She Spent Over $850 After Her Flight Got Pushed To Another Day, And She Says The Airline Refuses To Reimburse Her
On June 21, 2025, TikToker Meghan Golden (@meghangolden830) was on an American Airlines flight 3245 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to San Diego, California, with her two young kids, ages nine and five. Her parents were also on the plane, but they had booked their tickets separately.
After boarding the plane, all the passengers sat there waiting for over an hour. They were told that the plane was experiencing a mechanical issue.
The issue could not be fixed, so the passengers had to get off the plane and wait until they were assigned a new one.
For the next hour or so, they were moved to a couple of different gates. Finally, they were told to go to a new gate, which was in another terminal.
So, they moved from Terminal B to Terminal C. Once they arrived at the new gate, they were informed that their flight would be at 5 a.m. the next day.
At that point, it was around 10 p.m. The agents at the gate were scrambling around trying to figure things out. They told the passengers that they would receive meal vouchers, but none of them ever did. It didn’t matter anyway because all the shops and restaurants were closed.
American Airlines also offered to cover hotel and rideshare costs, but all the hotels near the airport were booked up.
They shared a link to a hotel in downtown Philadelphia that passengers could book at a discounted rate. The rooms were $400 to $500.
Before booking a room, Meghan asked an agent if they had maximum reimbursement rates in place. The agent told her that she could just book a room, and American Airlines would reimburse her for the cost of the room. A few other people asked about reimbursement for ridesharing costs and were given a similar answer.
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Meghan quickly used the link to book a hotel room for her and her kids. Then, she helped her parents book one, too.
Her room cost about $450, but since she booked through the link, it actually cost her over $600. There was a $150 fee to book through the link, even though it was supposed to have saved her money.
For the past few weeks, she has been going back and forth with American Airlines because they only want to reimburse her $200.
She submitted all her receipts to them, which showed that she spent over $850 out of her own pocket. She has spoken with them three times, but they are still unwilling to fully reimburse her.
American Airlines also offered to give her and each of her kids a $200 flight credit. Usually, Meghan flies with different airlines, but in this case, American Airlines had the direct flights she needed, so that’s what she booked. It turned out to be a mistake because she had a horrible experience with them.
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