Merger Puts Flight in Holding Pattern

Question: I received a $200 transportation voucher from American Airlines when I agreed to give up my reserved seat last Dec. 28, the busiest flight day of the year. I was told it was good anywhere American flies, so I decided to use it for a round-trip flight to Portland, Ore., where I have a rafting trip scheduled June 21-27. Lo and behold, when I said I wanted to use my voucher to pay for the trip, the attendant said: “I’m sorry, but we’re only flying to points east until our merger with AirCal is completed July 1. You can’t use your travel voucher for the AirCal flight to Portland until that date.”

I’m furious because my expensive rafting trip is already partially paid for, and I was counting on using my AA voucher. Not too long ago, I had seen American’s Supersaver ads for trips to Portland, so I assumed that they flew there. I feel resentful that I gave up my seat last Christmas in exchange for a voucher I can’t use.

I called AA’s consumer affairs office at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, where an exasperated staff member told me that the merger business is “complicated” and that “no exception” could be made for my situation. They’ll accept the voucher in July, but not 10 days earlier, when I need to fly.--L.B.

Answer: I don’t blame you for being vexed and, frankly, neither does Steve MacGregor of American Airlines’ corporate communications department in Dallas. Both AA and you--and particularly you--are victims of the accounting profession.

Unfortunately, during the gestation period of a merger, rigid accounting rules go into effect and the primary one is: It is a no-no to mix the bookkeeping of the two corporations involved in a merger until the merger takes effect. And, according to MacGregor, that date is, indeed, July 1.

Instant Validity

The minute that happens, AirCal will, in effect, disappear, and your voucher will be good anywhere American and the old AirCal go.

It’s true that AA does have flights to Portland, but none of them, unfortunately, originate from Los Angeles. That was a major consideration in the merger in the first place, MacGregor adds--to get those north-south routes on which AirCal had a hammerlock.

AA will honor your travel voucher before July 1, but only on AA flights to Portland. And this would mean that you would have to go to either Chicago or Dallas-Fort Worth (on your own) to pick up the free AA flight to Portland. “And that’s hardly practical,” MacGregor notes.

Normally, if it were anything but a merger like this, American would probably find it possible to bend the rules a little to accommodate your schedule. But, alas, there’s simply nothing that can be done.

Unless, MacGregor suggests, you might find it possible to postpone your partially paid rafting trip until after July 1. Which, we both fear, is probably the second solution that occurred to you and which, for some reason, probably isn’t possible.

Deep regrets.