Members of the armed services fall under a special category of passenger. I didn t put them there; t

His son had just finished Navy basic training and had enough leave time to fly home during the holidays. But as a newly-minted Seaman Apprentice, he didn t quite understand national auto rentals lax the ways of the military, and he miscalculated the actual amount of leave time. Now American Airlines wanted to charge a hefty change fee to get him back to his Navy base a fee he couldn t afford.
He was told there was a $140 additional charge to change his ticket date, even though he changed it more than a month before travel, said his father. it seems a shame that American Airlines would take advantage of our servicemen in such a way, and not give him a break. As an E-2 in the Navy, he certainly isn't earning enough money to throw away an extra $140. Is there anything you can do to help?
Members of the armed services fall under a special category of passenger. I didn t put them there; the airlines did. For example, American waives certain baggage fees for soldiers , as do other carriers. They also loosen some of their rules, particularly for servicemembers traveling with a change national auto rentals lax in orders.
The other thing that Lessem s son had going for him was that it was the holidays, and that he d just finished boot came. I know exactly what that s like, because I remember picking Kari up from the airport after she finished Navy boot camp in Great Lakes, Ill., back in the 90s. Let s just say I have personal reason for going out of my way to help someone who has just survived that place.
American Airlines is under no obligation to waive his son s change fees, so technically this isn t a bad offer. Could it have done better? Sure. But from the airline s perspective, these change national auto rentals lax fees are a huge revenue national auto rentals lax generator. Just have a look at its conditions of carriage and you ll see that it isn t just the change fees, but the ability national auto rentals lax to sell an optional your choice package national auto rentals lax that reduces the change fees you would pay, that is making AA money.
Whether this is the right way to earn revenues or a wrong way is a discussion for another national auto rentals lax time. But I ll give American credit for responding to this sailor national auto rentals lax s request. Other equally deserving passengers have received little national auto rentals lax more than form rejections, unfortunately.
I even remember as far back to an American Airlines commercial from years ago where a soldier on base calls from a pay phone to make a reservation with an AA CSR, then gets over a dozen of his buddies tack on to the same call - making reservations to get home.  In the end, the call is over, the CSR s supervisor comes up and asks her how many call s she s taken so far.  Her answer is Just one. as she hold up a single finger.
As an USAF (ret.) wife, Navy brat, and mother of a Navy-bound son, I can certainly empathize with this situation.  But, just because someone serves in the military, is young and broke  doesn t mean the rules don t apply to them.  If a young Peace Corps volunteer, teacher, national auto rentals lax police-recruit, or new fireman had the same situation occur, would Chris be sent the same letter?  Do not those that serve in other capacities deserve the same leeway?  Where does AA draw the line?  I put a few bucks in the red kettle this afternoon should they cut me a break, too?
As an Army wife, Marine Mom, and Army mom, I can sympathize with the frustrations of trying to figure out leave time.  However, I have also been at the mercy of the military changing ordesr at the last moment, canceling leave, etc.  The young man made an error, and, like the rest of us, will have to pay for it.  If he was under orders, and those orders changed, the airlines would not charge him a change fee.  However, it was personal leave, therefore his reservation was made as a civilian, and he pays the civilian price for making an error.
What if changing those flights cost a civilian $290? ($140 fare difference and $150 change fee) If AA waived the change fee and gave the OP s son the fare difference back in the form of a voucher show their compassion for our service men and women? Based on the facts presented, this is certainly a distinct possibility.
My take is that the change fee is still $150 but that the re-calculation of the fare based on the new dates of travel but the fare $10 less than the cost of the original ticket.  AA allows one to apply any residual in that case to the cost of the change fee hence the $140 cost to make the change
People who make mistakes need to bail themselves out.  That s one excellent way to learn and retain the learning for a long time.  Young adults tend to not become capable adults if daddy and AA sweep up after their messes.  As a former JAG, I m sure you have witnessed recidivism in its various forms, which, in part, occurs when adults don t learn.
Apparently the earlier flight was worth (at least) $50 to you. Yet you wanted it for free and call American the bad guys because you didn t buy a ticket for when you needed to fly in the first place.
If he is old enough to be in the military, he is old enough to 1) read the leave calculation policy and 2) ask a unit clerk how much leave time he has accumulated.  He was simply too lazy to find out. I hope this will motivate him (and his father) to grow up and be responsible. I too was in the military and, after basic training, I made sure to find out about how much leave I had.  AA is not supposed to be a nanny service.
Chris Elliott does not use the world privilege even once in the article.  He does mention going out his way to help someone.  And he does mention that airlines have loosened some other rules for our soldiers (and links to an example where American got positive publicity, at least relative to a competitor, for doing so).
I wonder why several commenters are saying that the sailor won t be able to use the voucher before it expires. national auto rentals lax How do they know when the voucher will expire? It s not mentioned in the original post. And if the sailor was unhappy with the voucher expiration date, I would think that would have been mentioned in the original post.
And my question back is ..so what?  If I like you for whatever reason, and loosen 9 rules for you because of that would you feel entitled to have rule #10 loosened as well?  That s the question here.  I m not trying national auto rentals lax to be obtuse or split hairs.  All I m saying is the fact that airlines bend X rules for soldiers doesn t mean they should bend X+1 rules, and certainly not by getting a travel mediator involved.
And if they didn t volunteer to do the job, we would have a draft. Do you know what enlisted people get paid? Barely national auto rentals lax minimum wage. Yeah, if you make a career out of the service, the pay rates go up as your service length goes up-along with your rank going up. At the highest enlisted rank-Sergeant Major in the Army (if you make it in 10 years0 your starting pay is $4635 a month-or $1158.75 per week. Before taxes-which you have to pay unless you are in a combat zone.
And stop and think about it. Our Government doesn t pay them a living wage. So if they did, where would the money come from? Our taxes, right? So where does the money come from when companies like AA waive baggage fees for military personnel? Not really us because other non-military personnel national auto rentals lax get the fee waived (I am assuming it is similar to other airlines where premium customers get perks). And does it cost anyone anything if they get to board first? No-unless you want to pay for the privilege.
Since he is the one that made the error in calculating his leave time, he should thank his lucky stars he figured it out in time to change his flight before he was AWOL. I also think that AA went above what they needed to do in this instance since it was personal leave and it was an error on his part and not a case of his orders being changed or rescinded.
I also have to wonder if the $140 charge national auto rentals lax was not a change fee but the difference in ticket price or some combination of ticket price and a bargain change fee. And yes, as an E2, he is only making $1645 a month-before taxes. And depending on where he is gets stationed, that may not necessarily national auto rentals lax be a lot of money. Granted, national auto rentals lax he won t need to pay rent (or will get a BHA if he lives off base) but after taxes, he will bring home about $276 a week. Which has to pay everything but rent. Not a whole hell of a lot of money when you stop and think about all the regular bills you pay every month. Car payment, insurance, electric, phone, cable, food, gas, water/sewer, etc
It is going to be an expensive lesson to learn. national auto rentals lax But there are people national auto rentals lax on base that can help you with these things and he needs to learn to take advantage of this for the next time. And maybe the parents can help him cover the cost of the change.
national auto rentals lax So far as I m concerned, the Airlines receive huge advantages from our military spending. Just off the top of my head likely 30% of the cost of flying is covered by the taxpayer. So when or if a uniformed member of our military has a problem such as this one, or the one several weeks ago when returning troops had to fork over $1200 in excess baggage fees, the FAA needs to fine them X percentage as a liberty fee. Or better yet, make a big deal about all the free things they can do for our troopers coming home close to how we sent them over. An Admiral s club???, no, Let the USO have use of the facility. When was the last time a ceo/cfo national auto rentals lax or C level executive put his axx in the line of fire for this country?
Again, maybe I am not reading it correctly, but what gave me the idea was this: In order to fix the ticket, Lessem's son was asking the airline to push his flight time back by a day. That sounded like he wanted an extra day at home which, I don t begrudge at all, but I don t know that it is the airline s responsibility to waive any associated charges.
Um, actually, you would be incorrect as the daughter of a 22 year veteran (now deceased national auto rentals lax thanks to the nuclear testing in Nevada in the 50 s), as the wife of a 22 year veteran, as the mother of two combat vets, with our third son entering the military after he graduates High School this coming May, I really DO kn