I haven’t had a lot of luck with air travel of late. My flights always seem
to be delayed – and for some reason, when a flight is delayed more than
half an hour, it always turns out to be six hours at least. You lose a whole
day, your sleep patterns get completly screwed up, and, of course, any vague
hint of a bug you might have had getting on to the plane gets turned into a
full-on raging cold by the time you’ve spent 12 hours in a metal tube breathing
stale, fifth-hand, dry-as-dust air.
I’m in Argentina now, and my trip down here is a case in point. The kind of
people who say "you’re lucky" to someone with a terrible injury would
probably say the same thing about me: I was on the last plane out of JFK as
a major
snowstorm was blowing in to New York, and who knows when I might have been
able to leave had the flight been cancelled.
That said, however, the American Airlines experience left a very great deal
to be desired. On an evening when all flights out of the airport were significantly
delayed due to weather, they insisted on boarding us right on time, only to
sit at the gate… and sit at the gate… and sit at the gate a bit longer.
The announcements from the captain were mumbled, short, and unhelpful: something
about engines, power, de-icing, it was not clear at all.
After about an hour, finally a coherent message from the captain. The good
news: we were finally able to leave the gate. The bad news: a couple of standby
passengers who were meant to be on board turned out not to be, and so their
luggage would have to be removed. Of course, they had all the relevant information
an hour earlier, when we were waiting around twiddling our thumbs, but somehow
failed to act on it until the point when we were hopeful we might finally be
able to take off.
Eventually, the bags were found, the plane left the gate, and – I think,
nothing was made very clear to us – we started the first phase of de-icing.
Apparently there are de-icing "stations" at JFK: this is not a procedure,
like refuelling, that can be done at the gate. So various bits of the plane
got de-iced, and then we headed off to station number two, where the wings and
fuselage would get done. Except we never got there. What with heating and lighting
the cabin, and de-icing whatever they de-iced, they’d somehow managed to run
out of whatever battery power they needed to actually move the aircraft. So
we had to wait for another hour while someone could, in effect, give us a jump-start.
Then, the second phase of de-icing took at least twice as long as it should
have, for similar reasons to do with power. First one side of the plane got
de-iced, then the other, instead of them both being done at the same time.
More profoundly, the way we were running out of power created a big problem:
there now wasn’t enough fuel left to get us all to Buenos Aires. The captain
had three choices: cancel the flight, which no-one wanted; lose 60 passengers
to lighten the load; or refuel in Miami. In the end, the choice was made for
him: the crew had spent so long sitting on the ground that under union rules
they weren’t allowed to work the whole 11 hours to BA. So Miami it was.
It was exactly at this point that things really started to go wrong. Once the
flight had been sitting on the tarmac for a certain amount of time, Miami was
a certainty. In fact, the pilot more or less admitted we would have to refuel
there in one of his earliest announcements, while we were still stuck at the
gate. But let’s be charitable and say it took them a couple of hours to put
two and two together. The plane was meant to leave at 10:20, so by 12:20 American
Airlines should have been getting on the phone to Miami, organising a new crew
to replace the JFK crew, and generally attempting to ensure that we wouldn’t
need to spend any more time in Miami than we needed to refuel.
We finally took off, five hours late, at 3:20. The flight was fast and uneventful,
and we landed by 5:15. The crew, by this point, was very annoyed: rather than
working 22 hours New York – Buenos Aires – New York, they would
get paid for only nine or so, for the time spent idling in New York and the
flight to Miami. Still, they told us, not to worry: the American Airlines agent
would be waiting for us at the gate, along with the replacement crew, and we
should be on our way in no time.
Of course, when we get to the gate, there’s no agent there: no one in Miami
seems to have the foggiest notion what’s going on. Eventually, at 6:00, roughly
when we were expected to be leaving, an agent arrived, and seemed most surprised
to see us at the gate. After a bunch of scrambling around, it’s determined that
our nine-person crew from JFK is going to be replaced by a five-person crew
from Miami – they should be here any time. And, indeed, they all turn
up relatively quickly, except for the one who doesn’t. An extra crew member
must be found, which is likely to take an hour or so, and so at this point it’s
decided that maybe we should be let out of the airplane after all. We’d been
cooped up for eight hours, no one knows how long we’ll be stuck in Miami, and
the flight on to Buenos Aires is another nine: even American realised that it
might not be smart to make a 767 with more than its fair share of small children
stay in its seats for something over 18 hours at a stretch.
So we’re told that we can stretch our legs for half an hour. No longer will
groups of no more than four people at a time be accompanied to the phone booths
and back; rather, we can all enjoy the splendours of the American Airlines departure
lounge in Miami at our pleasure.
The departure lounge is a pretty grim place, outfitted with little more than
a Nathan’s hot-dog stand staffed by the surliest people I’ve ever seen in Miami
(although the fact that they were working at 6:00 on a Monday morning might
explain that bit). All the same, it’s an improvement over the interior of our
airplane’s fuselage.
Actually, scratch that. The surliest people I’ve ever seen in Miami weren’t
the hot-dog vendors, they were the gate Nazis. What no one bothered to tell
us when we were deplaning (yes, they really used that word) was that once we
were off, they wouldn’t let us back on again until they were good and ready.
No, they never said why. For me, it was no great hardship: all it meant was
that I couldn’t read my book, which I’d left safely tucked in the pocket on
the back of the seat in front of me. But for others, especially one woman who
had just got up to make a phone call and who had left two children on board,
including a four-year-old, this petty decision had huge consequences.
Everybody was cranky, remember: it was now 7 in the morning, and no one had
got much in the way of sleep. An 11-hour flight is pretty hard work at the best
of times, but now that another seven or eight hours were being added on to that,
most of them spent on board the airplane, people were getting angry. No one
at Miami knew anything; the only thing they told us was that they’d simply arrived
at the airport at 6:00 and really had no idea what was going on, where the crew
was, how many of them there had to be, when we might be taking off, when we
might be landing, or anything else.
At this point, understandably, various passengers decided that they’d had enough.
They were in Miami, which has many flights down to Buenos Aires each day, and
rather than stick around this accursed airplane, they were going to hang out
in Florida for a day or so and then, somewhat rested, continue on to Argentina.
After all, for the elderly or the very young, an 18-hour plane journey is the
last thing you want, and if you can avoid it, you do.
I don’t know whether anybody actually got off at Miami, whether their bags
had to follow them, or what. No one saw fit to tell us peons what was going
on: all we knew was that the 7:00 deadline for us to get back on to the plane
had come and gone, and there was no sign of anything happening. Communication
was nil. The American staff started playing the sorry-we’re-clueless card a
bit too often: sorry, I don’t know. I don’t know anybody who knows. I can’t
help you.
On the plane, it was the same story: people who’d missed dinner on the grounds
that it had been served at 4 in the morning when no one wants to eat were told
that no, they couldn’t have anything to eat, and that actually, I, your flight
attendant, haven’t had anything to eat since last night either. Oh, and no,
I can’t get you immigration cards for Argentina or anything like that, because
the JFK crew put them somewhere and we have no idea where. And in general, sorry
if you have no service on this flight, but you have to understand: we’re very
understaffed.
On arriving at Buenos Aires, we just got the standard "welcome to Argentina
and thank you for flying American" message: no apology for being eight
hours delayed, and certainly no attempt to make things up to us.
This general unhelpful attitude is something I’ve come across before with American
(and I’ve only flown them on two other occasions). I had an American flight
from Los Angeles to New York once, which involved a change at Dallas-Fort Worth.
All flights in and out of DFW were delayed for some reason, but we were assured
that because everyone was delayed by pretty much the same amount of time, there
shouldn’t be any difficulty making our connections.
Of course the story changed when we got to DFW. Sorry, your flight to LaGuardia
has left already: for noise reasons, planes aren’t allowed to land there after
a certain time, so it got bumped up the list. Again, a failure of communication
from one airport to another: while on the Argentina flight it was New York not
communicating with Miami, on the New York flight it was DFW not communicating
with Los Angeles. Of course, if we’d known in LA that we wouldn’t be getting
to New York that evening, we would never have left at all, and rather spent
one more night in California, catching an early flight back to New York the
following day. But because of information failure, we were stuck in Dallas-Fort
Worth overnight.
It got worse, though: American decided/decreed that the reason we were forced
to stay in Texas overnight was weather, not general incompetence on its own
part, and that therefore they weren’t even going to put us up in a hotel. If
we liked, they could procure some army-style cots and maybe a blanket or two
and we could sleep on the floor of the departure lounge.
Cock-ups, of course, happen on all airlines, through their fault or otherwise.
But where other airlines seem to genuinely want to make things better, American
seems to be as unhelpful as possible. Virgin once gave me a voucher for being
delayed, even though they’d phoned me in advance to tell me that the flight
was late and I could turn up a few hours later. Even the low-cost airlines in
Europe, like Buzz, or in the US, like JetBlue and SouthWest, are known for their
customer service. But American seems to have a completely different mindset.
I think that the problem could well be the aftermath of September 11. American
has been inflicting wave after wave of job cuts, and evidently a lot of the
lost jobs have been the people coordinating its different operations around
the country. I worry, too, that others have been in more vital areas: I don’t
think it’s coincidence that the Rockaway
crash happened so soon after September 11, when morale in the airline industry
was at its lowest and thousands of jobs had just been cut.
People are nervous about flying these days, and maybe they ought to be, although
their reasons for nervousness (war, terrorism) are, I think, misplaced. The
chances of an airline passenger being the victim of a terrorist attack are minimal.
But the chances of the same passenger falling victim to incompetencies which
are a result of downsizing following general nervousness about a terrorist attack
are much greater. It’s almost as though being scared of a flying is a self-fulfilling
prophecy: the more people that are scared of flying, the fewer people flying,
the more layoffs the airlines need to make, the less safe flying becomes, and
the more justified a fear of flying is.
Still, I’m going to continue to fly American, just because of their leg-room.
I’m telling you, once we were airborne, I actually managed to stretch out and
get some sleep – in economy! That doesn’t mean I like them, though.
Why is everyone bashing this dude? Sure it’s nice to fly instead of riding a fucking covered wagon, but it’s also 2004! If you pay $400 for a ticket, then you deserve at least some humane treatment. Airline employees wouldn’t fuckin be there if it weren’t for the passengers. So why do they treat the passengers like shit?
You people who have a plug up your butt are probably flying too much. Remember that YOUR MONEY is paying their salaries and they should at least extend the decency to treat you like you paid them.
Last year, my youngest sister died. I needed to make an emergency flight to Tennessee.
AA quoted me a rate of well over $1000. If my sister had the DECENCY to schedule her death at least 14 days before, the cost of the flight would have been $146.
The $1000 was their “bereavement fare”. MY ASS! You suck, you know you suck and you will always suck. The plane was not even close to 50% full, so there was no reason to gouge on the fare.
My parents live in California, and I see them frequently, I will just fly ANYTHING other than AA>
AMR and American Airlines does suck! They dont give a rats ass about the passengers, IF your pissed off about poor service and lost luggage, too bad, someone else will fly if you dont. Thats how they feel. I was an AMR American Airlines employee that was laid off 2yrs ago, due to very poor managemnet along with thousands of my co workers. But they did give their 100 plus VP’s a bonus during that period. I hope AMR goes bankrupt, thats what they get. Heres a few secrets for the average traveler. Dont try to check oversize bags filled to capacity and duck taped, because when it gets to the ramp, It takes a beating, just for being so fucking big and heavy. its a bitch to load and pisses the ramp workers off( one of which I was) Generally ramp workers dont mess with people’s luggage unless its something like that. Ive never seen anyone steal from a passengers luggage except on TV on 60 minutes. If your in a major city like chicago, nyc, miami, lax, I might not put it past some of the homies to be wearing some of your things as you look out the window as the planes being pushed out the gate. Another thing ladies or guys if you have a battery operated massager(wink wink) take out the bateries before you fly. Ive seen many a time when a bag is vibrating and the police and bomb squad respond to have the passenger open their luggage to turn off the play toy! That embarrassing for me, I cant imagine the passenger. And as for weather problems, even though it sucks!!!! You can watch the weather channel as well as anyone else, Airlines cant control the weather, And I dont think you want to crash on take off or landing. If the plane breaks down for a maint problem thats whole new ball game, possible free stuff, lodging etc, even for weather the usually give out food vouches at the least, so at least ask for that, saves money on those 10.00 Cheeseburgers.
Yeah AA sucks take Delta they treet u right not to mention give you food unlike AA didn’t give me food on a 14 hour flight from ANC to Heathrow!
American Airlines is the WORST- I hope they go under – and quick so that better carriers can take over their routes. I was over an hour early for a flight on a non-busy day; they didn’t have enough people working and the line took over a half-hour. There wasn’t a single person at Dulles to explain to people how to use the self-check in- a total nightmare! By the time I got to the front of self-check in it was too late to check my bags! Then, the ticket agent said that I was lying about when I had arrived there and tried to book me for a flight that arrived after my connecting flight. When I asked if there was anything else I could do- the guy behind the counter gave me and exasperated look and said- you could get here TWO HOURS in advance next time! I went next door to Independence Air and easily got on a flight. Should have done that first!
Plus- their service sucks. I flew from NYC to Guatemala City via Miami and didn’t even recieve a decent snack after being on planes for over 7 hours. They have no benefits of a big carrier, nor any of the benefits (like flexibility) of the low cost carriers.
Here’s cheers to AA’s demise!
AA SUCKS! They changed the destination of flight
721 out of LaGuardia to Santa Anna after the plane took off. Their staff claims it was equipment related. Funny there were only a hand full of passengers continuing to Santa Anna. They treat passengers like baggage or worse. Don’t ever think of using them on a stop over. They will cancel the last leg of a flight behind your back. Don’t put AA on you speed dial it’s not worth the effort.
AA is full of SHi**T. On Jan 9, 2005, they made passengers at LAX wait for their baggage for 3 hours. They came up with the poor excuse that the cargo door had some electrical problems. They think we are stupi**d. It doesn’t take 3 hours to open a freaking door. My guess is that they just forgot to put the baggage in the airplane and had to send it on another flight… They’ve been laying off people and probably keeping the incompetent ones (cheap labor). We tried asking AA employees what was the problem and a status report, but they were all useless. It seemed like nobody knew what was going on.. or they just didn’t want to say that they messed up….
Just trying to let my anger out 🙂
Lets not forget: You would not be flying today if it weren’t for American Airlines or United for that matter. Commercial aviation is tough, but these big boys started it all. As far as all you Jet Blue followers (southwest blah blah)…have fun with your mickey mouse airlines. Jet Blue simply took models from the larger airlines, saw their weaknesses and turned it into their marketing tool. It’s only a matter of time before the Big Boys come back to squash the likes of Jet Blue and Southwest. As a dedicated American Airlines flyer, I have had my share of delays. It’s part of flying. It’s you one time flyers who have no exposure to the industry as a whole (flown a good sampling of airlines) that make a big fuss when you run into a situation such as weather and blame the airlines for your woes. Who do you blame when it snows 10 feet on the road? The car manufacturer or the driver? Well in retrospect that is what you are doing when you blame an airline for delays or breakdowns. Ever get a flat tire? Who do you blame? Come on people think about it.
My biggest gripe today is waiting on the Tarmac in LaGuardia and low and behold it’s a Jet Blue plane holding me up..it’s like getting cut off in the left lane of the highway… I serioulsy hate Jet Blue…and as with most ‘word of mouth’ ventures…I knock the airline everyime I have the opportunity to.
American has abandoned me for the last time. You can talk about how great they are for starting this which is a load, there were several who saw an opportunity to make CASH, which is why they started it, and until other more efficient and effective competitors came along it was the gravy train for AA.
The latest incident with AA involves purchasing a ticket on their website. Where you aware they will sell you some other airlines ticket and then refuse any responsibility. That is correct, they will take your money but you are own your on when it comes to dealing with the other airline. This sounds like blatant fraud to me and I will not if at all possible do business with a company that defrauds customers.
The worst experience I’ve ever had on an airline was with American Airlines on January 5, 2005. The staff was not only rude and hostile towards us, we felt a since of prejudice and maliciousness. We were promised the next flight after our child had taken ill. We slept in the airport only to find a conflict of connecting flights that didn’t work. Arriving at our destination, finally after days of turmoil, 4 out of 5 bags didn’t make it (AA #1053/06 AUS 3001923037 file locator:TCPBSY).
It all started on our return flight home, at approximately 12:30am, I explained to the AA Lima ticket counter worker Alejondro Medina that upon arrival to Peru, 1 of my bags was torn open and an expensive jacket was missing. He was sarcasticly short and stated I missed my 5 day window to claim the jacket and that it was not his problem.
Upon arrival to the gate, AA overbooked the 2am flight #948 and started asking for volunteers to take another flight. My wife and I were considering this option as our 1 year old son fell ill and started vomiting. We left the gate and started cleaning him up in the adjacent women’s bathroom. My son continued his nausea so my wife decided to volunteer us to stay behind as AA had not met their 6 person overbooking limit. She told an AA worker at the check in gate and she verbally agreed that we would be compensated. I cleaned up my son and returned to find another gate worker, Jenny Yanez, verbally assaulting my wife in front of a crowd of about 20 people. I pulled my wife away from the abusive worker Jenny Yanez and calmed her down. Jenny Yanez kept screaming insults at us until we left the immediate area, she screamed that the baby was sick and we couldn’t volunteer and would have to pay a penalty to catch another flight. This all happened at approximately 2:05 as the plan was late for takeoff. I let another AA worker know that I wanted to see the manager as soon as possible.
Supervisor Claudia Ruiz approached us and I could tell she was not in an accommodating mood. Claudia Ruiz argued with my wife about how the situation unfolded even though she was not present when it happened. I told Claudia Ruiz about our situation and she would not hear of it. I asked her about customer service and she replied she would see about getting us on the next flight per my request, which was approximately 5 hours away, at 8am. Claudia Ruiz assured me she would do so and would confirm this with me as she walked away. We were then left stranded with a sick baby with no where to go for the rest of the night in the cold airport. I was never told whether we would be on the next flight.
Eight o’clock came and people once again packed into the gate. AA announced again they had overbooked the flight and they were taking volunteers to stay behind. I asked an AA counter worker if we were to be on that flight. His response was that we could be on that flight but that Claudia Ruiz hadn’t noticed that the connecting flight, in Miami, left before we arrived. I realized being stranded in Miami, with a sick baby, would not be any better. So I volunteered us to stay behind until the next night’s 2am flight. It was agreed upon, again verbally and we waited an hour and half until the plan was gone and the AA workers had cleaned up their counter. We went back through immigration and customs and went back to our family, tired and completely exhausted, at noon. I was not only embarrassed for American Airlines, but I was utterly ashamed for these individuals as humans, who had no compassion or empathy for a young family with a sick baby. I think we must point out flaws and problems that occur so that we can fix these deficiencies and make service better. In an age were 2 out of every 3 airlines are not profitable, and some are in bankruptcy, I would seriously be concerned with customer service. Being a government employee myself, I can empathize with customer service. Having so many airlines to choose from, customer service is the one issue that can unequivocally be improved and corrected. We feel our Christmas, New Years vacation was ruined and will have only sour memories of the entire trip.
The old expression, that if something bad happens to a person, he will tell 10 people, were as, something good happens to that same person he will tell 1. I would be concerned with the image of American Airlines in a time of historically high gas prices, workers striking for higher wages, a world economy falling backward, and travelers rethinking their travel plans due to concerns of safety. Customer service is not an issue to gamble with especially with so many people unemployed willing to go that extra mile for the customer and make them feel they’ve chosen the right airline. Will you be that right airline?
The only bright spot of the whole nightmare was AA worker Debbie Rickards who went above and beyond customer service. She saw what terrible situation we were in and ushered us to safety. I don’t know how American Airlines was lucky enough to end up with someone like her. Whatever it is that you are paying her, it isn’t enough. Thank God for her.
Jeez. First, my wife and I have been “plantinum” on AA for quite awhile. After 9-11, I made it a POINT to fly American more than ever. Nonetheless, the experiences of the last few days have made me think, “Hey, I’d rather walk.” First, on my “First Class” flight from Denver–> St. Louis –> Chicago –> LaG, I had nada on offer to eat from 3:30 pm to 2 am except for salted pretzels (and sugar water). I have both hypoglycemia and high blood pressure so this is not a good combo. Then, I arrive in LaG and my luggage is lost. While I am in the baggage “service” area, I overheard that the entire flight from Ft. Lauderdale cannot get their luggage. Those passengers were upset but rational and curteous. By contrast, the AA folks were rude and shouting, “IT’s NOT MY FAULT.” and walked out of the room. Then, I was given a number to call to check on my bags. Turns out, it was the “customer service” number. A long audio menu with NO chance to talk with a human being. Another waste of my time. I called the LaG AA baggage claim and they said my bag had been picked up for delivery at 11 am. Okay. I miss a half day of work. At 6 pm, no bags. I call again and they say, well, they should be there soon. I go to their website and fill out innumerable forms only to discover that: 1) I am limited to 1500 characters and 2) there is no SUBMIT or POST button. I call the platinum desk and ask whether there is a way to get information to an actual human being. The guy says, “Well, I am not the website help desk, but I can give you the URL so you can post your complaint online.” Hello? Part of the problem is that it is not clear HOW to post information. “Well, I am not the website help desk, but I can give you the URL so you can post your complaint online.” They DESERVE to go out of business. I still don’t have my luggage. It is now about 9:15 after getting home at 3 am yesterday and getting up at 6 am today. Class action anyone?
Having reviewed the other comments, there does seem to be a pattern here. High executive bonuses. Screw the employees. The employees screw the passengers. The company goes out of business. And everyone loses. Except of course the CEO.
I know better than to fly American. I live in St. Louis! American duped our local leaders with the promise of growing the hub at Lambert Field and making the most of an ill-conceived billion dollar runway that should never have seen the light of day.
Well, apparently our so-called leadership (including then-airport director Leonard Griggs) hadn’t heard of American’s history at Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, and San Jose. In my mind, they should’ve KNOWN better! American went into those cities and made a big deal out of the prosperity they would bring to the airports in those locales. After about a year or so, the airline would yank most of the service out.
American bought TWA’s assets including the STL hub and later yanked most of the service out. They also replaced most of what was left with those god-awful MINI-JETS, not to mention all of the layoffs. Around the time that the pull-down took place, I remember overhearing long-time ground crew talking about how some of the most popular flights were pulled.
I was not at all surprised that this would happen, but a lot of people here were. American is simply a viciously predatory and opportunistic company. They appear to give less than a whit about their customers or anything other than making a buck.
I’m not surprised to see so many horror stories about this company.
United, on the other hand, is top-notch despite their being in bankruptcy. Hell, I’ll take my chances flying US Airways before I EVER get on American. My experience with US even with a delayed connection was most positive. Ditto Continental with a delayed first leg and connection in Houston. They constantly updated us on the status of our flight and made a sincere effort to make up as much time as they could.
Having said that, I would caution people to protect themselves in one way that might save a lot of headaches. Forget what you heard about making 45 minute connections at busy hubs. It’s a set-up for FAILURE and SABOTAGE! When I make my web-reservation, I purposely use the multi-city function to make a customized reservation with a minimum 2 hour connection time (sometimes 3-4 hours). Why? If the first leg of my flight is delayed, a 2-4 hour layover will help ensure that I make my second leg if it leaves on time.
I had a one hour connection on Southwest recently that left 45 minutes late to Hobby. Fortunately when we got there, the HOU-MSY leg was held at the gate for us and Southwest put my flight from STL in at the gate next door so that we could make the connection — just barely! It was nice of them, but it reaffirmed my willingness to spend LOTS of time waiting PATIENTLY in busy airports.
Another suggestion: be prepared for the worst, particularly in the winter. In the “old days” I traveled with an OAG. Today, we have computers. Once, I had to schlep me and my baggage all the way from O’Hare to Midway to fly Southwest when United cancelled all its flights due to a massive winter storm. For its part, UAL did a valiant job in getting the flight out from Dulles to O’Hare in a blizzard.
Again, flying often takes patience and preparedness!
But I fly AA only when I have NO other choice, which is next to NEVER! It should be American in bankruptcy rather than United!
I am an Australian living in Japan that travels quite a lot for work. Frankly, American Airlines is the worst of any airline I have ever flown with. The service is absolutely pathetic. I was treated like I was nothing but a number filling a seat between destinations. Thats not service. I’ve flown airlines as low-cost as BMI and Korean Air and every single one was better. I fly American because unfortunately there is no option as part of the One World Alliance.
American Airlines are a disgrace and, frankly, they make America look bad. I’ve flown United who are soooooooo much better. For all the idiots who are on here saying, oh yes, American have some faults, but you’ll have a problem with other Airlines; ok, everyone is not perfect, but no one is as bad as American Airlines. I’ve flown at least 10 flights with American and every flight has been a bad experience. I’ve had problems with airlines, of course, that goes with the terrority. Delays, lost bags, rude hostesses/hosts. But the fact is that I have nothing good to say about American Airlines and unless something changes rapidly, I never will.
This is NOT one bad experience. This is NO good experiences. Every airline has at least one redeeming factor – but not American.
I am going on a trip to Europe this summer with my family. I have been checking out airlines just to see what others have to offer. . I normally fly Delta and have never had any problems. They even held the connecting flight to Europe for us when our flight was a few minutes delayed after we landed in Chicago a couple of years ago. For thoses of you saying United is great you need to check out the complain center http://www.untied.com/complain/…… I read it just for a laugh. United 4 years ago gave our seats up to our connecting flight when the united plane we were on was delayed . What kind of service is that? They knew we were on that flight but chose to give our seats away to no fault of ours.. After reading this site and others I will fly Delta again. I will be happy to pay the extra $100.00 or so per ticket. American doesnt seem to be the airline for us………..
Hmmmm, can I ask you all to stop for a moment and tell me about your “pleasant” experiences with, lets say McDonalds? or KFC? or the MTA?
Things will always happen. Its what you make of it. Especially seeing that American is the LARGEST airline by a long shot in the entire world. You do know that don’t you? But then again, you all are so stupid, you won’t know what happens with ratios etc when a company is so large. Its inevitable.
When i traveled american airlines, not only was the flight delayed for 4 hours, i had to wait 2 more hours to get my checked bags. thhey are very short on staff and it is not a pleasurable flight.
cara, I’m sure you were upset by your delay. However something tells me the must have been a reason. Flights don’t just delay for no reason, since airlines loose more money having their planes on the ground! But then again, you won’t know that won’t you. Sorry for assuming so.
I agree AA SUCKS and they run an illegal operation! You see I just flew with AA for a honey moon trip that was booked for over 4 months in advance. We went to board and were informed that due to an over selling of tickets we wouldn’t be setting next to each other. Actually on the opposite ends of the plane!!! This happened again on the next AA flight and I ended up taking a separate plane than my bride to be!!So screw them. If I sell you a car and get paid with a no money back condition, then sell someone else the same car with he same deal, someone isn’t going to get their car. This is wrong!!! So why can airlines oversell all their flights when they haven’t seats available for the customers they’ve sold to? This needs to be addressed by the Government and needs to be mandated that you are guaranteed a seat. This is bull shit!
DDM (kkmdms@yahoo.com) There are several flaws with what you just said. First…the overbooking practice is legal and is something authorized by Governments. You want proof? Then instead of crying like a little baby, go ask a lawyer!! IDIOT! Second…If you were seated on opposite ends of the plane…its because you 1…did not ask to reserve seats together when you first made your reservation and or bought your tickets and 2…arrived at the ticket counter less than 90 mins. You want to know what is bull shit?? You and your silly complaining without any legal proof!! Illegal operation my ass.
AA really does suck “A”. I travel SW all the time with no problem, and even Delta. Recently I purchased a flight on AA, not even two days later the cost of the flight dropped dramatically. I called to have the price adjusted, (and would have gladly taken a travel voucher for future use), except what the told me was quite funny. The said the only way the new fare would benefit me is if I bought a second ticket. What the hell would I need a second ticket for? They then proceeded to tell me that if I wanted to adjust the price of the ticket I bought, I would just be holding a ticket at a lower value, but I would have to pay them an additional $2.00 to do this. Never once while suck ass AA was gladly raping me on the price of my ticket did they ever tell me it would cost $100 to change the ticket or adjust the price. That some shitty customer service if I have ever had any. I guess taking peoples money in exchange for crappy service is the only way the can say in business…I can’t wait to see the service I get on the flight.
Okay well in defense of the person above who had the bad day and launched on the guy about overbooking I will say this just because you can doesn’t mean you should. furthermore there are so many FA’s running around these days with pay cuts under their belts they are a miserable wretched group. Frankly, if you hate your life do something about it but don’t take it out on me–I am the customer. I have a good friend who is an F/A and I asked why the hell she didn’t quit-its miserable I said to quote you. She didn’t want to miss the cheap travel perks is really what the answer was so I told her to shut the fuck up. I am a platinum status on AA because of business travel and those sorry asses will gladly fill the first class seats with “dead headers” versus giving some poor slob with status and who flies a 100k miles a year a nice seat. That blows big time. AA will pull away from the gate with the entire FC section empty before they give it away to anyone. They can screw themselves and I hope they do go under–someone who can run a business with people that want to be there will take their place. Its called evolution.
metoo@yahoo.com….. let me tell you, I agree with you. There are dozens of FAs or should I say employees at AA who are really shitty. There is no doubt about that. However, if you don’t report them and accept their crappy sitty service, then you’re to blame. WRITE WRITE WRITE!!! Complaining on here is not going to solve the problem. You need to let AA management know. Be specific. Quote names, flight numbers, dates, etc.
I Need someone out there to give me advise. I have had a horrible experience with AA. I purchased First Class ticket a whole Whooping 1044.00 dollar forround trip here in the US. First The flight was delayed and rerouted to LOas Vegas. I lost one night in the. I arrived in Orlando, Florida. My bags did not arrived. My first phone call. I was told to call back at 6:00 pm “the bags might be there, I informed her that I had a schedule a Cruise and it was Leaving at 4:30 pm. After several long distance phone call. One bag arrived in the cruise line the last day. I missed all the formal dinner the cruise ship has scheduled. I had no clothes or toiletrys. Upon arrival back to Orlando. I went straight to AA baggage claim. The girls there where not listening to me.. I got a 800 number. Tehn I go kick out for that office. I call the 800 number from outside that office. The lady in sated that one of my bags was in side this office where I had just gotten kick out. They refused to talk to the 800 number representive. Finally after lots more frustrating I finally got a Supervisor to let me ID my othr bag. It had been siiting there the whole entire trip.. Anyways , my bag with the camcorder and clothes and shoes and sweaters and formal dresses is still missing 9 days later. Most of my vacagion money went to buying outfitsto wear on the trip. I informed them that I could not believe thats how they treated their customer. Especailly first class paying customer not that it should matter. If I treated anyone lik this at my job, I get fired.
Please some on out there, please advise me.
I will be losing thousands of dollars if I don’t get my bag back. This ruined my trip, I saved so hard for.
HFranco777@aol.com
I had a trying experience on August 3, 2005 with American Airlines flight 926 departing at 8:15 pm from Miami to Atlanta. First of all, when I got to the gate desk to ask the AA person there for some information, he ignored me and kept on talking in Spanish to some AA friends. They paid no attention to me even after I uttered something in disgust and walked away. We were supposed to start boarding at 7:31 and did not board until after 8:30 (after the scheduled departure time).
We then sat in the plane for almost an hour before we started taking off. Then, in the process of taking off, the plane came to a scheeching halt with its brakes jammed and scaring the daylights out of all us. The captain explained that a red indicator light on the instrument panel came on indicating that the aft door was not closed and that was why he had to abort the takeoff. We then returned to the gate for maintenance and checking, where we sat for another hour or so. When we finally took off, the captain apologized for the inconvenience and, as a gesture, said we would be treated to a TV showing and that headsets would be provided free of charge. Some people complained that they had already paid 2 dollars for headsets and asked whether they would be refunded. Upon hearing this, there was no further mention of free headsets. In any case, the only TV show they had was “Everybody Loves Raymond” the dumbest show on TV with its tons of canned laughter.
Oswaldo
In response to #15 I would just like to say that the ATA agent was grossly in error by sending the kids over in the first place with a first class reservation and a coach ticket. That is like someone coming into a store with a 5.00 gift certificate and being angry they cant get a bottle of Dom Perignon without having to pay any extra. Also had the adults sending these kids off to travel alone actually paid the unacompanied minor charge this would not have happened. Parents always seem to think that their kids can handle traveling on their own but never take into consideration off schedule operatons. Had the charges been paid then the ATA agent would have had to escort the kids over to the AA ticket counter where the agent could have taken up the ticketing discrepancy directly. The ATA agent could either have reissued the ticket correctly or taken the kids back to her own ticket counter to reaccomadate them elsewhere. For those who feel this is harsh or the airlines charge too much for the unacompanied minor charge, I doubt you have ever had to work an oversold 757 by yourself, meet the inbound and process the standby list while keeping a constant eye on a hyper 9 year old whose parents are an hour late in picking up.
My mom’s husband got a last minute deal to fly from DFW to Detroit, MI on AA. Storms in Dallas cause return flight cancelations and while they were kind enough to get him a ticket for the next day, they would do nothing to help with a room for the night because the weather was not their fault.
He went over to the Southwest counter and while they didn’t have any more filghts that night, they gae him a $40 hotel voucher. And he didn’t even spend any money with them!!
Now my sister has a ticket to fly to New Orleans which is pretty much gone after Hurricane Katrina. If her flight was in the next 3 days, they’d refund her money. Since it’s not for another 2 1/2 weeks, it’ll cost her $100 plus the difference to fly somewhere else in the next 12 months. What is she supposed to do in N.O. in three weeks? Help clean up?
American Airlines does suck and are the worst airlines I have ever dealt with. My conference was in New Orleans at the beginning of Nov – due to the devastating conditions – the conference was moved to Phillie – only 2 hours away from my home. Also to let you know my conference specifically advertised to all the conference members (which is hundreds of thousdans) to use them because they had a special contract with them. Well American Airlines will not refund your ticket only give you a voucher you will need to use within a year. When all other airlines are refunding tickets for these places hit by the hurricane without any questions asked. I will never ever use American again and I would advise you to never do so either.
I have a long story to tell about how AA made what should have been a very enjoyable trip to Palm Springs for a convention, a nightmare. But I will spare you the details if someone will post the names of upper management so we can WRITE, WRITE, WRITE. I know that Gerald Aprey is the President & CEO of AA with severl loacation listed, 14760 Trinity Blvd. Suite 300,Fort Worth Tx. 76155-2642 or 4333 Amon Carter Blvd, Forth Worth Tx. 76155 or P.O. Box 619616, DFW Airport
Dallas Tx. 75216-9616. Does anyone know name and location of: Customer Relation Director, Reservations Manager and Station Reservation Manager in Houston, Tx.?….Please help if you have this information……Thank you
I just had a really bad experience with AA.
I’m on my way to amsterdam thru JFK. I fly AA from RDU to JFK to catch my flight on KLM for 6.30pm. AA was supposed to leave RDU at 1.10pm 9/16/05 but the flight did not show up and was cancelled.
I informed the attendants that i had another flight but all they offered me was a sit on their next flight for 2.45pm. This flight was also delayed for no just reason and we ended up leaving RDU at 5.15pm.
I arrived JFK and was told by KLM customers service to come the next day (9/17/05) and i would be required to pay a penalty.
So I went back to AA telling them I was in a fix and i also had nowhere to spend the night. To my surprise AA agents told me that since the next leg
of my trip was not booked with them they could not help me. They said their duty was to get me to JFK and they had done that.
Can someone please tell me what to do about this situation?
Should AA not ensure that i am able to continue my trip since they delayed me unduely?
Ome.
Hello, this is my email to the American Embassy:
I applied today September 2005 for a TRANSIT
VISA..because I have to travel to England (by American Airlines) in
October.
Your person in charge rejected my application.
I brought all the documents indicated in your web page and more that
she did not want to see… and just rejected this.
So I want to complaint because in your web page you don’t say that to
apply to a transit visa is going to be as difficult as a more important
visa…. you don’t say that people should bring many proofs that you
have big bank accunts…. you just say: the form, the payment of 100
US, the passport, the photo…. and SUGGEST to bring some other documents
to prove enough means….
I didn’t have any other problem with my last passport, and I traveled
before to the USA before, to Japan, to England twice… without any
problem but now your PERSON ON CHARGE rejected my
application to be in the airport sme hours on October…
I asked her if I could bring more documents to have this application
aproved but she didn’t help me at all.
I wanted to show her my tickets to go and return, and some other
documents to prove my links with La Paz- Bolivia. But she was just a
non-helping person.
I FORMERLY ASK YOUR the UNITED STATES EMBASSY to explain clearly IN
THEIR WEB PAGE that to get the transit visa is going to be AS DIFFICULT
AS THE TOURIST VISA.
Otherwise THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY IS just misleading the people
who had the mistake of buying a ticket to travel by AMERICAN AIRLINES.
This was my mistake and I regret this already.
Sincerely
A sad and angry Bolivian
Ana, while this is the wrong forum to write to the US Embassy, I can sympathise with what happened to you. We have travelled the world on various airlines over the past 16 years. We recently had the misfortune of booking a connecting flight with AA (first AA experience)in Bolivia (from Cancun, Mexico to Dallas, Texas, with a connecting flight on another airline to London, UK) and informed the AA sales official that we had not yet received approval for our transit visa. She assured us that it was no problem, as they would refund us in the event of us not receiving our visas. She also informed us that this was the last day we could get the flight at the specific price. To make a long story short… Our transit visas were denied, but AA refused to refund us. They told us the tickets were non-refundable – A loss of almost $1000 for us! After a very long fight with some senior officers, they “conceded to make an exception” and offered us a voucher for future use. We accepted this reluctantly, as we NEVER wish to deal with them again. The senior officers left and the official issued us our vouchers. Deducting almost $400 in costs, taxes and penalties – which we were not informed of beforehand. That is a 40% financial loss to us! Well, we were blatantly lied to and misled by AA staff. Reading the comments by supposed AA employees in this forum, I can clearly see why AA is such a terrible airline. Anyway….. See you in court AA!!!
American Airlines lost my luggage. I am not talking about they lost it and it is comming tomorrow. no no no that would be too easy. They have NO IDEA where my luggage is and don’t care. They told me to just fly another airline next time. My family’s Christmas presents were in that bag and now no one gets any presents from the college I am attending. These are presents that I can’t get just anywwhere. American Airlines ruined Christmas… way to be. Don’t EVER fly American they have no concern for their passengers.
In response to #74 HFranco.
I just went through a very similar situation with AA. I was on my way to Galveston for a cruise and my luggage never showed up off the plane. It never made it to port in time and I had a wool sweater, jeans and boots on for my families Christmas cruise to Cozumel. AA told me that they would give me a $75 voucher to buy clothes on board but the shops only had sweatpants and t-shirts. Certainly not formal wear that me and my fiance needed that were in my bag. I had nothing the whole trip. My bag finally came the night before the cruise ended but things were stolen out of it and it was all torn apart. They had dropped it at Port in Cozumel. What a joke! I spent formal night at the pizza buffet while my family, who just lost their house in Mississippi and New Orleans, ate a nice Christmas meal together in the formal dining room.
I have yet to hear back from AA and I have sent them a complaint letter which included a letter from Royal Caribbean backing my claim. I faxed, emailed and snail mailed them the letter and no one has gotten back to me. I am still raising hell and I am planning on sending my letter to my friend who writes for Reader’s Digest to make sure the word about this careless airline gets out to ALL!
My suggestion is to keep hounding them like I am. They ruined a very expensive cruise not to mention Christmas with my family. The list goes on…….
I have been through much worse but the neglect of these people is amazing. Fill out the claim forms from the AA site.
yeah well try flying coach on united anywhere and then sing american’s praises after you really get tortured in travel.
suck it up and deal with it people – they all fly a frikin’ bus with wings, operated by the lowest common denominator and equiped with parts from the lowest bidder.
don’t like it? stay home. this post is way to old anyway…
Why hate AA? Here are a few reasons
1. Cross-country flights in MD-80s
2. Brown-bagged inflight meals
3. TWA 🙁
4. Every airline has updated their livery at least twice since 1970. AA’s still flying the Amtrak paint job.
5. DALLAS-FT. WORTH INTERNATIONAL
6. Braniff 🙁
7. The dismantling of St. Louis Int’l Airport
8. Not….pidgeons. They eat bread crumbs, and crap on people.
Hey AAL put atleast 1/2 of it’s employee’s in Bankruptcy when they cried wolfe over money and TWU gave it to them. all the whilst our worthless union leaders got Congressional pay raises. Do I care that your trip is Lousy? NO! Do I care that your plane is delayed because the airline doesn’t have any parts to fix it? NO. do I care that some ramp guy “Who is angry over living in a cardboard box under I-30” lost your bag? NO. Does the Agent that is “FORCED” to work through lunch and stay an additional 4 hours over and pay a babysitter more money care? (As her job is threatened through ~ Huh Huh PERFORMANCE ) NO!!!
AA is right there with Wal-Mart. they pay CrAAp and their Illustrious benefits SUCK! most of their employees qualify for foodstamps and housing assistance…
The above post is absolutely correct! Employees used to care, now they steal food off the plane just to have a meal since the loss of 16 percent pay, lost vacation week, lost 1 week sick time and loss of the relocation ($12,500.00)expenses. It sucks to work in another city and see your family in Dallas every other weekend , since you had to move to keep a job, all the while the management is enjoying bonuses and getting their golden parachute pension plans. Do not fly AA. They suck! Mechanics dont care because of the junk they have to work with since the great TWA purchase, rampers dont care if your bag is loaded or not, and may need your dvd player inside to take to the pawn shop in order to pay rent, flight attendants will snap your head off if you ask for more than 1 cup of soda because the company is too cheap to let them pour the whole can , and threaten their job if they do. This place was once a great place to work , now AA at DFW looks more like a ghetto in Haiti. The newer employees have pants hanging past their asscrack, do rags, and contsantly on the cell phone cussing at some stripper they are dating who stole their wallet and crap like that. One guy took all his bags (going to all different cities) and dumped them in a bagroom where they missed their connections and sat until the next day. Did he cAAre? Not after he had to file bankruptcy and got his first lay off , while non airline experienced supervisors get hired off the street. Youd do better driving your car nowadays and save yourself the hassle of being strip searched by some fat broad with hooters down to her ankles at the airport.
i think they went to miami because of a mantnance problem not because of the crew miami is a big hub for mantnance they lie about that all the time not just aa all airlines but they do suck i think but who knows i can only make a guess so don’t be suprised if you find it else where.
Here’s an idea. Next time go Southwest.
American Airlines and its toy / puppet union TWU suck. Ever since the paycuts, I have to “borrow” aluminum from AA stores to take to the North side Ft worth scrap yards for quick cash! Sorry about your DVD player , but I got 50 bucks for it to pay the electric bill thanks to Pancho at the fort worh pawn shop in mexicanville.
AA gargles dog testicles. If you work there its becuase you get the best dope in town on the dfw ramp, and can turn around and sell it at a profit to the poor new orleans crackheads that relocated to dallas.
Sweet Meriful Crap!
No Airline can be worse than American. I am forced to use them by my firm, but I will now refuse to fly with them. Just sent my wife and 3 kids back east foe spring break and first they loose the luggage, but don’t worry it will be at your hotel tonight before midnight… it showed up at 7:30 the next morning. Now they are stuck in Dallas and not only are they clueless about a depature time, they do not know if they will have a plane today.
Ok sorry I meant Merciful in my last post. Now AA has my wife and kids delayed from a 2:30 flight to 10:00 and BTW they are flying them to Austin and I have to drive from San Antonio to pick them up…
What the fuck… over?
WE KNOW WHY YOU FLY……WE JUST DONT KNOW WHY THE HELL YOU FLY AA!!!!!
SCREW ARPEY AND CHICKEN LITTLE
I had a heck of a time with American too. It prompted me to start my own website about airline problems.
http://www.airlinerage.com
American Airlines cant even do chicken right!
I think AA worships the devil. Their service sucks and they are EVIL. I bet they play marilyn manson music on their jets!
AA pissed off their employees and now they give passengers the high hard one. Fly Southwest, they are cheaper and do not “worship the devil” like the above post states. It is a sad day when Joe the baggage guy steals your CD player to “hock” at “el vato loco” gun and pawn in the “Brown Town” section of Ft. Worth’s version of East L.A to pay the light bill!
AAmerican at DFW is a friggin’ swap meet! Its a flea market with wings! Gold tooth employees in marijuana t shirts is the norm.