Help, stuck in Florida in Hurricane Ian!

[chol]

Hi all

Just looking for some advice. Been with my family of 5 in Orlando for 2 weeks and now time to head home but MCO just shut due to Hurricane Ian so my AA connection to LAX was cancelled.

My tickets are award seats with Qantas. No notification from Qantas, app still shows flight running and they say they can't help until flight shows cancelled on their end. Its been all day and still shows running their end but AA site shows cancelled.I've been calling the QF call centre multiple times, who made me call AA multiple times. They offered me a Sunday flight but for 17,300 USD as it would be a cancellation.

I'm starting to stress as I have no way to get fam home until they offer alternatives. Is it normal for there to be a delay in flights showing up as cancelled in the Qantas system?

Thanks
Chol

 

[ChrisMars]

Hi all

Just looking for some advice. Been with my family of 5 in Orlando for 2 weeks and now time to head home but MCO just shut due to Hurricane Ian so my AA connection to LAX was cancelled.

My tickets are award seats with Qantas. No notification from Qantas, app still shows flight running and they say they can't help until flight shows cancelled on their end. Its been all day and still shows running their end but AA site shows cancelled.I've been calling the QF call centre multiple times, who made me call AA multiple times. They offered me a Sunday flight but for 17,300 USD as it would be a cancellation.

I'm starting to stress as I have no way to get fam home until they offer alternatives. Is it normal for there to be a delay in flights showing up as cancelled in the Qantas system?

Thanks
Chol

From my experience reading this forum, this is an IROPS, and AA, the first carrier should be responsible for reacommodating you back to your final destination, in your booking class, using available carriers the have agreements with, using award or paid inventory, at no cost for you. Food vouchers / accomodations might also be part of the solution, but your main concern is probably just to get some seats, so better to focus on that first. In practice, Qantas might decide to step in, or not. Unless you have status with Qantas and can reach experienced call center staff in Hobart / Auckland, I would not trust anything a Qantas agent would say or propose in this situation, most of them don't have the right training. I would keep calling AA to get them to sort this out, and if needed and practical, I would head to the airport to talk in person.
Keep us posted.

 

[chol]

Thanks. MCO is closed for two days now and ill miss my QF flight . AA staff seem pretty good and have spent a lot of time with me on the phone but can never change the ticket. I can even buy domestic if needed but I'll miss the international connection tonight. What a nightmare. If only the AA status would update on Qantas end they would help me I'm only Silver so no help there.

 

[jrfsp]

Thanks. MCO is closed for two days now and ill miss my QF flight . AA staff seem pretty good and have spent a lot of time with me on the phone but can never change the ticket. I can even buy domestic if needed but I'll miss the international connection tonight. What a nightmare. If only the AA status would update on Qantas end they would help me I'm only Silver so no help there.

Talk to AA over twitter. Agents are better than the phone and always respond very quickly.

 

[henrus]

I can even buy domestic if needed but I'll miss the international connection tonight.

I assume it was one ticket on QF points from MCO to LAX to Australia?

AA has a wavier which even covers 081 tickets (Qantas issued):

American Airlines Travel Agency Reference | Hurricane Ian (was Tropical Depression Nine) Update 2 - Travel Notice Exception Policy

saleslink.aa.com

Now it's intended for travel agents but then generally apply the same policy themselves. Rebooking even from cities up to 300 miles away is allowed in the same cabin.

 

[chol]

It's my return flight back home. So can AA update a QF issued ticket? It's all QF award seats and last AA flights all fully booked this morning

 

[ChrisMars]

It's my return flight back home. So can AA update a QF issued ticket? It's all QF award seats and last AA flights all fully booked this morning

In case of IROPS, airlines have much more power to make change necessary to get you where your need. So AA should be able to change the ticket directly.
The following pdf might be a valuable reading in your situation.

https://www.iata.org/contentassets/e7a533819be440edbb1e49da96e0f2a8/guidance-document-interline-irops_25june2020.pdf

 

[chol]

Thank you, I'll keep phoning today and see if i get any further. Such a nightmare.

 

[drron]

It's my return flight back home. So can AA update a QF issued ticket? It's all QF award seats and last AA flights all fully booked this morning

Yes they can and did so for me on a QFF RTW when because of a strike in France I missed the AA flight to JFK as it was cancelled. AA reissued the tickets even though no award seats left as this was not long before the flights.

 

[chol]

Thank you! I've messages AA on Twitter as suggested. They replying slowly. Hopefully I get some luck with them. Thanks for the support!

 

[chol]

Thank you SO much everyone and to @jrfsp for suggesting Twitter. AA managed o reissue the ticket for Sunday! Now just got to ride this storm out and hope we get through it!

 

[maia200]

Thank you SO much everyone and to @jrfsp for suggesting Twitter. AA managed o reissue the ticket for Sunday! Now just got to ride this storm out and hope we get through it!

Yeah that is such a good news now just stay safe

 

[RichardMEL]

great news. Hope you've come through Ian OK and all in all it';s been quite the adventure you didn't plan for but stories to tell for sure!

 

[chol]

Thank you! Indeed we were very lucky. The stress for about 24 hours was unbearable but now we just all waiting to head home tomorrow. Not something we'll ever forget!

 

[ellen10]

Glad to hear your flights have been sorted, safe travels.