What happens if I miss a flight with American Airlines

[MikeG]

Sorry for the inane questions, but its become apparent I don't know as much as I thought I knew about flying :S

I'm off to the states tomorrow, and I have some connecting flights that are within about 30 mins of eachother. Has anyone had the misfortune of missing a flight, and if so, what is the process? Do they just send you on the next available flight like QF/Virgin or is there a completely different process?

Is it likely I could forfeit remaining flights on my ticket if I miss one leg?

M

 

[blackcat20]

If they are all on one ticket and you miss a flight due to a delay, they will put you on the next available flight.

 

[Boris spatsky]

If the tickets are booked on one PNR, then my experience is that AA just rebook you on other flights (possibly by different routing).

 

[robtemt]

What airport?

Did you book these flights all separately on your own, or did a TA or airline do it for you? That will be a key in who helps you if you miss a connection.

Are your flights arriving and departing in the same terminal and/or on the same carrier? If you have to change terminals, I'm not optimistic.

Have you read up on your trip insurance policy re: missed connections?

Regardless if you make the flight, its highly unlikely your bags will join you....

I'll give you our nightmare story from AA from Dec. We had a cancelled (tech) AA flight DEN to LAX (apparently, brakes are important, at least for landing), which thanks to booking in F, we were re-booked onto a UA flight by the Admirals Club staff. They transferred 5 of our 6 bags to the UA flight. The 6th bag was taken to LAX on the next flight, at which point AA refused to take it to UA to deliver to us (final carrier is responsible for lost/delayed luggage, not whoever touched it last). UA then refused to go get the bag from AA. We ended up driving to LAX to go get it ourselves, only to find rows of bags lined up in the AA baggage area (I'm talking 100's of lost, delayed bags). Not secured, just lined up between baggage carousels. Our bag was nowhere to be found. 3 months later we got a bank transfer from UA for our claim.

 

[MikeG]

I'm taking cabin luggage only, but these are all AA flights. The flights going through CLT are the tight ones... CLT is a way-point between ORD/DFW and TRI. Its a fairly small airport so I should be fine, unless my first flight is delayed.

Ticket was booked through Webjet - based on my experience, their response times for flight changes is 2-3 days. Luckily I have got them to sign over my flight management to AA after my arrival in the states, so I can deal direct with the airline for changes.

Never again (Webjet).

 

[robtemt]

You should be OK then. Wear comfortable running shoes.

 

[MikeG]

ha. It should be fine, I'm just not accustomed to flight delays - Travelling to the USA is new territory for me.

 

[robtemt]

Looking good for getting into CLT on-time:

 

[Aussie_flyer]

CLT is huge and there can be massive walks between AA flights. Definitely not small

 

[MikeG]

Good to know - I have runners packed...