Customers keep having beef with American Airlines, and since the airline isn’t helping them, they’re airing out their grievances on TikTok.
In a viral video fast approaching a million views, an American Airlines customer recounted the terrible, and frankly confusing, experience she had flying with them. “Since no one at American Airlines gives a sh*t, I’m gonna talk about this because it just happened to me,” Alyssa (@alyssaannaaa) said.
In the clip, she explained that she was supposed to have a direct flight from Saint Thomas (in the Caribbean) to Chicago, but once on the plane, the flight attendants tell them they’re actually going to Miami. Last time I checked, Miami and Chicago are not even close. The flight was supposed to be nonstop to Chicago, and then Alyssa had a connection to Los Angeles.
Alyssa stayed on the plane, and she and other passengers are still confused about where they’re headed. Some were told Miami, and others were told Chicago. But there were no email updates or in-app updates letting them know if anything had changed.
The attendants eventually confirmed that they were, in fact, going to Miami but assured the passengers that they’d talk to their Miami crew to get everyone rebooked to the correct destination. That didn’t happen. Instead, Alyssa and about 20 other people waited at the gate for the manager to fix the situation.
“We weren’t supposed to be going to Miami. That’s crazy right? Like, imagine you had a nonstop flight somewhere, and they just made a stop somewhere else,” Alyssa said. “That’s not what you paid for.”
She also noted something really strange: They never scanned her boarding pass or looked at her ID; they only asked her for her seat number when she boarded.
She was eventually directed to the rebooking area, where the experience continues to go bad. The person responsible for helping her get home is heavily flirting with her, making Alyssa feel uncomfortable.
Despite Alyssa telling the guy she had a boyfriend, he asked if she’d “date anyone else while you’re with your boyfriend?” He even asked for her number and Instagram. “Because he’s rebooking my flight, what if I don’t give him my Instagram, is he gonna not book me a new flight?” she said.
After that uncomfortable interaction, Alyssa and her fellow Chicago travelers were rebooked for morning flights without hotel accommodations. “So screw you, American Airlines, thank you,” she said.
@alyssaannaaa @American Airlines ♬ original sound – alyssanotfound
Commenters were just as confused as Alyssa about how the airline handled the situation.
“NO BECAUSE ITS WILD THEY DIDNY SCAN UR BOARDING PASS,” the top comment read.
“How do they switch locations like that??? Huh?? I’m so confused never heard of this,” a person asked.
“This happened to my nephew this summer. Same thing diverted to Miami and had to spend the night there without compensation. Still hasn’t been resolved,” another shared.
TikTok is full of American Airlines horror stories (though to be fair, there are bad stories about each airline). Just a few weeks ago, a grieving mother was initially denied a refund for her deceased son’s flight, despite having sent in the death certificate proving he wouldn’t be on the flight.
Another customer said the airline gave them a measly $25 credit after she spent her own $600 to rebook a flight after it was canceled. And yet another person accused the company of racism after they gave a white family a hotel voucher due to flight delays but not her.
The Daily Dot reached out to Alyssa and American for comment via email for comment.