CONNECTIONCONSTERNATION

It wasn’t very long ago that US airlines were complaining that they weren’t receiving their market share in the international travel industry. Aside from the fact that their fares are usually much higher than their international counterparts, there is also a little something called “customer service”. If many passengers had my recent experience on American Airlines, it could also be one of the primary reasons US carriers are trailing in the international market.

This point was illustrated on a recent flight on American Airlines from Dallas, Texas to Hong Kong. My first sign of trouble was after I booked the flight online and went to the seat selection chart to book a seat. To my surprise the economy seats were averaging US$79 each! You wouldn’t know you’d be paying this price for seats until after you’d purchased the ticket, as usually the price of seats is included in the fare.

We pulled away from the gate in Dallas nearly an hour late, so several of us missed our ongoing flights despite having had an hour-and-a-half layover. We weren’t informed of any potential problems during the flight and had to wait at the American Airlines ticket counter for hours as the agents gave us misinformation. Then, when we went to retrieve our checked baggage, we were informed that their whereabouts was unknown.

The airport personnel at Hong Kong International informed us that American Airlines usually has problems. Cathay Pacific/Cathay Dragon, our connecting carrier, took our names off the flight list early, anticipating that we would miss the flight as we were on American Airlines. American informed me that it would be a two- or three-day wait in Hong Kong before they could put us on another Cathay Pacific flight. Finally, after six hours they offered me a hotel for three hours to freshen up in, and the next morning at 7am they put me on a flight to a different country that wasn’t my originally intended destination. What would have been a 24-hour trip ended up taking 36 hours. I requested a refund from American Airlines and was told this flight didn’t qualify for one.

I am a travel writer and if I were to grade American Airlines I’d give it an “F”. In my opinion, it should refrain from competing in the international flight industry.

Marlene Henderson, US