this is not fair...long...advice needed please

i'm not sure there's anything that can be done but i'd appreciate any input girls. thanks.

i was scheduled to fly american airlines from ecuador-miami-chicago two weeks ago. after 1.5 hrs maintenance check delay, they decided to cancel the flight. they said the next flight would leave the next day at 8am. needless to say, we were all livid. when we approached the ticket counter to see if they could put us on another sooner flight, the ticket agent said nothing else was flying out from American Airlines, but if we were to purchase a separate flight to get us to miami, American Airlines could reimburse us the cost of that flight and still connect us from miami to chicago. hearing this, we purchased a last minute flight from a company called aerogal from ecuador to miami for $1300. yeah. nice.

upon returning from this nightmarish trip, i reached out to customer service to get reimbursed (you are only able to email/fax/snail mail them. they have no call center) they are now saying that they are not able to reimburse me for another flight on another airline. i've explained to them that THEIR ticket agent suggested this to me and if i knew i wasn't going to get reimbursed, i wouldn't have paid that flight. they just emailed me back pretty much saying, sorry, you're screwed, we can't reimburse you. what the hell do i do? is there anything that i can do at this point? i've explained everything to them, the urgency of coming back to the states because i was traveling with a 6 month old, the fact that DH is in the navy and had military orders to come back that day and they still are saying they cannot reimburse me.

if anybody has any ideas as to what i can do (if anything) i would really appreciate it. i'm beyond upset.

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Just keep fighting it and get to the top! Speak to the higest people you can until you get some type of satisfaction. Good luck!

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Continue to write to everyone you can. Keep informing them that DH had specific orders from the military to return. It's aggravating but keep trying.

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Did you put the flight on your credit card? I would call them and dispute the charges. Even if it is a debit/credit card, you should have some protection. If you put it on an AMEX, you're golden. they have the best customer protection.

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Can your DH talk to the travel office on his base? They may have contacts at the airlines who deal with military only and can expedite the process since he had orders.

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Try contacting the NY Times or CNN travel editors. They help people in this situation all the time.
ETA: From CNN
Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. E-mail him at [email protected].

Message edited 7/23/2009 12:15:45 PM.

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

I dont post much but what about Help me Howard on Ch. 11 news.

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

did you get it in writing from that agent? If not, Its kinda your word against theirs... which you know they wont take.

Re: this is not fair...long...advice needed please

call american because under rule 240 they have to pay for you to travel on another airline- http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice/What-need-know-about.html?id=255282

usually i have them pay for my ticket directly when i switch airlines because of mechanical difficulites- this only applies for mechanical difficulties and not weather delays