AA farce, King Kong and Kafka

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Viewing 12 posts - 16 through 27 (of 27 total)

  • travelworld2
    Participant

    The thing I find puzzling about all of this is that airlines don’t seem to treat lost baggage any differently from any other complaint. They must receive thousands of complaints every year about all sorts of things, some reasonable, some not. But on lost luggage they are pretty much banged to rights. In my instance above, had KLM given me a free return flight to AMS from London I would have been as happy as Larry and they would have received thousands from me in fares over the subsequent years. If I was Air France and received the letter from Charles P’s friend, once I was happy that he really was taking all the flights he said he was I’d offer him something to come back to AF. A number of organisations have gone above and beyond for me when things have gone wrong over the years; as diverse a group as John Lewis, Jaguar cars, First Great Western and LV insurance. But airlines never seem to when it comes to bags…..


    Charles-P
    Participant

    ‘travelworld2’ – an interesting point you raise. There is plenty of research that shows a customer who was previously upset but treated well becomes a loyal future customer. Like you I have had cause to complain to companies but their system for dealing with that complaint has seen me return to them when I would not have previously done so.


    MrMichael
    Participant

    Charles P you are absolutely right. So right in fact that I know a small business that always slightly messes up a customer order on the 3rd or 4th time they have done business. They then are expecting the complaint, deal with it beyond the customer expectations and then put them down as a loyal customer. They continue always to give good service, and exceed expectations when it does on occasions go wrong.

    I had a major issue on SAS some years ago. It was dealt with way beyond my expectations, I became a very loyal customer. Some airlines need to wake up and realise that a complaint is an oportunity, an opportunity to impress the customer, not just to hack them off. Business travellers know things go wrong, they will forgive if you deal with it properly.


    IanFromHKG
    Participant

    I really think that after all this time you should do a “letter before action” (as we lawyers refer to them) – or perhaps a “tweet before action” – saying that if you do not receive compensation (or “a substantive response” if you want to be more gentle) within seven days then you will issue legal proceedings.

    Given the amounts, you could use Hong Kong’s Small Claims Tribunal, which is a very simple and easy process, and very cheap too. No need for lawyers, you can do it all yourself. All the info you need can be found on the Judiciary’s website: http://www.judiciary.gov.hk/en/crt_services/pphlt/html/sc.htm

    I have done this a couple of times myself, and both times got a settlement which was entirely satisfactory.


    TungLoWanderer
    Participant

    Thanks Ian for that very useful link and also to others for your suggestions. Perhaps someone at AA came across this discussion, but to my astonishment I received an email yesterday out of the blue saying that my claim would be paid through their London office. I just have to wait ‘3-4 weeks’ for them to process it, so make that 8-10 in reality, ha. Regardless, I’m happy with the outcome, that persistence paid off and that the power of an issue shared – especially on here – can work miracles! Cheers!


    travelworld2
    Participant

    Excellent. Whatever it was that worked, I’m glad it did!


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Well done TungLo, I’m glad patience and perseverance paid off. Do let us know when you get the money and I hope we’ll hear more from you on the forum.


    StephenLondon
    Participant

    So AA in DFW have resorted to getting London to sort out a delayed baggage compensation claim for you, living in Hong Kong? Seems rather strange to take that kind of routing. I guess HKG are unable (despite repeated promises) to may this kind of reimbursement. No doubt something like this will happen to other travellers in the future who are HKG based. Hope they have the strength and fortitude that you have, TungLo, to persist and get your funds!


    canucklad
    Participant

    Evening TungLoWanderer
    Happy for you that it’s looking as if its moving to a positive resolution.
    Personally I wouldn’t be heading to Wan Chai or The Fong just quite yet, to celebrate your victory!!
    AA have led you on a merry waltz involving 2 offices on 2 different continents, they’ve now involved a 3rd office on yet another continent……Could this be the start of a merry continental threesome reel !!
    Fingers crossed that its not ?


    AllOverTheGaff
    Participant

    TungLoWanderer – 08/09/2014 02:19 GMT
    I, a 6’4 250 pound Brit, wearing leather brogues, jeans and the same underwear for 4 days in the remote Ecuadorean jungle. None of our toiletries. No shops, save a small booth in the lodge offering t-shirts which would have looked tight on Richard Simmons. Overall, not my finest fashion hour, nor the most fragrant of getaways in one of the most romantic places on earth.

    I enjoyed that particular paragraph….:)

    I had a different but similar issue with AA which I only got resolved by getting on their nerves on social media. I Tweeted and Facebook’d them about the issues I was facing dealing with a call centre in Fiji and they simply “could not” do what I was asking them to do, even when I threatened them with cancelling the whole deal (£4K’s worth of business class flights), then I got a call from Dallas from a customer services manager (as per my request) who not only changed the flight I wanted changing on the itinerary, he also changed another one to a better time to apologise for the inconvenience.

    I note later in the thread you got a resolution, but my experience was to Tweet / Facebook them on a daily basis until it got through….and I guess someone in Dallas saw this on the wondrous WWW and wanted it resolving asap.

    Rgds.
    AOTG.

    PS You’ve burned that underwear right?


    TungLoWanderer
    Participant

    Ha canucklad, well let’s just say that any drinks are definitely on ice until I see funds deposited or a cheque with my name on it! StephenLondon – yes it has been a ridiculous global merry-go-round, it makes me wonder about the authority of the AA office in HK, ie if they have any at all. I’d absolutely suggest that people in similar situations should pursue their claims, not least because otherwise AA and others will continue to think that if they fob people off and stonewall, they will eventually give up.


    TungLoWanderer
    Participant

    Thanks AOTG, after four days in the jungle the underwear walked off of its own accord, otherwise I’d be using it as my final bargaining chip with AA and sending it to them!

Viewing 12 posts - 16 through 27 (of 27 total)
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