Gulliver | Dealing with a social-media storm

The American way

The world's biggest airline receives a social-media shoeing

By B.R.

AFTER losing their nine year old daughter suddenly to an asthma attack, the Cantrell family from Illinois decided that they could not face going on the holiday they had booked. So they explained to American Airlines their tragic change of circumstance and asked whether they could cancel their tickets. American requested to see the death certificate, and then responded in the way that one would expect of any compassionate, customer-focused company: it refunded the ticket.

Eventually. In fact before it came to its senses, the story followed a well-worn and thoroughly depressing path. First the airline sent a letter to the family, saying it had no intention of returning the cost of the ticket:

After reviewing the documentation submitted, it has been determined the request does not meet our exception requirements. The ticket purchased is non-refundable so we cannot offer a refund, issue a travel voucher, or transfer this ticket to another person. The ticket will remain valid in our system for one year from the original date of issue, at which time it will expire and all value will be lost. [...] As a one-time courtesy, authorization was documented in your reservation to waive the change fee assessed when a non-refundable ticket is changed. [...] Your new ticket will be subject to any additional collection, if necessary, as governed by the applicable fares and fare rules in effect at that time.

By now, Gulliver readers will be able to predict with weary certainty what happened next. Which makes it all the more incredible that American failed to spot the inevitable chain of events that would follow. The mother posted the letter on Facebook, social media poured opprobrium on the airline for its heartlessness, and the carrier swiftly backtracked. As soon it started to feel the heat, American announced that it had apologised and would refund the Cantrells. But not before its reputation, such as it is, had already taken a shoeing.

What is even more remarkable is that, as has been pointed out on the Consumerist website, American had plenty of wiggle room. Not only does it have discretion over whom it refunds, its own policy states “Nonrefundable tickets generally cannot be refunded. However, exceptions may be available under the following circumstances: Death of the passenger, immediate family member, or travelling companion.” So in addition to appearing callous and short-sighted, it was making itself a target for no good reason.

One further twist was that, according to the girl’s mother who was speaking on NBC 5, while the airline was quick to announce to Twitter and Facebook that it had resolved the situation, apologised and issued a refund, it had failed to mention any of this to the family. All of which makes one wonder about the firm's priorities.

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