Sometimes It Pays To Complain

Today my wife left for Dallas. She's off to see Barry Manilow (ugg, don't ask) with her sisters. Late last night I gave her her itinerary and she noticed I had put "Maria" instead of her real name, Mercedes, when I booked the flight. So I figured I'd call American and have them change it.

Well, this is where it got interesting. I was put on hold, then the operator said that "AA.COM" won't change it since the flight is 7 hours from now. I told her that was unacceptable and demanded to talk to a supervisor. After a few minutes, she came back online and said, and I'm not kidding, that her supervisor would change the first name on the electonic ticket for a change fee of $100. I almost threw the phone in disgust when she said that. I told her that was also unacceptable. So I asked to talk to the supervisor.

The supervisor came on and I told her that I couldn't believe they were going to charge me $100 for a first name change. She said something like "why should we pay for your mistake, you're the one that did it wrong". I told her that people make mistakes, honey, when typing on the computer and that I didn't realize it until now. I begged her, screamed, negotiated to no avail. I said, fine, I'll pay your fucking $100 but you can bet I'm going to file a complaint with American. She said "please do".

So after I paid the 100 bucks, I asked for her full name, location, etc. Then I fired off an email to AA customer relations and basically told them that I'd been flying American for some 20 years and this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I also said I would avoid AA whenever possible.

Well, this morning I got an email back. AA apologized profusely and refunded the $100 charge on my ticket.