Another blog post from Mr. Deals…
Well, I started a new job with a bang this week. I kicked things off with a trip out west to attend a conference with my new boss. When booking flights we ended up with an AA itinerary which was fine with me given that I’m loyal to that oh so wonderful (sarcasm – lets face it, they are all bad) airline. My boss was awesome enough to go along with it (she doesn’t have loyalty to an airline yet), but on the return trip learned that not having status on AA is a pain in the butt! I haven’t gotten the full details of what has happened, but I’ll make an update once I get her full side of the story. Here’s the quick breakdown of what happened.
Our flight was from JFK to SFO and back. We got there without a hitch, but on the way back we were already starting off on a bad foot because we were going through LAX (flying direct was crazy expensive). So we get to SFO and decide let’s try to get standby on the direct flight. No dice, they are bumping people off of it left and right. Off to LAX we go.
We get to LAX and were thinking, let’s try to get on the flight before ours since we had some time. We get up to the gate and it’s a bit chaotic with a huge standby list. I hear the guy in front of me essentially get laughed at for trying to get standby so we head to the bar to kill the time. We go to board our original flight and at the gate my boss’ ticket starts beeping away. Uh oh, turns out she had a ticket for the flight just before the one we were about to board. This was really odd because she booked the same itinerary as me. We stay at the gate and try to see if she can get on the flight, nope doesn’t happen, she’s on standby. She tells me to go, she’ll be fine and I head off to board.
Before I take off, we are exchanging emails, she didn’t get on via standby so now she’s got to wait for the redeye at 9pm. That’s right around when I’m supposed to land. So I’m back at JFK and text messages start to pick up. All the AA folks with status are bumping her off the 9pm flight (she couldn’t get a confirmed ticket). Meanwhile she’s sitting with a woman who had been going through the same thing since 8am (a lot longer than her). Well she doesn’t make the 9pm and is now on standby for the 11pm. Luckily she gets a confirmed seat on the 7am just in case. At about 2am I get a text from her:
“got a ticket! woot… however a lot of shady stuff — I will tell all for your blog” (note: I will update what this “shady” stuff is after we chat)
I will say, I have a pretty cool boss. This was my first week of work and she was totally cool about taking these flights and also was super cool throughout the texting back and forth while all this was going on. I guess it helped that she met some Nat Geo documentary film maker who had been shooting on a glacier for 3 months straight and got to check out his work. Otherwise she could’ve been thinking of ways to make my life hell on Monday at the office (though that remains to be seen).
So in the future, I’m not going to suggest AA for my boss. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if she never flies them again while we are working together. Maybe I’ll have Mrs. Deals draft up a complaint letter to see if we can get her some points out of this!
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
You didn’t do the “right” thing by letting your boss take your seat, while you (assuming you have AA status) standby for later flights? 🙂
Looking forward to the follow up
Doesn’t read to me at this being AA’s fault, as you indicate that the ticket was clearly for the earlier flight, which was booked by the ticket holder.
I would have offered my seat to my boss just to be on her good side and just in case there is a future promotion becomes available. 🙂
I totally should have given her my seat. I thought about that later on and slapped myself in the head.
@Mr. Deals – Why to get on the good side week 1! But actually, I do not believe AA would have let you give up your seat to her. They would have let you give it up, but it would have gone to the next person on standby.
Oh and @stuart we are trying to figure that out. Pretty sure when we checked in and tried to get standby the gate agent messed up the tickets. We will see though
Always fly the nonstop for work if coming home early is important
From the post, it isn’t clear just WHO was responsible for booking the flight(When booking flights we ended up with an AA itinerary). Who DID book it? If it was you, you might want to start updating your resumé.
Get the aa citi platinum. You should get priority access.