American Airlines

Booked an American Airlines flight from Austin to San Juan, Puerto Rico in mid January. Over the last two months, they have made 5 schedule changes without letting us know of the change. We have to constantly monitor our record to find the changes, and two have required us to rebook different flights in order to make connections. We are still two months out, so I am expecting another 5 changes before we depart. When we call to talk to a representative they are generally nice, but completely unhelpful. Two of them even took to reading me their operations manual as they tried to decide what to do. I am a frequent flyer with other airlines, and have never had a single schedule change. No wonder American has such a bad reputation. I will never fly American again.

When I booked my flight with American Airlines I was a little concerned because I had never flown with them before. My trip was uneventful, which in my books is good. No delays, no issues with my bags, and no issues with the flight itself. Originally I was supposed to fly home on Saturday 12th March, but due to extreme flooding in North Louisiana, which is where I flew to, I will not be able to make it to the airport tomorrow. The airport I flew into is about 2 hours away from where I am at and the airport there was not in the extremely affected areas. At first I was told that unless I was flying out of one of the two cities that got hit the worst nothing could be done about my flight, even though the roads to get to the airport I was flying out of were blocked. I spoke to AA customer service and she was able to wave the fees and change my flight anyways, I am now a pleased customer and will be comfortable flying with them again. Now as far as the insurance I purchased for my flight, that's a different story. They did me no good at all!

Just had a horrible experience - I had a red-eye American Airlines flight to Miami from LAX for an important meeting. The flight was supposed to leave at midnight, and was on a "new" plane, according to the captain. Before even taxiing, the airplane began to experience computer issues. Multiple attempts to fix this, including a reboot, rewiring, and many false starts all resulted in nothing. In the end, I got off the plane because there was no way I could make my meeting in Miami in time. The plane ended up taking off around 7:30 am after a 7.5 hour delay. On top of that, American is taking up to 6-8 weeks (according to their timeline) to refund me the seat upgrade I paid for, didn't take accountability for this issue or suggest solutions, and didn't give any miles or more than a half-hearted apology by e-mail. I will actively avoid American Airlines in the future given what seems like a lack of commitment for customer service and operational excellence.

Our flight from Phoenix to Las Vegas with American Airlines was delayed for 30 minutes - we were in the air for about 15 minutes when it was announced that we must turn the plane around because it needed a new antenna. As we sat quietly on the ground, they eventually told us that the part they needed would be here by 2:00pm. The flight was suppose to leave PHX by 11:30am. As 2pm approached, they told us the mainentance wouldn't be here in time. They found another plane and had us head to that area of the airport. They told us to hurry over because the flight would board by 2:15 pm. 2:30 pm came around and we were still waiting to board and for a pilot to arrive. We boarded the plane at 2:45 pm. 3:10pm comes around and we still haven't moved. The flight attendant comes over the loud speaker and tells us there is another problem. We have now been on the plane for 4.5 hours and during this entire time, not one member of American Airlines staff has apologized for the inconvenience, nor comped anyone's troubles. We are now on the second airplane, while we wait for mainentance, a second time. I have never been on an airline in my life that was so disrespectful to their passengers. Excuse after excuse has occurred without any consideration for the passengers onboard. Think twice about booking a flight with them if you have to be anywhere important to be.

I booked my American Airlines flight online and they took the money out of my account immediately and then hours later emailed me saying "the seats I selected were not available." So I tried calling multiple times and after 45 minutes finally got a representitive and they told me my seat number would be given to me at the airport. I arrived and when I got through security and to my gate they denied me getting on the flight when I still had 10 minutes to departure. My father died and I was trying to get home ASAP. They told me they would put me on standby. After spending 5 hours at the airport I found out 5 people were in front of me for stand by. The people were rude and did not seem eager to help passengers. Will never in my life try to fly through American Airlines and will never recommend them. Also they said my ticket was non refundable.

First flight from Des Moines to Lihue they changed planes so the $75.00 extra I paid for exit seats and extra leg room seats were no longer - told me they would refund my money! Which doesn't help on a 7.5hr flight when someone got lucky and got exit row seat that's did not pay for them! Then checking in to fly home, the same problem - we were the 6th person to check in I asked they said they switched planes and we would not get our seats and everyone had checked in! Which was not true. So once again "we are sorry you will be refunded I'm 2 to 3 billing cycles. So someone that did not pay for exit row seats gets our seats again. They just change seats with people who have not checked in!

Boston to Aruba via Miami. Once again flew American Airlines and once again we had problems. What everyone else is saying about this airline is true. The plane used from Boston to Miami looked nice and new from the outside, but it's a whole different story on the inside. Inside the aircraft, the interior is horribly outdated and not clean at all. The plane smelled horrible the whole way. Worst of all, there is no in flight entertainment. Large TV monitors every few rows and the one closest to me wasn't even working! The seats are so uncomfortable and the leg room is virtually non-existent. Many of the seats show wear and tear. The flight attendants were rude and have miserable personalities and act like they are doing you a favor in serving you. The food was the worst I have had on an airline, especially on the return flight. I fly to the Caribbean every year and American Airlines is the worst airline I have travelled with.

We sat by a large person and he was unable to fit in his seat without taking up 1/3 of the middle seat. There were a few open seats around us. Unsure why this large man was not given the extra room he clearly needed. There needs to be allowances for obese people. It is not reasonable to expect me to give up a third of my seat and not be able to move. This man was approx 5'9" and weighed no less than 350#. Miserable American Airlines flight from Dallas to Denver.

My wife and I decided to treat ourselves and fly business class to see our son in Raleigh. American Airlines business experience was almost laughable on the return journey. The flight out was OK but not anywhere near as good as other airlines. The return journey was abysmal. From surly check in which even my son commented on,to an ancient aircraft and inedible food. We assumed from all the advertising about the newly refitted planes we would enjoy a comfy flight. I checked in online the day before and looked at the seat plan to make sure it was the new configuration which it was. On boarding what a disappointment to find an ancient plane with the old seats and shabby interior. We have experienced these old planes before and our hearts sank. So much for a treat. The stewardess was in such a rush to serve my wife she skipped the nuts and gave her her starter immediately, before she was ready, her plate was whipped away and her entre plonked in its place. We had to laugh because we felt we were in a carry on film. What is it with American Airlines staff? They need some training as something is missing, and their customer service is dire. Sadly they have a monopoly on the Raleigh route. We will consider going another route next time on British Airways who are so much better. One good thing, the plane landed on time. Wake up, American and sample what other airlines are doing. If you must use ancient planes let the customer know in advance to save the disappointment on boarding.

Our noon flight to Dallas from Austin seemed routine, the plane had just come from Dallas with no issues. But after backing away from the gate, the plane sat for what seemed like a long time with no explanation. Finally, Captain told everyone that the plane had a faulty ignition and would have to return to the gate for maintenance inspection. After telling everyone that repairs would take "about a half hour" he then came back and said delays would now be another hour. He let people unboard, which later resulted in further delays. By the time we took off we were two hours behind. Once again there was an unusually long delay between leaving the gate & getting off the ground. When we finally landed in Dallas, again another long delay getting to the gate. We missed our connecting flight by 5mins and had to wait 5 hrs from the next flight. We were bumped from row 14 to row 28. Never again will we fly American Airlines.