Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Update, 11/26/07: Since AA didn’t want to talk to me, I filed a dispute with Am Ex. Just got the letter that the “This dispute has been resolved in your favor.” Apparently, AA didn’t want to talk to Am Ex either. “We have concluded that American Airlines, Inc. has not provided sufficient information for us to properly investigate.”

Update, 12/31/07: Am Ex tells me since I approved the charge, they’re reversing the credit. I’ve refiled the dispute explaining my luggage was being held hostage. I’ve also written AA’s CEO. No response from either thus far.

Update 01/31/08: I’ve now sent a second copy of my letter to AA CEO and a copy to Mark Mitchell, the head of customer service, as well as written the Am Ex CEO (After being told by the Am Ex service rep, “We’re just a credit card company.”) Dang it, it’s the principle of the thing.

Update, 02/20/08: I got an insulting letter from AA. Am Ex has now (after I wrote the CEO) issued a $50.00 credit for “good customer relations.”

Recently I was rushing through JFK to make a domestic flight – after traveling for 10 plus hours from Amsterdam. I was harried, tired, and grimy…and still had about 11 hours to go (and two more connections to make) before reaching Albuquerque.

I hauled my bag up on the scale at the American Airlines “self-check-in” (while AA baggage handlers stood and watched), only to be told by the very young and obviously very bored woman passing out luggage tags, “You’re overweight. You’ll have to remove some items.” She didn’t bother to look at me…or even say a perfunctory “sorry, m’am, but…” And no suggestions about what exactly I was supposed to do with said items. (One of the baggage handlers did suggest I “put them in your carry-on bag.”)

I asked to talk to a supervisor but she didn’t bother to answer her page and slowly stroll over until I’d already given up and paid the $50 fee (I still had to get through security after all, and I also hoped to have time to grab something vaguely nutritious.)

Now, granted, I was cranky and the airlines do have weight limits…but I was coming directly from an international flight on another airline (different weight restrictions) and American didn’t weigh my bag on the outgoing leg from Albuquerque (even if they had – I don’t think I bought 13 pounds of postcards). All that said, the real problem (and why I’m writing to American Airlines) was the ‘tude, man, the ‘tude. It’s one thing to have policies, it’s quite another for the customer service rep to act as if she couldn’t care if I dropped dead on the spot (13 pounds of postcards clutched to my chest.)

Of course, once on the plane, I noted people coming on with huge, overstuffed bags that didn’t fit into the overhead bins.

(Oh, and if I’d flown American for the entire trip – their international limit is 70 pounds, which means I was actually 7 pounds under the limit.)

I will be writing to American about this – I’ll keep you updated. Update: The email circus is getting really bizarre – and warrants its very own blog post, coming soon.

Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, customer service, American Airlines, American Airlines problems, American Express problems