American airlines moved my flight- do I have a claim?

spearmintsorbet

Hi all

Please help if you can Im new!

Last September I was trying to fly from La Paz, Bolivia back to the UK. I was on a gap year and the flights were booked for me by the agency- I was going via Miami with American Airlines.

Some of you may have seen on the news that at the time Bolivia was going through major turmoil/violence and this was all happening in Santa Cruz (2 hrs flight from La Paz).

So 2 days before my flight AA had a fight with the Bolivian government. Suddenly they refused to fly from La Paz. They were instead flying from Santa Cruz (the MOST dangerous area of the country).

Of course, all roads going to Santa Cruz were blocked due to aforementioned violence. AA offered me no compensation, I could fly from Santa Cruz or try to get flights 3 or 4 weeks later when their dispute had been settled. Many flights to Santa Cruz were cancelled and I queued for days in travel agencies around La Paz, crying and pleading to get home. Finally I paid 250 dollars to fly with another airline to Santa Cruz and got on the AA flight. No apology was given and Bolivian staff were highly aggressive.

Do you think I have a case? Even though I have left it very late to complain? There is no hope of getting any satisfaction through Bolivian law, but could I go through American law regarding the matter?

All replies much appreciated, thanks so much!

Itsgottabedone

If it had happened last week I'd be recommending that you look into the possibility of claiming against your Travel Insurance policy, but doubt that they'd entertain a claim now. Worth a look, though?

Ivory_Tinkler

Firstly I think you've left it too late to make any kind of claim and secondly there is probably a get-out clause during times of unrest or terrorist activity so that they don't have to pay out. You say that the airline fell out with the Bolivian government but you don't really know why - maybe there was a threat against the airline if they flew from La Paz? Whatever the reason, an airline wouldn't just suddenly stop flying from an airport because of some sort of squabble, there would have to have been a real good reason, probably passenger safety.

It was inconvenient yes, but you really should have fought about this one as soon as you got back safely but try contacting your travel insurance company....you never know!

Meepster

Yup - sorry to say, you wont get anywhere with the airline, cancelled flights due to civil unrest are NOT their responsibility unfortunately. You should have claimed on your travel insurance (although some insurance companies have a clause against this as well)