American Airlines reschedules nurse’s flight with three-day layover from Cabo—and refuses to cover hotel costs: ‘I don’t have a single cent on me’
A nurse says she would rather “ [expletive] in [her] hands and clap than ever fly American Airlines ever again.” The reason why? After her car got broken into, she had to withdraw cash from her bank account for a trip to Cabo.
Then, her American Airlines flight got delayed for a full three days and wouldn’t compensate her traveling party for the difficulties.
TikToker Mikayla (@mikaylacapps) explained in a video with over 25,000 views that American Airlines not only did not provide accommodation for a three-day stay, but that they also lost her luggage. Since her experience flying with American Airlines, she’s switched to Delta, saying that “ Delta was great. They were very accommodating and they took off when American Airlines wouldn’t.”
Her trip to Cabo hits an unexpected bump
Mikayla and her friends started a tradition of traveling internationally once per year. The first destination they picked was Cabo, an extremely popular vacation spot in Mexico. However, the day before Mikayla was set to fly out on a 5-day all-inclusive vacation, tragedy struck.
Someone broke into her car and stole a few of her belongings. She was working a night shift as a nurse right before her trip, and the thieves made off with two pairs of boots and her debit card in the clinic parking lot. With very little time to prepare for the unexpected situation, Mikayla quickly withdrew $400 in cash for her trip, converting it to Pesos when she landed in Cabo.
Mikayla had an amazing experience in Cabo, staying at an all-inclusive resort for five days. Then, she flew back with American Airlines, with one leg stopping at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
Mikayla realizes they might get stuck in Dallas
As she looked out the window in Dallas, she noticed that it was raining pretty heavily. The runway was flooding, making her realize that they were “in for a treat.” At first, she thought they would miss their later flight and have to fly out in the morning.
“ They can’t control the weather. I know that,” Mikayla said. “So they started talking about like rescheduling flights, and they’re like, OK, some people are gonna have to stay in a hotel. And I’m like, ‘OK, a night in a hotel won’t kill me.’“
Then American Airlines let them know when they’d be able to reschedule their flight.
“ So they put me and my friends on a flight three days from when we were supposed to actually leave that airport initially,” Mikayla told her audience. “And then they were like, ‘we’re not covering any hotel costs, any transportation, like, nothing like that.’”
Mikayla started to panic, as she didn’t have any money left after the trip. Luckily, she was traveling with her friends, but the entire group felt restless. They had been heavily drinking during their all-inclusive trip, and they had stomach issues, presumably from drinking contaminated water.
So, the group immediately switched gears and started looking at other airlines.
Her friends book flights with Delta
Mikayla asked if one of her friends would temporarily cover a flight for her, considering she had no money. They agreed, so the group set about booking an early morning flight to get back home.
They found a flight at 5:30 a.m. that would leave from the Dallas airport with Delta Airlines. The group quickly booked tickets and then looked for a hotel where they could rest for the evening.
They found a hotel they could rest at for the evening and booked that, too. Then, the group took a shuttle to their lodging, but then quickly found themselves in another bind. One of Mikayla’s friends had accidentally booked a room in a hotel around 50 minutes away from their location. Considering they had an extremely early morning flight, they realized they wouldn’t be able to stay there.
So, the group asked whether the hotel had any rooms available. They did not. But they offered the girls an alternative solution.
How did the girls sleep that night?
Instead of leaving the women high and dry, the hotel suggested something unexpected.
“ We’re like, ‘can we please stay here? Are there any rooms?’ And they’re like, ‘We have no rooms available, but we do have the hotel lobby floor.’ So you know what we did,” Mikayla said. “We took the pillows off the couch and we made a fort in the hotel lobby floor, and we slept on the couch cushions of the hotel lobby floor.”
That night, all of her friends slept in the hotel lobby while waiting for the flight. They took a shuttle from that location the next morning, got on the plane, and made it back home. Mikayla quickly ordered an Amex card and resolved herself to never fly with American Airlines again.
“As soon as I got home, I slept and then I went into work that night and I ordered an Amex and I have been a diehard Delta user since,” Mikayla said.
Is it really American Airlines’ fault?
Some commenters pointed out that American Airlines technically wasn’t at fault for the inclement weather conditions. However, Mikayla did blame the airline for their lack of planning and accommodations.
“Wait, why is this American Airlines fault?” Asked one commenter. Mikayla replied, “[cause] I said so.”
Mikayla clarified that she switched to Delta because they pay for accommodations and have better customer service than American. American Airlines tends to rebook customers on the next available flight to their destination. If there are no flights available, they usually book with a partner airline on behalf of the customer, not rebook three days after the initial flight. American Airlines offers no reimbursement for weather-related delays or things outside the company’s control.
Delta has similar policies. The company offers automatic rebooking for weather-related flight delays, and they price-match other airlines if there are no flights available. Delta notably allows customers to seek fare adjustments if they end up booking a cheaper flight with another airline, even when there are weather-related delays.
According to commenters, American Airlines also has terrible customer service and frequent delays, making it worthwhile to book with Delta instead. “I’ve never had an AA flight that wasn’t delayed,” said one viewer.
@mikaylacapps Oh also they lost my luggage ❤️ #fyp #travel #americanairlines #delta #cabo ♬ original sound – MIKAYLA
The Mary Sue reached out to Mikayla via TikTok direct message. We’ve also sent an email to American Airlines’ press team.
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