Yes I was rather harsh [1]. The honourable thing for AA to have done would have been to buy back the tickets at their current value, not try and find a way to weasel out.
1. I am biased as I have hated AA ever since they decided to put me on some secret list (the SSSS list) for no reason which means anytime I flew AA I would be put through the wringer.
Edit. For those interested here is the details about the ssss list [2]. I am not sure what my "crime" was, but I suspect it was because I often flew one way (around the world tickets). The crazy thing is it is airline specific as I am not on the list with any other airline.
> I have hated AA ever since they decided to put me on some secret list (the SSSS list)
Can you prove that AAL did this? If you can't, then this is absolutely not the fault of AAL. This is the fault of DHS or TSA.
Peruse the various air travel articles on the papersplease.org blog for more info. (I wish I could give you good search terms, but some recent relevant articles don't contain the term "SSSS". Maybe try "Secondary Screening"?
How could I possibly prove AA put me on this list? All I can say is only AA has me on this list, so this would suggest AA put me on their own SSSS list. It means that when I fly I actively avoid AA if at all possible. I haven’t flown with AA for around 5 years so I don’t know if I am still on the list, but I am not on it with any other airline.
The worst episode I had was when the TSA forgot to mark off my boarding pass after I went through security. At the boarding gate the AA staff freaked out, called security, and in front of the other passengers I was dragged out of the airport and back through security. I was then left with running through the airport to catch my flight. I just managed to get back to the gate before the plane left.
1. I am biased as I have hated AA ever since they decided to put me on some secret list (the SSSS list) for no reason which means anytime I flew AA I would be put through the wringer.
Edit. For those interested here is the details about the ssss list [2]. I am not sure what my "crime" was, but I suspect it was because I often flew one way (around the world tickets). The crazy thing is it is airline specific as I am not on the list with any other airline.
2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSSS_rating