American Airlines

As noted in previous posts the American Airlines of today is in the midst of a steady decline. The AA of the 70's and 80's is now just a distant memory. This week I had my 17 year old on a flight from from ORF to DFW then to SGF. Easy connection and my son knows DFW very well and can get around pretty easily. While tracking the flight it was diverted to Charlotte. Reason was weather in DFW. Delay after delay now became a mechanical issue. So arrive DFW 2 hrs late. Needless to say he missed the connection and with Christmas there are no other seats the rest of the day until 9am the following morning. If I had not acted quickly and did some pleading with AA I was able to get him to XNA 7 hours late. So all in all AA is just nothing but a band of misfits and poor maintained aircraft. My son made it to XNA where a relative picked him up and delivered to SGF 2 hours away. Picked up bag next morning in SGF.

Cayman Islands to Las Vegas in December. Overall a good experience Flights on time and connection in Miami was quick. Service and food were both good. Individual entertainment at the seats will be a huge improvement over the clunky TV hanging from the cabin ceiling.

ORD-LAS Return. My wife and I recently made this trip with some friends. The flight out to LAS was on an old livery S80. I was in seat 30D which meant the engines were right next to me and it was some extremely noisy 4 hours. The MD80 economy seat is not the most comfortable. ORD was under considerable snow that day and the de- icing truck broke down in front of our aircraft which delayed us going out. It was an extremely turbulent flight but the flight deck kept us in the loop the whole time. Flight back to ORD was on an old livery B738. Pushback was a few minutes ahead of schedule and overall a smooth flight until we got to ORD which was under snow again. This time we had a decent enough movie to watch and once again the flight deck was extremely interactive. Standard flight in terms of food and beverage. The FAs were smiling very welcoming warm and overall did a great job in taking care of the passengers.

It is almost laughable that AA is a part of Oneworld when the service standards of AA are not even close to its alliance partners. I flew LAX-NRT yesterday - disinterested and poorly-dressed cabin crew small and uninspired meals and an entertainment system that could have been considered to be state of the art in 1990. Each time the fasten seat belt was on there were no safety announcements and passengers and crew wandering around the aircraft during turbulence. It was such a pleasure to board a Qantas aircraft for the remainder of my journey.

This airline continues to live up to their reputation that they have earned for being terrible. I arrived at my connecting flight 10 minutes early only to be greeting by the agent who says "we gave your seat away because you were late" then proceeds to close the door. I was 10 minutes before departure time! I am a Platinum customer! American knew I was coming. Being a customer much less one with status means nothing to American.

Had reservations for San Francisco - Miami and later on Miami - New York La Guardia on my 3 weeks USA tour. The SFO-MIA flight started badly where all passengers were standing in a long line 5am in the morning with no open check in counters and self-check in unresponsive. Some passengers overheard AA staff state that the flight will be delayed however I saw that all was according to plan on all screens. Ground staff finally came and they denied any delays. Self check in either couldn't read the passport scans or simply loading into oblivion with an error message at the end. AA staff was more concerned only with payment for checked in baggage which for a non US passenger is considered unacceptable. Check in was chaotic to say the least and the First class counter looked even less organized. Only after everyone was checked in the flight jumped from 7am to 8am and in an hour the flight was delayed to 5.30pm! No explanation or apology. Only 1 agent handled the full flight rerouting people with onwards destinations but no interest in assisting any of the passengers who have Miami as their final stop. No apologies no assistance no accommodation no food for a 10 hours delay! The afternoon flight was boarded on time on an ancient B757 that seemed to still have technical problems as we learned from the crew. We stayed on the tarmac for another 90 minutes. Plane old and showing its age with interior from the 80s and an inaudible flickering screen leg room acceptable. Crew incredibly chatty amongst each other. Non visible cabin presence. Flight from Miami to New York as well an ageing 737-800. As they again charge for checked in bags all bring oversized bags onboard causing a less than civilized situation where there is NO space for all the bags thus delays in checking those bags and taking them out of the cabin. Again no food onboard for a long flight. Will never consider this airline.

Will never fly with this airline again just dreadful. Manchester to JFK and back just one film each way overhead TVs in the aisles not seatback. Poor food terrible tea coffee not much better staff looked worn out and as if they wished they could be anywhere apart from working on those planes. Delayed 2 hours on the way back. Two hours sitting on the plane is no fun. Obviously no contingency plan there then! Next time I'll just fly to Heathrow and fly with Virgin.

I have flown SFO-MIA-Ecuador and back 6 times the past 2 years. Although the staff can seem a little long in the tooth and sometimes just mean I do appreciate the pilots. They seem to be a cut above the rest of the industry with those 757's.

Having just flown American Airlines for the first time from JFK to London Heathrow I can honestly say AA are a contender for the worlds worst airline. From the state of the plane to the poor quality of the food to a laughable 1970's entertainment system all compounded by a disinterested flight crew. As a regular intercontinental traveller used to flying airlines such as Emirates Singapore Qatar etc I was truly shocked by how bad AA really are. What made it funny was reading the CEO's editorial in the inflight magazine his goal of being the worlds best carrier is a long way off.

My family and I traveled on AA from CDG (767-300) DFW (MD80) Sat 14 Dec and was completely satisfied. AA excel in two areas: 1) The super friendly hospitality of their Cabin Crew and 2) They provide meals that will fill you - their pizza prior to landing is sumptuous and most memorable. Their aircrafts are old and their IFE very ancient. So if price is a factor (especially when traveling with family) they will deliver satisfaction. The game changer is when their fleet is replaced with the latest in IFE offerings!