Compensation from AA, possible?
 

I recently flew across the pacific on AA, about half way through the 12 or 13 hour flight the in flight entertainment and reading lights, etc had to be switiched off as the system was overheating. For the remainer of the flight it was impossible to read (due to the cabin being dark) and use the in flight entertainment system. I've read that when things go wrong AA sometimes give their elite passengers some miles as compensation. I am an elite AAdvantage member and I am hoping to get a million AAdvantage miles for lifetime status and I would like a some miles credited to my account as compensation; if possible. While I don't want to make a big deal of this, no, this is not a trip in vain, after all we got to the destination on time (I do understand that is all AA is required to do); I am wondering if sending an email to customer service would be advisable, in the hope of receiving some miles as compensation. If so, what is the official terminology I should use in the email and how should I go about trying to get some compensation from AA? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

Wait until others wiegh in, but I don't know that there's any special terminology here. The situation is just what you described. It's the kind of thing they do throw a few extra miles at you for.

I hope you realize this is not going to be a huge number of miles. Maybe 5,000 ... Something comparable to the miles of the dark flight.

Miles are miles ...

Send an email to AA Customer Service (there's a "Contact Us" link at the top of the aa.com main page), and tell them what happened. Give the flight number and date and the class of service in which you were flying, and explain that the inflight entertainment and reading lights were out of service. I'd straight out ask for AAdvantage miles, without specifying any particular number.

If they do give you miles, those miles will automatically be added to your lifetime total.

I'm of the opinion that if you don't ask, you don't get. rizzuto's answer makes sense. I'm sure you will get other good answers here, but you will get <b>fantastic</b> answers on Flyertalk, specifically here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-aadvantage-445/ I recommend you post the same question there too. Let us know how it is finally resolved by AA.

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Thanks for all the replies. I am wondering if it is necessary to tell AA the class of service I was in, reason being I flew in Business class on a SWU (not mine, they were provided by an acquaintance) and I paid for an economy ticket. I don't want to pretend I was paying for a business class ticket, when I usually pay for economy tickets and fly at the back. All that I would like are some miles as my goal, at least for now is 1,000,000 miles for lifetime status.

You were in business class. Just state that in your correspondence along with flight number, origin, destination, and date. It doesn't matter how you got there. Don't throw that fact around in the sense of "There's no reason a business-class passenger should put up with that!" I gather you're not going to do that. :)

I would say don't mention anything about your goal of one million miles for lifetime status. That doesn't have anything to do with the matter at hand. :)

Thanks, Jeff_Costa_Rica, rizzuto and OrlandoVic, I appreciate the helpful replies.

Of course I won't mention anything about wanting to achieve 1,000,000 miles for lifetime status, I was just writing about that to let Fodorites know why I wanted miles as compensation.

I will send an email to AA and I'll report back when I hear from them.

I heard back from AA snd they have credited 8,000 miles to my account, I'm happy with their offer.

I'd like the thank the four fodorites who helped me on this subject. Thanks, again.

That's goo to hear, RJames. :)

or "good" ... ;)

<b>"I heard back from AA snd they have credited 8,000 miles to my account, I'm happy with their offer.

I'd like the thank the four fodorites who helped me on this subject. Thanks, again."</b>

That's 2,000 for each of us. Right? :S-

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Lol, Orlando_Vic. I do appreciate the help you, Jeff_Costa_Rica, rizzuto and Gardyloo has provided. I have looked at the forums on FT like you suggested and I'm slowly getting acquainted with that website. I'm sure it will be a wonderful resource in the future, so much info on AA and other FF programs. I've never focused on the flight as much as the destination, but FTers appear to focus on the flight and miles, miles, miles. At present that's what I want from AA, miles, miles, miles, pity I am not in the US and can't apply for any of the credit cards that earn a ton of bonus miles. I am slowly closing in on my 1,000,000; which may not be a big deal to some (especially after reading some of the threads on FT), but to me it's certainly a milestone, and the 8,000 bonus miles are helping me get there!

Flyertalk has a wealth of information but -- hmmm, how do I say this? ;) -- you have to wade through a lot of attitude to get it, particularly at the AA board. And heaven help you if you ask a question that's been asked before or if you ask it the wrong way.

Fodor's is SO much friendlier, and, as you mention, the folks at FT aren't terribly interested in discussing things to do with travel except the flights and airlines and miles themselves.

Jeff_Costa_Rica,
I agree with your observations, particularly about attitude on Flyertalk as well as the congeniality here. I've noticed that most FTers do not tolerate stupid questions from people who have given no prior thought or have made no effort to research a question. An example might be "I'm going to Australia for a week. What should I see and do?" "Do they take American money."

Having said that, the collective body of knowledge from the FTers is simply amazing, detailed and usually correct. It's a valuable resource for me. But, you have to do your homework first.

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Glad you got the credit. On AirCrash Investigator there was an ipisode where the business class inflight entertainment system overheated and caught fire and the plane crashed. I was going to say I would of been glad that it got turned off. Instead of the alternative.. keep it going and... yikes

What amuses me to no end about FT and the AA board over there in particular is that someone will ask a question, and, yes, maybe they should have done their homework. (If that's the culture of that board, then you abide by it.) So, someone else posts that "That question has been asked many times. Do a search." But other people will chime in and post the exact same admonishment, all the while complaining that the OP has wasted time and bandwidth.

Hellooooooooo????? ;) :)

That's what I mean when I say you have to wade through a lot to get to the good stuff.

Fodor's is much more friendly. :)