Ben Greenfield
4303 N Dartmouth Lane
Spokane, WA 99206
January 23, 2009
American Airlines customer relations
PO Box 619612 MD 2400
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612
To whom it may concern,
In 2008, I booked tickets with American Airlines for a flight from Miami to Temuco, Chile, for a family vacation. The traveling passengers were me (Ben Greenfield), my wife (Jessica Greenfield) and our twin 9 month old baby boys (River & Terran Greenfield).
The trip record locator for this trip was GAQMOA. The itinerary was to be:
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
American Airlines # 917
Miami International (MIA) to Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM)
Departure: (MIA): January 13, 4:30 PM EST (afternoon)
Arrival: (LIM): January 13, 10:05 PM PET (evening)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
LAN Airlines # 601
Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM) to Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez (SCL)
Departure: (LIM): January 14, 12:40 AM PET (morning)
Arrival: (SCL): January 14, 6:00 AM CLST (morning)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
LAN Airlines # 231
Operated by: /LANEXPRESS - Please check in with the operating carrier
Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez (SCL) to Temuco (ZCO)
Departure: (SCL): January 14, 8:30 AM CLST (morning)
Arrival: (ZCO): January 14, 9:55 AM CLST (morning)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
LAN Airlines # 254
Operated by: /LANEXPRESS - Please check in with the operating carrier
Temuco (ZCO) to Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez (SCL)
Departure: (ZCO): January 20, 7:45 PM CLST (evening)
Arrival: (SCL): January 20, 9:05 PM CLST (evening)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
LAN Airlines # 600
Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez (SCL) to Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM)
Departure: (SCL): January 20, 10:35 PM CLST (evening)
Arrival: (LIM): January 21, 12:20 AM PET (morning)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
American Airlines # 2110
Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM) to Miami International (MIA)
Departure: (LIM): January 21, 7:35 AM PET (morning)
Arrival: (MIA): January 21, 1:10 PM EST (afternoon)
Upon booking the tickets through Orbitz, I called American Airlines to inform them that we were traveling with infants. The American Airlines representative informed me that I would simply need to pay “taxes” on the infants for international travel. Later, I found that this was not indeed the case. Actually, according to the AA website:
“International (outside the United States/Canada and Hawaii/Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands)
For fare purposes...
-1. an infant is defined as a passenger under 2 years of age
-1. a child is defined as a passenger 2-11 years of age.
Availability of fares for infants and children varies depending on your travel plans. AA.com is currently unable to book a reservation for an infant traveling internationally as a lap child. When traveling outside the U.S., infants under age two who do not pay a fare may be required to have a ticket. In addition, taxes may be assessed which can be significant. Please contact Reservations for further assistance. “
Regardless of this information, on 01/06/2009, the American Airlines representative who I spoke with on the phone informed me that she had taken care of the infant “taxes” and charged my Visa credit card twice for $322.45 per infant. The ticket numbers appearing on my credit card statement are 0012119170341 and 0012119170343. The “reference” numbers appearing on the bank statement, if you need them, are 247170506GW756F26 and 247170506GW756F2E. The representative said nothing about “ticketing” the infants.
On January 13, we arrived at the Miami airport to check-in for AA flight #917 to Lima. Upon check-in, the ticket agent informed us that there was no indication on our travel information for Miami, FL to Temuco, Chile that we would be traveling with infants, and said that we would need to buy two additional tickets for our infants. She charged us a total of 363.45 per infant, and issued the tickets with the following serial numbers: 001 2191090707 4 & 001 2191090708 5. The stock control numbers were 00113156323913 and 00113156323865. She also checked 4 pieces of luggage using AA ticket tags from Miami to Temuco. These tags were 0001137476, 0001137477, 0001137478 and 0001137479. She said if we had indeed already payed “taxes” on the infants that this would be refunded, but in order for us to get on the plane, we had to make these additional purchases.
So we paid and got on flight #917. Interestingly, although both “infant tickets” listed breakfast and dinner for the flights, neither were offered.
We arrived in Lima, Peru and went to the gate for our ensuing LAN flight #601 to Santiago. At the gate, we were informed that our lap infants were not ticketed and did not have seats on that plane. We stood with two crying infants and watched the plane, with our bags, food, medicine, and clothing, depart the gate for Santiago. Apparently the AA ticket agent in Miami only issued tickets to get us as far as Lima, although she knew we were going to Temuco, as she checked our bags all the way through.
For the next 7 hours, I stood at the LAN counter (“American Airlines partner”) in Lima Peru, and finally, they issued me two separate round-trip tickets for each infant from Lima to Temuco and back. These ticket numbers were TN5442112105145/TN5442112105146 for the departing trip and TN5442112105147/TN5442112105151 for the returning trip. My Visa was once again charged for the first two tickets (120.43) and the second two tickets (260.86).
Due to this mistake by American Airlines, our overnight stay in the Lima airport lost us an entire valuable day of vacation and the first night of our pre-paid hotel stay in Chile. This was turning into a nightmare. Due to our re-routing via the “infant” tickets, our flight was changed to:
Lima to Santiago via LAN Flight 5531
Santiago to Osorno via LAN Flight 255
Osorno to Temuco via LAN flight 254
$1752.01 later (not including $33.07 spent on food and drinks during our delays) we finally arrived in Temuco completely exhausted and robbed of an entire day-and-a-half of our vacation.
I was determined that we would not experience the same horrible, nightmarish travel scenario on our return flight. Therefore, I called both American Airlines and LAN airlines on 01/20/09, prior to our departure, to ensure that we were traveling “as Greenfield party of 4” with two infants. I was informed by both airlines that everything would be fine.
At the Temuco airport, I stood at the ticket counter for 1 hour and 10 minutes as the agent explained to me that there was a problem with getting me onto the flight as there were no electronic records that Jessica and Ben Greenfield were traveling. In other words, she only showed a River and Terran Greenfield on the flight. After pouring all my travel receipts onto the counter, she was able to figure things out, and we had to run through the airport to catch LAN flight 254 Temuco to Santiago.We then took flight #5600 from Santiago to Lima.
In Lima, were once again forced to hassle with the ticketing agents, who informed us that our infants were seated in the same row, and the airline couldn’t accommodate this travel scenario due to seating regulations. Isn’t this why I called ahead, to ensure that this problem would not happen? Is this because the airline does not take into consideration “two” infants traveling simultaneously? Shouldn’t this have been anticipated by the airline beforehand? As someone who works from my computer, I had now missed over 10 hours of work that I would normally do on my computer while waiting in an airport, instead standing at agent counters arguing with American Airline and LAN ticketing personnel.
Finally, we arrived in Miami on American Airlines flight 2110. Due to weather conditions, the plane arrived about 20 minutes behind schedule.
Here is where things get interesting.
We are from Spokane, WA, and had booked a separate itinerary from Miami to Spokane that would enable us to continue home after arriving into the Miami airport from Lima. The AA flight record locator is BTDBZC and the itinerary was as follows:
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
American Airlines # 1960
Miami International (MIA) to Tampa International (TPA)
Departure (MIA): January 21, 3:05 PM EST (afternoon)
Arrival (TPA): January 21, 4:00 PM EST (afternoon)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
US Airways # 454
Tampa International (TPA) to Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl (PHX)
Departure (TPA): January 21, 5:15 PM EST (evening)
Arrival (PHX): January 21, 8:06 PM MST (evening)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
US Airways # 587
Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl (PHX) to Spokane International (GEG)
Departure (PHX): January 21, 9:11 PM MST (evening)
Arrival (GEG): January 21, 10:54 PM PST (evening)
When I had called American Airlines from Chile on January 20th, they informed me that “Greenfield party of 4” would also be fine for this flight. However, after claiming and re-checking our bags in the Miami airport customs and arriving at the security line with 45 minutes left to catch our flight, we were denied entrance due to our infants not appearing on the tickets. The security agent, who informed us that “we would not be late for our flight” sent us back to an individual kiosk in the Miami airport, where an agent issued us new tickets that included infant boarding passes. These tickets were 001 7552755692 6 and 001 7552755693 0. Unfortunately, this process took nearly 20 minutes.
Due to this delay, we were forced to sprint nearly a mile from customs to gate D50 in the Miami airport, to catch flight #1960 Miami to Tampa. The plane was sitting at the gate when we arrived and the doors to the tunnel were open, but we were denied entry. We stood once again with our crying infants and watched our food, medicine, clothes and daily necessities fly away.
The American Airlines agent at gate D50 said, “We can still get you to Phoenix to catch your US airlines flight #587 to Spokane. You’ll just need to go to the ticket re-arrangement counter outside security”.
I left my wife at the gate and sprinted to this gate. A man named Rich informed me that to change our tickets to the American Airlines flight to Phoenix would cost over $600 per ticket, and that we would not make it to Phoenix in time to catch our flight to Spokane because this flight was delayed 30 minutes. I do not know the number of this flight.
Rich then informed me that in order for us to go home, we would have to purchase new tickets, because this was not American Airlines fault, but rather the problem with weather conditions making the American Airlines flight 2110 from Lima arrive late. He was very calloused and rude during this process as he explained that we would have to remain in Miami for an additional day. I had no choice but cancel all my work for 01/22/09, losing me nearly $400 in lost work, but also to buy two more tickets for 290.80 per ticket. These new ticket numbers were 0012191191717 and 0012191191721. We were offered no meal vouchers and a single hotel voucher that had us take a shuttle four miles from the airport and pay 77.17 to stay overnight at the Howard Johnson, with no bags, because they had all been sent through to Spokane.
I have traveled via airline 5-10x per year for the past 5 years. I have never gone through anything that resembles the horrible tribulations that we experienced through American Airlines.
The AA supervisor in Miami instructed me to write AA customer relations to request a refund for tickets 0012191191717 and 0012191191721, which is why you are receiving this letter.
I have made a phone call to American Airlines. A woman named “lopez” the AA supervisor at the North Carolina reservations office has informed me that the first two tickets 0012119170341 and 0012119170343 could be refunded, and these were not “taxes” as I was told by an AA agent on the phone, but rather, paper tickets that had been sent to our home (which I never received). The record locator she gave me is npxsbe. She said she would approve this refund.
If you did the math during this letter, you’ll know that we paid 2333.61 in ticket costs due to mistakes made by American and LAN airlines. I spent an additional 109.61 in hotel and food costs. I lost one-and-a-half days of vacation, a $200 hotel stay in Chile, and 1 full day of work.
I don’t know who is reading this letter, but American Airlines destroyed our vacation, bankrupted our budget, and left us with two dirty and hungry infants crying and screaming more times than I care to remember. We need this problem addressed. Based upon the advice of my attorney, I propose that you refund the cost of all additional purchased tickets listed in this letter, provide us with 2 complementary tickets for domestic travel on American Airlines, and also provide us with 2 hotel and meal vouchers for any future travel that we have. My attorney and I agree this is a fair and equitable alternative to taking American Airlines to small claims court. Our reservations and tickets constituted a contract, which American Airlines failed to honor. The fact that you have done this to two infants is an even greater travesty. Please contact me immediately to remedy this situation.
I have also included a full copy of this letter to:
1) Cynthia Greenfield, Esquire.; 2) Gerard J. Arpey, American Airlines CEO; 3) Aviation Consumer Protection Division; 4) Wells Fargo Visa Dispute Services.
Sincerely,
Ben Greenfield
P.S. I wrote this letter on the final leg of our return trip. Upon returning, I discovered that AA had lost my entire bag of clothes, with AA bag claim check # 842 466. Please contact me immediately.