American Airlines policy on missed flights?
 

I purchased on nonrefundable ticket on American, EWR/LAX. Due to a change in plans, I realize I might be cutting it close at the airport to make my 5:40PM departure out of Newark. Does anyone know AA's policy on missed flights? Would they put me standby on the next flight (as I know they used to), or would they make me pay the fare differential?

Since last fall,most of the BigGuys have had in place the "use it or lose it" rule regarding non refundable tickets.It has no value after ticketed departure date.So you would have until midnite of the day you are scheduled.One thing as I remember it the 5.40 is the LAST direct flight out of EWR.I think there is a connection thru StLouis about 6.40 and a connection thru ORD at 8ish.You would be allowed to stand by and not have to pay the $100 change fee.

Hombre,

Rather than ask on this board and receiving "maybe" for answers, why don't you call AA direct? They are the people who would know.

Their phone # is 1-800-433-7300.

Curious

Thanks for the replies.

Curious: I will call the airline soon. However, my experience in the past has been often there are two sets of regulations: (1) the "strict" written ones the airlines will tell you, and (2) the ones that exist in practice. I've found these two can often be quite different. I will certainly call the airlines and see what they tell me. But I'm also interested to hear of recent experiences of anyone who has missed AA flights to see how they were dealt with.

Hombre
ABSOLUTELY agree with yah!!! There is so much a gate agent or ticket agent can do FOR you.A lot depends on how it is presented to them.Last week a guy presented himself at the gate same situation as you.The guy was patient kind and smiling.The agent--no problem come on board.Five minutes later a guy had exactly the same situation.But he was gettin all huffy with the agent so the agent made him standby--and SWEAT.He made the flight and I think got stuck in a middle seat to boot.Pays to smile and be calm.

Curious has a bad habit of telling people not to get advice here but to call someone else. Sometimes Curious is right insofar as the "horse's mouth" may (MAY) have the correct information. However, people have gotten just a little hesitant to call that "horse," partly because the second person they talk to may give a completely different answer than the first one, and neither may actually understand what is being asked. Moreover, it does happen that a passenger's booking record gets flagged when a query like this comes up, either accidently noting a cancellation or -- yes, it's happened -- as a red flag if the person doesn't show up, to make sure that the letter-of-the-law gets in the way of actually helping the person get to their destination.

Of course you can and probably should check with AA but I'd ask simply what the restrictions on your particular fare are, not to tell them you might not be making the flight. You'll have much more leverage when you actually make it to the airport if the all-powerful desk/gate people think you've done all you can to make the flight.

And it's never a waste of time to see what people here might have to suggest or report from their own experience.

Anybody and everybody could tell you about nice GA, or experiences they had, BUT, it's very important to understand the fact that, if you miss the flight there is a VERY good chance you will be out of luck!. A cheap ticket is just that, no refunds and/or adjustments and/or whatever..... A standby is a good option if you want to catch an earlier flight, not later. If you don't get on the earlier one, oh well, you just wait for yours. BUT if you miss your flight, maybe you will not get on the later flight, and it could be for many reasons, but the fact is, it will be too late to fix the problem, and now you will be without a ticket, out of money, aggrivated, mad at the airline, etc...etc... Is it worth all that?
My suggestion is to suck it up, call AA, and see what if any possibility there is to change your flight, pay the change fee, and have relaxed trip to the airport, not a nervous one, OR just try to make the original flight.

AAFrequentflyer is right on. If you think you can't make the flight, you need to change it now. What if the next flight out is full? No matter how nice you are, they aren't going to be able to help you. It is your responsibility to be at the airport in time for your flight, not the airlines to try to fix it after the fact.

I called AA. Their policy is the following: if you are at the airport within 2 hours of your scheduled departure, they will allow you to stand-by on any flight to the same destination that day. No fee.

If I were to change my ticket now, they would charge me a $100 fee, plus the fare differential, which now is another $184.

Hombre,
It's great that you called, and now you have the "real" info, but again, what if the later flights are full? They do not guarantee you a later flight, only that you could stand-by for one.
Anyway, good luck, and I hope it works out for you.

I was in New Orleans this fall for halloween. I missed my flight because we overslept, it is amazing how easy that is to do after a weekend in the big easy. we had booked AA tickets off of orbitz, and we had no problem just getting on the next flight. We were not that late, we got to check in before the flight had taken off, but there was no way we were going to get through security before the flight left. They just put us on the next flight, no questions asked. I guess i got it in before the two hour deadline. BTW, that is a great find Hombre, i am glad to know that.

bill n ted: the stricter fare rules were not in effect last fall. What worked then may not necessarily work now.