Wed 20 Jun 2007
So here’s my lesson about balance.
In The Breakthrough Experience Dr John Demartini calls it The Great Discovery™:
At any moment of your life, you will never be put down without being lifted up, nor lifted up without being put down. Positive and negative, good and bad, support and challenge, peace and war - all come together in pairs. They are simultaneous and perfectly balanced. and that is what makes up the divine order.
This was what the lady at LA Airport had warned me about a week ago. She noticed that I was on a high and forewarned me about the low to come. Amazing!
The next forty-eight hours were definitely challenging. Here’s the wrap-up that I emailed to HRG (the company’s travel consultant):.
1. 15 Jun - Flight AA 1745 from Atlanta to Miami delayed by 50 mins, arriving in Miami at 20:45. Due to the delay I missed my connecting flight to London Heathrow.
2. 15 Jun - Spoke to AA and was booked on a new itinerary, scheduled to leave Miami for Heathrow at 17:15 16 Jun (Flight AA 206). This itinerary had me arriving in Sydney at 18:50 18 Jun.
Advised AA that this was not satisfactory as I had to arrive in Sydney Mon 18th June in the morning. AA provided o/night accomodation at MIA hotel and vouchers for breakfast, lunch and dinner (total value $25 USD).
3. 15 Jun - contacted HRG afterhours support and explained the situation. HRG agreed to pursue a refund for untravelled portion of the new AA itinerary, and book a new itinerary to ensure that I would arrive in Sydney as required. New e-ticket details were provided over phone.
4. 16 Jun - flew Miami to LA. Whilst at check-in at Miami airport, advised AA staff that my itinerary had changed and staff member mentioned that unused travel was cancelled and that I could pursue a refund in the city where I had purchased the original ticket. I also notified the staff member about my missing luggage.
5. 16 Jun - flew LA to Syd as per new HRG itinerary.
6. 18 Jun - arrived at Syd 7am. Luggage still missing. Airport baggage service to investigage. Notified by HRG that AA refund dept are disputing validity of refund.
Key points:
- inconvenience and changes in itinerary result of AA flight 1745 being delayed. The scheduled AA flight from ATL to Miami was delayed an hour, causing me to miss my connection to London. As a result I had to cancel my plans to spend a day in Singapore, my luggage went MIA, and I had to buy another $1K AUD ticket to ensure that I arrived in Sydney this morning as scheduled.
- great service provided at Miami airport by AA staff member who did her best to change my itinerary as well as find me accom for the night
- do not agree with AA refund department.
As of today (20th June) I’m currently working with HRG to resolve the dispute with AA, and I’m still waiting for my luggage to come home.
Everything will work out fine. My luggage will arrive soon and I will get my refund.
June 21st, 2007 at 4:28 am
ouch! your luggage is still lost? oh dear. I WISH YOU WOULD’VE TOLD ME YOU WERE COMING INTO LAX - even if for 1 hour or whatever. I would’ve gone just to finally see you face to face! anyway, i’m glad you’re home safe. and yes, our airport security is way over bearing and sometimes scrutinizes those that don’t really need to be. well…that’s america for ya! burger king, alcohol, lots of traffic and very inefficient airports.
June 21st, 2007 at 6:28 am
Yeh Cuz, on last check the bag was located in London and was meant to have arrived in Sydney yesterday or today. It’s all good, I’m pretty confident that I’ll get it back. I just wish that I could have had a nice visit to London with my bag :p
It didn’t even occur to me to let you know that I was being routed to LAX. Bugger! Next time! We’ll be face to face soon enough
Gotta tell you, I”m glad I’m back in Syd and eating healthy again!
October 30th, 2007 at 6:40 am
[...] how shocking the AA track record for service is, and based on my two experiences so far (last time the plane was delayed and I lost my luggage) I’m starting to believe it. Or maybe it’s just LAX [...]