AA customer satisfaction comes through

I had the double misfortune on a recent flight from LAX to BOS of missing my first upgrade in almost three years and having someone who needed two seats sitting next to me.

I literally spent about 80% of the flight standing as it was miserable trying to sit next to someone who took up his seat and half of mine and did not even try to squeeze into only his seat.

The flight attendants seemed to take pity on me and suggested that I contact customer relations when I had the chance.

I did so three days after the flight and they immediately offered me a $300.00 travel voucher or 20,000 miles. I opted for the miles and they were in my account the next day.

Once again, AA has proven to me that they truly care about their customers.

 

Stand Up (i.e., don't sit down) for your rights
If a customer can't fit in their seat, it's best not to sit down - either they get moved to a flight where they can be accommodated, e.g., there's an empty middle, or you get in IDB. If you sit down, and the plane takes off, there's not much that can be done at that point, so this is best resolved before you sit down - be discreet and talk to the FA out of earshot of the person involved to learn if there are ways to solve the problem short of offloading one of you.

It's very clear on UA's www site - if a passenger can't fit in the seat with the arm rest down, they can be asked to take a later flight and even purchase two tickets. Couldn't find this directly on AA's site, but cheapair.com said AA's policy was:

American Airlines:
American Airlines requires passengers to purchase an additional seat or upgrade if they do not meet one of the following criteria:

• Unable to fit into a single seat in their ticketed cabin and/or
• Unable to properly buckle their seatbelt using a single seatbelt extender (available upon request from a flight attendant) and/or
• Unable to lower both armrests without encroaching upon the adjacent seating space or another passenger.

 

What would you recommend if you take your seat first, e.g. middle seat. Then a very large passenger arrives later and sits on top of you and the aisle seat, thus pinning you down.

 

Order squash as a special meal?

 

I think that would be funny to see if only to find out if the UA computer system offers two different upgrade purchase options.