customers” and I would definitely consider them again in the future. On the contrary, if they made me wait several hours for their next available flight, thereby disrupting my programmes, despite alternative options with DL or UA being available, I would think "At AA they do not care of their non-premium passengers” and the next times I would fly with someone else.

If the airlines aren't going to play nice with each other, then this is one instance where there should be regulatory mechanisms that kick in. If a flight is delayed or cancelled and it's the airline's fault, passengers should be rebooked on the earliest available flight to their destination regardless of carrier. Elite status or whatever bug is up Doug Parker's butt this week shouldn't matter. Passengers paid for a service, and they should get that service. If a carrier drops the ball and the flight's cancelled, tough. Rebook them on a competitor and eat the cost.

I saw this mentioned in another thread the other day. In my very recent experience (week and half ago) I was rebooked on DL but then cancelled because my bags couldn't travel without me. I flying from PHX to MIA and the flight was delayed for 2 hours, so I would miss the only flight available to connect to. I explained the very friendly ex-HP agent that I had a baby to get to and work in the morning and she tried every possible airport to get me to connect. She said she could book me on DL and UA but not NK or WN. Maybe she hadn't read the note or just made the exception, but she called someone on the phone who then called DL to book me.

I just hope that managers use common sense when there is a need. I didn't have to go to a manager for the agent to help out, but I'm sure if this happened in MIA I would've been told to suck it up. It also shouldn't matter what type of fare the passenger is on, if I booked Economy Basic, I still paid for a ticket to get somewhere same as anyone else except I paid for less benefits and a bad seat. Yet, unfortunately some people on other forums think that because one is Economy one should get told to walk away. Thankfully some good agents still exist.

I don't think this is really new, the article states there just wasn't a written policy to agents before. Any airline would prefer to keep their passengers on their own airline, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

Typically, when the reason for the delay is outside of the airline's control (WX/ATC) then they won't rebook on other airlines (besides for partners), but exceptions can always be made.

AA is playing with fire here. They've gone to tiny cramped ULCC-style seats, no seatback IFE, bare-bones catering, stripped the mileage program, raised bag fees, etc etc. The one remaining real advantage of flying a network carrier is that they are better able to take care of you when things go wrong. Now would someone please explain to me one good reason why I should choose AA over Spirit?

ericm2031 wrote:

I don't think this is really new, the article states there just wasn't a written policy to agents before. Any airline would prefer to keep their passengers on their own airline, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

Typically, when the reason for the delay is outside of the airline's control (WX/ATC) then they won't rebook on other airlines (besides for partners), but exceptions can always be made.

Before they allowed Y passengers to rebook on interline, now they don't. That's the biggest difference.

RamblinMan wrote:

AA is playing with fire here. They've gone to tiny cramped ULCC-style seats, no seatback IFE, bare-bones catering, stripped the mileage program, raised bag fees, etc etc. The one remaining real advantage of flying a network carrier is that they are better able to take care of you when things go wrong. Now would someone please explain to me one good reason why I should choose AA over Spirit?

None. Except people hate Spirit cause it's Spirit, even though they've never flown them and just heard it from someone else when they got upset they got no free water in a perfectly fine airline.

I know Rule 240 is outdated but aren't the carriers obligated to comply with similar "conditions of carriage" mandated by the FAA? These conditions are only if absolutely the carriers fault (mechanical).

MSPNWA wrote:

WayexTDI wrote:

So, the airline A.net people love to hate (DL) seems to be more willing to send their customer on their merry way (including by competitors airplanes) than UA or AA. No further comment needed I guess.

You have that completely backwards. DL was easily the worst offender at this. And they still may be.

Seems to me that the rebooking issue started when airlines started asking an arm and a leg from the OAL. The smoke about who was responsible for raising rates was coming from Atlanta.

Fair extract from the article quoted:

Delta made a portion of its guidelines available, and they do not appear biased against transferring economy passengers to another carrier. Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant said agents are told to try to rebook customers on partner airlines, but they can send anyone, including economy passengers, to American or United.

Make it as you may.

Redwood839 wrote:

None. Except people hate Spirit cause it's Spirit, even though they've never flown them and just heard it from someone else when they got upset they got no free water in a perfectly fine airline.

Bingo, I think its just a-net though, even Spirit’s facebook and IG people mainly write good things about them now. Theyre constantly #3 for on time arrivals, and now with wifi comming, the gap between them and mainline carriers or jetblue is basically gone.

WayexTDI wrote:

So, the airline A.net people love to hate (DL) seems to be more willing to send their customer on their merry way (including by competitors airplanes) than UA or AA. No further comment needed I guess.

United's preference is to use Star Alliance partners if its an international flight however if its domestic UA will try to re-accommodiate the passengers first on another UA flight. If that isn't an option then we will use other airlines starting with elites and working our way downward, I'm sure DL's policy is similar.
If DL cancels an ORD-LGA, or ORD-SEA I'm sure they are not sending their passengers over to AA or UA, DL will try to accommodate their passengers first on another DL flight including a connecting flight first it that isn't possible I'm sure that is when DL begins to look at other airlines.
All of this comes down to cost rebooking a passenger on another airline is often very expensive, I'm sure DL, like UA only does this as a last resort.

DL and AA still do not have a full interline agreement as they were known. They simply agreeed to allow protection on one another in the case of IRROP only. No mutual ticketing, no interlining of luggage. But I know interlining of luggage occurs even before they agreed to be friends again because they AA put me on DL and my bag too. The agent just 'did it' ... didn't even say a word.

jumbojet wrote:

TC957 wrote:

Airlines should do what's right for their passengers first and if it means sometimes they fly to where they are ticked to when AA screw up, so be it.
What goes around comes around - AA will get just as many one-off passengers back when DL / UA and the rest can't provide seats as booked.

doubt it. According to the arrticle, AA isnt going to be sending 'regular' non-elite passengers to OAL's. Thats because AA knows if it starts putting its own passengers on DL metal, they will realize how nice it is to have IFE at every seat and an airline that actually cares about its passengers.

That would be true if delta actually cared about it's customers more which is certainly debatable on another thread. For me, I would much rather be on AA even with their current issues.

santi319 wrote:

Redwood839 wrote:

None. Except people hate Spirit cause it's Spirit, even though they've never flown them and just heard it from someone else when they got upset they got no free water in a perfectly fine airline.

Bingo, I think its just a-net though, even Spirit’s facebook and IG people mainly write good things about them now. Theyre constantly #3 for on time arrivals, and now with wifi comming, the gap between them and mainline carriers or jetblue is basically gone.

I tried them for the first time last December and had a perfectly fine experience. Seats were tight but I paid $30 for the front row on the return and found it comfortable and a good value. All in all, I'd book them again.

And this from a guy who swore for years I'd never fly them. Moves like this one from AA are only driving traffic to the ULCC competition.

jayunited wrote:

WayexTDI wrote:

So, the airline A.net people love to hate (DL) seems to be more willing to send their customer on their merry way (including by competitors airplanes) than UA or AA. No further comment needed I guess.

United's preference is to use Star Alliance partners if its an international flight however if its domestic UA will try to re-accommodiate the passengers first on another UA flight. If that isn't an option then we will use other airlines starting with elites and working our way downward, I'm sure DL's policy is similar.
If DL cancels an ORD-LGA, or ORD-SEA I'm sure they are not sending their passengers over to AA or UA, DL will try to accommodate their passengers first on another DL flight including a connecting flight first it that isn't possible I'm sure that is when DL begins to look at other airlines.
All of this comes down to cost rebooking a passenger on another airline is often very expensive, I'm sure DL, like UA only does this as a last resort.

This is funny. In August I was flying LGA-ORD on DL. Flight was cancelled due to weather and inbound aircraft delays. I was immediately booked LGA-ATL-ORD. I looked and laughed. Who in their right mind would fly LGA-ATL-ORD???? I sure wouldn't no matter how loyal I am to DL. I ended up flying JFK-DTW-ORD.

sholmes wrote:

Stupid move in my opinion. If I were an economy class passenger on a cancelled AA flight and they rebooked me on DL or UA so that I could arrive (almost) as per the original schedule, I would think "At AA they do care about their customers” and I would definitely consider them again in the future. On the contrary, if they made me wait several hours for their next available flight, thereby disrupting my programmes, despite alternative options with DL or UA being available, I would think "At AA they do not care of their non-premium passengers” and the next times I would fly with someone else.

But that's the reality, they don't care. If you're not bringing something to the table (ie: status, contract, big spend) to make them value you then sorry charlie, that's the world we live in. Just being a customer means very little anymore, you need to be a good return on investment. The old adage of I'll just take my business elsewhere doesn't scare the airlines anymore because they know for every average joe that defects, ten more take his place. We will continue to see more policies and behaviors like this moving forward. And this concept is not limited to the airline industry.

damn that sucks. i've been rebooked from aa metal onto dl metal due to mechanical issues before, and that saved like 24 hrs compared to taking the next aa flight.

Most paxs are totally clueless to what, how and the when of airline responsibility with delays. If they are told to sleep in the airport and wait for a seat on another AA Flight most will comply albeit expressing anger about it.

LAXBUR wrote:

Delta either had inventory still available to sell or they force overbooked their own flight (United would not be able to do that themselves). Both scenarios are more of a Delta problem.

These links talk about how the AA-DL interline agreement was restored. The second link tells the inside story.

https://crankyflier.com/2018/01/25/delta-finally-brings-back-the-part-of-an-interline-agreement-with-american-that-matters-most/
https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2018/01/26/inside-story-delta-ended-interline-agreement-american-asked-back/

It REALLY SUCKS that the interline agreement is largely been TERMINATED once again, but this time, initiated by AA!! Essentially, AA terminated the interline agreement with both UA and DL. The vast majority of AA passengers don't have status, which means that the vast majority of AA passengers that are stranded WON'T be accommodated on another carrier. The tiny exception might be AS code-share flights; AA/AS still code share for a limited number of city pairs as compared to pre-merger AS/VX ( https://www.travelcodex.com/alaska-airl ... by-merger/ ).

AA's new policy is much more strict (non-discretionary) than that of Delta's or United's. AA is stupid for tying the hands of its gate and customer service agents!

Oh, here's another a link to the topic at hand: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2018/10/08/american-airlines-agents-dont-rebook-passengers-other-airlines/1512946002/