Just a couple of days ago I was trying to get back to Purdue because fall break was ending and I was visiting home for the first time in two months. I originally had book my flight from Austin to Dallas and then a connecting flight from Dallas to Indianapolis. Then, I would get onto a shuttle to take me back on-campus. I planned on leaving a day before classes were going to start so I would have plenty of time to get ready and be set for school. However, the weather and American Airlines staff service did otherwise.
My flight was supposed to leave from Austin at 9:29 am.
So I woke up 6:30 am that day to get ready and I didn't want to get caught in traffic or in long lines for security checkpoint that cause me to miss my flight. I get there at 8:30 am waiting in line to go through security with gran amount of time before boarding.
Everything seemed smooth sailing as I reach to the gate and when it was time to board, the workers had mentioned how there was no more overhead bin space for carry-ons. Therefore the rest of the last groups who were boarding, which included me had no other choice but to check in our bags.
I waited in line for a while to get my bag to get checked in because the two workers who were trying to get our carry-ons checked in were fighting over how they should make us get into the plane faster.
However, a cold front reached Dallas and there was a one hour delay of the plane coming. I didn't think much out of it because it didn't affect me that much. I would still have enough time to make it to my connecting flight to Indianapolis. Little did I know this was just the beginning of the misfortunate events that I faced throughout the rest of my day.
That one hour delay turned two hours and then three.
There was no way I could have made it to my connecting flight at this point so I went to the long line where I could talk to a travel agent and see what they could do for me.
I was in a rush and had little patience because I didn't want to miss my connecting flight and be stuck in Dallas. They had only one travel agent working over the counter and it took forever to get to my turn. They had placed me on a different flight that they said was leaving right now so I ran to the gate and get into my seat. The worker had lied.
I was sitting on that plane for an hour and it still hadn't moved.
Soon as the flight crew was getting ready to depart, I get a notification on my phone that my connecting flight to Indianapolis got canceled. I went to get help from a crew member and they were trying to look at different locations I could go to reach my destination.
I ended up getting off the plane to talk to an agent in person because I couldn't call over the phone to rebook my connecting flight and I didn't want to get stuck in Dallas if I couldn't make it to Indianapolis that night.
When I got off the flight, the worker I tried to get help from said she couldn't help me at the time so I tried to call one over the phone and I was on a thirty-minute waiting line.
Eventually, I got fed up and I couldn't get ahold of any help and I felt lost since it was my first time ever having to deal with these complicated flight situations that I just started to cry right then and there. I just wanted to get back to Purdue because I had an exam the first day back from fall break and classes I didn't want to miss.
College is already expensive enough, missing a class is wasting the money that I paid for. And they were also wasting my time because I couldn't get anything productive done for the entire day.
Finally, when I got some help face to face with an agent she put me on a completely new flight itinerary that was already delayed for two or three hours. At the time, I held onto my last hope that I make it back.
However, my wishes were not answered that day because the flight kept getting delay and pushed back all the way to 5:00 pm. I didn't even get to fly out of Austin because ultimately the flight got canceled.
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In the end, I was feeling a roller coaster of emotions of having such a bad experience with American Airlines.
I tried to switch to different airlines but it was too late and I couldn't even book a seat to fly out. I was really bummed and stressed out that I was going to miss the first day back from fall break. As if college isn't hard enough I was relying on getting back to finish my heavy workload but it vanished from me.
I called American Airlines to complain and inform them about the situation and I was hoping they could provide me with anything that showed they cared about my time. All I got back was how to submit my complain online and to figure it from there.
Never again would I want to experience the way they treated me with their customer service at the airport and over the phone, so my advice is to stay away from American Airlines as much as possible.
I would never want you to be put on a plane after plane, deal with their workers fighting each other, and understand in my situation the worker cannot control what the weather turns out to be but at least they control how they treat their customers and their workers. If workers can fight in front of customers eyes, then how can the customer expect to get treated with the respect that they paid for?