A horrendous flight experience courtesy of American Airlines

Today’s post is a bit of a detour from my usual writing.  I have a series of posts on enrollment, webinars, climate change, and more in the pipeline, but I really need to get this one off my chest.

This is a story of an awful air travel experience. American Airlines epically fouled up what should have been a simple trip. They did so at length, then utterly failed to make good.

On Monday, March 2nd, I was scheduled to fly from Reagan National Airport* (in Washington, DC: code named “DCA”) to Toronto Pearson International Airport (the delightfully coded “YYZ”).  In Toronto I was to give a speech the following day to the University of Toronto’s Sustainability School, entitled “Universities on Fire: Academia Confronts the Climate Crisis in the Polycrisis.”  It should have been a simple flight, around 90 minutes, giving me plenty of time to meet my hosts, have dinner, sleep, then prepare for more the next day.

Instead it took me about 26 hours to get there.

On Monday I arrived at DCA around 11:30 am for a 3 pm flight.  I wanted to get there early since it was an international flight, meaning extra security to go through. There were also some external factors impinging, such as the US government shutdown which cut pay to TSA officers, and the Iran war was starting to hit global air travel.

I went through security smoothly and got some lunch before heading to the gate.  Soon American Airlines started issuing delays: 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there, another 15 minutes.  Then they made a gate change, which to my travel-seasoned mind is often a bad omen. Finally we started boarding.  Around 75% of the passengers walked down the jet bridge when the gate agents called for a stop.  They had apparently made a security error and needed to deplane everyone, do some procedure, then re-board us all.

We groaned and complied, Folks hauled their carry-ons back to the gate area, sat, and waited while some opaque procedure transpired. Then we boarded again. The plane rolled out into a holding position, because the boarding snafu cost us our position in line.  We waited on the tarmac. Snow started falling. We waited long enough that the plane needed to be de-iced, so we then waited for that process to be arranged, occur, and finish up. Then at last the plane rolled forward.

That sense of progress rapidly fell apart when the captain announced a mechanical error was afoot.  An exterior door was apparently opening on its own (!), so repairs were needed.  Passengers groaned as the plane peeled away from the main lanes, then waited for a while until we could dock as a gate and deplane. For the second time.

Now tired and frustrated, we passengers filed into a gate area and waited.  Gate agents had nothing to offer: no information, no sympathy, certainly no food or drink vouchers.  Time passed. The sun set.  8, 9 pm came and went.

Finally came the announcement: the door was good to go.  We boarded the plane for the third time, joking about deja vu, and the plane rolled away from the gate.  Again we waited to get in line.  Again the plane needed de-icing and waited thereby.

De-icing, round 2

Finally, de-iced and repaired, the plane rolled into position to wait again… only for the pilot to tell us that by the time we’d finally land in Toronto Canadian customs would have shut down for the night.  Our much-delayed flight was, therefore, canceled.

We slowly rolled back to the gate. Here, amidst the cries of passengers, occurred the one positive development.  I whipped out my phone and called American Airlines.  The automated system claimed it’d be two hours to talk to a person. Not good. I switched to the American mobile app and in a minute was able to rebook myself a flight for 10 am the next morning.  I double and triple checked, getting a digital boarding pass.

The tired passengers and plane finally reached the gate. We filed out to ask gate agents for succor. Out of around six workers only one showed sympathy. They all denied our requests for drink, food, and hotel vouchers, citing weather as the sole cause for problems. When we pointed out that, in fact, American staff had given us other, non-meteorological reasons, they shrugged and claimed that’s all they had.  We asked why there was that customs scheduling problem – surely they flew to Toronto every day and should have known this when we departed?  The responses were more shrugs.

It was late at this point, around 11 pm, and I needed sleep. I considered taking an airport hotel and rejected it for price reasons.  I thought about going home, since I live about 90 minutes from DCA, so going back to my own bed for a little while was an option. But it would take time to get back home, and probably take at least three hours to fight through morning rush hour traffic to return to the airport, plus spending time in security, meaning I’d have gotten maybe 2 hours of sleep… I decided to just sleep in the terminal. So did dozens of other people, each of us setting up near a power outlet for our devices. National Airport believes in hostile architecture, meaning there were no benches and each chair was designed to keep you upright without relaxing. So we all tried various permutations, like sleeping on tables, before everyone settled on the terminal’s floor to fitfully doze.

I emailed my Canadian hosts to update them on the massive delay. Then I recorded a short video about events so far and posted it to YouTube.  You can get a sense of the story and a glimpse of my haggardness here:

DAY 2

Thought the night I kept waking up in the intense glare of lights. Airport workers also made noises doing their rounds. Around 6 am I staggered up from the carpet for good and went to check on things.  My 10 am flight was still scheduled, according to the overhead displays and the mobile app. I found its gate, settled down in a seat, fired up  my laptop and returned to work.  I was gleeful when I saw the right plane pull up to our gate. I estimated that the 90 minute flight would land me in Toronto with enough time to at least hit my hotel for a shower and change of clothes.

The American Airlines service desk nearest our gate, unstaffed for the duration of our troubles.

Then American announced a delay. Then a second one. And then they described a mechanical error – another door, the main one this time.  Gate agents had no idea how long it would take.  All of us from the previous flight groaned. We groaned again when we saw that a baggage handler had hauled our luggage to the plane and left it all on the tarmac. As the rain started coming down, I thought about my clothes, as well as the stack of books I had packed.  Gate agents refused us food vouchers.

Our luggage, marinading in rain.

Finally gate agents announced that maintenance had fixed the door.  We boarded the plane – our sad group’s fourth attempt. The plane pushed away from the gate and waited on the tarmac. I watched the time tick away and realized that when I reached Toronto I wouldn’t be able to make the hotel in time for my talk, but would instead have to go right from YYZ to the speech venue. I emailed this update to my hosts as the plane took off.

The flight was uneventful. We landed around 2:30 pm. My speech was due to start at 3:30. I raced through the airport, had good luck sliding through customs, found my luggage (soaked), then ran for a taxi (faster than Uber) by 3 pm. The driver said it would be hard to get to my destination in time, but he’d try.

After bustling through traffic we reached the library venue at 3:29. One professor was waiting for me. I paid the taxi – receipt timestamped 3:31 – and ran down a hallway to a lecture hall. There my hosts were waiting, as was a crowd.  Wearing the clothes I’d slept in, minus a tie, hair fairly messed up, I took the stage and began the talk. Politely I began in French.

And so

The events I had actually traveled for were excellent. My presentation went over well. I met and talked with many students. It was inspiring to see so many students, faculty, and staff working on climate change.  I learned a lot about the university and appreciated the powerful Fort Book library:

The astonishing rare books reading room at the Robarts Library.

Meanwhile I spent some time pleading with American Airlines for help. I reached out via email, phone, and Twitter/X to get satisfaction, explanations, refunds, anything. The airline stonewalled. At every turn American claimed weather beyond their control was entirely to blame, and so they owed me (and others) nothing.  I repeated what their own workers had said, the two mechanical problems, the bad boarding, the customs problem, and the representatives denied all of it.  It was very much a “who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?” encounter.

My return trip on Thursday wasn’t so horrendous.  Yes, it was delayed several times. The boarding process stopped for a while without explanations.  The plane was packed. The flight was turbulent enough to stop any service. I arrived at DCA much later than planned, but was able to take the Metro towards home.

I’m posting my story here out of sheer frustration.  American Airlines screwed up royally and refuses to admit it. They won’t try to help the passengers whose days they trashed.  For that incompetence and arrogance, this is a record.

*I am old and political enough to abhor saying “Reagan airport.”

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