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Passengers returning from their Labor Day weekend plans were met with chaos and confusion at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) last Monday, September 1st. American Airlines Flight AA 1831 to Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) experienced rolling delays due to mechanical issues and left passengers stranded and scrambling for alternatives while no staff were in sight.
@johnnyjet Frustrated ORD Passenger Takes Over PA.
Many passengers arrived at the airport around 6:30 AM, only to learn that their flight had been delayed. Reports from Johnny Jet describe little to no communication from the airline during the early hours of the disruption. When frustrated passengers sought help, they were directed to American Airlines’ customer service desk. There they found five or six empty podiums with no staff available to provide assistance. One passenger had enough and went on the PA system to call for assistance. He said:
Attention Terminal K. American Airlines, this is the third time requesting somebody here for customer assistance. We have people going to West Palm Beach. We’ve been here since 6:30 this morning for an 8:30 flight that continues to get delayed and nobody’s giving us answers as to when we’re going to be leaving. Please send somebody here. You can’t be that inept.”
Agents eventually responded to the call and began assisting passengers. Several reported being offered a rerouted ticket that went from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and then onward to Palm Beach International Airport (PBI). To add insult to injury, stranded travelers were offered only a $12 meal voucher, which is insufficient to cover even a snack at the airport.
The original flight eventually departed, but not until after an extremely lengthy delay. American has taken lots of heat this year over policies that did not allow gate agents to just let anyone (except those with the highest levels of elite status) standby for other flights. This was rescinded and the airline is trying to be more customer friendly. Examples like this do not help its image.
Anthony’s Take: I always begin planning my alternate route when flights go sideways. I have had situations with weather where I have booked two and even three tickets on various airlines when I needed to get somewhere. I cancelled the ones I did not use and got credit for a future flight well in advance of the flights taking off. While not ideal, it has saved me a few times.
(Featured Image Credit: American Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
