Dear American Airlines …

A few days ago, I sent the following email to Customer Relations at American Airlines:
 

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Good morning,

I’m a fairly loyal customer and I’ve been a member of your Aadvantage mileage program for 25 years.
 
Back in November, I booked flights that will get me to the East Coast. The first one was non-stop from here on Maui to Dallas-Fort Worth … a red-eye, leaving here at 9:00 at night and arriving at DFW at 9:20 the next morning. My connecting flight from Dallas to Bradley International departs at 12:30 p.m., meaning I’ll have a layover in Dallas of three-and-a-quarter hours. Not ideal, but I figured I could live with it. I’ll get some breakfast, do some emailing … you know, kill the time.
 
Then, a few days ago, you sent me an email saying my Maui-DFW flight has been cancelled! Not to worry, you said, because you had put me on another flight and even gave me the same seat.
 
But—wait a sec!—the new flight leaves Maui two hours earlier and that means I’ll get to Dallas at 7:15 in the morning instead of 9:20. Well, doggone it … that means I’m going to be sitting in the Dallas airport for five hours and 20 minutes waiting for the flight to Hartford. That’s a long damn time.
 
I can’t resist pointing out that if it had been ME changing the flight, you folks would have socked me with a $200 change fee. However, since it was YOU who made the change, and it’s going to mean an additional two hour wait in Dallas, don’t you think I should be compensated in a comparable way?
 
Cordially,
 
Jim Loomis

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OK, guess how American Airlines responded:

A- A free upgrade to First Class on the Maui-Dallas flight.
B- A complimentary one-day admittance to the Admiral’s Club at DFW.
C- 5,000 complimentary miles added to my Advantage account.
D- A nice apologetic reply … but that’s it.

(The answer will be in my next post.)