Man Says Passengers ‘Begged’ American Airlines To Cancel The Flight At Miami Airport. Were They Valid?

This season has seen a lot of flight disruptions.

Recent winter storms have spurred the cancellation or significant delays of numerous flights. As noted by CBS News, more than 11,000 flights were canceled on Sunday, Jan. 25 alone—the highest number of single-day cancelations since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While things got better the following weekend, there were still significant setbacks. Thousands of cancellations and countless delays meant many people were stranded for hours or even days at a time, often with little recourse or alternatives for getting out.

Now, a user on TikTok is calling out American Airlines for how they handled this mess. According to him, the full story involves more than a few delays.

What Went Wrong With This American Airlines Flight?

In a video with over 16,000 views, TikTok user @fitnessgamer1 shows himself standing in the Miami International Airport.

“Don’t you love when American Airlines makes you wait in the airport for eight and a half hours just to cancel the flight on all of these people?” he starts. “And then telling us every 30 minutes that someone is coming, and then they never come?”

“That’s f—— crazy, American Airlines, and you better f—— hope you’re gonna compensate us,” he concludes.

If Your Flight Gets Canceled, What Are You Entitled To?

Every airline has different policies when it comes to cancellations. However, this depends on whether the cancellations were “controllable.”

According to the Department of Transportation, American Airlines will offer free rebooking, free meal vouchers after waits of more than 3 hours, and “complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation,” including transport to and from the hotel.

However, NerdWallet notes that only a select few issues are considered “controllable.” These include “maintenance delays, crew scheduling problems, fuel or baggage loading issues and cabin cleaning delays.”

As the TikToker’s delay and eventual cancellation were likely due to weather, he is not entitled to all of these privileges. Instead, the airline is simply required to rebook him on another flight or fully refund him for the cancelled flight, per the DOT.

Airlines try their best to prepare for these situations if there are known weather events incoming. For example, prior to these recent storms, many airlines allowed passengers to rebook for free.

In the TikToker’s case, he says in a comment that he was not given the option to rebook. Instead, he was asked if he could be “flexible” when checking in and answered in the affirmative. Despite this, he says he was made to stay in the airport through multiple delays and an eventual cancellation.

In another comment, he states that the airline “gave me 7500 points which is like 17$ lol and no hotels or travel or food [compensation].”

Why Do Airlines Take So Long To Cancel Flights?

Given that the airline knew the severity of the storm, many may wonder why they continued to delay the flight rather than immediately cancel it outright.

In a discussion on Reddit, users debated this same topic. Some claimed that airlines refused to cancel simply for optics, noting that they can still say they completed the flight even if it occurs hours after the original takeoff time.

However, others noted that cancelling a flight is a way bigger deal than people realize. First, if a flight is canceled, the entire crew—and, occasionally, the plane itself—need to be repositioned. Not only that, but the cancellation of one flight can have a cascading effect, causing other flights to be cancelled.

Finally, further users explained that airlines tend to err on the side of viability. If they know that the flight will be delayed but believe there is a possibility that they could resolve the delay quickly, they will opt to announce smaller delays over and over rather than one massive delay that could be fixed sooner than expected. This, it is thought, results in passengers waiting for less time at the airport, even if there’s frustration regarding continual delays.

Commenters Are Divided

In the comments section, some users said that the TikToker should be more forgiving of the airline given the dramatic weather. That said, others countered with their own recent travel horror stories.

“Same,” wrote a commenter. “Our flight was canceled 2x and then delayed 8 hours on our final flight on new tickets we purchased. Only offered a partial refund nothing else.”

“Literally just had the worst experience at PHL. Slept in the airport and finally booked on delta to get home. Count your days AA,” said another.

“Hahahha they made me wait 4 days and didnt not get compensation,” stated a third.

BroBible reached out to American Airlines via email and @fitnessgamer1 via TikTok direct message and comment.