An American Airlines Boeing-777.
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A passenger said American Airlines rebooked his family’s return tickets from a different country.
Sam Taussig was intending to fly home from St Vincent but was put on a flight from St Lucia.
He eventually found a flight from Barbados and hired a private plane to get there from St Vincent.
An American Airlines passenger said the carrier changed his family’s flights back to the US to depart from an entirely different country in the Caribbean.
Denver7 first reported the news.
Sam Taussig told the broadcaster he was checking the seat allocations on the airline’s app on July 4 when he realised the flight had been changed from what he booked back in January.
“I noticed we were flying out of a different country,” Taussig said.
“We were flying out of St Lucia instead of St Vincent, and I thought that was really strange. It must have been a mistake. The customer service agent said, ‘Yes, I’m sorry, sir. You’re in an overbooked situation, and we have moved your flight from St Vincent to St Lucia,’ which is about 100 miles away as the crow flies and five islands north. And I said, ‘Well that’s insane. We have to change this back. This is not acceptable’.”
Taussig eventually rebooked the return flight from Barbados and hired a private plane to get his family there from St Vincent, he told Denver7. He said he had filed a 19-page complaint with the airline.
“They’re going to charge us exorbitant change fees and reticketing fees and split reservation fees totaling almost $30,000 to bring us home a week later,” Taussig told the broadcaster.
American Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment but a representative told Denver7 it had informed Taussig of the changes in April. If flights were overbooked customers could seek a full refund or changes to their itinerary, the spokesperson added.
The aviation industry has been having a difficult few months as demand for travel after the pandemic returned, but combined with staffing issues that has triggered a wave of flight cancelations, travel disruptions, and chaotic scenes at airports.