American Airlines Updates Its Customer Relations

Image: American Airlines updates its customer relations (Photo Credit: American Airlines)
Image: American Airlines updates its customer relations (Photo Credit: American Airlines)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 10:05 AM ET, Tue July 25, 2023

Do you know the name Gemma Flint?

If you’re an American Airlines customer, it probably sounds familiar.

Savvy users noticed that they were receiving the same messages from American's automated customer relations line or email and they were all signed by a Gemma Flint. American has since changed the name on the emails to Cathy Garcia. But it doesn’t matter so much who signs the email as much as the replies didn’t seem to be addressing the original question, as noted by One Mile At A Time. 

Numerous customers complained about the automated system, which American implemented last year.

If customer service agents get a certain amount of emails, the automated system automatically kicks in. But there seems to be no delineation among complaints. The automated system just looks for certain keywords and automatically responds.

If you respond to the automated email and have achieved no satisfaction, a live human customer service agent will call you. But it’s time-consuming.

American Airlines management believes that the automation is working, apparently. But the frustration is that there are only two automated replies, one for operational issues and one for non-operational issues.

Even Gemma Flint would be frustrated.


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Rich Thomaselli

Rich Thomaselli

Associate Writer

Editor Associate Writer true 9281 14744 Rich Thomaselli has written for TravelPulse since 2014 and has been a professional journalist for nearly 40 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, the New York Times and New York Yankees publications. He is an 11-time writ

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