American Airlines

Will never fly AA again. I was scheduled on a 4pm flight from Sacramento to LAX on Saturday, Oct. 11th. I arrived at 2pm for the flight. It was marked as 'delayed' and re-scheduled for 5:45pm departure. At about 5pm I moved my seat closer to the gate counter to listen to the staff conversation about updates. They had probably a dozen conversations with maintenance people, pilots, etc all in hushed tones to one another. Then, when someone would approach the staff, they would rudely say 'we know nothing - you'll have to sit back down and wait'. Super rude to nearly every person who approached to ask. At 7.30pm - after only 1 announcement over a speaker about what is happening, they canceled the flight. A long line of people had been waiting to talk to gate attendants for the last several hours, but most of the attendants were just beyond rude - no information, wouldn't look at people, just kept typing away for hours with nothing actually happening. We run down to the ticketing booths to get our flights re-booked. Of course, by this time there were no other flights to LAX that night. Again, if people had known an hour earlier that the chances were unlikely that they would get to LAX that night, they would have tried to get on another flight. As I wait in line I re-book a flight over the phone in 5 minutes. However, I then need a hotel voucher, as my flight left at 7am. After waiting in line at the ticketing booth for 2.5 hours someone finally provided vouchers to everyone waiting. 7After waiting for hotel shuttle to arrive for 45 minutes, a group of us finally pay for a cab to the hotel. We walk in at 10pm and the lone hotel staffer has no idea that we were coming, and also has no idea what airline vouchers are. They also only have 4 rooms available. As our group finally gets rooms a large group arrives from our plane with vouchers in hand, only to be told there were no rooms available. I'm guessing these people, after spending 8 hours waiting, just went back to the airport to sleep. Again - things happen, planes get delayed/canceled by nobody's fault. However if the staff had been remotely professional and fore-thinking, they could have got people with important connections on other flights before it was too late. The staff could have communicated at least a few times over the course of hours to everyone, helping to alleviate the confusion and hysteria that grew out of knowing NOTHING. Never again, American Airlines. Folks - look at these reviews and go with another airline!

I bought two $750 round trip American Airlines tickets from Newark to Barcelona through Expedia. The websites of Expedia and then American Airlines would not allow me to choose a seat and advised me to call. When I did call American Airlines, I was told I would not be able to choose any seats, much less two seats together so my husband and I could be with each other, until check in at the airport unless I paid $75 more per ticket to guarantee a seat and that unless I paid this extra $150 total we would probably not be able to sit together. I will never fly this airline again.

Booked two flights online to Chicago at $300 more per ticket than several other airlines because we had a gift certificate we wanted to use. While trying to select our seats, the only seats showing available cost an extra $58 per seat. I called AA and the 'customer service' representative informed me that she could make the seat selection for me, but that would cost an extra $25 per seat. I explained that I was requesting assistance because their website wasn't allowing me to make my selection. She said the only way she could help me without an extra charge was to transfer me to their technical assistance department and, if that person there could not help me, he/she could transfer me back to 'customer service' and authorize a waiver. Then, they could make my seat selection without charging me extra. The person at the technical assistance desk informed me that there were seats available at the quoted price, but that I had to complete my purchase, and select my seats 30 minutes afterward. It actually took eight hours to receive a confirmation, and I still could not make a seat selection. Once again I called 'customer service' and the rep informed me that the only way I could select my seats was to pay an additional $25 dollars per reservation. Otherwise, I needed to wait until the day of departure in order to be assigned seats at the gate. They could not even guarantee that we would be seated together. In light of the ridiculous two-day process of trying to get assigned seating, I asked to speak to a supervisor but was refused any assistance, refused to give me her employee ID (finally gave in after five or six requests), and refused to put me in contact with her supervisor. This is the first and last time I will fly American Airlines. Their flights are over priced and, based on their pathetic lack of any regard for the customer, their staff is over paid. After seeing the other reviews, I have no idea how they are still in business. Apparently, one-star ratings are commonplace for this travesty of an airline.

I had a pathetic experience travelling American Airlines from London to Miami and back from Chicago to London. They don't just have issues on one or two fronts but multiple ones. Being Indian, I am not used to great customer service but the flight attendants in American Airlines put the ones on Air India to shame. They are rude and do not care about your needs. The entertainment system is the worst and their fleet is so old that the screen size could be trumped by some of the bigger phones in the market. There were a total of 10 movies on the plane and the choices were pathetic. The entertainment system is not personalized and they have shows running like in a cinema hall. So if you miss the show start, you join in between. The food was another issue. I had specifically asked for a AVML (Asian Vegetarian Meal) and they told me that they 'call' it VGML (Vegetarian Meal). Nobody from American told me that it is a simple vanilla vegetarian meal consisting of bread, butter, crackers and pasta when I was expecting some food I am used to. I had called American thrice to confirm this and they told me I am all set. While I was slated to fly back from Chicago, the aircraft developed brake issues and they had to install new ones. This delayed departure by four hours. Every one hour, American would announce that they will tell us soon but even after boarding, we could not take off for 1.5 hours. This obviously led to me missing connection in London. I am never flying American airlines again.

This review concerns the Philly to Manchester leg of of our trip. A customer was able to get onto to the plane with an oversized bag. He refused to check it upon boarding, tried to jam it into the overhead and under his seat. When the flight attendant was also unable to fit the luggage anywhere, the customer was rewarded with a free upgrade to first class. Flight was fine and without issue other than this customer being rewarded for breaking the rules.

Manchester to New York with American Airlines. Upgraded to main cabin extra for a small fee, and well worth it with much more space. Food adequate. Staff did their job okay but not on par with the Qatar Airways staff I had just flown on. Shame about the poor arrival terminal with long lines for immigration and customs but that's not the airline's fault. Poor entertainment system which didn't matter to me, but my be of concern to others, especially families.

Today is 7 Oct and wife and I are not in Dominica! Long story, and very sad - we awoke this morning at 2:30 to get the last of the things done around the house necessary to close it for the 6 months we would spend in Dominica. About 3:45 AM, a buddy of mine showed up to take us to the airport. We got to Eppley Airport about 4:30 and had boarding passes about 15 minutes later. Went thru TSA in a breeze – best TSA screening ever for us – very quick. We walked to the departure gate and found a place to sit next to the gate work area. There was activity that early as a flight to Dallas was just before ours. The Dallas flight departed and our flight departure was suddenly changed from 6:05 to 6:59! What gives – no American Airlines rep at the gate would say anything. The only announcement they made was that the crew would be there shortly (25 minutes) (already post departure time). Lynn went to the gate folks and inquired about the flight, particularly because we had a connecting flight in Chicago to SJU. “No Problem” says the guy at the gate – the other flight is late, too, so all is well. You will have plenty of time. Our flight finally boards and departs – well over an hour late. In flight, the pilot announces that the delay was as a result of “crew rest time” as the original crew for this flight got in late the evening before. We get to Chicago, go like hell to the gate for the SJU flight and get there just in time to see the aircraft preparing to pull away from the terminal. We were not allowed to board as the “door” closed 10 minutes before we got there. At that point, one of the AA reps hands us boarding passes for the next flight to SJU – several hours later. I ask “how about the connecting flight following that one?” Big blank stare, a look of shock on the guy’s face – he never looked to see if there was anything else on our itinerary. Now there is a supervisor involved, both banging away on the keyboards - they have nothing for today as there is only one AA sponsored flight a day into Dominica (DOM). Finally, out of the goodness of their hearts, they offer to put us up in San Juan for the night – but the catch is that the next available seats on Seaborne (AA affiliate) to Dominica are on 15 Oct 2015 – a week away and they want us to sit in SJU waiting on the AA sponsored flight - then they offer to let us sit in Chicago! I was not happy. It was not our fault that the flight crew was so late getting us out of Omaha. We finally got new ticket vouchers for 15 Oct on the same set of flights as originally set up by Liberty Travel. One small point, our luggage is now missing in action – AA has no idea where it is – they are hunting. And the luggage cost me $50 for this mess. I hope it enjoys the trip. Later, when putting in a “claim” for our AWOL baggage, I find out from an AA employee that AA had no idea the crew was out of flying time and could not even find them in the morning? Had to have the hotel get them. At least that was the story from the ground crew personnel we talked to about the flight. We grab a ride from the airport back home.

I spent almost 2-3 hours of my vacation on hold. When we landed I was told to call American Airlines two days before we left to change seats if they were available. I was told I could do it online. There website is a nightmare. Dis functional and impossible to use if you have an issue. It's impossible to email a representative. The list of questions they want is irrational. The site shut down and crashed on me because it wanted information I didn't have. I was unable to get information on seat upgrades. Then I called them and spent 45 minutes of my vacation on hold. Only to find out that.(this was on top of the 45 minutes I spent when we landed. I tried to upgrade the seats then but was told I needed to wait till two days before we left) so here I am on hold for an hour two days before we leave and they tell me that they cant help me and can't do anything because the seats were booked at an undisclosed rate. They eventually helped me and scheduled a gentleman to call me. This process took 2-3 hours on the phone and a scheduled call two days later. Unfortunately it's impossible for me to get through to that guy from Ireland. The level of disgust I have is beyond words to describe and all I was trying to do is pay them to upgrade a seat to business class?

I had booked American Airlines travel in advance for myself and family well in advance of our trip at a fairly decent rate. a month before travel, the airline removed a flight from our plan. After trying to find a flight to get us home, I booked one with Southwest (who I've never had issues with, props to them), and asked for a partial refund of the flight I wasn't taking with them. They refused. Gave me the run around with customer relations, then got told to request a partial refund with the refunds department, which I did, and then all my flights were canceled. I was then forced to rebook my trip at a higher cost of course. All the while, the admitted that their refunds department should not have canceled my flights. This trip ended up costing me almost $1000 more than my original booking. They didn't care. I waited until I returned from my trip to request again the money I'm out. After writing 6 letters to the top 6 executives with AA, I once again received a customer relations email (auto-response) that tells me I again, won't be granted a refund. I had asked for phone call or email from them. I can't even fathom how much money over the years they have taken from their customers by doing this. I will never recommend this airline.

A short flight from Tampa to Miami with American Airlines. Only 40 minutes long, so no service on board but clean and comfortable plane especially as it was a full flight. Friendly and informative staff too. Would have no hesitation in flying again.