PHOTO: File photo of angry customer on hold via ThinkStock.
Renee Allen tried.
She was determined to buck the system and not let it win.
But after six hours of elevator music and frustration, the Kansas woman finally gave in and hung up on American Airlines after the carrier's call center didn't answer.
According to Tampa television station Fox13, Allen was flying on Sunday from Garden City, Kansas, to Tampa via Dallas on American. When icy weather hit the Dallas area, the airline sent her a text message notifying her that the flight was cancelled and automatically re-booked for a Monday departure.
American also gave her a contact number to call.
So she did. And waited on hold. And waited, and waited, and waited, and waited ….
"They gave me a phone number to call, I tried to call several times, only to be told that the call volume was too much, and to call back another time. And then it would hang up on me," she told the television station. When she finally got through, an automated message came on and Allen said she figured "maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour. Two hours into it, I realized this is crazy but I'm not going to give up.
Six hours later, she finally gave up.
"This really was horrible customer service. I just could not believe that I could not get through," she told Fox13.
Allen did make it to Tampa on Monday. American Airlines gave the television station this statement:
"We apologize for the frustrating experience. It was a very challenging weekend due to extreme winter weather impacting the Dallas/Fort Worth area. American had more than 2,000 weather-related cancellations system-wide on Saturday and Sunday. We also had extended wait times in our reservations system and social media channels. We worked to re-accommodate customers as quickly as possible based on their individual travel plans."
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