American Airlines Does Not Give Promised Refund

Date: 30 December 2011
Airline: American Airlines
Location: Houston, TX

I purchased tickets on American Airlines on September 12, 2011 for my 10th wedding anniversary with my wife. We purchased round trip tickets from Houston to Zihuatanejo, Guerrero Mexico with a connection in Dallas.

We checked in online for our flights on Friday December 30th at about 4pm, I also purchased a seat upgrade from Dallas to Zihuatanejo. Our itinerary had us departing from Houston at 6am and landing in Dallas at 7:05am, then leaving Dallas at 10am and landing in Zihuatanejo at 12:55pm.

At 3:15am on December 31st I received a call from your American Airlines automated system informing me that our flight departing Houston was going to be delayed and would not leave Houston until 9:40am. Obviously this is a problem because we would miss our connection in Dallas. I then called American Airlines reservations department in an attempt to resolve the issue.

When I did call the recording mentioned that our flight had been delayed again and would not be departing until 11:40am. Once I did get to speak to a representative they informed that there are no other options and that there was nothing that they could do. While all of this was going on my wife was busy on the internet trying to find another flight that might get us into Dallas on time. She found a continental flight that left intercontinental airport at 7:30am and landed in Dallas at 8:30am.

I then told the representative about the flight, she made an effort to put us on the flight before getting back on the line informing me that it was not legal for us to fly out of one airport and back into another. I then asked her if it was possible for me to purchase the tickets and still carry on with the rest of our trip. She said that was fine and that I would be fully refunded for the first leg of our trip.

Which brings us to where we are now, refund. I have been attempting to get in contact with someone in American Airlines refund department to no avail. I have emailed, and called several times and have yet to hear back from anyone. In addition to this I paid $38 for a seat upgrade that was not given.

I received an email from American Airlines today letting me know that they processed my refund and I would be getting $88.42 for my cancellation. I spend $408.40 with Continental for the one way tickets I had to purchase. My tickets with American Airlines cost me $889.32 I do not see this as an appropriate refund.