AMA: I sued American Airlines and won!

TIL your lawsuit forced them into bankruptcy.

I laughed at this.

Wait-- why did you fly with them again after winning the lawsuit?

Everyone deserves a second chance. Now I'll be flying out of Miami with air France.

So you paid all that money to file a lawsuit and you won, but got nothing from them? Seems rather sucky.

It was 50$ to start a small claims case so it wasn't too much. I'll get pennies on the dollar eventually. I posted this more as a way to show everyone that it IS possible.

You said "...over the next few months..." - did it just take this long to get scheduled to go to court, or was American delaying the process?

What was your first contact from American after filing the lawsuit (i.e. did their legal department call you, etc.)?

They kept on trying to delay the process. Yes, I did receive a call from their legal department stating that it would be pointless to start a case as I would surely lose. They wanted to give me some money and get me away from the whole thing. The sum was too low and I repeatedly refused. They had 2 months to come up with a court date and they took all 2 months.

Yeah I've had bad experiences with them too. I missed a flight one day because they said all their flights were on time and I even asked a lady about it and she said yes. Then I waited for three hours in love just to be told it had been cancel led five hours before. Needless to say o was pissed

Was it weather related or not?

Yes

Snow I think

See that's the problem, weather you cannot do a thing about.

No the plane being canceled wasn't the problem. The screen said the flight was all good and I waited in line for about three hours and asked attendants if the flight was still OK. They said yes then an hour later the flight board said it was OK so I tried boarding the flight but they said it had been cancel led hours ago when the screen had said it was good and the attending said that as well

Oh I have something kinda like that.

I was getting something to eat for dinner at the terminal considering we had 2 hours left. I then got a call that we were boarding in 10 minutes. I then had to run all the way there just to be told that the plane was still late and it was a false alarm...

*whether

No I am using the word weather here as in snow or rain...

Did someone from the company show up to defend the small claims court case or did you win be default. Can you give a quick run down of how small claims court works

2 reps came and were dressed very nicely. I flipped both of them in court like a crepe.

You present your case to the judge, if he says it's OK you have to contact American Airlines giving a court date. If they don't show up it is up to the judge to decide the decision and if they do show up they can try to defend their side of the story. You can get up to 10,000$ settlement. I had a friend that owed me that was a lawyer so he came down and was there. I mostly represented myself.

This is all I could think about when you said you flipped both of them in court like a crepe.

Being French I can only cringe while I chuckle.

He just pulled out a grand and said here?

Haha no I was given 300 immediately and then giving 250$ per ticket (3 tickets) as American Airlines travel credits. I will be refunded the money spent on the car rental, but I'm not counting on it.

[deleted]

No, I drove from Dallas to my home. I missed the flight that was leaving Dallas and the next one with enough space was Tuesday.

How do you drive home 6 hours from Puerto Rico… an island? Amphibious car or did you catch a flight from San Juan to a different airport on the mainland?

No we made it to Dallas but missed a connecting flight home haha.

Point of view of the Manager in San Juan

This gringo has his flights fucked up. Keeps threatening to sue us. What's this us stuff? Like I did it to him.

Heard gringo sued and won. Good for him.

Oh oh. Company mad at me. Says they fire me if happens again.

Fuck. That gringo is back. Hope this time everything's better. What the fuck? Does he break the planes himself or something? Says he's gonna sue me. Fuck it. I give him my entire life savings just to make him go away.

Hahaha. No words can describe what I am feeling because you you right now. xD

What American Airlines did to you was just plane wrong.

http://i.imgur.com/wjANVCD.jpg

After a few weeks they appealed the case and filed for bankruptcy causing me to get zero money whatsoever.

Wut? Care to explain more on this?

When they appealed the case it reopened it and after they filed bankruptcy they couldn't pay the money immediately. I will receive money but it won't be for a long time.

Verification?

It'll take some digging through my stuff to find as it was 2 years ago but I'll find it.

oh what a big man you are! hey let me buy you a pack of gum, i'll show you how to chew it

I like 5 gum, but make sure not to get the black pieces.

[deleted]

700$ in AA credit, 300$ as a refund.

OP all about dat smug

Dat name.

Northeast weather + Delta just made me miss the first two days of sxsw. I had to pay for the hotel and admission anyway.

That sucks, but if it is weather related they don't have to do anything.

Please elaborate on what you mean by "Over the next few months of American trying to get me away from the lawsuit". What exactly did they do?

They kept on trying to negotiate and give me very low compensation. They most they offered me was 1250$. It may sound a lot but that was less than what the delay cost me.

Should've taken it! Since you wound up getting nothing :(

Yea, but I didn't know they were gonna pull a dick move like that.

*cost

Sorry.

I am lost at what you're asking for?

that was less than what the delay costed me.

Should be:

that was less than what the delay cost me.

Sorry just woke up and I'm on an iPhone.

For unplanned texas stop, you can record the AA reps without notifying them - http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74545

Well that would have been to know...
Thanks for the info!

How does a few thousand bucks cause AA to go in to bankruptcy? This doesn't add up.

It didn't cause them to go bankrupt. They appealed it because they knew that they were about to file for bankruptcy.

Edit: I misread OP's AMA statement. My bad.

In general, people do sue too much, but I think OP's legal case was NOT an abuse of the legal system.

Hmmm when I lose several thousand dollars, yea I might be a little upset and want my money back.

My bad OP, I didn't fully read your AMA. I spoke too soon. I thought you were suing because of a flight being lost and having to stay in a hotel (which was run down). I guess this is what I deserve for not paying close enough attention.

My apologies.

No problem, at least you're not that one guy down there…

Haha. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he is just a troll, especially with a name like that. Most Christians that I know aren't so blatantly ignorant.

Then again, I do hear and see horror stories on Reddit of assholes leaving bible verses instead of tips.

Haha I have a lot of Christian friends, I am agnostic, and have never shown such ignorance. What really puzzles me is this has nothing to do with religion. Haha.

I know, but a common "troll" I have come across is a "southern, white, christian, soccer mom" who somehow has stumbled upon reddit and voices her opinions on some of the controversial topics. I think it is just a trolls way of gaining attention.

Then again, there are a lot of stupid people (some happen to be christian) so the person could be legit.

Haha it could be some 400 pound, Doritos munching, pedophile. We may never know.
Considering "it's" comment karma I'm sure it's a troll:p

EPIC WIN! I would gold you if I could! Great post!

Haha thanks!

To be honest with you I passed up the chance to sue once. I gave the kid a break. Long story.

Short version? haha

I was in a car accident. I was sleeping in the back seen while we got rear ended. I got terrible whip lash. The kid was in college so I took it easy on him. I couldn't sleep in a car for years.

working as a nurse, i once had a patient that was a quadriplegic.

He was sitting in a parked car during lunch, and decided to have a nap in the passenger seat. Meanwhile, a woman had passed out at her job, so they sent her home. She was driving, had a seizure, jumped the curb and T-boned the parked car with the guy in it. Paralyzed him.

It was sad, he just wANTED TO be wrapped all up, with a towel around his head and for me to put headphones on him and let him listen to music. it was like that guy in the Metallica "One" video from that movie "Johnny got his gun".

He was 30 years old and was waiting to be sent to live out the rest of his life in a nursing home.

He said the next week after the accident, the lady had a new car, and had never spoken to him, or apologized, she just went on with her life. Meanwhile, he said his medical bills had long since passed $1million .

Damn.

Oh alright. Glad you have a good heart! But being the airlines and them screwing everyone all the time it was worth a try.

Well if you felt how my neck felt.... I couldn't sleep right for a week. If that happened again I would sue in a second. I truly suffered and had PTSD after. Bit of a back story. My grandmother sued her job so she didn't have to work.. I really didn't want to take that route.

Serious stuff. EDIT: If you like guns try to make sure you say you don't have PTSD, with the new gun bans you wouldn't be allowed.

You should read my AMA. Guns is totally out of the question for me. I'm an advocate for peace anyway.

Checking it out right now.

What do lemurs eat?

Everyone knows this: Octopussy

The problem with this country: too many entitled ass holes. You had a crap vacation and should have sucked it up, fought for a refund and never used them again. Instead you're showing other lazy jerks like you that they should make money off every inconvenience. I despise people like you and I'm glad your trip sucked.

Joke's on you, I had an amazing vacation once I reached destination. Like I have said to others, several thousand dollars in not a slight inconvenience.

you are everything that is wrong with society.

Let's say you hire a construction company and pay them $2,000 to repair your roof. Then they don't do it. When puddles are forming on your bedroom floor and you ask for your money back, they refuse. What do you do?

OP paid for a service, American Airlines didn't deliver that service (certainly not as promised). He asked for some sort of compensation and they refused to give it.

Very good comparison.

Would you rather blow a pipe shaped dick or a dick shaped pipe?

Dick Shaped Pipe For Shure

Other than the fact that you can get away with it, what makes you think it's acceptable to sue companies every time things don't go your way?

I'm trying to keep my hand from going through my face with the name/question combination.

The fact that they have wronged me so many times already and did not follow legal guidelines is why I choose to sue ONE company.

Think before you type.

What would you prefer for someone with my screen name to have said? Would you prefer I had said "Congratulations on robbing a company because they slightly inconvenienced you! Keep up the good work!"?

When you say "think before you type", what you seem to mean is blindly assume that you're telling the truth instead of lying through your teeth to cover your backside. People sue to get rich quick all the time, so it's not like it's all that unreasonable to think that you're one of them, especially since you have the attitude that you're entitled to money that you didn't work for, unless you call throwing a hissy fit and suing them "working".

I'm not throwing a hissy fit and last time I checked anything less of 10,000 dollars is not "getting rich." When I lose several thousand dollars for something that is their fault yea I am going to sue.
And if you are just gonna let several thousand just go by then I wish I had your bank account because that's not a little bit of money to fucking piss away.

Speaking of thinking before you type, if you're wealthy enough that anything under $10,000 is that little of a deal to you, why bother to put a proverbial gun to the company's head and force them to pay you a measly little $1,000? Why go through all the trouble of court proceedings and so forth for what you apparently see as pocket change?

So you're telling me it is alright to get ducked by the company and not do anything? If that's how you live your life it's time for a change.
I hope you don't speak in tongues.

If everyone sued companies over every mistake every business would fail. There are definitely many situations where an appropriate response is to sue but inconvenience isn't a good enough reason. Learn to be the bigger person and realize shit happens. Maybe your parents should have taught you forgiveness, discipline and to just let some shut go. Grow up. Your not a hero, just another self righteous ass.

Shit*

And it was actually not the first time.
My wife had a conference in Denver a few months before and delay made her miss it by a whole day. We cut our losses and hoped they would change their ways.

If you retalliate in kind, that makes you no better, in fact it makes you worse because you're a hypocrite for claiming moral outrage and then turning around and doing the same thing to them that they did to you.

So them taking money from me and me losing money, then taking what was mine in the first place is what they were doing?

"After a few weeks they appealed the case and filed for bankruptcy causing me to get zero money whatsoever." A direct quote from the story. That hardly qualifies as getting rich quick.

Does that mean she wasn't trying to? No. It means she didn't succeed.

I won the case, they filed for bankruptcy.
That means they don't have the money to pay me.

So basically you're saying I'm right.

No I am not. And why do you think I am automatically female.
That is a bit sexist don't you think?