Just curious.....what would happen if you filed a small claims action in your local jurisdiction seeking compensation? I doubt many small claims judges would see their notification requirements as reasonable. I also doubt AA would show up at the hearing. Seems more likely you'd get a quick settlement offer to make it all go away..

Call your homeowners insurance. Most policies cover your bicycle when traveling as part of the “personal property” portion of the policy. You can also pay extra to have certain items “listed” which specifically gives a dollar value to those specific items instead of it falling under the group category.

From the article:
I had an exchange lasting several emails with Whiteness Zastrow

Was she named by Douglas Adams?

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

i don't think you read the article on the front page.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Im flying american to xterra bama and will let you know.
I have a soft case tho that meets the size requirements its the weight that gets me sometimes.

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

i think soft bike cases have had their day. at some point you're going to want to consider a hard case. i know where you can get one of these pretty cheap ;-)

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Oh yeah? where?

The soft case for mnt bike has always been "easier" . Road bike seems more of a fit for a hard sided specific case. No?

Also, the issue I have had mostly is NOT with the fees (which do suck and are applied very inconsistently) is that TSA will "inspect" the bikes.
I have watched in horror from 15 feet away as someone with no cycling experience whatsoever unpacks my perfectly packed bike. Then returns it with no where near the care nor the form that in my mind keeps it safe.
And of course one is NOT allowed to touch it post inspection or even offer help as to HOW to repack it. United broke one of my road bikes bc of this and never once even responded to my outreach with photos and pleas for help.

Im wondering about being PRO ACTIVE in regards to a trip? Or is this even a possibility? I mean it is NOT the airlines that I have had issues with its TSA who unpack to inspect then haphazardly repack the bike, often times horrifically prior to travel.

Thoughts?

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

May not be allowed in the posters locale. In order to sue someone/a company they have to live or be in said jurisdiction. Now one could argue flying out of a particular airport would fulfill the being in said jurisdiction but. A judge may just rule against the poster if AA didn't show up on those grounds since it's not where the headquarters are located since it would be the HQ that would be sued not a gate agent or baggage handler.

So unless the poster lives in Ft Worth, Texas it will be an uphill climb or not worth it at all.

well, you are somewhat selective on what you read here! first, as to the bike case, a devastatingly handsome guy posted about a closeout in the classifieds. we bought these at closeout right before the pandemic hit, so, we were off in the timing. but we're down to less than half of what we started with (we bought about 80), and they're going at the rate of 5 or 6 a week.

now as to that TSA thing, we interviewed the TSA and got their comments about the specific issue you raise. one thing about the case we have for sale: you don't need to be a mechanical engineer to figure out how the case works. one problem with some of the cases i've used is that TSA can't figure the case out. if the whole package needs to be less than 50lb to travel as regular baggage, the case must be both strong and light, and that sometimes requires tricky manufacturing ideas which make sense if you understand the case, but TSA often doesn't.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Dan,

Correct I spend very Little time in the classifieds but I’ll go look now! And prob order one! Thanks. ;)

Daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

I quoted from the article on the first page.

If I didn't get cash back I wouldn't be satisfied. A $40 voucher is not cash.

right. but if you read to the end, you'll see that the OP appears to have received 100% satisfaction from american airlines.

"Wow. I got my AA issue totally resolved!" wrote NMGal to me this morning. "Most importantly [the customer service rep] gave me her contact information and told me to just contact her if it ever happens again, and she will fix it."

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Right, I saw that. The $40 voucher must have been good enough for the OP. Was that her response to getting the voucher and getting the service rep's contact info or did she get a refund (or maybe that info is kept private)?

It certainly wouldn't be good enough for me, therefore I didn't see the outcome as resolved. Then of course I don't fly American, I fly Delta and have never had that sort of issue.

My problem with AA was with a rogue agent who was determined to overcharge me for the bike box despite their published fares.

I fly with my bike often and have paid $150 one way for a bike more times than I can count. (I never even complained the time I was going to Kona, paid $100 to United for the bike, the flight got cancelled, I had to pay another $100 20 minutes later to another airline, United could only issue the first refund through their corporate office, and as my plane was taking off I see my bike box still sitting on the runway.) I live in a remote area, only have 1-2 airline choices at any given time, and am an eight-hour drive from the nearest TBT. So when AA announced that bike boxes within certain parameters were considered checked bags I started flying AA.

My bike plus Scicon case weighs 46-47 pounds and is well within the linear dimensions of allowed baggage on AA. Were I guilty of overweight or oversize it would not have been an issue for me - I would have either paid or pulled something out of the case to get the weight down. I never had a problem until Panama City Beach, Florida. The published fee was $30 for the first bag (suitcase) and $40 for the second (bike box). That is why I flew with AA instead of $200-each-way United Airlines.

The agent at the counter said it obviously a bike and they charge more for bikes. "Check the website," she said. I pulled the website up on my phone and showed her what it said. She said "Well I have Ironman triathletes come through here every year so I KNOW what bike charges are." And said I had 10 minutes to pay it or she was throwing me off the flight. First she said $100 extra, then she pulled another number out of thin air and said it was double the charge, or $80 for the second one. She ended up charging me for three bags when I only had two. I had no other option but to pay, so I did, thinking Customer Service would surely fix the problem.

Wrong. AA Customer Service stands behind their agents. "We weren't there" is their stock response, and they go by the decisions of their employees. AA also said I had probably been undercharged all along. (!!!) No way would AA back down. Finally a dim light came on when somebody realized that even though Customer Service 'wasn't there', I had been charged for three bags when their computers showed I had two. So they give me a $40 'goodwill gesture' voucher. I asked why would I need a voucher for an airline that I would never use again. And I asked AA what is going to happen if I fly with them again and an agent decides to overcharge me anything they want, just because they can, and there is nothing I can do about it? "We weren't there so we go with what our agents tell us" is all they say. I was not happy with the voucher but was at a dead end. I was done with AA forever.

Then, Slowman contacted AA to find out if agents could unilaterally set policy, and to make sure triathletes know what to expect when they walk up to a ticket counter. Another senior AA representative called me. She had taken the time to completely go over all of my correspondence. She refunded the entire baggage fee of $110, and told me to still use the voucher. She assured me the agent in Florida had been contacted about the issue. She gave me her phone number and email and said if it ever happened again, not to get all worked up but just pay it, and that she would take care of it.

Thanks to Slowman putting me in touch with the right person, I am happy with AA. They went beyond what I asked for. I thought I was owed $40 just out of principal, but mostly I wanted some assurance that agents on a power trip couldn't get away with overcharging people just for fun.

That is the customer service I would expect and would be very happy with that outcome.

I'm glad you got it taken care of.

Im flying AA to alabama in a few weeks...I might ask for that womans email and phone!! haha (serious tho)


But yes, that is the issue. I used to fly all the time. and the inconsistency is what the issue is.
Sometimes its: Oh i ride too. have a nice flight and a great race
other times its: thats a bike. i have to charge you for it. Sorry. It will be x (which is always different)
Then other times its what happened to you. Just a total mess.

I wonder if golfers and surfers deal with the same issue.

Why is baggage policy so hard to make and deal with and enforce consistently.

If we knew, no matter what, that when we travel with our bikes its gonna be X dollars per flight. No discussion. we can budget for that.

But its the ridiculous power trips and inconsistency that we deal with is the issue. (for me anyways).

travel is stressful enough.

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

The customer service rep did say I could share her contact info. I am not about to post it on a public forum but will share it privately.

I do this think was a situation of the agent being a bad apple that I happened to encounter. In 15 years of flying with my bike, being overcharged has happened only once.

TSA not closing my case properly (they don’t understand buckles even though they unbuckled it in the first place) or haphazardly throwing parts back in and getting my bike dinged up, well that’s another story. I put pedals, Allen wrench, etc in my suitcase now. One time the case was so open a skewer was hanging out of the case.

I take the small parts and put them in a ziploc bag, then put that bag in my checked luggage. They include:

Pedals
Skewers
Chain
Derailleur hanger
Stem face plate and screws
Saddle bag w/o CO2
Water bottle cages around a water bottle
Any lights
Any Tools

Sometimes I'll put my saddle and seatpost in my checked luggage depending on what else I'm bringing.

I try to make it as simple as I can for TSA to open/close my box (Ironcase) by leaving the straps slightly loose so they don't have to readjust them to put it back together.

when my wife and i first knew we had a future together to contemplate, we didn't clash over culture (tho she is black and i am white). we didn't argue about religion or politics. (much.) we had no disagreements about finances or children. but we did have one big hurdle to clear. she was an american airlines frequent flyer, and i was for decades allied to united.

we are celebrating 15 years of marriage in a couple of weeks, and my big sacrifice was moving over to AA. i will say, tho, it turned out not to be an issue. in fact, i universally found AA a pleasant host. i found the cabin crews more polite, less surly, but i think if a bankruptcy result in my losing 75 percent of my pension i'd be surly too. about the only good thing with united was the star alliance partner air NZ.

point being, yes, i think you got a bad apple. but i think AA made it right. in my opinion, AA has a real opportunity here, because of its baggage policy. we have a lot of executives, a lot of travelers, in our sport. this thing of getting keel hauled every time you travel with your bike, that is emotional. were it me, wife or no wife, i'd switch from united to AA just because of this. and if i travel 12x a year, maybe 1x is it with my bike, so, this policy is a big fat advertisement for the hard chargers in our sport, and with very little cost associated with it.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

My biggest concern is that everything that has occurred in this case is *reactive* and not *proactive* (with the possible exception of that one pesky agent being scolded). "It happens again? Call me."

Will AA do anything to clarify, for both passengers and agents, exactly what is the policy? What will they do to prevent this scenario from unfolding for everyone who doesn't happen to have the contact info for this person?

Has anyone ever pressed the airlines for why *bicycles* are still singled out for special fees, but not oversized golf bags?

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"Go yell at an M&M"

This happened to me few years ago in Greece. The agent said pay up or she will call the security. The website says one thing but the agent is the god. You wanna fly or not, sucker?

I think that's unfortunate the gest of it, and in essence bike fees is a YMMV issue and in this case, the issue wouldn't have been resolved if not for slowman.

The rule AA and all airlines go by is that flight agents have final say. I was once kicked off a plane for being on my cell phone while the plane was waiting at the gate (4 hour delay by then) with the airplane door open to jetway. Yes, I was stubborn and restated the policy that electronics are supposed to be ok while the plane is still at the jetway (that was a ver ypoor decision). The flight attendant didn't need to give a reason, local agent's judgment trump standard policy, and that was AA customer service's response. I was flying business class and had probably more flight miles than most people and did not get even get any meaningless empty nice words from AA customer service (I was just over platinum exec status, but far from concierge).

Until I have seem enough examples of AA not charging bike fees, I think their policy still needs to have a big asterisk.

Yes please do.

He did report back.