American Airlines

8th April AA57. Return on AA56. This was our first and last trip with AA. We were told we would be flying on the new AA planes. This simply was not true. Why should one pay the same price if you are going to fly on a dirty broken old plane in business with a ridiculous 2 3 2 seating arrangement and the entertainment system broken. We will never fly AA again. They seriously need to up their game to compete with Emirates Singapore etc.

This is a rough review because we flew first business and coach. We usually fly coach but for a trip to Napa we used our points to go first class. The AA/United merger combined the worst two airlines in the Western world. Flew on 4/7 (260 / 193) - BAN-DFX-SAN. Service food seating excellent. Plane a little old and shaky but all in all a good flight. Returned 4/13 (193/5290) SAN-Charlotte-BNA. Although we had first class we were relegated to business with an accompanying drop in quality across the board. The trouble is the age of the planes - it's like something from a museum. The noise from the engine was so loud it was like sticking your head under the hood of a car. But for once all flights left on time without mechanical problems. We were closer to the real world of 95% of all travelers with tasteless food (a box handed out at the end of a 6 hour flight with a roll candy bar and smoothy). Entertainment (quote unquote) was from attached dirty ancient screens for which AA would kindly sell earphones. I had my IPAD and kept busy while the Mrs tried to doze. Then at Charlotte it's Reality Time. We got bumped to economy (first row) but the constant groans reminded us that these "seats" were once used for unruly reform school students. That was in the 1940's since they were tiny dirty torn and stretched. The place looked filthy. A webbed shower curtain in several pieces separated "first class" (real classy) but they did manage to pass drinks to us in the cattle car. Yes we are switching carriers to anyone who has bought a plane in the last 30 years.

AA flight 2891 on 19th Apr 2015. Flight was late 140 mins due to which I was sure to miss my next connection to Calgary. Technical faults do occur and are understandable. But the issue is how rude and uncooperative the staff were. They had a permanent no for an answer for everything in a most unprofessional way. As a last resort I was booked on same day from San Francisco to Calgary as it was very important for me to be there in Calgary. I had to rush and take ground transportation from Sacramento to San Francisco and working out the next step as I was moving ahead. Forget help no guidance was provided on how I can get to SF airport. Would have accepted same sequence of events if they were delivered to me with a smile. AA staff needs serious training in this aspect of customer service.

AA 954 on 12th April 2015. Truly awful service from Buenos Aires to NYC. Flight staff were alternately incompetent angry or non-existent. Bizarre lack of professionalism creates a stressful flight atmosphere. With so many international options never again will we fly American. Not worth the few dollars saved on the ticket price.

On April 9 2015 while my wife and I waited to board a flight from Barcelona to NY-JFK there was an announcement that it had been canceled. It was hard to hear and broadcast only once. Several of us had to confirm with an attendant that it was indeed canceled that we had to pick up our luggage at the baggage area and return to the check-in counter. My wife and I along with the others scrambled to navigate our way through the airport area finally to the baggage area. After what seemed like a very long wait our luggage along with a handful of others' came out last. This meant that when we finally found our way back to the AA check-in area we were at the end of an extremely long line. Eventually my wife and I "split" with her waiting on a long line at an AA service counter. After about 3 hours she made it to the front while I still had many people ahead of me. AA booked us on Iberia flights for the following day and a hotel with paid meals. We were then given directions to a free hotel shuttle. We never found it and ended up paying for a taxi but the driver took us to the "wrong" airport hotel. Fortunately that hotel let us take their shuttle to the "right" hotel. It's surprising but almost understandable that AA had no "backup airplane". My complaint is less about the cancellation and more about the lack of assistance at Barcelona Airport. Announcements and guidance was poor. There was no one to help us navigate back to the baggage area. We had to wait on a customs line to get back "in" so that we could go to the baggage area. We and others had to grab AA personnel passing by to find out anything even in the baggage area. It was an upsetting experience that cost us a day. We will think twice before using AA again & have spread the word wherever we can.

LHR-RDU economy. I was really impressed with this flight. Ok the plane was the same age as me (28 I checked) and showed it - particularly in not having PTVs for quite a long flight. Seats a little hard. Everything else was very impressive though - food was edible and generous (main meal Ice cream and second snack meal) and regular drinks runs including beer. Staff were incredibly polite and friendly and there was a very relaxed atmosphere which I liked.

My husband and our teenage son went to visit family in Nashville for two weeks this Easter. We booked our four flights each London-Chicago-Nashville and back through BA. BA were supposed to take us as far as Chicago with American Airlines doing the Chicago to Nashville bit. We missed our connection at both legs of the journey which was hugely inconvenient particularly when returning to the UK. To be fair AA brought us back to Chicago airport in time but for some reason the they were not given a gate for more than an hour. I approached the flight attendant asking whether AA can communicate with BA about this delay particularly as there were several people apart from us who were due to catch the same flight. She said that the flight will probably wait for us they know that we are being delayed. This resulted in a mad run between terminals 3 and 5 in vain. We were then sent back to AA desk in Terminal 3 to rebook our tickets for another flight. AA staff took a very long time to process each person. By the time we finished it was more than 1.5 hrs after we started queuing. We were told that the we will be put on AA flight to London tomorrow afternoon. There are many flights between London and Chicago and we requested an earlier flight. The person dealing with us said that if we wanted tickets to an earlier flight we should have come earlier. She refused to check whether BA had any flights the next day. In fact they were as unhelpful as possible. I made a point that we paid tickets for the flight that just left and had we managed to be on it we would not be asking for anything. We were told that we cannot collect our luggage as 'it has gone to BA'. We were given vouchers for an airport hotel and forced to stay overnight without luggage and they reluctantly gave us two sets of very basic things such as toothbrush and toothpaste for us three. The next day at AA check in desk we were told we need to collect our luggage at luggage collection No 5 after which we needed to bring it back upstairs and check them in. They could not locate our luggage. As the time for our next flight was approaching my husband ran to the check in desk to let them know that our luggage never materialised whilst I waited at carrousel No 5 in case it does. We asked if we could be upgraded if there were any spare seats in the premier class and the staff member said 'we do not upgrade for such a reason'. No other option would make me use this airline again.

Non-existent customer service. Recently flew JAN-DFW-ELP. Delayed and missed connection in DFW due to weather. Had to overnight. No help whatsoever from AA because of "weather". No vouchers no distressed travel rates no phone number to call for booking my own hotel and had to walk 20 gates for hilariously cheap toiletries kit that was given grudgingly. Surly agents throughout. Truly an example of the worst in airline culture. To top it all off was unable to be booked on next morning flight and missed work. Agent could only put me on a later flight. Said I was put on FC upgrade list however. The next day when I was told I was upgraded they wanted $70 for the 1 hr flight. Agent said "well it's not free". I am AAdvantage Gold which is meaningless. Now a hostage to them with my new location but will take United or Southwest whenever possible in the future. People understand weather issues but the total lack of even the most basic customer service and rude behavior/attitudes is appalling about this "airline". Previously flown with Delta extensively and they always handled weather delays and misconnections in ATL professionally and courteously. So it can be done AA just doesn't care.

Original flight was scheduled to depart at 10.30 am from DFW. Flight delayed too many times to count. Right now we are at 4 hours past (2.30 pm) I am on the plane have been sitting here with no air flow or electricity for about an hour. We were told that the flight crew was coming from OK however all the passengers from OK are on board and the flight attendants said they could not find pilots. This type of incompetence and lack of communication does not instil a lot of confidence in my safe arrival at my final destination. Although AA was $100 cheaper than United I will never fly with AA again.

Flew American three times in the past two weeks. All domestic. 1) San Francisco to O'Hare Chicago. 2) LaGuardia NYC to O'Hare Chicago. 3) O'Hare Chicago to San Francisco. Good: on time performance. Did not experience delays Bad: 25$ for a checked luggage? Come on! What are you? A Low Cost Carrier? And because of this many people opted for a carryon resulting in overcrowding of overhead bins. There were simply not enough space for all carry-ons. Bad: flight attendants! No smiles! Not very attentive. They looked tired grumpy and stressed! Bad: IFE! No individual screens. Bad: old single aisle Boeing planes. Bad: you have to pay for everything. Complimentary drinks limited to water canned sodas and juices.