“Someting Sleazy in The Air”
American Airlines has not flown to Haiti since the earthquake, but that does
not mean that the company has not benefited handsomely from
our tragedy. ..
The Airline with a solid reputation of bad service to Haiti is now engaged
is price gouging, taking advantage of passengers who make it to the DR so they
can fly to Miami .
My brother, Dr Fritz Allen , an Ophthalmologist from Washington DC , spent
the week helping patients in Haiti . He was scheduled to fly a charter from
Port-au-prince to Miami on Sunday to resume his practice in Washington the
next day. Given the heavy traffic at the airport, the departure of personnel
was low on the list of priorities and he could not be guaranteed a seat
until early next week. Those who went to help in Haiti understood that
contingency plans would be on their own dime, and my brother did.
His plan is now to cross the border to Santo this afternoon and
catch a flight to Miami tomorrow.
This morning, when he called American, he was offered a seat for $800 one
way to Miami . He made sure the agent knew that he was in Haiti to help and
tried to get a better fare since he was in a special situation: no dice!
It’s the fee since he “did not book in advance”! He had no choice but to
purchase the ticket. The only consolation in this sordid affair is that the
passenger in question is not a victim of the earthquake, but instead went
to help. Imagine that he was a victim and had lost house, business etc…
In this case, I will not give American Airlines the benefit of the doubt,
they must know that they are flying passengers coming from Haiti , and their
callous behavior is to be strenuously condemned.
I think American Airlines should change its slogan from “something
special in the air” to “something sleazy in the air”. Shame on them for
taking advantage of a tragedy!