American Airlines promises compensation for delay, to no avail
JOSEPH MUSKOVICH,
Schaumburg, Ill.
A.
That's some delay you had. American Airlines did the right thing by providing you with food and overnight accommodations, but you should have also received your legal compensation.
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American is obligated to pay you under the
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Fortunately, you received a promise in writing from American. (By the way, you did a great job with keeping a paper trail that shows you were owed the money.) When you contacted American, an agent confirmed your request and said that you would receive compensation. Then you followed up, and the agent said the checks were issued, but you never received them. The airline then stopped responding to your requests.
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What's going on? Unfortunately, the European consumer regulations have no provision for requiring a timely payout of compensation. So, American could have theoretically waited as long as it wanted to before sending you the checks. I know, it's a big loophole — and the reason God made consumer advocates.
How do you speed things up? Calling can be helpful, but sending a brief, polite email to one of the American Airlines executive contacts might have done the trick. I list all of them on my consumer advocacy site,
I contacted American Airlines on your behalf. The airline investigated your case and found that it had made a mistake. The checks were issued but never delivered. American Airlines canceled the old checks and reissued new ones. You received the money a few weeks later.
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (
), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at
.
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