A man set on getting his family to his brother’s wedding drove all night to arrive in time after American Airlines allegedly rebooked them flights to the wrong country.
The botched travel plans led Grady Heins to rent a car and drive all night so he and his three children could attend the big day.
In January, the lawyer booked tickets for a connecting flight from Seattle across almost the entirety of the US to Burlington, Vermont, for the wedding in May.
Shortly before their departure, he was shocked to get an email from the airline that asked him to prepare for his “upcoming trip to Canada.”
It turned out that the final destination had been changed from Burlington to Montreal without his permission, Mr Heins told Insider.
He said he managed to take an afternoon off work so that he could go to Seattle airport to change the flights in person after he couldn’t reach a customer service representative on the phone.
At the airport, staff found him and his family seats on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Philadelphia. The plan was that, from there, they would catch an onwards American Airlines flight to Burlington.
But, after the family landed in Philadelphia, they found that the connecting flight to Burlington was cancelled.
According to Mr Heins, the airline told him it was cancelled because a flight attendant did not report for duty.
He also claimed that American Airlines customer support told him there were no hotel rooms available for that night and that the company could not provide a rental car.
After four hours in the airport, he decided to retrieve their luggage, rent a car, and drive the family for about six and a half hours to Burlington.
American Airlines apologised to Mr Heins for the cancelled flight and the wrong rebooking, according to emails seen by Insider.
But the airline only offered a refund for the car rental and the cancelled Burlington leg, rather than the whole trip, the emails reportedly show.
As an alternative to the refund, the airline offered vouchers of $300 (about £255) per passenger.
A spokesperson for American Airlines told Insider: “We apologise for the inconvenience caused after Mr Heins’ connecting flight from Philadelphia to Burlington was cancelled. We have been in contact with him regarding his experience.”
