November 13, 2024 • 38 mins
A flight to Wisconsin for a Green Bay Packers game turned into an odyssey of delays, diversions, and disarray. We recount our whirlwind adventure with American Airlines, where unexpected weather threw a wrench into our carefully laid travel plans. This episode explores the frustration of dealing with inconsistent and often conflicting information from airline staff, alongside the challenge of navigating a system that seems to prioritize corporate interests over passenger needs. Our story serves as a cautionary tale about the perils of air travel, encouraging listeners to be their own advocates in the face of uncertainty.
Ever been promised a reimbursement that seemed too good to be true? We have, and it was a rollercoaster of false assurances and mixed messages. When our flight was unexpectedly diverted, we were thrust into a night of chaos, complete with scrambling for last-minute accommodations and relying on an airline app that offered more headaches than help. This chapter of our journey shines a light on the necessity of documenting every expense and keeping a skeptical eye on financial promises made by airlines. Hear how we navigated the chaos and emerged with a treasure trove of lessons learned, from managing travel disruptions to the crucial importance of digital backups.
The trials didn't end with the flight diversions; they followed us into the airport, where security hurdles and boarding pass issues tested our patience yet again. We faced the ironic challenge of using previous day's boarding passes and became intimately familiar with the regular security lines despite our TSA pre-check status. Finally, tired and battle-worn, we were able to share our thoughts on the inefficiencies of American Airlines' policies. Through candid communication with their representatives, we discuss the broader need for empathy and transparency in customer service, reinforcing our resolve to support companies that truly prioritize their passengers. Join us as we relay our travel horror stories and strive for positive change in the industry.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Why you should never, ever, ever, trust anything
regarding money coming out ofthe words of an airline's
personnel, whether it be on thephone or in person.
Always assume they're going todo what's in the best interest
for them, not their customer.
Welcome back to the podcast Ifit's your first time here.
(00:32):
My name is Ryan and, with mywife Lauren, we have been
full-time traveling, whether itbe in our RV or via the air, for
almost two and a half years now, and yes, I understand that
this is kind of a go withoutsaying that shocker massive
companies in America want to dowhat benefits their bottom line,
(00:55):
not what it does to the peoplethat actually pay for their
services.
Well, in a quick littlenutshell, I can tell you that we
are going to, from now on, begoing massively out of our way
to not fly American Airlinesanymore, because of not so much
what happened during the flight,which was a cluster to begin
(01:16):
with, but what happened afterthe flight, more importantly.
So let me break this down in alittle bit of a way that kind of
explains the entirety of thestory, and I understand that
this is going to be one-sided.
I did not ask American Airlinesfor any sort of a comment or
anything along those lines, andbecause I'm still actively going
(01:39):
back and forth with them,because at this point all I want
is an apologies that anemployee lied.
And I say this knowing I justgot my last couple of emails
this morning and I am recordingthis as of Monday, november 11th
.
So this is, if you listen to it, the day it comes out, which is
Wednesday tomorrow.
This is the previous day, sojust know I've been dealing with
(02:00):
this.
So, okay, let's talk a littlebit about the trip, the flight,
what kind of happened?
And just shot by shot.
So recently, and if you'rewatching the main YouTube
channel, we went on a quick tripup to Wisconsin.
Originally it was for a GreenBay Packers football game, which
you'll see that this weekend.
It was cold, it was wet, it wasrough.
So if you love watching Ryan,be really uncomfortable, you're
(02:22):
going to love next week's video.
But as far as the flightportion of it, we did a little
bit of a unique travel daysbecause of how we use miles and
points to kind of effectivelyminimize our cost on air travel.
So we originally flew from theDallas-Fort Worth International
(02:42):
Airport to General Meacham,which is in Milwaukee, wisconsin
.
We then rented a car, drovefrom Milwaukee, wisconsin, over
to—we drove from Milwaukee,wisconsin, over to Madison,
wisconsin.
Why did we go from Madison—whydid we go from Milwaukee to
Madison?
If we're going to go to GreenBay, well, my folks have a place
there and it was a crime ofopportunity.
So we went over there, westayed the night, went to the
(03:06):
Packer game, the next day, droveback to Madison and then the
following day we drove back fromMadison back to Milwaukee, and
we were going to fly fromMilwaukee back to DFW.
Why not fly directly to Madison?
Wasn't so much the cost or themiles?
It was cheaper to go in and outof Milwaukee, but the schedule.
Milwaukee is a bigger airportand Madison is a very small
airport.
(03:26):
So there's only a couple offlights a day from DFW that we
can get in on, and none of themreally worked with our schedule.
So, and then Green Bay.
It was drastically moreexpensive to fly into the
Appleton Green Bay airportbecause of the Packers football
game.
So we decided to fly intoMilwaukee and just drive this
day, which, you know, therecould be argument made that we
set ourselves up for failurethere.
(03:47):
But at the same time too, youexpect a reasonable outcome.
So we go through the trip,everything's hunky-dory I mean
as much as cold and wetWisconsin can be in a Packers
loss.
We get back to Milwaukee withplenty of time and we're getting
ready to board the flight.
So this day, which was lastSunday, which the weather in
(04:10):
North Texas was a little lessthan desirable, so this was
about a week ago.
So we're talking Monday,november 4th.
Well, the previous nightthrough the next day, so the 3rd
through the 4th, the weatherthrough really most of the
United States, at least thecentral portion of the United
States, was less than favorable,and I get that.
It was actively storming inTexas.
(04:32):
Well, the storms had movedenough out of the way.
But obviously in air travel, ifthe storms are bad enough, they
shut down airports, they shutdown those things.
So what they do is the airportinitiates what's called a ground
stop, which essentially meansthat no flights are coming in.
So that gets lifted.
But then they have to unravelthe backlog of flights that have
been diverted or holding in anair pattern somewhere, all of
(04:54):
those things.
Right, and I'm not going to gointo the great detail about all
that because that is air traveland I don't know the official
operations terms and a lot ofthe things that go into that.
But what ends up happening is weget to the airport about an
hour, hour and a half before ourflight takes off, which you
know DFW, I'd say get there alittle earlier than that.
We're at Milwaukee, which isnotoriously not busy, so we
(05:18):
breeze right through security,everything.
We actually go get some dinnerand we get that first
notification that the flight'sbeen delayed by about I think it
was an hour, maybe 45 minutesto an hour, and so you know
which is?
It's annoying, but it is whatit is, it's fine.
There's weather, we get it, andso we kind of go about our day.
We were watching, you know, oneof our new favorite shows is
(05:39):
called the traders on Peacock,and so we're watching that on my
laptop in the terminal.
You know, called the Traders onPeacock, and so we're watching
that on my laptop in theterminal.
We both have headphones on andwe're just kind of minding our
own business.
So we get a little more of adelay and they're doing a decent
job of explaining what's goingon.
So we actually go and we boardright and, as we're all sitting
down and get cozied in for theabout two and a half hour flight
(06:03):
back from Milwaukee down toDallas.
The pilot pops on and says hey,explain what I already just
explained in detail.
So the pilot did a phenomenaljob of keeping us in the loop,
because, at the end of the day,I think if you're more informed,
you're more than likely goingto have some grace.
It's when companies and orpeople try to get away with
(06:24):
stuff and not tell you what'sgoing on is probably where my
biggest frustration lies, andthat is like, if you're not,
there's two types of people outthere.
There's the ones that want tounderstand.
I'm telling you, I want tounderstand, and I feel like it's
a better transparency, thatyou're going to have a little
more grace from people if you'rejust honest with them.
I'm not a big fan of the other,of just like, oh, I'll just
(06:49):
tell them some of the story, notall of the story, that kind of
a thing.
So they actually have us getoff the flight because we're
going to have to sit there foranother hour or two.
And then they're a littleunsure because Dallas isn't
giving them an officialclearance into the airspace
quite yet, which is what ourpilot is waiting for, and you
(07:11):
can actively tell that our pilotis frustrated by this, because
you know that he's doing hisbest to get us there that
evening in some capacity.
So we get off the plane withour luggage, everything.
So then they decide that okay,they're getting clearance and so
now we're going to reboard.
So this is an hour, hour and ahalf later, something like that.
Again, this is all frustrating,but it's part of travel and so
we're very much so go with theflow when it comes to that kind
of stuff.
So you know, we went back out,we started watching our show
again, you know use the restroom, wandered around kind of did a
(07:34):
few things and then we got backon.
So we get back on, we take off,and Lauren and I looked at each
other and said, oh, there we go, we're getting in the air,
we're going to get there one wayor another.
So we're about an hour-ish intothe flight and because of the
storms, they decided to take amore Western route, which for us
meant flying down more towardsSt Louis and then kind of in
(07:55):
Kansas City and then down Souththat way.
And you know we're somewhere inKansas, over Kansas, and the
pilot gets on and says well,unfortunately, you know, they
reclosed the airspace, forwhatever reason, no idea why.
Um, then, from there theydecided that we were going to go
over to um, wichita and justcircle right.
(08:19):
So they're putting us in aholding pattern, essentially
because of, again, there's somany flights coming into the
North Texas airspace that theywere just trying to get it to
unravel a little bit and becausewe had taken off later, we were
on the low end of that list.
So we go over to Kansas City, sowe're doing circles over Kansas
City for, honestly, not toolong, maybe 20 or 30 minutes.
And then that's when our pilotcame on and said well, you know,
(08:41):
they're asking us to go aheadand put down at a diverted
airport, so officially, ourflight's being diverted.
And then we fly about 20minutes back the other direction
, 30 minutes, and we land at theKansas City airport, which full
sidebar, very nice airport, andso obviously, you know, there's
not a lot of we're trying tofigure out if we're going to
(09:02):
take back off, and so we sat onthe plane there at a gate for, I
don't know, maybe another 30 or45 minutes.
Again, I'm sticking with that.
This is all very annoying, butit's part of it.
Um, and the issue that wascommunicated to us via the
flight crew was the problem wewere starting to run into wasn't
(09:22):
so much that there wasn't awant to get there tonight that
the the flight crew was startingto run into, wasn't so much
that there wasn't a want to getthere tonight that the flight
crew was starting to reach theirservice hours.
So, and again, I'm not 100%sure what exactly they are, but
there's so many hours they'reallowed to fly, versus they have
to be in a hotel resting for Xamount of hours before they're
allowed to get back on a planeand fly it.
So what's happening is they'restarting to butt up against the
(09:45):
other side of that and if wedon't take off in the next I
think he said like 45 minutes toan hour, again speculative.
I'm kind of basing this off ofwhat the pilot was saying that
you know we wouldn't be able totake back off.
Well, you know they finally,after about 45 minutes to an
hour, nobody would give him theinformation needed so that he
(10:09):
could make a call of whether ornot we're going to wait for the
20 minutes then we're going totake off or we're going to.
At that point, just we're goingto get off the plane and try
this all again the next day,which would have been the worst
case scenario.
Best case scenario is we getback in the air and we would
have gotten there late, probablymidnight 1 am.
At this point Our originalarrival time was, I think, 6.30
(10:31):
or 7.30 at night.
So the call is finally madethat, even if they take off at
this point, that they're goingto hit their service hours and
be forced down anyway.
So the pilot makes the decisionthat we're going to just try
again in the morning oressentially as soon as they can,
based on their service hours.
So we are now officiallydiverted and stuck in Kansas
(10:53):
City.
You know, obviously there's acouple of scenarios that are
happening here.
Again, this is all happening onMonday November 4th.
There's a Monday night footballgame that night and of course
it's in Kansas city with thechiefs Um, I don't a hundred
percent remember who they'replaying.
And so as we come off the planethey said just hang out for a
little bit and a agent will beup there to explain kind of
(11:16):
processes, all of that stuff.
So then, um, the the gate agentdecides that he's going to
start telling the story a coupleof times so that not, you know,
175 to 250 people are allcrowded around an area that
really isn't meant for that.
And so he starts talking andsays you know, unfortunately,
(11:38):
due to the Chiefs game, there'sno hotels available, which you
know.
You're hearing that going great, that's perfect.
Which you know.
You're hearing that going great, that's perfect.
And then he decides that he saysthat unfortunately, because of
that, they can't hand out anyhotel vouchers for us to get a
room on American's dime, butdoes tell us that if we can find
a hotel, that by law and I'mquoting this verbatim at this
(11:59):
point, by law, american isrequired to reimburse us for our
expenses because we were notplanned and it was a diversion,
disregards the weather portionof it completely and just says
because it's a diversion, now ifyou were?
And then I piped up and asked Isaid are you sure?
Because I'm about to go spendmoney I don't really want to
(12:21):
spend, but you're telling me I'mgoing to be reimbursed.
And he said yes, if it wasbecause of weather.
Like, I guess they classifythings at least in his head they
classify things as weather or adiversion.
And I said even if thisdiversion was caused by weather,
he said you didn't land in theairport you were expected to
(12:41):
land and therefore it's adiversion, regardless of the
reason why.
And so Lauren and I said okay,so we're looking for a hotel,
which you know I don't know whythey said there wasn't any
available.
I think what he meant to saywas there were none available
that he could send a voucher forto where they could be billed
back essentially.
(13:01):
And so, from that standpoint,yes, the hotel that was
physically there at the airportwas full, but we were able to
find a four points by Sheridanjust literally right outside the
airport grounds.
So we decide to let's go aheadand book that.
It was about after tax, it wasabout $165, $175 just for the
night.
Realistically it's for about 12to 13 hours, and then the
(13:24):
second portion comes availableand that and that is.
You know, hey, what time do weneed to be back here?
Because obviously we don't have, like we're not supposed to be
here.
Like how are we supposed toknow what time we need to be at
the airport?
By what time is our flightdeparting so we can plan all of
that stuff?
And he said just keep checkingthe app and it'll update with
the new flight.
So there's two main points thatI'm going to come back to In
(13:51):
that process.
He's made the announcement asecond time and he said things a
little bit differently.
And then he said make sure andkeep all your receipts for
anything that you buy withinreason.
I mean, if you go out drinking,they're not going to reimburse
you for that.
Or if you buy souvenirs, you'reobviously not going to get
reimbursed for that.
But hotel food, that kind ofthing, it's an unexpected travel
thing.
Save all your receipts andyou'll get reimbursed.
I, at the second time, asked onemore question.
(14:13):
That was how, how do we getreimbursed?
How do we go about that process?
I was not going to leave thatagent without knowing where to
go and he said you go down tothe Contact Us at the bottom of
the American Airlines websiteand from there Contact us at the
bottom of the American Airlineswebsite and from there you will
be able to fill out theinformation, you'll send an
(14:33):
email in and then from thereyou'll be able to get a person.
You essentially send them yourreceipts and then they'll issue
a reimbursement.
You know he goes.
However, they decide to do that, whether it's via card check,
whatever.
So Lauren and I go okay and andwe walk away from that.
(14:53):
You know, I had this little bitof an uneasy feeling, and this
is why, at the very top of theshow, I said never trust
anything when it comes to moneyout of their mouths, like, get
an overabundance, like.
And I'll tell you where I feel,like at the end, where I feel
like the airline went wrong andwhere we went wrong.
And I'm not by any means sayingthat this is all on the airline
and it's not necessarily all onus.
Now I think it is mostly on theairline and again, we'll get
(15:17):
into that in a minute but wealso made a few mistakes in this
process too.
And so we do what pretty muchthe entire flight's doing at
this point right, we go aheadand book a hotel and we're
trying to find an Uber.
Obviously, this is all 11o'clock at night now, so we're
starving.
We haven't eaten since lunch,so we're hungry.
The airport's kind of closedslash, closing.
Well, the airport sells open,but none of the food places are
(15:40):
open, and so we're.
We're looking at this from thestandpoint of well, okay, we
need to get some food, we needto find somewhere to sleep, and
then we'll just get up and do itall again, and then at some
point, either tonight or firstthing tomorrow morning, we will
look at that from the standpointof when do we need to be back
and we'll figure all that out.
So we booked the hotel.
(16:00):
We have an absolute clustertrying to get out, because we're
not the only flight at thispoint that's been diverted to
Kansas City.
But we get a hotel room, we getover, we try and find an Uber,
which we cannot find becausethere's not, between the game
and the diverted flights, thereare none that are available.
So we're waiting for almost 30minutes for an Uber.
And then finally, the shuttle.
(16:21):
We didn't realize there was ashuttle that was available for
the hotel and that just happenedto show up close to where we
were.
We popped on that, which wasperfect.
So we get to the airport.
You know we order some DoorDashbecause, quite frankly, we
don't have a car, there'snothing within walking distance
of the hotel, and so we weDoorDash, the only thing that
was open, which is good.
Old Whataburger, I got to livethere 24 hours.
(16:44):
You know we go to sleep, andright before we go to sleep, at
about one in the morning, I'mlooking and now our flight has
just disappeared from the appcompletely, which is awesome.
So I'm like, well, maybethey're actively updating it as
we speak.
We'll just check it first thingin the morning.
You know, one of the questionsthat was asked at the ticket
agent is like when should weplan on?
He said my best estimatebetween nine and 10 AM.
Obviously he goes.
(17:05):
That could change depending onhow quickly we can get the pilot
and the flight crew to thehotel and down so they can come
back.
So and I get that that was amoving target, I just wanted the
early possible so that we couldplan around it.
So we set an alarm for, I think, 6.30 or so in the morning,
just to kind of like I think wewere going to try and be out by
about 7.30 from the hotel.
(17:26):
Again, we're five minutes fromthe airport slash terminal via a
shuttle, so I wasn't superworried about being late as long
as we didn't oversleep thatalarm.
So you know, the next morning weget up and we're coming to
right, it's not perfect, butwe're getting there and we
decide, while Lauren's in thebathroom getting ready to go for
(17:47):
the day, I get on the app andthe flight's still not there.
Well, now I'm having a slightpanic.
It's like well, what am Isupposed to do here?
Um, and this is where.
Uh, well, let me get throughthe rest of this and I'll talk
about some tips that I wouldgive to anybody traveling after
this experience that I will doevery single time Now, uh, learn
from my mistakes, people.
So we go back to the airport andwe're told to just use our
(18:14):
previous day boarding pass,which is fine to a point Again,
I'll get into that so, previousday boarding pass, and then, you
know, go through security, likeyou normally would.
Everything that you use thefirst day is good for the second
day.
Okay, that's fine, because theplane, the crew, us, none of us
are supposed to be at thisairport, right?
So we go through the securityline.
(18:34):
Well, lauren and I both haveTSA pre-checked because we fly
so much and so, naturally, it'son our boarding pass, still from
the previous day.
So we go in the pre-check line,which we don't wait too long,
maybe 10 minutes.
But we get up there and we getdenied pre-check.
He's like well, you don't havepre-check?
I'm like yes, I do, it's rightthere.
Well, they make us go throughthe regular line.
Well, because we have thechannel and we document things.
(18:58):
I always have a portablerecorder for the podcast with me
, I have camera gear, I have alaptop, I have hard drives.
Sometimes not all the time, butsometimes they make me take
most of my electronics out.
The computer always comes outif it's a non-TSA line.
And let's just say I've hadexperiences before where a
person will pick up a camera andbecause it's that like they'll
want to visually inspect it andnot my current one, because I
(19:19):
would have lost my shoot if itwas my current one, because it's
an expensive camera and then heaccidentally dropped it.
Luckily it was a cheaper cameraand it really didn't hurt it.
But if that had been my currentcamera, it's a little more
fragile.
He definitely would have brokenit and probably cost me about
somewhere in the city of four to$6,000, depending on everything
that was broken on it If it wascompletely toast six grand,
easy, just the lens 2,500, bodythe rest.
(19:42):
So yeah, I'm more particularabout that.
That's why we do pre-check.
So we go through the regularline.
Now we have to take my computerout.
Luckily they didn't make metake all my camera gear out.
But shoes off, belts off, youknow all the things that I get
pre-checked for I don't evencare about the speed, to be
completely honest with you.
I get it for the convenience ofnot having to do all of that.
(20:03):
So we get in there, we finallyget through security and I told
Lauren.
I said you know, we can gethere and have breakfast, we'll
have some coffee, we'll findsomewhere that we can actually
just sit down, you know, havetwo or three cups of coffee, get
a little breakfast in us andjust kind of find somewhere to
chill, because we're about twohours early for the 10 o'clock.
Well, we still can't find ourflight information at all.
(20:23):
They obviously let us throughsecurity, so they're aware, but
I can't find our flightinformation.
And the second thing thatbecomes a little bit of a
problem is what we're startingto notice is people can't access
their boarding passes anymorebecause they left them in the
app and they didn't put them intheir wallet.
Whether you have an Android andApple, you always have the
option of putting things in yourwallet, like passes with QR
(20:44):
codes.
We put ours in our wallet,luckily, and I can tell you one
of the tips going forward iswe're also going to screenshot
those from here on out, becauseeven some people, though it
expired in their wallet, forwhatever reason.
So again, all they had to do isgo up to the ticket counter and
get a reprinted ticket.
But now you're in line forsecurity and your boarding pass
(21:05):
doesn't work.
Now you have to stand inanother line.
And this is where I lovepriority and I hate priority,
because if you're in thepriority line it's not that bad,
but if you don't have priority,you don't fly very often.
Then you're kind of screwed,like if you're running late or
they decide to put that flightat 9 am and not 10 or 11, I mean
you're under the gun now all ofa sudden, because that line was
(21:27):
long, because everybody thatcame in for the Kansas City
football game the night beforeis trying to leave as well, plus
the normal business travelersand all that stuff on a Monday
morning I guess this is Tuesdaymorning, now the 6th, so, anyway
, or the 5th, I'm sorry, this isofficially election day.
So they finally, you know, theysay that we're going to take
off at 11.
(21:47):
So Lauren and I wandered down tothe gate at about 10, 15, uh,
kind of the same thing.
We just sit there and we relaxa little bit, okay, and we get
on the plane we come back.
Everything at that point ispretty uneventful.
So I will tell you at thispoint is where I start to get a
little frustrated, because nowwhat?
What obviously happens is, youknow we had paid for.
(22:11):
So I always use the parking spothere in Dallas, fort Worth.
You may or may not have that atan airport near you.
I use it because it'sconvenient.
I have loyalty points with them.
It's just, it's cheaper, it'seasy, it's off site, so I don't
have to deal with all thetraffic of the airport.
I just park, they get at me.
I've never had, knock on wood,a poor experience with them.
(22:32):
I mean, I've had slower andfaster experiences, but
everyone's always super happy,super easygoing and it just has
worked.
And at the end of the day,that's what I look for in travel
.
As long as it just works, I'mgood.
So we land, we get back home andwe kind of are recapping At
this land.
We get back home and you know,we, we, we kind of, are
recapping.
At this point we're bothexhausted.
(22:56):
Obviously we want to get thepups picked up from their little
doggy daycare that they go towhen we travel like this.
We get them picked up, you know.
We get back to the RV, get itopened up, um and back to
functioning.
And again, if you're listeningto this and you don't know who
officially we are, we alsofull-time in our Alliance Valor
44 V14, which is a big fifthwheel toy hauler.
So you know, we have a littlebit more of getting back to
normal than some people do,because when we travel we pull
(23:18):
our slides in, we turn our wateroff, propane off, all of those
things.
So we have to turn some stuffback on.
While it's not a lot, it'senough that it's not like just
walking back into your house,throwing your bag on the ground
and going I'm home, it's.
It's a little bit more drawnout than that.
So we get everything togetherand we decide, okay, let's get
this stuff together and we shootan email or we do exactly what
(23:39):
the gate agent told us to inKansas city we get all of our
documents together.
I still have all my screenshotsof receipts and hotel folio
invoice, which you know wasreally just the room rate, and
all that stuff.
I have all this ready to go.
I shoot that email and the firstemail I get.
For starters, it's like 48hours after I shot that first
email, which in and of itself isannoying.
(24:00):
Yes, you get the automatedresponse that they received it,
but you never get likeeverything feels I'm not going
to say computer generated, butalmost AI generated now, Like
either they're just copying andpasting crap from a script in or
AI is actually writing theirand I'm using air quotes that
you can't see legitimateresponses, not just the.
(24:22):
We received your information,we'll get back with you within
whatever the time frame was,which I believe was 48 hours,
and they damn near waited tillthe 48th hour.
So we get it back andessentially it it, in a very
computer-esque voice, says we'renot, unfortunately because of
weather, we can't reimburse youfor any of this, and so we're
(24:43):
getting ready to go to abirthday dinner for Lauren's
little sister.
This is a few days after we gotback, so now it's Friday and by
the time I finally get thisresponse, keep in mind, we
landed on Tuesday.
I sent it on Wednesday night,when I finally was able to get
everything together and send itover, and I didn't get a
response until Friday lateafternoon, like 5.30.
(25:03):
And I'm fuming right, becausethis one person said this.
This other person saidsomething completely different.
So I actually do would like tosay that I understand that the
people on the customer serviceother end, that if there's a
real person on that back endsaying something that they are a
(25:27):
person and they don person andthey have company and corporate
policies and that they don'thave any control over what they
can and can't do, they're justthe ones that are essentially
put in a really shitty spot andhave to communicate this to
people.
And I will tell you that thereis a new FAA, dot, one of the
(25:52):
entities called.
There's a new program whereairlines can no longer sit on
refunds for you Like.
There's a lot more stingentrules that are in the favor of
the consumer.
Unfortunately, you know, theverbiage on if you're diverted,
you know, is vague and it says,like you know, they're not
(26:13):
required by law to reimburse you, but most airlines do so to
maintain a happy customer base.
So putting that with whatAmerican Airlines decision was
to not reimburse us says thatAmerican Airlines could give
such less of a shit about thepeople that are on their planes
(26:33):
that they're not worthy ofbusiness anymore.
And this is coming from somebodythat grew up flying American.
My dad retired from AmericanAirlines after 35 years as vice
president of human resources,and if you work for an airline,
at least back then they havestatuses that people fly on like
(26:54):
employees, and if you're abaggage handler, unfortunately
you're flying low I think it'slike D10 or something like that
and it's just how essentiallymuch you need an actual ticket
versus like the fly standby kindof a thing.
My dad was an A3.
The top is A1.
To give you an eye, the onlyones that had A1 was the chief
executive team, um, and he was aA3.
(27:15):
And so that gives you kind ofan idea here.
So I've flown American airlinesliterally since I was seven
months old.
Okay, I am now 41.
So I've flown American foralmost 41 years and I say that
the least amount I've ever flownin a year is probably three
times the most I've ever flownin a year.
(27:36):
Um, a lot, let's just say Um.
So it's not like I don't havehistory with this airline.
They've always frustrated me alittle bit, but never to this
point of me saying I'm done, Ijust can't do this anymore.
So I the things that went wronghere, obviously, and I went
back and forth with the person,with the customer service stuff,
(27:58):
and from last Friday to now,and it is one of those
situations where you kind oflook at it and you go well, I'm
tired of getting these cannedresponses that sound like ai's
writing.
I'm like I can tell thedifference in ai, at least right
(28:21):
now.
I mean, that's probably goingto change soon.
Um, I and this is where I startto get frustrated, and I'm
actually staring at my emailbecause I literally I'm
recording this.
I started recording at aboutnine, probably about 939.45,
something like that.
It is currently 959.
(28:42):
And I just got another responseand I'm going to read it here
in a second.
But you know who's in the wronghere.
There's an American Airlinesemployee in Kansas City that
either blatantly lied to us orshouldn't have been talking
about it, and the company has apolicy and, for whatever reason,
even though I've asked forthese things to be escalated to
(29:02):
a supervisor is also nothappening.
So I've gone back and forth nowmultiple times and you know,
just because Lauren and I canafford to stay in the hotel, it
doesn't mean I would have madethat call, and I think that's.
The frustrating thing is ifsomebody was in the position
where I mean, listen, at the endof the day we're talking $200
to $250-ish of expenses, right?
(29:25):
So the hotel was about $175,food was about $30, and then we
paid another $20 and over whatwe didn't pre-book through the
parking spot because we weresupposed to be back, you know,
18 hours prior, and so betweenall that it was about $2 to $250
.
So I could imagine most otherpeople are somewhere in that
same ballpark, right?
(29:49):
And if there's somebody that wastold they're going to get
reimbursed and they, forwhatever reason, can't afford to
spend that money One, they'restuck literally just being
homeless for the night in theairport which airports put those
?
You know, the places where yousit have armrests, which is fine
, but those armrests can't move,and so you're literally stuck
(30:10):
sitting up in a bad chair for 10hours at that point, and or
sleeping on the floor, which iscomplete crap as well.
I mean, the fact that AmericanAirlines knows that and doesn't
care is the part that I start tohave a problem with.
And let's say you spent thatmoney, let's say you had that
money to spend right now, butnow you can't make rent, you
can't make a car payment, youcan't make whatever reason,
(30:32):
because you weren't expecting tospend another $250, $200,
whatever on these unexpectedtravel expenses.
Well, that person at this pointis just shit out of luck and
I'm sorry.
I know we don't normally curseon this, but I'm hot.
That person is screwed Like nowif the difference in them
(30:52):
making rent and not making rentis $200, and now they're being
told what.
They're not going to be able tomake rent because they were
lied to in Kansas City.
Why gate agents that work forAmerican Airlines don't have a
script for certain scenarios Ihave no clue.
And why there's not asupervisor forcing them to read
(31:14):
that.
In a certain way, I would havebeen less annoyed if I had just
known back there that, hey,you're actually because we took
off, unfortunately we don'treimburse due to weather.
Okay, and you don't have anylike.
If your policy says you'regoing to give a voucher, then
(31:35):
you should be willing toreimburse.
If your policy says you don'tget a voucher, then I understand
not getting reimbursed, but behonest with us, right?
Don't excuse my language, butdon't fuck around with us.
I'm so tired of companies likethis feeling like they can get
away with everything becausethere's so many people.
And the crappy part is, is thatI understand that Americans
(31:55):
never going to hear this thepeople at American Airlines,
while there's probably a ton ofamazing people that work there,
the company as a whole.
This policy specifically insideof that company is complete and
utter crap, and the people.
I feel bad for the ones thatcan't afford to do this and had
to sleep on a hotel bench,whether this is our flight, some
(32:16):
other flight, because thishappened all over the country.
This is not a singular incident.
Now, our pilot said in 35 yearshe's never had to deal with
something like this.
And I get that.
I've been flying for 41 years.
I've never truly I've haddelays and I've had long delays,
but I've never had it where.
Not only was I in the air anddiverted and then couldn't take
(32:36):
back off, we got stuck overnightin a different airport or a
different city.
And then to couple that with thefact that they're not doing
what's right and I think that'sthe biggest pet peeve is just do
what's right and so many ofthese major corporations there's
(32:57):
a big reason why Lauren and Itry not to eat at these big
corporate restaurants anymore.
We try to do the mom and popsbecause, at the end of the day,
they're the people that need themoney.
These corporations, like youknow, the Americans, the Deltas,
the United I'm not lumpingDelta United in this pile.
I don't have enough experienceon those airlines.
I guarantee I'm going to haveit soon, but I don't know how
(33:18):
they would have handled it.
So I'm specifically talkingabout American.
So so I've been going back andforth in this email and my last
email to them read thatessentially my disappointment,
and I said you know, and I kindof explained what I've been
explaining for the last 25minutes here of you know, this
is disappointing as a company.
(33:38):
So, as of and this person'sname and I'm going to call this
person out a little bit this isAnita Brown, customer Service
Relations, american Airlines.
So again, I've asked to beelevated to supervisor.
That obviously has not happened, and this is as of November
11th 2024.
It's got the American Airlinesheadliner.
Hello, mr Miller, thank you foryour most recent response and I
completely understand yourdisappointment.
Do you?
(33:58):
Because I've been looking for aapology At this point.
I just want an apology, I'm notlooking for anything else.
And I told them that, while Iunderstand the difficulties you
encounter, I must inform youthat our position on this matter
remains consistent with ourexisting policies.
And I understand that.
Anita, I do.
I'm not faulting you for it.
I'm faulting you for A notbeing sympathetic at the
beginning and B I've asked to beelevated to a customer service
(34:21):
agent now multiple times, orsupervisor, sorry, because at
this point I have a problem withthe policy and that's not
something she can help me with.
Okay, back to the email.
You are a valued customer andwhat you think of our service
and business is important to us.
It really isn't, but okay.
By providing feedback, itallows us to see our service
through our customers' eyes,which helps us identify the
(34:43):
services that are most appealingand improvise, that aren't
popular.
Rest assured, is our goal tosuit the needs and wishes of the
largest group of our owncustomers?
No, it's not.
As we look to make changes, youcan be sure we'll keep your
concerns in mind.
It would be our pleasure towelcome you on board American
Airlines again.
Fuck off in the future.
So, yeah, I'm not like again,this is not her fault.
(35:07):
I get that, but you can tellhow I read that and I read that
verbatim.
This is not like this isliterally copy and paste, or AI
and Anita is just a name thatthey gave a computer somewhere,
and so I think that that'swhat's frustrating.
Right there is.
If you cared, you'd listen.
(35:28):
No one's obviously listening onthe other side of this,
otherwise some of my requestswould have been ascertained
Maybe not the money, but theexplanations.
And to this day, no one'sadmitted that the person in
Kansas City was wrong Not asingle person.
(35:49):
And so what is happening witheverybody else on this flight?
I wish I had gotten some phonenumbers, because we had some
long conversations with somepeople about getting hotels,
getting reimbursed, all that,all those things right, and this
is beyond frustrating.
Now, not everybody is acorporate flyer, and there were
plenty of them on there.
We were talking to a couple ofthem.
They're dealing with othercorporate dollars, so it's no
skin off their ass.
(36:11):
I'm sorry, but it's not theircompany's re, but it's not like
their companies reimbursing,paying for whatever, and so at
the end of the day, they're notout a couple hundred bucks, but
the people sitting on the veryback of the plane that spent
every dime to get on this flightto either go on a vacation that
they've been saving for foryears or, you know, get wherever
they need to go to visit family, visit somebody that's sick.
(36:32):
You know there's so manydifferent wise people travel.
Not everybody has the funds toeat this.
So, at the end of the day, I'mashamed of American Airlines.
I'm ashamed that I've spent somuch money with them.
I'm ashamed of that policy andthey should be as well.
So I understand that thisepisode was a little bit of a
(36:55):
soapbox.
I will definitely keep youposted if anything comes from it
.
I would love it if someone fromAmerican Airlines heard this
and chose to give me a response.
Would love it.
(37:16):
Between customers that feel likethey've been wronged and a
corporate policy that doesn'tmake any sense.
I'm sorry, and I know you guysget the rough end of that more
times than not, and I don't feellike I was necessarily mean,
rude or anything to this personthat I've been emailing back and
forth with, but at the sametime, too, they have to
understand that they signed upto work for a company that
(37:37):
doesn't actually seem to give acrap per their corporate policy,
because at the end of the day,that's what that means to us.
So thank you guys so much forlistening.
I want to know if you have sometravel stories that are less
than desirable.
I'm always curious to hear them.
I'd love to share some of themand bring a little bit of light,
and it's slowly becoming mymission to make travel better,
(37:58):
um, because of crap like this.
So thank you again so much forlistening.
If you'd like to learn moreabout, uh, my wife and I and our
businesses and the Miller's inmotion brand and all that, you
can visit us atmillersinmotioncom.
Thank you so much and we'llcatch you next time.
Why you should never, ever, ever, trust anything
regarding money coming out ofthe words of an airline's
personnel, whether it be on thephone or in person.
Always assume they're going todo what's in the best interest
for them, not their customer.
Welcome back to the podcast Ifit's your first time here.
(00:32):
My name is Ryan and, with mywife Lauren, we have been
full-time traveling, whether itbe in our RV or via the air, for
almost two and a half years now, and yes, I understand that
this is kind of a go withoutsaying that shocker massive
companies in America want to dowhat benefits their bottom line,
(00:55):
not what it does to the peoplethat actually pay for their
services.
Well, in a quick littlenutshell, I can tell you that we
are going to, from now on, begoing massively out of our way
to not fly American Airlinesanymore, because of not so much
what happened during the flight,which was a cluster to begin
(01:16):
with, but what happened afterthe flight, more importantly.
So let me break this down in alittle bit of a way that kind of
explains the entirety of thestory, and I understand that
this is going to be one-sided.
I did not ask American Airlinesfor any sort of a comment or
anything along those lines, andbecause I'm still actively going
(01:39):
back and forth with them,because at this point all I want
is an apologies that anemployee lied.
And I say this knowing I justgot my last couple of emails
this morning and I am recordingthis as of Monday, november 11th
.
So this is, if you listen to it, the day it comes out, which is
Wednesday tomorrow.
This is the previous day, sojust know I've been dealing with
(02:00):
this.
So, okay, let's talk a littlebit about the trip, the flight,
what kind of happened?
And just shot by shot.
So recently, and if you'rewatching the main YouTube
channel, we went on a quick tripup to Wisconsin.
Originally it was for a GreenBay Packers football game, which
you'll see that this weekend.
It was cold, it was wet, it wasrough.
So if you love watching Ryan,be really uncomfortable, you're
(02:22):
going to love next week's video.
But as far as the flightportion of it, we did a little
bit of a unique travel daysbecause of how we use miles and
points to kind of effectivelyminimize our cost on air travel.
So we originally flew from theDallas-Fort Worth International
(02:42):
Airport to General Meacham,which is in Milwaukee, wisconsin
.
We then rented a car, drovefrom Milwaukee, wisconsin, over
to—we drove from Milwaukee,wisconsin, over to Madison,
wisconsin.
Why did we go from Madison—whydid we go from Milwaukee to
Madison?
If we're going to go to GreenBay, well, my folks have a place
there and it was a crime ofopportunity.
So we went over there, westayed the night, went to the
(03:06):
Packer game, the next day, droveback to Madison and then the
following day we drove back fromMadison back to Milwaukee, and
we were going to fly fromMilwaukee back to DFW.
Why not fly directly to Madison?
Wasn't so much the cost or themiles?
It was cheaper to go in and outof Milwaukee, but the schedule.
Milwaukee is a bigger airportand Madison is a very small
airport.
(03:26):
So there's only a couple offlights a day from DFW that we
can get in on, and none of themreally worked with our schedule.
So, and then Green Bay.
It was drastically moreexpensive to fly into the
Appleton Green Bay airportbecause of the Packers football
game.
So we decided to fly intoMilwaukee and just drive this
day, which, you know, therecould be argument made that we
set ourselves up for failurethere.
(03:47):
But at the same time too, youexpect a reasonable outcome.
So we go through the trip,everything's hunky-dory I mean
as much as cold and wetWisconsin can be in a Packers
loss.
We get back to Milwaukee withplenty of time and we're getting
ready to board the flight.
So this day, which was lastSunday, which the weather in
(04:10):
North Texas was a little lessthan desirable, so this was
about a week ago.
So we're talking Monday,november 4th.
Well, the previous nightthrough the next day, so the 3rd
through the 4th, the weatherthrough really most of the
United States, at least thecentral portion of the United
States, was less than favorable,and I get that.
It was actively storming inTexas.
(04:32):
Well, the storms had movedenough out of the way.
But obviously in air travel, ifthe storms are bad enough, they
shut down airports, they shutdown those things.
So what they do is the airportinitiates what's called a ground
stop, which essentially meansthat no flights are coming in.
So that gets lifted.
But then they have to unravelthe backlog of flights that have
been diverted or holding in anair pattern somewhere, all of
(04:54):
those things.
Right, and I'm not going to gointo the great detail about all
that because that is air traveland I don't know the official
operations terms and a lot ofthe things that go into that.
But what ends up happening is weget to the airport about an
hour, hour and a half before ourflight takes off, which you
know DFW, I'd say get there alittle earlier than that.
We're at Milwaukee, which isnotoriously not busy, so we
(05:18):
breeze right through security,everything.
We actually go get some dinnerand we get that first
notification that the flight'sbeen delayed by about I think it
was an hour, maybe 45 minutesto an hour, and so you know
which is?
It's annoying, but it is whatit is, it's fine.
There's weather, we get it, andso we kind of go about our day.
We were watching, you know, oneof our new favorite shows is
(05:39):
called the traders on Peacock,and so we're watching that on my
laptop in the terminal.
You know, called the Traders onPeacock, and so we're watching
that on my laptop in theterminal.
We both have headphones on andwe're just kind of minding our
own business.
So we get a little more of adelay and they're doing a decent
job of explaining what's goingon.
So we actually go and we boardright and, as we're all sitting
down and get cozied in for theabout two and a half hour flight
(06:03):
back from Milwaukee down toDallas.
The pilot pops on and says hey,explain what I already just
explained in detail.
So the pilot did a phenomenaljob of keeping us in the loop,
because, at the end of the day,I think if you're more informed,
you're more than likely goingto have some grace.
It's when companies and orpeople try to get away with
(06:24):
stuff and not tell you what'sgoing on is probably where my
biggest frustration lies, andthat is like, if you're not,
there's two types of people outthere.
There's the ones that want tounderstand.
I'm telling you, I want tounderstand, and I feel like it's
a better transparency, thatyou're going to have a little
more grace from people if you'rejust honest with them.
I'm not a big fan of the other,of just like, oh, I'll just
(06:49):
tell them some of the story, notall of the story, that kind of
a thing.
So they actually have us getoff the flight because we're
going to have to sit there foranother hour or two.
And then they're a littleunsure because Dallas isn't
giving them an officialclearance into the airspace
quite yet, which is what ourpilot is waiting for, and you
(07:11):
can actively tell that our pilotis frustrated by this, because
you know that he's doing hisbest to get us there that
evening in some capacity.
So we get off the plane withour luggage, everything.
So then they decide that okay,they're getting clearance and so
now we're going to reboard.
So this is an hour, hour and ahalf later, something like that.
Again, this is all frustrating,but it's part of travel and so
we're very much so go with theflow when it comes to that kind
of stuff.
So you know, we went back out,we started watching our show
again, you know use the restroom, wandered around kind of did a
(07:34):
few things and then we got backon.
So we get back on, we take off,and Lauren and I looked at each
other and said, oh, there we go, we're getting in the air,
we're going to get there one wayor another.
So we're about an hour-ish intothe flight and because of the
storms, they decided to take amore Western route, which for us
meant flying down more towardsSt Louis and then kind of in
(07:55):
Kansas City and then down Souththat way.
And you know we're somewhere inKansas, over Kansas, and the
pilot gets on and says well,unfortunately, you know, they
reclosed the airspace, forwhatever reason, no idea why.
Um, then, from there theydecided that we were going to go
over to um, wichita and justcircle right.
(08:19):
So they're putting us in aholding pattern, essentially
because of, again, there's somany flights coming into the
North Texas airspace that theywere just trying to get it to
unravel a little bit and becausewe had taken off later, we were
on the low end of that list.
So we go over to Kansas City, sowe're doing circles over Kansas
City for, honestly, not toolong, maybe 20 or 30 minutes.
And then that's when our pilotcame on and said well, you know,
(08:41):
they're asking us to go aheadand put down at a diverted
airport, so officially, ourflight's being diverted.
And then we fly about 20minutes back the other direction
, 30 minutes, and we land at theKansas City airport, which full
sidebar, very nice airport, andso obviously, you know, there's
not a lot of we're trying tofigure out if we're going to
(09:02):
take back off, and so we sat onthe plane there at a gate for, I
don't know, maybe another 30 or45 minutes.
Again, I'm sticking with that.
This is all very annoying, butit's part of it.
Um, and the issue that wascommunicated to us via the
flight crew was the problem wewere starting to run into wasn't
(09:22):
so much that there wasn't awant to get there tonight that
the the flight crew was startingto run into, wasn't so much
that there wasn't a want to getthere tonight that the flight
crew was starting to reach theirservice hours.
So, and again, I'm not 100%sure what exactly they are, but
there's so many hours they'reallowed to fly, versus they have
to be in a hotel resting for Xamount of hours before they're
allowed to get back on a planeand fly it.
So what's happening is they'restarting to butt up against the
(09:45):
other side of that and if wedon't take off in the next I
think he said like 45 minutes toan hour, again speculative.
I'm kind of basing this off ofwhat the pilot was saying that
you know we wouldn't be able totake back off.
Well, you know they finally,after about 45 minutes to an
hour, nobody would give him theinformation needed so that he
(10:09):
could make a call of whether ornot we're going to wait for the
20 minutes then we're going totake off or we're going to.
At that point, just we're goingto get off the plane and try
this all again the next day,which would have been the worst
case scenario.
Best case scenario is we getback in the air and we would
have gotten there late, probablymidnight 1 am.
At this point Our originalarrival time was, I think, 6.30
(10:31):
or 7.30 at night.
So the call is finally madethat, even if they take off at
this point, that they're goingto hit their service hours and
be forced down anyway.
So the pilot makes the decisionthat we're going to just try
again in the morning oressentially as soon as they can,
based on their service hours.
So we are now officiallydiverted and stuck in Kansas
(10:53):
City.
You know, obviously there's acouple of scenarios that are
happening here.
Again, this is all happening onMonday November 4th.
There's a Monday night footballgame that night and of course
it's in Kansas city with thechiefs Um, I don't a hundred
percent remember who they'replaying.
And so as we come off the planethey said just hang out for a
little bit and a agent will beup there to explain kind of
(11:16):
processes, all of that stuff.
So then, um, the the gate agentdecides that he's going to
start telling the story a coupleof times so that not, you know,
175 to 250 people are allcrowded around an area that
really isn't meant for that.
And so he starts talking andsays you know, unfortunately,
(11:38):
due to the Chiefs game, there'sno hotels available, which you
know.
You're hearing that going great, that's perfect.
Which you know.
You're hearing that going great, that's perfect.
And then he decides that he saysthat unfortunately, because of
that, they can't hand out anyhotel vouchers for us to get a
room on American's dime, butdoes tell us that if we can find
a hotel, that by law and I'mquoting this verbatim at this
(11:59):
point, by law, american isrequired to reimburse us for our
expenses because we were notplanned and it was a diversion,
disregards the weather portionof it completely and just says
because it's a diversion, now ifyou were?
And then I piped up and asked Isaid are you sure?
Because I'm about to go spendmoney I don't really want to
(12:21):
spend, but you're telling me I'mgoing to be reimbursed.
And he said yes, if it wasbecause of weather.
Like, I guess they classifythings at least in his head they
classify things as weather or adiversion.
And I said even if thisdiversion was caused by weather,
he said you didn't land in theairport you were expected to
(12:41):
land and therefore it's adiversion, regardless of the
reason why.
And so Lauren and I said okay,so we're looking for a hotel,
which you know I don't know whythey said there wasn't any
available.
I think what he meant to saywas there were none available
that he could send a voucher forto where they could be billed
back essentially.
(13:01):
And so, from that standpoint,yes, the hotel that was
physically there at the airportwas full, but we were able to
find a four points by Sheridanjust literally right outside the
airport grounds.
So we decide to let's go aheadand book that.
It was about after tax, it wasabout $165, $175 just for the
night.
Realistically it's for about 12to 13 hours, and then the
(13:24):
second portion comes availableand that and that is.
You know, hey, what time do weneed to be back here?
Because obviously we don't have, like we're not supposed to be
here.
Like how are we supposed toknow what time we need to be at
the airport?
By what time is our flightdeparting so we can plan all of
that stuff?
And he said just keep checkingthe app and it'll update with
the new flight.
So there's two main points thatI'm going to come back to In
(13:51):
that process.
He's made the announcement asecond time and he said things a
little bit differently.
And then he said make sure andkeep all your receipts for
anything that you buy withinreason.
I mean, if you go out drinking,they're not going to reimburse
you for that.
Or if you buy souvenirs, you'reobviously not going to get
reimbursed for that.
But hotel food, that kind ofthing, it's an unexpected travel
thing.
Save all your receipts andyou'll get reimbursed.
I, at the second time, asked onemore question.
(14:13):
That was how, how do we getreimbursed?
How do we go about that process?
I was not going to leave thatagent without knowing where to
go and he said you go down tothe Contact Us at the bottom of
the American Airlines websiteand from there Contact us at the
bottom of the American Airlineswebsite and from there you will
be able to fill out theinformation, you'll send an
(14:33):
email in and then from thereyou'll be able to get a person.
You essentially send them yourreceipts and then they'll issue
a reimbursement.
You know he goes.
However, they decide to do that, whether it's via card check,
whatever.
So Lauren and I go okay and andwe walk away from that.
(14:53):
You know, I had this little bitof an uneasy feeling, and this
is why, at the very top of theshow, I said never trust
anything when it comes to moneyout of their mouths, like, get
an overabundance, like.
And I'll tell you where I feel,like at the end, where I feel
like the airline went wrong andwhere we went wrong.
And I'm not by any means sayingthat this is all on the airline
and it's not necessarily all onus.
Now I think it is mostly on theairline and again, we'll get
(15:17):
into that in a minute but wealso made a few mistakes in this
process too.
And so we do what pretty muchthe entire flight's doing at
this point right, we go aheadand book a hotel and we're
trying to find an Uber.
Obviously, this is all 11o'clock at night now, so we're
starving.
We haven't eaten since lunch,so we're hungry.
The airport's kind of closedslash, closing.
Well, the airport sells open,but none of the food places are
(15:40):
open, and so we're.
We're looking at this from thestandpoint of well, okay, we
need to get some food, we needto find somewhere to sleep, and
then we'll just get up and do itall again, and then at some
point, either tonight or firstthing tomorrow morning, we will
look at that from the standpointof when do we need to be back
and we'll figure all that out.
So we booked the hotel.
(16:00):
We have an absolute clustertrying to get out, because we're
not the only flight at thispoint that's been diverted to
Kansas City.
But we get a hotel room, we getover, we try and find an Uber,
which we cannot find becausethere's not, between the game
and the diverted flights, thereare none that are available.
So we're waiting for almost 30minutes for an Uber.
And then finally, the shuttle.
(16:21):
We didn't realize there was ashuttle that was available for
the hotel and that just happenedto show up close to where we
were.
We popped on that, which wasperfect.
So we get to the airport.
You know we order some DoorDashbecause, quite frankly, we
don't have a car, there'snothing within walking distance
of the hotel, and so we weDoorDash, the only thing that
was open, which is good.
Old Whataburger, I got to livethere 24 hours.
(16:44):
You know we go to sleep, andright before we go to sleep, at
about one in the morning, I'mlooking and now our flight has
just disappeared from the appcompletely, which is awesome.
So I'm like, well, maybethey're actively updating it as
we speak.
We'll just check it first thingin the morning.
You know, one of the questionsthat was asked at the ticket
agent is like when should weplan on?
He said my best estimatebetween nine and 10 AM.
Obviously he goes.
(17:05):
That could change depending onhow quickly we can get the pilot
and the flight crew to thehotel and down so they can come
back.
So and I get that that was amoving target, I just wanted the
early possible so that we couldplan around it.
So we set an alarm for, I think, 6.30 or so in the morning,
just to kind of like I think wewere going to try and be out by
about 7.30 from the hotel.
(17:26):
Again, we're five minutes fromthe airport slash terminal via a
shuttle, so I wasn't superworried about being late as long
as we didn't oversleep thatalarm.
So you know, the next morning weget up and we're coming to
right, it's not perfect, butwe're getting there and we
decide, while Lauren's in thebathroom getting ready to go for
(17:47):
the day, I get on the app andthe flight's still not there.
Well, now I'm having a slightpanic.
It's like well, what am Isupposed to do here?
Um, and this is where.
Uh, well, let me get throughthe rest of this and I'll talk
about some tips that I wouldgive to anybody traveling after
this experience that I will doevery single time Now, uh, learn
from my mistakes, people.
So we go back to the airport andwe're told to just use our
(18:14):
previous day boarding pass,which is fine to a point Again,
I'll get into that so, previousday boarding pass, and then, you
know, go through security, likeyou normally would.
Everything that you use thefirst day is good for the second
day.
Okay, that's fine, because theplane, the crew, us, none of us
are supposed to be at thisairport, right?
So we go through the securityline.
(18:34):
Well, lauren and I both haveTSA pre-checked because we fly
so much and so, naturally, it'son our boarding pass, still from
the previous day.
So we go in the pre-check line,which we don't wait too long,
maybe 10 minutes.
But we get up there and we getdenied pre-check.
He's like well, you don't havepre-check?
I'm like yes, I do, it's rightthere.
Well, they make us go throughthe regular line.
Well, because we have thechannel and we document things.
(18:58):
I always have a portablerecorder for the podcast with me
, I have camera gear, I have alaptop, I have hard drives.
Sometimes not all the time, butsometimes they make me take
most of my electronics out.
The computer always comes outif it's a non-TSA line.
And let's just say I've hadexperiences before where a
person will pick up a camera andbecause it's that like they'll
want to visually inspect it andnot my current one, because I
(19:19):
would have lost my shoot if itwas my current one, because it's
an expensive camera and then heaccidentally dropped it.
Luckily it was a cheaper cameraand it really didn't hurt it.
But if that had been my currentcamera, it's a little more
fragile.
He definitely would have brokenit and probably cost me about
somewhere in the city of four to$6,000, depending on everything
that was broken on it If it wascompletely toast six grand,
easy, just the lens 2,500, bodythe rest.
(19:42):
So yeah, I'm more particularabout that.
That's why we do pre-check.
So we go through the regularline.
Now we have to take my computerout.
Luckily they didn't make metake all my camera gear out.
But shoes off, belts off, youknow all the things that I get
pre-checked for I don't evencare about the speed, to be
completely honest with you.
I get it for the convenience ofnot having to do all of that.
(20:03):
So we get in there, we finallyget through security and I told
Lauren.
I said you know, we can gethere and have breakfast, we'll
have some coffee, we'll findsomewhere that we can actually
just sit down, you know, havetwo or three cups of coffee, get
a little breakfast in us andjust kind of find somewhere to
chill, because we're about twohours early for the 10 o'clock.
Well, we still can't find ourflight information at all.
(20:23):
They obviously let us throughsecurity, so they're aware, but
I can't find our flightinformation.
And the second thing thatbecomes a little bit of a
problem is what we're startingto notice is people can't access
their boarding passes anymorebecause they left them in the
app and they didn't put them intheir wallet.
Whether you have an Android andApple, you always have the
option of putting things in yourwallet, like passes with QR
(20:44):
codes.
We put ours in our wallet,luckily, and I can tell you one
of the tips going forward iswe're also going to screenshot
those from here on out, becauseeven some people, though it
expired in their wallet, forwhatever reason.
So again, all they had to do isgo up to the ticket counter and
get a reprinted ticket.
But now you're in line forsecurity and your boarding pass
(21:05):
doesn't work.
Now you have to stand inanother line.
And this is where I lovepriority and I hate priority,
because if you're in thepriority line it's not that bad,
but if you don't have priority,you don't fly very often.
Then you're kind of screwed,like if you're running late or
they decide to put that flightat 9 am and not 10 or 11, I mean
you're under the gun now all ofa sudden, because that line was
(21:27):
long, because everybody thatcame in for the Kansas City
football game the night beforeis trying to leave as well, plus
the normal business travelersand all that stuff on a Monday
morning I guess this is Tuesdaymorning, now the 6th, so, anyway
, or the 5th, I'm sorry, this isofficially election day.
So they finally, you know, theysay that we're going to take
off at 11.
(21:47):
So Lauren and I wandered down tothe gate at about 10, 15, uh,
kind of the same thing.
We just sit there and we relaxa little bit, okay, and we get
on the plane we come back.
Everything at that point ispretty uneventful.
So I will tell you at thispoint is where I start to get a
little frustrated, because nowwhat?
What obviously happens is, youknow we had paid for.
(22:11):
So I always use the parking spothere in Dallas, fort Worth.
You may or may not have that atan airport near you.
I use it because it'sconvenient.
I have loyalty points with them.
It's just, it's cheaper, it'seasy, it's off site, so I don't
have to deal with all thetraffic of the airport.
I just park, they get at me.
I've never had, knock on wood,a poor experience with them.
(22:32):
I mean, I've had slower andfaster experiences, but
everyone's always super happy,super easygoing and it just has
worked.
And at the end of the day,that's what I look for in travel
.
As long as it just works, I'mgood.
So we land, we get back home andwe kind of are recapping At
this land.
We get back home and you know,we, we, we kind of, are
recapping.
At this point we're bothexhausted.
(22:56):
Obviously we want to get thepups picked up from their little
doggy daycare that they go towhen we travel like this.
We get them picked up, you know.
We get back to the RV, get itopened up, um and back to
functioning.
And again, if you're listeningto this and you don't know who
officially we are, we alsofull-time in our Alliance Valor
44 V14, which is a big fifthwheel toy hauler.
So you know, we have a littlebit more of getting back to
normal than some people do,because when we travel we pull
(23:18):
our slides in, we turn our wateroff, propane off, all of those
things.
So we have to turn some stuffback on.
While it's not a lot, it'senough that it's not like just
walking back into your house,throwing your bag on the ground
and going I'm home, it's.
It's a little bit more drawnout than that.
So we get everything togetherand we decide, okay, let's get
this stuff together and we shootan email or we do exactly what
(23:39):
the gate agent told us to inKansas city we get all of our
documents together.
I still have all my screenshotsof receipts and hotel folio
invoice, which you know wasreally just the room rate, and
all that stuff.
I have all this ready to go.
I shoot that email and the firstemail I get.
For starters, it's like 48hours after I shot that first
email, which in and of itself isannoying.
(24:00):
Yes, you get the automatedresponse that they received it,
but you never get likeeverything feels I'm not going
to say computer generated, butalmost AI generated now, Like
either they're just copying andpasting crap from a script in or
AI is actually writing theirand I'm using air quotes that
you can't see legitimateresponses, not just the.
(24:22):
We received your information,we'll get back with you within
whatever the time frame was,which I believe was 48 hours,
and they damn near waited tillthe 48th hour.
So we get it back andessentially it it, in a very
computer-esque voice, says we'renot, unfortunately because of
weather, we can't reimburse youfor any of this, and so we're
(24:43):
getting ready to go to abirthday dinner for Lauren's
little sister.
This is a few days after we gotback, so now it's Friday and by
the time I finally get thisresponse, keep in mind, we
landed on Tuesday.
I sent it on Wednesday night,when I finally was able to get
everything together and send itover, and I didn't get a
response until Friday lateafternoon, like 5.30.
(25:03):
And I'm fuming right, becausethis one person said this.
This other person saidsomething completely different.
So I actually do would like tosay that I understand that the
people on the customer serviceother end, that if there's a
real person on that back endsaying something that they are a
(25:27):
person and they don person andthey have company and corporate
policies and that they don'thave any control over what they
can and can't do, they're justthe ones that are essentially
put in a really shitty spot andhave to communicate this to
people.
And I will tell you that thereis a new FAA, dot, one of the
(25:52):
entities called.
There's a new program whereairlines can no longer sit on
refunds for you Like.
There's a lot more stingentrules that are in the favor of
the consumer.
Unfortunately, you know, theverbiage on if you're diverted,
you know, is vague and it says,like you know, they're not
(26:13):
required by law to reimburse you, but most airlines do so to
maintain a happy customer base.
So putting that with whatAmerican Airlines decision was
to not reimburse us says thatAmerican Airlines could give
such less of a shit about thepeople that are on their planes
(26:33):
that they're not worthy ofbusiness anymore.
And this is coming from somebodythat grew up flying American.
My dad retired from AmericanAirlines after 35 years as vice
president of human resources,and if you work for an airline,
at least back then they havestatuses that people fly on like
(26:54):
employees, and if you're abaggage handler, unfortunately
you're flying low I think it'slike D10 or something like that
and it's just how essentiallymuch you need an actual ticket
versus like the fly standby kindof a thing.
My dad was an A3.
The top is A1.
To give you an eye, the onlyones that had A1 was the chief
executive team, um, and he was aA3.
(27:15):
And so that gives you kind ofan idea here.
So I've flown American airlinesliterally since I was seven
months old.
Okay, I am now 41.
So I've flown American foralmost 41 years and I say that
the least amount I've ever flownin a year is probably three
times the most I've ever flownin a year.
(27:36):
Um, a lot, let's just say Um.
So it's not like I don't havehistory with this airline.
They've always frustrated me alittle bit, but never to this
point of me saying I'm done, Ijust can't do this anymore.
So I the things that went wronghere, obviously, and I went
back and forth with the person,with the customer service stuff,
(27:58):
and from last Friday to now,and it is one of those
situations where you kind oflook at it and you go well, I'm
tired of getting these cannedresponses that sound like ai's
writing.
I'm like I can tell thedifference in ai, at least right
(28:21):
now.
I mean, that's probably goingto change soon.
Um, I and this is where I startto get frustrated, and I'm
actually staring at my emailbecause I literally I'm
recording this.
I started recording at aboutnine, probably about 939.45,
something like that.
It is currently 959.
(28:42):
And I just got another responseand I'm going to read it here
in a second.
But you know who's in the wronghere.
There's an American Airlinesemployee in Kansas City that
either blatantly lied to us orshouldn't have been talking
about it, and the company has apolicy and, for whatever reason,
even though I've asked forthese things to be escalated to
(29:02):
a supervisor is also nothappening.
So I've gone back and forth nowmultiple times and you know,
just because Lauren and I canafford to stay in the hotel, it
doesn't mean I would have madethat call, and I think that's.
The frustrating thing is ifsomebody was in the position
where I mean, listen, at the endof the day we're talking $200
to $250-ish of expenses, right?
(29:25):
So the hotel was about $175,food was about $30, and then we
paid another $20 and over whatwe didn't pre-book through the
parking spot because we weresupposed to be back, you know,
18 hours prior, and so betweenall that it was about $2 to $250
.
So I could imagine most otherpeople are somewhere in that
same ballpark, right?
(29:49):
And if there's somebody that wastold they're going to get
reimbursed and they, forwhatever reason, can't afford to
spend that money One, they'restuck literally just being
homeless for the night in theairport which airports put those
?
You know, the places where yousit have armrests, which is fine
, but those armrests can't move,and so you're literally stuck
(30:10):
sitting up in a bad chair for 10hours at that point, and or
sleeping on the floor, which iscomplete crap as well.
I mean, the fact that AmericanAirlines knows that and doesn't
care is the part that I start tohave a problem with.
And let's say you spent thatmoney, let's say you had that
money to spend right now, butnow you can't make rent, you
can't make a car payment, youcan't make whatever reason,
(30:32):
because you weren't expecting tospend another $250, $200,
whatever on these unexpectedtravel expenses.
Well, that person at this pointis just shit out of luck and
I'm sorry.
I know we don't normally curseon this, but I'm hot.
That person is screwed Like nowif the difference in them
(30:52):
making rent and not making rentis $200, and now they're being
told what.
They're not going to be able tomake rent because they were
lied to in Kansas City.
Why gate agents that work forAmerican Airlines don't have a
script for certain scenarios Ihave no clue.
And why there's not asupervisor forcing them to read
(31:14):
that.
In a certain way, I would havebeen less annoyed if I had just
known back there that, hey,you're actually because we took
off, unfortunately we don'treimburse due to weather.
Okay, and you don't have anylike.
If your policy says you'regoing to give a voucher, then
(31:35):
you should be willing toreimburse.
If your policy says you don'tget a voucher, then I understand
not getting reimbursed, but behonest with us, right?
Don't excuse my language, butdon't fuck around with us.
I'm so tired of companies likethis feeling like they can get
away with everything becausethere's so many people.
And the crappy part is, is thatI understand that Americans
(31:55):
never going to hear this thepeople at American Airlines,
while there's probably a ton ofamazing people that work there,
the company as a whole.
This policy specifically insideof that company is complete and
utter crap, and the people.
I feel bad for the ones thatcan't afford to do this and had
to sleep on a hotel bench,whether this is our flight, some
(32:16):
other flight, because thishappened all over the country.
This is not a singular incident.
Now, our pilot said in 35 yearshe's never had to deal with
something like this.
And I get that.
I've been flying for 41 years.
I've never truly I've haddelays and I've had long delays,
but I've never had it where.
Not only was I in the air anddiverted and then couldn't take
(32:36):
back off, we got stuck overnightin a different airport or a
different city.
And then to couple that with thefact that they're not doing
what's right and I think that'sthe biggest pet peeve is just do
what's right and so many ofthese major corporations there's
(32:57):
a big reason why Lauren and Itry not to eat at these big
corporate restaurants anymore.
We try to do the mom and popsbecause, at the end of the day,
they're the people that need themoney.
These corporations, like youknow, the Americans, the Deltas,
the United I'm not lumpingDelta United in this pile.
I don't have enough experienceon those airlines.
I guarantee I'm going to haveit soon, but I don't know how
(33:18):
they would have handled it.
So I'm specifically talkingabout American.
So so I've been going back andforth in this email and my last
email to them read thatessentially my disappointment,
and I said you know, and I kindof explained what I've been
explaining for the last 25minutes here of you know, this
is disappointing as a company.
(33:38):
So, as of and this person'sname and I'm going to call this
person out a little bit this isAnita Brown, customer Service
Relations, american Airlines.
So again, I've asked to beelevated to supervisor.
That obviously has not happened, and this is as of November
11th 2024.
It's got the American Airlinesheadliner.
Hello, mr Miller, thank you foryour most recent response and I
completely understand yourdisappointment.
Do you?
(33:58):
Because I've been looking for aapology At this point.
I just want an apology, I'm notlooking for anything else.
And I told them that, while Iunderstand the difficulties you
encounter, I must inform youthat our position on this matter
remains consistent with ourexisting policies.
And I understand that.
Anita, I do.
I'm not faulting you for it.
I'm faulting you for A notbeing sympathetic at the
beginning and B I've asked to beelevated to a customer service
(34:21):
agent now multiple times, orsupervisor, sorry, because at
this point I have a problem withthe policy and that's not
something she can help me with.
Okay, back to the email.
You are a valued customer andwhat you think of our service
and business is important to us.
It really isn't, but okay.
By providing feedback, itallows us to see our service
through our customers' eyes,which helps us identify the
(34:43):
services that are most appealingand improvise, that aren't
popular.
Rest assured, is our goal tosuit the needs and wishes of the
largest group of our owncustomers?
No, it's not.
As we look to make changes, youcan be sure we'll keep your
concerns in mind.
It would be our pleasure towelcome you on board American
Airlines again.
Fuck off in the future.
So, yeah, I'm not like again,this is not her fault.
(35:07):
I get that, but you can tellhow I read that and I read that
verbatim.
This is not like this isliterally copy and paste, or AI
and Anita is just a name thatthey gave a computer somewhere,
and so I think that that'swhat's frustrating.
Right there is.
If you cared, you'd listen.
(35:28):
No one's obviously listening onthe other side of this,
otherwise some of my requestswould have been ascertained
Maybe not the money, but theexplanations.
And to this day, no one'sadmitted that the person in
Kansas City was wrong Not asingle person.
(35:49):
And so what is happening witheverybody else on this flight?
I wish I had gotten some phonenumbers, because we had some
long conversations with somepeople about getting hotels,
getting reimbursed, all that,all those things right, and this
is beyond frustrating.
Now, not everybody is acorporate flyer, and there were
plenty of them on there.
We were talking to a couple ofthem.
They're dealing with othercorporate dollars, so it's no
skin off their ass.
(36:11):
I'm sorry, but it's not theircompany's re, but it's not like
their companies reimbursing,paying for whatever, and so at
the end of the day, they're notout a couple hundred bucks, but
the people sitting on the veryback of the plane that spent
every dime to get on this flightto either go on a vacation that
they've been saving for foryears or, you know, get wherever
they need to go to visit family, visit somebody that's sick.
(36:32):
You know there's so manydifferent wise people travel.
Not everybody has the funds toeat this.
So, at the end of the day, I'mashamed of American Airlines.
I'm ashamed that I've spent somuch money with them.
I'm ashamed of that policy andthey should be as well.
So I understand that thisepisode was a little bit of a
(36:55):
soapbox.
I will definitely keep youposted if anything comes from it
.
I would love it if someone fromAmerican Airlines heard this
and chose to give me a response.
Would love it.
(37:16):
Between customers that feel likethey've been wronged and a
corporate policy that doesn'tmake any sense.
I'm sorry, and I know you guysget the rough end of that more
times than not, and I don't feellike I was necessarily mean,
rude or anything to this personthat I've been emailing back and
forth with, but at the sametime, too, they have to
understand that they signed upto work for a company that
(37:37):
doesn't actually seem to give acrap per their corporate policy,
because at the end of the day,that's what that means to us.
So thank you guys so much forlistening.
I want to know if you have sometravel stories that are less
than desirable.
I'm always curious to hear them.
I'd love to share some of themand bring a little bit of light,
and it's slowly becoming mymission to make travel better,
(37:58):
um, because of crap like this.
So thank you again so much forlistening.
If you'd like to learn moreabout, uh, my wife and I and our
businesses and the Miller's inmotion brand and all that, you
can visit us atmillersinmotioncom.
Thank you so much and we'llcatch you next time.
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