Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Bite me (again!), American Airlines

Y'all remember when I wrote the post about my stroller woes with American Airlines?  Well, I wrote a big long nasty understanding email to customer service regarding their new "safety" policy regarding strollers that went something like this:
I recently flew on American Airlines from DFW to DEN.  I was traveling with my husband and our twins, that are under the age of 2.  While checking our bags at DFW, the guy that was working at the counter informed me of your new policy regarding strollers.  I was furious to learn that I was going to have to check my stroller at the counter instead of being able to gate check it.  My kids are 20 months old and (if left to walk around on their own) are almost impossible to wrangle.  This makes it EXTREMELY difficult to travel through an airport without my stroller.   Because I have twins, I have a double stroller.  While I realize that it is larger than other strollers, my stroller is still able to fit through doorways and it collapses enough to be able to fit on the X-Ray conveyor belt in Security.  Does it weigh more than other strollers?  Of course.  There are two seats instead of one.  But according to AA, that classifies my stroller as "oversized" and "dangerous", causing me to have to check it and then have a terrible traveling experience.  All because I happened to have two kids at once, and therefore have a double stroller, I am punished.  This is COMPLETELY unfair to myself and other parents of multiples.  Please know that my family travels on a very regular basis and this experience with American Airlines has left me extremely frustrated and very mad.

Awaiting your reply,

Erin
and this was the response I got:
As with some of our competitors, we have changed our stroller policy in an effort to simplify the boarding process.  This is a matter of many strollers these days simply being too large and bulky for our agents to safely and efficiently handle at the gate and jetbridge.  Collapsible strollers under 20 lbs and medically necessary strollers of any type are still welcome at the gate, and we will check larger strollers at the ticket counter for free.  Parents traveling with more than one child are welcome to bring individual smaller strollers to the gate. 
Thank you for giving us the chance to address this matter.  We appreciate your business, as well as your feedback about our service.  We look forward to serving your family on board our flights again.  It is a privilege to have you as our customers.

Sincerely,

Deanna
American Airlines
 To which I responded with this:
Hi Deanna,

Thank you for responding.  I appreciate it.  
However, now you are telling me that I will now have to purchase two additional strollers in order to fly on your airline??  Awesome.  Because I didn't think I was spending enough money on plane tickets.

Thanks anyway,
Erin
She didn't respond to that one.  Oh well.  Bite me (again!), American Airlines!!

Much love,
E

2 comments:

  1. ... and as a military wife/mom, I did MUCHO traveling while hubby was deployed - so hypothetically, if I was in your (stylish) shoes, I would have to impossibly push 2 strollers by myself at the SAME time. They are brilliant.

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  2. If this is the case, you need to email them and tell them that they need to offer complementary umbrella strollers to anyone who is forced to check their strollers at the gate - that is absolutely ridiculous!

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