American Airlines May Now Give Away Your Seat When You Run to Make a Connection

https://viewfromthewing.com/more-and-more-youll-find-american-airlines-giving-away-your-seat-when-you-run-to-make-a-connection/

by josephcsible • 3 years ago

36 31 3 years ago

viewfromthewing.com

josephcsible• 3 years ago

tl;dr: if their new predictive AI tool thinks you're "certain" to miss your connection, they'll give your seat to a standby passenger right away, so even if you do end up making it on time (which has really happened, despite the "certain" claim), you're out of luck.

DANmode2• 3 years ago

Surely the perfectly informed consumer will vote with their dollar to put them out of business, or make them change their decision.

sacnoradhq3• 3 years ago

One customer isn't going to make a difference. Customers need to band together and boycott as a bloc.

cafard• 3 years ago

And take Greyhound to the destination that only American flies to.

gagged_s_poster• 3 years ago

I'm getting the feeling that AI / "the algorithm" is statting to get the blame for what is actually just policy. Like, a single if statement in the code.

nine_zeros• 3 years ago

Using generative AI for decision-making is going to bring the world to an end. There is no way people can trust anything to work.

NoZebra120vClip• 3 years ago

Hey, this sounds like a good opportunity for them to leverage GPS information in their own app. They can analyze your present location and velocity, and determine from that whether you will make it to the gate on time!

rawgabbit• 3 years ago

How to hate your customers 2023.

lolsal4• 3 years ago

Nearly every aspect of flying in the US is abusive. Over-booking a flight should be illegal. I don’t care about being compensated for it - if I book a flight, that seat should be mine.

I’m wondering what else it will take for me to refuse flying altogether.

thomascgalvin• 3 years ago

I flew from Providence to Orlando last week. The airline's website said (paraphrasing) "we don't oversell flights; this ticket guarantees you a seat."

As we were boarding, the gate agent made an announcement (again paraphrasing) "this flight is fully booked, and if your ticket doesn't have a seat assignment, you cannot board."

One of those two statements was false.

dataflow• 3 years ago

They sound consistent to me? Your ticket guaranteed a seat for you, but they might've sold some other tickets or given out vouchers that didn't guarantee any seat - like those tickets also saying "you can take any other flight on the same day if they have room", companion passes, etc.

sacnoradhq3• 3 years ago

And if you were to complain, then you'd be gambling with the vindictiveness level of the gate agents.

goodbyesf• 3 years ago

Nearly every aspect of flying in the US is abusive.

I hear flying by private jet is where it's at. No muss, no fuss. Just walk on the tarmac, get on the plane and off you go. At least, that's what I hear.

lolsal4• 3 years ago

Ok, but we’re talking about flying commercially, in case you missed all the context clues.

marcus0x623• 3 years ago

There are a bunch of scenarios where there are standby passengers on a flight who need seat assignments -- overbooking the flight is just one possible cause.

If you miss your connection are you willing to pay for a seat on a different flight since in your scenario the airline held your seat on the original flight and didn't assign it to a standby passenger? Because what happens right now on major US airlines is they put you on standby on the next available flight if they can't guarantee you a seat or get you a confirmed seat if possible at no additional charge.

lolsal4• 3 years ago

Contingency plans are not my concern or problem. If the airline has to fly a plane without a person in every seat, so be it. That is good customer service to me — not abusing me so they can eke out more dollars per flight.

tw042• 3 years ago

Nearly every aspect of flying in the US is abusive. Over-booking a flight should be illegal. I don’t care about being compensated for it - if I book a flight, that seat should be mine.

I agree, but if you want that put in place, expect the price of flights to at least triple in cost. I'm fine with that - most Americans would lose their minds and demand the old system of overbooked cheap flights come back.

EduardoBautista• 3 years ago

Why would it come close to tripling? I don’t believe they oversell all of the seats three times on every flight.

ivraatiems• 3 years ago

"May" or "will"? The only example given here is a passenger who got bumped from first to economy.

I hate American Airlines (and most airlines) as much as the next person, but I have to say that it seems much more the norm to hold a whole plane to allow people to get on who would've missed than it is to write them off. I've been on both ends of that.

devilbunny• 3 years ago

If I paid for first class, you gave my seat away, and I was offered an exit row or a next-day flight, I would weigh my options and then absolutely tear you apart on the customer service line. Not at the gate; there's little that can be done there at the last second. But after.

Symbiote• 3 years ago

I can't understand what brings someone to stay overnight in order to travel first class, rather that sit in an exit row in economy for 4 hours.

sacnoradhq3• 3 years ago

So even if you were an Olympic sprinter and show up for a close connection, they already went ahead and gave away the seat you paid for without asking you. That's next level gotcha capitalism.

csdvrx• 3 years ago

Is there a legal recourse? As in, breach of contract or whatever for being stranded?

wrp• 3 years ago

It's already been a problem that airlines can book you on a schedule without enough time to make a transfer. I've only had that happen with US carriers at US airports, so far. When buying a ticket, I consider whether there is sufficient layover time given the airport.

FreshStart• 3 years ago

Ah, the refund guaranteed if on that list in europe. That's convenient..

American Airlines May Now Give Away Your Seat When You Run to Make a Connection

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