Joel Hayes Complaint

1 of 24 BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF AVIATION ENFORCEMENT AND PROCEEDINGS WASHINGTON, D.C.

------------------------------------------------------ ) ) Joel Hayes , ) third -party complainant ) )
v. ) Docket DOT

- OST -2014-____ ) American Airlines, Inc. ) )

------------------------------------------------------ ) COMPLAINT OF JOEL HAYES Comments with respect to this document should be addressed to: Joel Hayes

E- mail:

Dated: May 19, 2014Joel Hayes Complaint

2 of 24 BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF AVIATION ENFORCEMENT AND PROCEEDINGS WASHINGTON, D.C.

--------------------------------------------------------------- ) ) Joel Hayes , ) thir d-party complainant ) )
v. ) Docket DOT

- OST -2014-____ ) American Airlines, Inc. ) )

--------------------------------------------------------------- ) COMPLAINT OF JOEL HAYES
1. This complaint arises out of American Airlines falsely accusing me of “creat[ing] fictitious reservations” purportedly “to block premium seats for the sole purpose of obtaining AAdvantage upgrades.” Based on these false accusations, American penalized my AAdvantage account by 60,000 miles and denied my ability to use AAdvantage miles consistent with the terms and conditions of the AAdvantage

program. 2. In fact I did not take steps to create fictitious reservations , and I certainly took no actions with the intent of blocking others from buying seats. Rather, I used American ’s ordinary fare quote and seat viewing systems to see seats on a flight . B ut I never put any such records on hold

. As best I can tell, such reservations were created only due to design flaws in American ’s own system, flaws that were unknown to me, that are unknown to reasonable consumers, and for which I should not be held responsible.Joel Hayes Complaint

3 of 24 I. Facts 3. In October 2013 I booked March 2014 leisure travel AUS- DFW

- LHR

DFW

- AUS with all segments on American . I requested upgrades using AAdvantage miles and cash copayment. My requests were waitlisted.
4. Approximately two weeks after I purchased the ticket , my return flight upgrade cleared.
5. As my outbound flights drew nearer, I began wonder whether my outbound flight upgrade would clear (which of course would affect my comfort during the journey, the restfulness of my journey, and my activities immediately upon arrival). While I have flown Internationally twice before in the last few years, this was my first chance to actually have an upgrade to Business on an International flight. I did not want to call American staff repeatedly, as that would take their time and impose a cost on American . Instead, I sought to look at the seatmap of the Business cabin to see what seats were available. At least once per day, and sometimes more than once per day, I used the following procedure:

a. Browse to www.aa.com , and enter my specified origin, destination, and dates. See Attachment 1.A. 1
b. Select the flights on which I sought to check upgrades, and specify business class transport. See Attachment 1.B.

c. Press Continue (usually without logging in to my AAdvantage account, since that was described as “Optional”). See Attachment 1. C.

1 The screenshots show future travel on an arbitrarily

- selected date. When I performed this procedure, I used the dates of my March 2014 trip.Joel Hayes Complaint

4 of 24 d. Enter placeholder passenger details

. 2 Press Continue. See Attachment 1. D and 1.E.

e. See the seatmap, and count available seats in my desired upgraded cabin. See Attachment 1. F.
6. In no case did I ever in struct that AA put any placeholder reservations on hold, nor did I ever otherwise request that AA put any reservation on hold. I note that after a passenger finishes the seatmap sc reen (shown in in Attachment 1.F ), the passenger can proceed to a final booking screen (shown in 1.G ) where the passenger may pay for the ticket or choose an option labeled “Free 24 Hour Hold. ” I am confident that I never chose the option for “hold” in any instance where I was checking upgrade availability. Indeed, I believe I rarely or never proceed ed from the seatmap screen (1. F ) to the final booking confirmation screen (1.G ) where AA offers the hold function.

II. Rationale for My Use of the Process Detailed in Paragraph 5 7. I credit that the process detailed in paragraph 5 requires several steps. But I was anxious to know whether my upgrade would clear based on all the great things I had heard about business class (where I have [rarely] been able to travel) and the comfort and rest that would provide on a long trip. After a bit of practice, I could perform the process quite quickly (well under a minute), and I didn’t mind that effort, given my excitement about the trip.
8. Initially I had expected that I’d be able to use the My Reservations feature

to see whether my upgrade was likely to clear, my position on the waitlist, or other information about availability in the desired cabin. But when I looked on AA.COM, I

2 I entered gibberish “ASDF

- type” name and details for the reasons described in Section II

. At least once, I tried pressin g “ Show Details ” in hopes of a direct link or other command to see a seatmap, but no such function was available there.Joel Hayes Complaint

5 of 24 found none of this information. The seatmap linked from my reservation was only a seatmap fo r the cabin in which I was ticketed and confirmed (coach), which gave me no information about upgrade availability.
9. I used a placeholder passenger, rather than logging in to AA.COM, because when I logged into AA.COM and attempted to proceed with the proced ure detailed in paragraph 5 , I received an error message indicating that there was a duplicate booking. By entering a placeholder passenger, I was able to see the desired business class seatmap despite being already ticketed in coach.
10. At the time when I performed the process detailed in paragraph 5 , I was not aware that AA.COM provides a View Available Seats function. ( I am now aware of that function, and I see that it offers a faster means to access the same seatmap information I obtained. If I seek information about upgrade seating availability in the future, I’d surely use View Available Seats instead.)

III. American ’s Allegations and My Attempts to Communicate with American 11. The day before my departure, I found that I was unable to access my AAA account to check on the upgrade or check in to my flight. I called the American Platinum Desk but did not receive useful information. I later managed to reach someone who said that his boss “Valerie” would email me. I was subsequently able to see my account, but 60,000 miles were removed as “ADV Adjust Award” leaving me with just 3,000 miles left. Suspecting that someone had hacked my American account, I called my bank as well —worried that my passwords might have been compromised.
12. Later that afternoon, I received an email from Valerie Durant of American Corporate Security . See Attachment 2. Ms. Durant stated that “Corporate Security hasJoel Hayes Complaint

6 of 24 detected ... fictitious bookings on AA50 from Dallas/Ft. Worth to London/Heathrow on 21MAR.” She continued: “Our investigation indicates that you or someone acting on your behalf, created the fictitious reservations for First and Business Clas s seats on flights in which you are ticketed in coach class and upgrades were desired. These First and Business class bookings were systematically booked from January 8, 2014 to today (March 20, 2014) to block premium seats for the sole purpose of obtaini ng AAdvantage upgrades.” She listed 35 such reservations over that 75-day period. She said “these fictitious bookings [are] a clear violation of the AA.COM Site Usage and General AAdvantage Program Conditions provisions” because they are “false reservations” and “fraud, misrepresentation, abuse, or any other violation of ... applicable rules, including but not limited to the conditions of carriage, which specifically prohibit creating bookings to hold or block seats for the purpose of obtaining a seat that may not otherwise be available.”
13. I immediately replied to Ms. Durant to alert her to her error. In short, I explained: “I was only trying to see how many seats were still available in business.” I received no reply. See Attachment 3.
14. I traveled in coach on AUS

- DFW -LHR. Ms. Durant’s message indicated that I would not be permitted to utilize any upgrade on AUS- DFW

- LHR, an d so I did not attempt to do so
. 15. After completing my journey, I wrote to American Customer Service (April 9, April 14) and [received no reply]. See Attachment 4.
16. On April 22, I again wrote to Ms. Durant, reiterating her errors and urging her both to investigate further and to reply. She did not reply. See Attachment 5.Joel Hayes Complaint

7 of 24 17. On April 28, I again wrote to Ms. Durant, suggesting that the 60,000 mile penalty

— which I still claimed was improper —should be donated to charity, not retained by American . Ms. Durant repli ed to decline. See Attachment 6

.

IV. American ’s Allegation s Are Mistaken 18. A proper inquiry will reveal that the facts are as I allege in Section I. Crucially, I never activated the AA.COM “hold” function to request that any itineraries be placed on hold—I never clicked that button, and in most or all instanc es I never even proceeded from the seatmap (Attachment 1.F) to the subsequent screen where the “Hold” option is listed (Attachment 1.G). Moreover, AA.COM gave zero indication that I had placed any reservations on hold. For example , I never received any e mail confirmation indicating a n itinerary had been placed on hold or a reservation had been created . Nor did the AA.COM site show me the hold confirmation screen that gives the record locator of a reservation placed on hold and the deadline for ticketing.
19. Ms. Durant is also mistaken in her allegations about my intent. Ms. Durant says I “created ... fictitious reservations for First and Business Class seats” but in fact I only viewed the seatmap, and I never pressed a “Hold” button or took any other act tha t a reasonable person would recognize as creating a reservation . Ms. Durant says that I created fake reservations “to block premium seats for the sole purpose of obtaining AAdvantage upgrades,” but this allegation is also false in that 1) I did not reques t the creation of any reservation , and 2) my purpose was only to view availability to assess my upgrade prospects. Ms. Durant seems to be content to infer my intend from my supposed conduct, but her incorrect information about my conduct led her to an inc orrect conclusion about my intent.Joel Hayes Complaint

8 of 24 20. The ordinary dictionary definition of relevant terms confirms the error of Ms. Durant’s accusations . The gravamen of Ms. Durant’s message is that I made “fictitious bookings”, “bookings,” “Business Class bookings”, “fictitious reservations”, “First and Business Class bookings,” “systematically booked,” “fictitious bookings,” “false reservations,” and “bookings” (sequential quotes form her message). So far as I know, the American Conditions of Carriage, Tariff, and other documents do not define the term s “booking” or “reservation,” so I look to an ordinary dictionary. MerriamWebster : booking : an arrangement to have something (such as a room) held for your use at a later time reservation : an arrangement to have something (such as a room, table, or seat) held for your use at a later time I made no such “arrangement” because I never requested that anything be held for my use. Indeed, AA.COM has a clearly

- labeled function to put a reservation on hold (the “Free 24 Hour Hold” button), but I specifically did not activate that option

. 21. On information and belief, based on facts now known to me but not known to me at the time, American sometimes creates some kind of temporary reservation as a passenger browses the AA.COM site, even if the passenger never presse s the Hold button to ask that an itinerary be placed on hold . I do not know what customer activities cause American to create such a temporary reservation, but I gather this must have occurred as I clicked through to view the seat map. 22. To confirm that AA.COM creates temporary reservation s even when a passenger only takes the steps described in paragraph 5 (without pressing any “Hold” button or similar), I repeated the steps listed in paragraph 5 while logged in to AA.COM with my AAdvantage account . Immediately after completing those steps, I clicked onJoel Hayes Complaint

9 of 24 Plan Travel – My Trips. I saw a new trip listed in the My Trips screen , with a departure date and city pairs matching what I had just searched for. Crucially, the new trip was already shown as “Canceled .” When I clicked the new trip shown in My Trips, no flights were listed and the resulting page again stated that the trip was “Canceled .”
23. The test described in paragraph 22 entailed just a few seconds of gap between my viewing the seatmap and my seeing the itinerary labeled as “Canceled.” On information and belief, clicking to any other page in AA.COM is sufficient to cause AA.COM to release the temporary reservation and mark it as “Canceled.” I expect that there is also some sort of timeout, perhaps a predetermined number of seconds or minutes, if a user leaves AA.COM from the seatmap screen without clicking anything else. Based on this testin g, I expect that the AA.COM site similarly made only very brief temporary reservations as I performed the procedure described in paragraph 5. Ms. Durant alleges that my actions were intended “to hold or block seats”—but if the

au tomatically

- created temporary reservations existed for just a few seconds each (consistent with my testing ), the “hold or block” was exceptionally brief and correspondingly less likely to impede the sale of those seats to anyone else.
24. Ms. Durant cites the AA.COM Site Usage rules, General AAdvantage Program Conditions , and Conditions of Carriage , all of which prohibit “Fictitious, Fraudulent or Abusive and Duplicate or Impossible/Illogical reservations” (or similar). But these prohibitions all speak to behavior a passenger in fact intends to perform. For example, the COC prohibits that “Duplicate or impossible/illogical American Airlines bookings”— but I never made any “bookings” because I never clicked to request that any itineraries be placed on hold.Joel Hayes Complaint

10 of 24 25. I recognize that it may seem preposterous that AA.COM creates a reservation even when a passenger does not press a ny button to request that a reservation be created. I was shocked also. But such illogical behavior is particularly plausible in light of other significant defects known to occur on AA.COM including presenting fare quotes with arithmetic errors (reporting subtotal and tax that do not actually add up to the listed total), presenting multiple inconsistent prices on a single screen , and misstat ing
“tax” mere days after American under oath promised DOT that it would never again make that misrepresentation . My allegations may be strange, but they a re entirely plausible in light of the se other AA.COM design flaws. Those defects are American ’s fault, not mine. American errs in penalizing me for its own programming blunders.

V. American ’s Conduct is Arbitrary and Unfair 26. American ’s AAdvantage Terms purport to let American forfeit all of a member’s award tickets, cancel a member’s an account, and eject a member from future participation in AAdvantage for any reason or no reason. In general I do not dispute that it is American’s right to take such acts if it so chooses. But I question whether American is permitted to take such acts for an improper reason or, as here, a mis taken reason.
27. American could have designed its web site so that a passenger can consider a booking and view seating without unintentionally creating a temporary reservation. Alternatively, American could warn passengers that viewing seating has the

same e ffect as placing a booking on hold, and will be viewed as such. Instead, American chooses to allow these defects and deficiencies in its web site , and not to warn passengers of the apparent consequences. That concealed design flaw is not proper grounds to penalize a customer.Joel Hayes Complaint

11 of 24 28. At any time, American staff could have notified me that they woul d prefer that I not view seatmaps in the way that I was doing, and I would immediately have ceased doing so (or used another procedure per their instructions).
29. On information and belief, as presented in paragraph 21, the reservations at issue existed for just seconds or, at most, minutes each. Such brief reservations had a correspondingly small effect on Americ an . The proposed penalty is grossly disproportional to any harm actually suffered by American. (The penalty is also improper because the proximate cause of the harm is American ’s ill -advised design of AA.COM, including the automatic creation of reservations without a passenger request.)
30. I understand that the DOT prohibits both “unfair” and “deceptive” practices by airlines. See 49 USC 41712(a). I do not know whether the DOT has defined the full contours of what constitutes “unfair” and “deceptive” conduct. But the FTC offers a richer definition, including a three-part test for “unfair” consumer injury: a consumer injury is legally “unfair,” to the FTC, if the injury is 1) substantial; 2) is not outweighed by any countervailing benefits to consumers or competition; and 3) is an injury that consumers themselves could not reasonably have avoided. I believe American ’s conduct here fully satisfies those tests. As a result of American ’s co nduct, I have been deprived of use of 60,000 miles and deprived of the ability to redeem a portion of those miles on my recent AUS- DFW -LHR segment (a redemption which was permitted by AAdvantage rules, and a redemption that I would have highly valued).
Th ere is no countervailing benefit to consumers from American designing its site in this way or refusing to consider the possibility of its error. I could not have avoided this error since nothing on the AA.COM site warns consumers not to use the site in the way I did.Joel Hayes Complaint

12 of 24 31. The FTC’s characterization of “deceptive” conduct is also squarely on point . The FTC says it “ find [s] deception if there is a representation, omission or practice that is likely to mislead the consumer acting reasonably in the circumstances, to the consumer's detriment .” Here, American fails to tell consumers that browsing its booking tool constitutes m aking a reservation (at least for purposes of American ’s prohibition on speculative reservations) even when the consumer never presses any “Hold” button or activates any similar function to put an itinerary on hold. A consumer acting reasonably in the cir cumstances would have no reason to suspect that American is creating such reservations or that American may penalize consumers for this routine activity

. Consumers suffer significant detriments from American ’s subsequent penalties, including loss of thousands of miles earned over a multi

- year period

. 32. American makes itself the judge, jury, and executioner of all alleged malfeasance in the AAdvantage program. Perhaps that is permissible in general, but in

my c ase —with this remarkable design flaw on AA.COM, and with American’s false allegations of conduct I did not engage in— I believe American’s actions are far out of line.

33. I ask that the Department of Transportation: (1) Exercise its authority under 49 USC 41712 to open an investigation of American Airlines for having engaged in, and continuing to engage in, the unfair or deceptive practices described above; (2) Order American Airlines to provide to the DOT and to me all notes, PNR annotations, web site logs, call recordings, and other recordsJoel Hayes Complaint

13 of 24 prepared by its systems and its staff in the course of my travel and their investigation; (3 ) Order American Airlines to identify other passengers similarly situated, including those whose accounts have been closed or penalized for the same or similar reasons, and including those who complained of improper account closure or penalty; (4) Order American Airlines to provide heightened and remedial training to all “corporate security” and “revenue protection” staff , includi ng training in the possibility of error or design flaws in American systems that could lead their investigations to incorrect results , the need to consider passengers’ defenses, and the need to reply to passengers who dispute American’s allegations ; and (5) Impose appropriate civil penalties on American Airlines.

Respectfully submitted , /s/ Joel HayesJoel Hayes Complaint

14 of 24 Attachment 1 .A

Attachment 1.BJoel Hayes Complaint

15 of 24 Attachment 1.C

Attachment 1.DJoel Hayes Complaint

16 of 24 Attachment 1.E

Attachment 1.FJoel Hayes Complaint

17 of 24 Attachment 1.G (with red box marking the “24 Hour Hold” option I never clicked )Joel Hayes Complaint

18 of 24 Attachment 2 Date: March 20, 2014 Subject: American Airlines Matter # Dear Mr. Hayes, My name is Valerie Durant and I am an analyst with American Airlines. One of my responsibilities is investigating potential violations of AA.Com Site Usage and General AAdvantage® Program Conditions provisions. I would like to alert you that AAdvantage account # was suspended today because Corporate Security has detected the fi ctitious bookings on AA50 from Dallas/Ft. Worth to London/Heathrow on 21MAR. All of the bookings were Business Class bookings, and some of them also included First Class seats from Austin to Dallas/Ft. Worth.Joel Hayes Complaint

19 of 24 Our investigation indicates that you or someone acting on your behalf, created the fictitious reservations for First and Business Class seats on flights in which you are ticketed in coach class and upgrades were desired. These First and Business class bookings were systematically booked from January 8, 2014 to today (March 20, 2014) to block premium seats for the sole purpose of obtaining AAdvantage upgrades. The last one way Business Class booking on AA 50 Friday from DFW -LHR was created at 3:24pm CT today. The base value for this seat (as booked) is $7,491.00. The creation of these fictitious bookings is a clear violation of the AA.Com Site Usage and General AAdvantage® Program Conditions provisions. The AA.Com Site Usage agreement clearly prohibits the use of the website to book false reservations. In addition, the General AAdvantage® Program Conditions prohibit, among other things, fraud, misrepresentation, abuse, or any other violation of the airline’s applicable rules, including but not limited to the conditions of carriage, which specifically pro hibit creating bookings to hold or block seats for the purpose of obtaining a seat that may not otherwise be available. In lieu of termination, AAdvantage account # has been assessed a penalty of 60,000 miles. Please note that you will not be able to utilize any upgrade products on your outbound from AUS- DFW -LHR on Friday. Your return upgrade on March 29 will remain intact. The restriction on AAdvantage account # has been released, and you will have access effective immediately. Please note th at any future violations of the General AAdvantage Program Conditions or AA.com site usage agreement may result in the immediate termination of your AAdvantage membership benefits. Mr. Hayes, we value your business and years of loyalty to American Airlines. We would like nothing more than to continue to reward you for your business and loyalty for many years to come. However, in return, we must insist that you adhere to the guidelines of our program. We trust you will agree that participating in the AAdvantage program is worth it. Regards, Valerie Durant American Airlines Corporate Security Revenue Protection AnalystJoel Hayes Complaint

20 of 24 Attachment 3 Date: March 20, 2014 Dear Ms. Durant

--- First, let me apologize and thank for clearing for me what happened today. I need to please clarify that you were taking me for smarter than I actually am regarding 'blocking seats' for the upgrades...? I was only trying to see how many seats were still av ailable in business because I was excited about the chance for the upgrade and would check to see how it looked. I honestly had no idea I was violating any terms of service or doing anything wrong - or I would have never done so. I'm a good guy, who was just excited about his vacation trip, and the chance for an outbound upgrade- I wouldn't even know how to block seats or how you were referring to it being done :/ My first intent with the letter is to apologize for any inconvenience or difficulties created on AA's side- that was the last of my intentions. Again, I was only excited about a possibility of being upgraded, I had no idea I was violating anything, or doing something 'wrong' - I never intentionally would have. I would also ask regarding the 60,00 0 miles taken away

-- I understand that you need to do what you need to do on your end. I'm just asking is there any leeway on it? Again, I'm a good guy who had no idea what I apparently was messing up with this. I appreciate you reading this - and, again, I'm sorry for whatever mishaps I created on your end. None of them were intentional or knowing - just a guy trying to see how it looks for a chance at an upgrade. Sincerely, Joel HayesJoel Hayes Complaint

21 of 24 Attachment 4 Sent April 9, 2014 to AA Customer Service via AA.COM I'm reaching out regarding a situation that occurred on March 20th, not as a complaint but in an attempt to ask for help/discussion on what occurred- My account was blocked for most of that day (I thought identity theft and panicked). Later that day I recei ved an email from an AA Corporate Security Revenue Protection Analyst that accused me of "seat blocking" in an attempt to gain an upgrade on my flight from DFW to LHR. She listed examples going back to October. What I had been doing (and many others do, as I found out in blogging trying to understand all of this) was to sign in with an ASDF name to check open seats in the next cabin class just to see what my chances were for the upgrade. I never put a HOLD on any of these, nor did I realize this effected th e AA system in any way. I was deducted 60,000 miles as a "punishment" in "leiu of simply closing my AA account." I wrote back a very humble response/apology, stating the above and that I am not smart enough to figure out how to seat block, and also not 'dumb' enough to ever even try. I never received a response. I'm a good guy, who had no clue on any of this, and feel what happened was tremendously unfair- it's become a matter of pride/dignity. I need to mention that MANY others from blog discussions have b een doing the same to check upgrade availability are clueless that it violates TOS, or creates any issues. I would truly appreciate a response, and valu e your reading this. Thank You.

Sent April 14, 2014 to AA Customer Service via AA.COM I'm reaching out a second time, now, regarding a situation on March 20th- not as a complaint but in an attempt to ask for help/discussion on what occurred- My account was blocked for most of that day (I thought identity theft and panicked). Later that day I received an ema il from an AA Corporate Security Revenue Protection Analyst that accused me of "seat blocking" in an attempt to gain an upgrade on my flight from DFW to LHR. She listed examples going back to October. What I had been doing (and many others do, as I found o ut in blogging trying to understand all of this) was to sign in with an ASDF name to check open seats in the next cabin class just to see what my chances were for the upgrade. I never put a HOLD on any of these, nor did I realize this effected the AA syste m in any way. I was deducted 60,000 miles as a "punishment" in "leiu of simply closing my AA account." I wrote back a very humble response/apology, stating the above and my confusion. I never received a response. I'm a good guy, who had no clue on any of this, and feel what happened was tremendously unfair - it's become a matter of integrity/dignity. I need to mention that MANY others from blog discussions have been doing the same to check upgrade availability and are clueless that it violates TOS, or create s any issues. I would truly appreciate a response, and value your reading this. Thank You.Joel Hayes Complaint

22 of 24 Attachment 5 Sent April 22, 2014 Dear Ms. Durant, I'm just trying to reach out to you on last time on your above email from March 20th. For me, the above isn't simply about the 60,000 miles, it's a matter of integrity and pride. I simply view you as someone doing their job and acting in the manner you see appropriate, without judgement on yourself or your character - but what's been said and done to me is a judgeme nt on myself and my character. I can only reiterate that what happened caught me completely by shock - and it's why I'm still trying to follow up on this, because it was all unintentional and unknowing on my end. I've posted to several of the larger airline blogs trying to understand wh at you believed I was attempting to do and how it was even possible. You should know that the responses on these were that a great deal of people do the same thing that I was, just checking to see what the chances for an upgrade are - without a clue that it somehow affects AA's system or violates any TOS, and many of these are longterm Platinum/Executive flyers. Again - if I had even had a clue that was the case, I never would have. I suppose this helps everyone on those blogs to be the wiser, now, but I still feel like I've been hit out of left field by all of this. I never once put a Hold on any of those seats - if I had done something like that, then I would definitely have thought that I was doing something wrong. I'm also not sure on why, from your point of view, I would have been trying to block seats all the way back in October (per your attachment) when I first purchased the ticket (and was, again, just trying to see the chances of upgrades at the time), or how I would think names like ASDF would somehow be fooling anyone if I truly were attempting to do so. I won't take up more of your time- but I just need to reiterate that you've come after an unknowing person with all of this- and if I had simply gotten an email or a call letting me know what was occurring and how it was perceived on AA's side, it would have solved everything and I'd have at least known upfront and could have shared that information with others. The fact that I had to research to find out how what I was doing might even be affec ting AA's system says something to me. I would truly appreciate a response, and value your reading this. Sincerely, Joel HayesJoel Hayes Complaint

23 of 24 Attachment 6 Subject: AA Make -A- Wish Date: April 28, 2014 Valerie Would you be willing to donate the 60,000 miles that you took to the AA Make-A-Wish Program? That way, you've done what you need to in still having taken the miles from me, but at least I can know that something Good came out of all this. Could you please at least do this? Sincerely, Joel

Subject: RE: AA Make -A- Wish Date: April 29, 2014 Hello Mr. Hayes, Thank you for your response. If you would like to donate miles to the Make-A-Wish program from your remaining miles, you are welcome to do so, but it will not be possible to utilize the miles penalized. Regards, Valerie Durant Corporate SecurityJoel Hayes Complaint

24 of 24 Certificate of Service

I h ereby certify that I have, this 19th day of May , 2014 caused a copy of the foregoing Complaint to be served by electronic mail on the following persons: Robert Silverberg, Esq. rsilverberg@sgbdc.com Robert Gorman, Esq. robert.gorman @dot.gov

/s/

_____________________ Joel Hayes