American Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Chicago to New York. Having read the relentless negative reviews on American Airlines on this forum, I was wary of flying with them. However, I found my experience exceptionally satisfying. On this Saturday afternoon flight, I was upgraded to a business class seat which was spacious and comfortable. It did lack personal entertainment system on the back of the seat in front of you; instead you had the drop down from the ceiling screen where the safety video was played and a show screened which I did not bother. Rather outdated system. Fifteen of the 16 seats in the cabin were occupied and serviced by two very attentive attendants. Pre-take off drinks, bowl of warm nuts, a hot towel, a full dinner with a vegetarian option - I had the beef with mashed potatoes — and a good selection of alcoholic drinks made the smooth flight in a clean and bright cabin go very quickly. Pilot provided just the right amount of information in an amiable manner including letting us know that a cat was a passenger on the flight in the cargo hold. To top it all, the flight arrived at the gate several minutes ahead of schedule. One could not ask more. Good job, American!

✅ Trip Verified | Dallas to Charlotte. My flight was delayed because “they didn’t have a plane”. The delay was only explained that way. I missed my connection and have to fly out the next day. I will miss a very important meeting as a result. They offered no accommodations for there screw up. I will try to avoid flying them in the future

✅ Trip Verified | Pay close attention to the type of ticket you purchase or you will be penalized. I bought a ticket from a third party online, Cheap-o-Air, to attend my sister's funeral. I thought it was strange that they didn't give me a seat assignment. Then a window popped up, telling me that if I wanted to pick my seats, it would cost an additional $25 per seat for the 4 flights, an extra $100 cost. I called the airlines to find out if my flight was confirmed, since I didn't have a seat assignment. They said yes. Then, a few days later, I needed to make a change, so I called the airlines to see if I could fly stand by on an earlier flight. They told me that my ticket was a Basic Economy ticket, which means no changes, no seat assignment, no carry ons, and I must board last. Wow! Talk about treating me like dirt. I honestly do not recall seeing any of these restrictions listed when I booked the ticket. And they didn't care that I had extenuating circumstances, a close family member's funeral. I had not encountered such punitive measures before. Maybe that's because I usually fly JetBlue. In the future, I will rent a car or take the train before I fly American.

Not Verified | Dallas Ft Worth to Jacksonville. Trying to join friends for a weekend of golf and fun at Sea Island. So we booked the 10:50 from Dallas to JAX in first class. When we arrive at gate C30, I see the worst possible thing, a Super 80 at our gate. Perhaps the worst passenger airline plane of all times. For some reason, American can not rid itself of these dinosaurs. At 10:45 they tell us there is a problem with the 30+ year old plane. The part will arrive in 10 minutes and it will take 20 minutes to install. Then after numerous departure update texts, they send us down to gate C19 changing to another Super 80. We finally board and while waiting for fuel and catering, the crew times out, seriously! They deplaned all passengers while we wait for the replacement crew. The new crew arrives check out the plane and we board. We finally leave the gate at 2:45. Taxi out to the runway and while waiting to take off the captain announces that we must return to the gate because there is a problem with the navigation system. So here we sit at the gate waiting for maintenance (an interesting name for this airline). They are offering us to leave now because we have been at this so long. Passengers are laughing at this announcement to keep from crying. We will see how this goes now. At least the gate agent brought food and drinks while we were between crews-cudos to him. You really cannot make this stuff up. 3:25 now. Another safety demo too!

✅ Trip Verified | Sacramento to Mazatlán via Phoenix. First leg delayed, second automatically rescheduled a day later. This is a 4 day trip, now a 3 day trip. I’m told there is no other way to get me to MZT, that if I go home and try again tomorrow I’m out of pocket for the RT Lyft (c.$50) and if I go to Phoenix, I may have to pay for my own hotel and seek reimbursement! Last business trip, AA stranded me in O’Hare for 8 hours. No food voucher, no lounge access, no upgrade, no nothing. American is awful.

✅ Trip Verified | Charlotte to Orlando. My flight was to leave at 1030am in it got delayed over time I stop counting. I didn't get leave the first airport until 6pm at night my seat was taken that i paid for in was told i would have to buy a upgrade if to get it back. The staff was very rude when talking to them especially on the second part of the flight in North Carolina. I didn't get to my destination until almost 11pm at night was place in middle seat after my aisle was taken from me in was told I would have to pay a extra 50 dollars when there was lots of empty seat on the flight. This was the worst experience I have ever been on. I will never use this airline again they have drop off service

✅ Trip Verified | Chicago to Las Vegas. I booked a round-trip flight (as I do every year with American) from Chicago -> Las Vegas for the opening weekend of March Madness. My return flight was 8am on Monday March 25th. Right before boarding, the representative mentioned we would have a 15minute delay. Ok, not a big deal, this is typical with large airlines. 15 minutes later the representative then told us "We're sorry, this flight has not been cancelled. Please call AA.com to choose a different flight at no extra charge." As you would expect, all of the other flights out of Las Vegas on American were the next day. They wanted to switch my flight from Monday at 8am to Tuesday at 10am with a layover in Phoenix, arriving in Chicago at 10pm. (36 hours later "free"). I called American Airlines and told them this was unacceptable and needed to be switched to a different airline since I had to work the next day. They said I could book through a separate airline and request a reimbursement. I chose to fly on a Delta flight that got me home around 11pm on Monday (8 hours after my original plans, not a huge issue). I then requested a reimbursement through American and they said "We're sorry, if a flight is cancelled, please use a representative and we'll switch you to a new flight. Since you booked yourself, we cannot reimburse you." I did exactly what they said and am now $600 out-of-pocket for a 1-way flight. I will never use American airlines again. I was a once Platinum Pro member with them, but this is a new low to me. Avoid at all costs. Delta and Southwest are significantly better. I will pay $50+ more for a flight that is not American moving forward. Hope this helps save someone a future headache.

✅ Trip Verified | San Jose to Chicago via Charlotte. Terribly disorganized. Overbooked several flights and had people panicking. They gave my friend someone else’s ticket with his information on it. They gave myself and another person the same seat, then kicked me out because they said I didn’t have priority. They were rude over the loudspeaker and nagged us the entire flight about seatbelts, turning our phones off and giving their pens back after borrowing them for customs forms. We felt like cattle being herded not like paying customers. Food was also less than average. My animals are fed better. I will be avoiding AA in the future even if it means paying more.

✅ Trip Verified | Boston to Tucson. The worst flight. First our scheduled trip from Boston to Dallas to Tucson was changed to Boston to Los Angeles to Tucson. The seating was inexcusable, absolutely no room. Why make people so cramped and uncomfortable. Even the stewardess mentioned that the bathrooms had gotten so small if you go in the wrong way you cant turn around. The newer plane had tiny air vents that produced virtually no air, its was way too hot and there was no way to get fresh air. Mst planes have actual cool air that you can feel. Got to LA and next flight was delayed. Unfortunately have to return on AA but will never fly again using American.

✅ Trip Verified | Boston to Chicago. Terrible service. Forced to check in my bags because I was told there was no overhead space. What’s the point of selling carry on tickets to economy group only to be forced to check in bag. On the flight From Philadelphia to Boston had a bad experience with some air hostess harassing me because of putting my suitcase in the overhead bin. If you have a choice don’t choose American Airlines.