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Yesterday wasn’t a great travel day for me. I was headed back to Chicago from a conference in Las Vegas and was booked on a United Airlines flight. It was supposed to depart at 6:34 PM and arrive at 11:59 PM. The inbound was delayed and the time kept rolling later and later. I was sitting in the United Club℠ around 3:00 PM and decided that the flight was getting too late. I looked at other options and found an American Airlines flight that was just a little delayed. I hopped on my company’s Concur and booked the flight.
Because I was close to departure time it would not let me choose seats or do much of anything. It randomly assigned me an awful seat and there was no way to change it. I decided to call AA and was told they could do nothing since the flight was under airport control. I waited in the lounge for a bit and walked over to the gate close to when it was supposed to depart.
This is what I found. No agent was working the desk. There were kiosks nearby, but they did not function. Even though I had a boarding pass (with a bad seat), the kiosk said that the reservation was invalid.
An agent arrived about 20 minutes before the flight was supposed to board. I waited a moment for her to put her things down before approaching the podium to ask for a seat change. She was unpleasant and not very helpful. Here is our interaction:
Me: “Hello. Would you be able to help me with a seat change? The kiosk and app are not working.”
Agent: “Nothing works. I have to log into five systems and they are not working.”
Me: “Okay. I’ll give you a moment.”
Agent: “It will be more than a minute. Nothing ever works. Give me your boarding pass.”
Me: “It’s on my phone. I can give you the confirmation number.”
Agent: “No. Stand here. I’ll do it.”
Me: “I booked a ticket in Economy as no First Class seats were for sale. If someone does not check in or make the flight, would I be able to buy the seat?”
Agent: “You are only Gold. That doesn’t get you anything. We have Executive Platinums that are much more important. They get the seat.”
Me: “I’m not asking for an upgrade and thank you for noting my loyalty to AA. I’d like to buy the seat. I want to buy up to First if I can.”
Agent: “You don’t fly us much. I can tell. We don’t do buy up here. It goes to my Executive Platinums.”
Me: “I find it funny AA would not want the revenue.”
Agent: “I’m busy. Here is your new seat.”
Me: “This seat is further back then the one I had before. I saw 8E is available in the bulkhead. I’d like that one.”
Agent: [big sigh] “Here you go, 8E.”
She then put the paper boarding pass on the counter and started typing something else.
Me: “Thank you.”
Agent: “Next time, choose your seat when booking or use the app.”
Me: [not wanting to discuss this further] “Thanks.”
The flight was uneventful. The bulkhead seat was a bit cramped. Wi-Fi worked well and the outlet was powered on the entire flight.
The flight attendants were friendly and came through quickly with a snack and beverage selection.
Observations:
- American’s app is awful. I could not change a seat, see an upgrade list, or do much of anything.
- The kiosks at LAS were not functioning.
- This agent needs training and an attitude adjustment.
- I’d like to learn if she is right that AA does not upsell seats. This doesn’t seem accurate.
- AA’s Wi-Fi is fast and I had no hiccups with it.
- The seats in Economy were cramped. They did not have any monitors, but the outlets worked throughout the flight.
I’m happy to report that I landed around 11:00 PM and my original flight landed after 1:00 AM. An hour delay is not a big deal, but at the time of night it would not have been fun. The flight was uneventful and quick.
Anthony’s Take: Between the app, kiosk, and gate agent’s attitude, I was turned off to flying American. I have consistently not enjoyed flying American in the past. The flight was fine, service was fine, but the bad taste left on the ground will make me continue to avoid them. United and Delta’s apps are leagues better than what AA passes off as a functional app.
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100 comments
You were flying from Las Vegas…be glad that the agent deigned to assist…
One bad experience because your sense of entitlement wasn’t satisfied. AA rewards loyal customers. Since you’re not, you don’t get preferential treatment. You should have some cheese with that whine.
I’m “only” gold on AA and I’ve always been treated fairly when it comes to rewards travel or when upgrading. It all in how you ask. Sometimes All they can say is no, but at least it was worth a try. But you must be courteous. You always get more flies with honey.
What a stupid first world problem to talk about
& what woukd you call the fact that you read & CHOSE to respond to the article??? Let me help you… Retarded.
Of all the words you could have picked, Annie Bettis, you went with that one. Not dense, foolish, unintelligent, mindless, inane, vapid, idiotic, etc. Nope, you decide to drop an r-bomb.
What are you? Six and feeling edgy in kindergarten by using a word you overheard from mom and dad?
I agree with Suzanne. I have now 4 Mill. miles on AA and have encoutered any problems very rarely. But hey, we had a pandemic and things and times have changed and we must adjust!!!! Or content with hospitals and heart attacks. Jeje
To be honest, you sound pretty whiney.
Agents always show 1 hour prior to departure which is like you said 20 minutes before boarding. So she showed up on time.
AA has downsized the amount of agents at the gates and have increased pressure for them to close the door on time. Leading to agents being extremely stressed and at time unhelpful since there is a clock ticking and they have to accomplish more with less staff . Write to the company and them they are putting to much one the 2 agents at the gate
Oh waaaah a word that offends you. No one gives a crap about your feelings. Welcome to the real world. Go cry in a corner and drink bud light.
I live in LV and fly out of McCarran all the time, and exclusively American. Let me say that I think you are full of crap on this entire story. The app works just fine. The planes are fine, I think you are just an elitist asshole and that’s why you got the attitude you got, you simply deserved it.
I so I agree with you..this guy should just piss off..an elitist asshole is so benign..while I was reading this I was just shaking my head. In reality I think this person whining here is true asshole, buying candy will make the vendor puke at him..just a loveless, disgusting person who has here an outlet to spew his poison back to the world .. amazing what creatures are out there.
Pleased I am with the coments of all the folks, gives me hope in mankind..wonderful..seeing right through it..
Annie is a bitchy KAREN. I think you are the retard and an a$$hole!
This person added herself at the last possible moment. The app will not let you change seats because the gate agent is assigning seats and working with flight restrictions, which most passengers are unaware of. This person is an entitled crybaby. Be happy you got to your destination. I’m sure AA is not missing your business.
I actually prefer American app to United. I have no problem with seat maps, wait lists departure updates. It even updates flight info in air.
I don’t see how they can sell a seat that’s already sold. If there’s a no show, it goes to upgrade lists. I’m 5.5 million on American 10 years EP, have had frustrations since they sold to US Scareways, but not the app. Booking that late, it usually tells you to book at airport. Try to remember everyone is short handed
You sound like an entitled elite. I’ve flown american for over 10 years and have incurred maybe one problem and I think that was a passenger. While your words to the agent sounded innocuous maybe your tone wasn’t.
I agree.
Double agreed. And let’s clarify – elite in their mind, not in the Advantage program!! Gold, 25K points, so you fly occasionally. 200,000 points annually and 30 segments (right?) to make Executive Platinum. Besides, the AA flight departed and got you to Las Vegas; your United flight didn’t.
What absolute nerve you have. AA has become a horrible airline that does not reward loyalty. I and my husband have been part of the 1mil mile flyers for ages. Since we retired we don’t travel as much. We are trying to use our miles and have noted that even though we attempt to arrange flights 4 to 6 months in advance we are not able to redeem miles on the majority of flights and working with BA as a “partner” had made it even worse. This is what we get for all those years, miles and dollars invested in AA. We have now decided we are cancelling our AA credit card and putting our transactions on our card which rewards us with cash rather then points to pay for any airline. Let’s see how it works out for you in the future. Their agents well at least the ones on the phone offer little assistance and clearly need an attitude adjustment
Agents do not come to gate until 30 minutes before flight. We have wonderful agents in Las vegas.
The author didn’t mention ALL the agents. You believe their all great.
I purchased first class ipgrade on American using the app.
I am new to AA. We usually fly Southwest, however, SW does not service. San Luis Obispo, where my husband often works, so, we switched to AA. I have to say, I have only flown AA Eagle 3 times. All 3 times, there was trouble hooking the ramp to the plane upon arrival. One time, when the bell dinged indicating arrival, most passengers stood up, took their baggage down and stood in the aisle w-a-I-t-I-n-g. Eventually, the captain came on and advised we would be taxi-ing to another gate and everyone needed to re-store their baggage, sit back down and buckle up. There were two responses from passengers – those who laughed and those who cursed. It has become a source of comic relief for me.
The AA app is great. Proximity to flight time and an unhelpful gate agent are at issue here. You wound up in a bulkhead seat, which is pretty good under the cir umstances!
I have not flown American Airlines in the last ten years due to their poor treatment of their customers experience and poor attitude of most the agents I dealt with. I see things are still the same. I will continue to not use their services.
The readers of this blog are generally “first world” people. We fly and want to make educated decisions on where we spend our money.
AA is truly an awful airline, people below are defending them “there are good and bad agents” not wanting to admit that there are enough bad agents to consistently encounter them across the entire network.
Alaska Airlines? Lovely agents, I’m not sure I’ve ever had a bad experience.
Delta? I haven’t flown them domestically but their international staff almost provide a service on par with international airlines (which always provide a better service).
While every member of staff should provide a good experience, if you encountered a ramp agent and they briskly said “give me your bag, hurry up” I would be more forgiving about that because that’s not their job to work with you. The person working the gate is literally a customer service agent, it’s actually their job to provide good customer service.
So yes it’s a “first world problem” this is a first world blog. It gave good feedback.
I already sweared to myself that I would never book another AA flight again. Everytime I traveled thru Dallas on AA flights there were huge delays. Recently traveled from Newark to Conzumel with stop at Dallas. Airplane broke down and took 4 hours to fix, almost missed our dinner appointment. Coming back 3 hours before flight time, AA automatically rebooked our flight to next day and notified thru app and text. Went to airport asking agent to find us an flight to Miami then Newark. We are willing to pay for any upgrade to business class or any flights to get us back to Newark bz my wife had very important appointment at hospital next morning. She blankly refused and only offered one seat for my wife to flight to LaGuardia arriving at midnight. Had to gave up our seats and brought two tickets from UA back to Newark. My sister took the reverted flight to Miami then was offered to fly back to Newark with a 9 p.m flight. AA agents are rude and not very willing to find different routes and seats when asked. Worst airlines among all American airline companies, worst than the 3rd world country airlines.
I don’t know where you live, but most of us are living in the “first world.”
AA isn’t good going to LAS either. Paid cash for F. No PDB no inflight drink service nothing. Crap airline with crap service. Not looking forward to my flight back from ORD. Only booked it because I had leftover credits. Former EXP and glad no regrets that I left.
On the day of travel, if there are people on the upgrade list, the seat can’t be purchased. It goes to those on the upgrade list. It will occasionally allow you if there are more seats than those waiting to upgrade.
Wtf. You can select seats on the AA app. You can buy an upgrade on the AA app. The app is on par with United. I fly both extensively. I do think aa is worse with delays recently. But in my experience, both have canceled the same number of my flights. As another said, you just seemed like you were pissy about the delay and took it out on the GA. I won’t apologize for their GA’s, as I have had issues with them. But again, not limited to AA.
Sorry, this was just supposed to the author of the article.
When I went to use the app for this flight, it did not work. The kiosks did not work. I’ve found you get more flies with honey then with vinegar is very true for dealing with gate agents. Was I annoyed? Yes. But, I was polite. The gate agent acknowledged that nothing was working as it should have been.
Boring!! It’s just a seat that will take you to the same place like rest of the passengers. I’ll be more worry about who is seating in my surroundings being first, business or economy seat.
I agree the AA app is less than stellar. As for the gate agent, all carriers have both awesome and awful. It’s not particular to AA
They don’t have enough gate agents. They don’t have enough IT people otherwise the Kiosks and App would work. I’m a nice person but if I was that AA gate agent working alone I would hate my job
You’re complaining about AA when United is the airline that left you stranded? You should have stayed in the United lounge and arrived at 1 a.m. instead of complaining about the airline that got you in 2 hours earlier.
Bingo!
I deal with AA gate agents on a regular basis as I’m an AA pilot. This interaction between you and our GA sounds very far fetched.
Same reasons why I avoid AA if at all possible.
Every AA Elite loves the policy of AA not doing upsells to first class. We actually get upgrades unlike the guys at UA and DL, where F seats just go to the lowest bidder.
Sounds to me like the gate agent was having a really bad day, largely due to AA making numerous glitches and mistakes. The agent should, however, have listened to what you were saying about buying up to first class.
In my experience everyone at that company needs an attitude adjustment. In my last instance after trying to fly standby and they let the plane pushback without me (even though I was sitting right in front of the gate and they had open seats) I swore to avoid them at all cost.
What a funny story
I heard recently from an agent at the travel agency that my company uses that AA is trying to rebrand themselves as a “premier” airline by making it harder for travel agents to do anything with them or their systems. I’m not sure how much truth there is to that, but I’ve been consistently underwhelmed with their service, their airport agents are terrible, and they stranded my husband and I in NYC because they messed up a rebooking, then wouldn’t work with us to get us to our destination without losing 2 days of a trip. Definitely not a premier experience.
OMG. Are you OK?
Sounds more like I just need a article and can’t sit in the front of the plane. Don’t blame the carrier if you don’t know the rules
I fly AA a lot, no complaints from me. As to your comment that the economy seat was crap, well welcome to the world of 99% of the traveling public! Since you evidently are a clueless elitist, news flash, economy seats in “all” airlines are crap.
Try Jetblue… Economy seats are fine (best in class, look it up). Upgrades even better. Service consistent, over a year. Not perfect, but definitely better than AA. Can’t believe they do business together in NE United States. That’s a travesty, as they have NOTHING in common, except for willingness to take advantage of naivety of customers. But, overall, Jetblue a much better bet than AA (& certainly UA & DL, market dependent)
I hate flying AA…they just don’t give a damn. Unfortunately, when I have a meeting in Chicago, I’m prety much stuck out of RDU.
I am gold on both AA and UA. Both airlines have their advantages and disadvantages. I also get upgraded occasionally on both to First. I find the AA app works better once you know how to use it. Also, why didnt you just book first class in Concur? My guess is that the AA main systems were down causes everything not to work right. Normally, if I decide to change flights at the last minute I’m happy I got a seat and I made it home. Any class.
You CAN view and change seats in the American app. It sounds as though you were pi##ed that the AA app doesn’t work the same way as the Delta or United apps. I’m guessing you were irritated that your United flight was messed up and that attitude carried over and influenced your interaction with the AA agent
Get used to it!! This is the New American Airlines!!
Soooo let’s see. Generally speaking, if the flight is under “airport control”, there is little you can do with seat changes (depending on the station, OS situation, and restrictions in place). As for the kiosks at the gate (no check-in lobby), those are county kiosks operated and maintained by the airport authority, not AA.
Generally speaking, last minute reservations will yield less than favourable seating conditions. Youre lucky you had a seat straight out and not put on the oversale (standby) list.
Soooo let’s see. Generally speaking, if the flight is under “airport control”, there is little you can do with seat changes (depending on the station, OS situation, and restrictions in place). As for the kiosks at the gate (no check-in lobby), those are county kiosks operated and maintained by the airport authority, not AA.
Generally speaking, last minute reservations will yield less than favourable seating conditions. Youre lucky you had a seat straight out and not put on the oversale (standby) list.
Couldn’t fly on the airline I’d booked due to them not being on time & not providing me with enough accurate information to establish when my flight would actually depart/ land.
I booked a last minute seat on an airline who weren’t running as late or making me concerned about being left stranded like United had done. I was annoyed that having booked at the last minute I couldn’t have my pick of seats. Then I was even more annoyed because the airline that was going to actually get me home don’t have the same rules as the airline who’d let me down so much I felt I needed to book a new flight. Clearly the airline should change well published and established SOPs as & when I want them to and in the way I deem best for me. How that would affect anyone else isn’t important.
I write a travel blog but somehow have no understanding of TIMATIC/ flight operational flows and am aghast that a flight departing near imminently is under airport control. Clearly this is also totally wrong and AA should allow me to demand they do whatever I want at anytime.
So in summary. AA got me home. Did so before United did and are the worst airline in the world coz I didn’t get everything I wanted when & how I wanted it. Therefore I will try harder not to spend my companies money with AA next time United let me down.
I think a gofundme for your mental anguish is needed asap. we should all petition our state governors for the immediate arrest, prosecution and life imprisonment of the entire AA executive board. the contact center employees you spoke to, the gate agent, anyone involved in any way with the AA app, all employees ( retired and current) involved in the elite seat assignment policy from inception through to today, Joanne the bus driver who conveyed the gate agent to work from the staff carpark that day & Roberto who served her a coffee that day. I’m sure everyone else will join me in calling for you to be given a purple heart, medal of honour and at least a $500M comp check in recognition of the sheer hell and adversity you had to bravely suffer through and come out the other side.
At least the rest of us can be reasonably confident that we won’t have to endure a live rendition of your tale of oppression & mistreatment lasting the entire flight on AA if we were to have the misfortune to have you next to us. So silver linings I guess
Painfully obvious you’re an employee of this airline. If you’re going to spend that much time responding (albeit creatively), at least acknowledge the original problem, well pointed out from a CUSTOMER POV, lest you become part of the problem. Guessing you’re just that… 🤔
Clayton’s post – spot on. 😂 dying.
Consider yourself fortunate you not only found a seat, but arrived home earlier than your delayed United flight, got your requested seat assignment in a front row all while booked very last minute.
I’ve never been so lucky in similar situations. Sounds like AA did an excellent job.
I agree. Much ado from an entitled passenger.
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. Know that i would’ve gone above and beyond to make your experience better. And btw, that seat in first should’ve been sold to you.
I had to make a one way reservation as I had enough flight miles on a different airline so I made my return reservation on Jet Blue . They had a good price and a non stop flight. I am booked and paid when I see an email to me from American Airlines . Lucky me I inadvertently picked a jet blue flight but it’s operated by American.
and
Recently needed a one way fare non stop at a good price. Decided to book jet blue as it was non stop and a fair price. I usually fly delta United or southwest but it needed to be on a Sunday amd the other airlines were pricy and I didn’t have enough miles. I’m good with JetBlue. Then the next day I see an email from American. I picked a JetBlue flight but it’s operated by American. Oooh can’t wait
The app works just fine for me.
Domestically all airlines are pretty much the same. When you say “I will never fly AA, United, Delta, etc again!” When that good fare comes up you will.! Sorry you had a bad experience, but I would like to here the agent side of the story! Also was it really necessary to take a picture and place a emoji over her face. Air travel is designed to get you from point A to point B in a timely in a timely and safely way. Weather causes delays, It might be weather in the flight path and not at your destination, there are mechanicals etc, you need to take that into consideration when you are angry about a delay. Summer is coming and there will be storms and issues remembering that and take a deep breath the next time you are on a flight that has a delay. Have a nice day.
I was willing to switch from being a 15 year 1k with United to AA bc they consistently have cheaper business class overseas where I travel for work (I pay for the business class not work). I took two flights with them- once to Florida for a vacation, direct flight, and it was fine. I bought a $4500 business class to Argentina for work and they couldn’t get me from my home airport to Miami for love or money. Not only that, they kept changing which of the two flights were “on time” and which was later. So I kept calling to switch to the one that made it more likely I’d make it, including giving up my first class seat, and ended up on the wrong one. They landed, got to gate with just enough time for me to make it to connecting flight- oops gate is blocked by a broken plane. New gate at other end of terminal. Ran to connecting gate- plane still there, doors still open. Gate agent said “can’t let you on”. No apology nothing. I’d been on hold this whole time (total hold time 45 minutes, as a Plat Pro) and went back to “help desk”. No separate line for business class or those with status. Waited 30 minutes only to find out what I did on the app while on hold and waiting (put myself on same flight next day and book my own hotel room) was basically all the person at the counter could do. I asked if I needed anything to get reimbursed for the hotel since it was spring break and even the cheapo airport hotel was over $300 and she said no, just go online and submit receipts. Come to find out- AA will only pay up to their contract rate of $200. So I am out over $100 because the person at the help desk did NOT say I needed a voucher when I asked and said what I had done was perfectly good. So yeah. Oh and when the plane finally took off the next day to Argentina, someone hadn’t latched the cabinets in the galley properly (or they were broken) and half the crap fell out and crashed down and injured a FA. AA is a delight. United it is for the forseeable future cause I get what I pay for- better customer service. And that is a low bar United sets.
Tony, Tony, Tony……you are quite the whiner. The AA aap works fine. I have changed seats using it on many flights. However, within an hour of departure, no changes can be made and the seating chart is not updated. So there might not have been an available FC. Everyone knows that inflight entertainment involves using your own PD not a seat back screen. Your article did not enlighten. American is promoting convenient schedules and on time departures. Use American if that appeals to you. If you want a special cookie or whatever, fly with another carrier.
Sooooo . .. . Your favorite airline failed you, so YOU chose to:
1. NOT complain about that
2. book a flight with American, instead
And: although American Airlines is not your favorite, and you don’t have the highest status with them DUE TO THE FACT THAT you haven’t chosen them as your first choice, and
although the agent herself was already stressed, she still did the best she could to accommodate your request for a better seat. .
. . And here you are, complaining that you weren’t treated as a very special person ??
Awwwwwww, poor baby.
For years I lived close to DFW and flew AA almost exclusively, reaching 980k miles before never flying them again. It was years before the pandemic and I was sick of filthy, old planes and tired of surly AA staff. It was a great decision. Never again, AA.
AA has the youngest fleet of all the US major airlines. Never let facts get in the way of a rant.
Since AA is the only carrier that does a direct flight (from my location) to Heathrow, and Economy is all i can afford, it’s hard to read this and not feel like you are coming off as whiny & entitled. Most of what you said sounds like crap being spewed from a richy-rich toddler having a temper tantrum…. However, that being said… I have had to fly with AA a lot and I agree that their level of customer service isn’t the best. It’s not ALL the agents, only some… but there’s enough that it over-shadows the good and leaves you with a bad impression. Customer service always seems to be their Achilles heel.
I am a 2m on American. But I just paid for and flew in United’s premium economy to London from EWR. Beats AA hands down. United’s 2-seat arrangement allows my wife to have the aisle she likes and me the window I like and no chance of some weight-challenged individual in the middle seat between us. Earlier in the year we flew on Delta to Gothenburg, Sweden in their premium economy which had the same two seat arrangement as United. AA needs to catch up with its competition
Some people are just so spoiled, aren’t they? United was the cause of all this so why not take it out on them? And you’ve had days when you we not in the best of moods, haven’t you? Nothing’s perfect. Deal with it.
I love blogs like this. Because the National Enquirer no longer exists, it’s the perfect replacement and usually on that level.
Because we couldn’t get the agent’s side of the story, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. It appears you were here first customer to speak with concerning that flight. Unless you were a
Jerk, why would the agent be so nasty out the gate. Either she needs a vacation or you are pulling a George Santos with embellishments. Regardless, you’ve decided all 120,000 employees should feel your wrath of being considered horrible because of one employee. Give that a though.
Sorry for misspells. Here=her. Though=thought
My pet peeve when flying is having to stand in line at the podium forever while some jerk is trying to negotiate a seat change or upgrade. Totally oblivious to the rest of the passengers.
Exactly!
As an AA executive platinum and former United 1K, the author does complain too much. AA app is as good as any. I can seats up till boarding. The fact that you got bulkhead seat ahead of other elites tells us that the GA was way nicer to you then your attitude warrants. Buying up to first at the gate seems like a money maker for the airline at first blush, but is probably such a rare occasion it’s not worth implementating. Oh no! Although I am happy to complain about any US-based airline anytime This article is completely empty and deprived of substance.
AAL is where bad attitudes go to work because they’re allowed to spread their wings there. But that’s just normal American -style customer service. No better or worse than AS,DL, & UAL..
Fast forwarding to the end of the author’s story. You arrived hours sooner than UA. That was your goal correct? I rest my case.
This guy is PRIVILEGED and UNGRATEFUL…to say the least.
You got seated in the row before first class, aka the extra legroom seats.
Unless you’re Kevin Durant, you are highly mischatacterizing those seats. I’m 6 feet tall and still have plenty of space left to the seat in front of me.
The entitlement you have is atrocious. You were accommodated fairly well considering you’re on Gold status.
This guy seems like an asshole. He’s lucky that he got the seat because if I were the gate agent he would have stayed in the center seat . I am sure that there is a lot more to the story than we are hearing. Every gate agent that I have encountered has been great.
Sounds to me like you are a bit self centered and entitled honestly.
Geez, what a whiner you are. Blame everyone else for you making a late reservation. Entitled much?
Try driving from Las Vegas to Chicago and you will appreciate flying.
What a f…ing crybaby !
Your life is miserable.
Try a different personality this one is not working for you.
I have over 4M miles over 42 years of business travel…I flew American once and still remember how bad it was… United & Pan Am had my business, United still does. Avoid American , Chicago, Charlotte, Philly and especially DALLAS are some of the worst hubs in the nation.
Author sounds like a whiny, entitled, terrible person.
I fly AA frequently as I travel to the Caribbean several times a year. I do not think that there is a perfect airline they are all understaff and stressed out. I still think that Delta is the best run airline but it all comes down to where you are departing and going to. They each have a market that they serve well. As for the app the AA app is great I have no complaints.
It is just as good or better than United.
It all comes down to which app you are famiy with
AA is terrible, and a nightmare if you ever have to contact someone over the phone or at the airport. I don’t ever book AA, unless they are the only option and I know my travel plans won’t change. They are also sitting on a lot of debt, and hasn’t done anything about it.
+1. I also avoide AA whenever possible. On average my experience they are far inferior to most US carriers.
Once upon a time, American Airlines was an absolutely wonderful airline. It really became crappy when taken over by U.S. Airways. I guess they assumed taking over a good airline and assuming the name would make them better; all that happened was that a once great airline was downgraded to the bottome of the heap that U.S. AIrways always had been.
Wow.
I just read an entire article on how bad AA is based on a single experience that wasn’t perfect while the author all but dismissed how his knowledge of his preferred carrier on original flight guided him to book elsewhere.
If he had taken half the time it took to write this entitled nonsense, he might understand upgrades are already committed 20 minutes prior to departure, hence no first class seats to be sold. The practice isn’t exclusive to American Airlines so it begs a question of what makes the author feel qualified to even write about air travel…..
Bad customer service is always annoying. I don’t think that never flying the airline again is a valid reaction, tho. I’ve never flown AA except for two award tix up front way back when they ‘merged’ with TWA. From what I’ve gathered over the last few years, flying AA is often a lesson in bad customer service. Not that United doesn’t have its issues, but rarely have I experienced sullen antagonistic attitudes from any UA person.
I am an AA Concierge Key. I paid my dues and been Executive Platinum for over 10 years. I have pretty much seen it all from every problem one can experience. The gate agents they say are the last people you are going to deal with that care about you. The pilots will say treat them nicely as it’s really up to them. There are good ones and bad once. I flew Saturday out of Ft Lauderdale and the gate agent was a total jerk. Other times total sweethearts. Just people and having a bad day can effect them. The same goes with the flight crew as I have had amazingly wonderful experiences and amazingly bad ones. With my status you would think it never would happen but it does. I have to admit, American does a great job mostly with their flyers with status. The higher the better in general but get in one’s face and suffer their wrath. I think you did well to get a bulkhead. I will say this, they will bend over backwards for me but sometimes even I don’t get upgraded. No buy ins no nothing. If it’s sold out, case closed, end of story.
I’ve been an AA Advantage member with varying status from Gold to ExecPlatinum and find AA’s service to be very good overall. Generally, when there’s a problem, they respond quickly and professionally with a few hiccups in customer service, but 98% OK to great. The episode described here wouldn’t make me consider changing my carrier or even cause me to mention it to anyone, let alone blast the airline for one tired CS’s poor service. Anthony got the flight he needed, got the seat he wanted even though there were computer system problems all over. I think he might consider a complaint about the delayed United flight that he abandoned!
Good job on getting a bunch of comments on your hateful post. I guess you have identified what sells. We should have all ignored you (including me, yet here I am). AA and its passengers will be fortunate to have you flying other airlines as much as possible.
To be honest I have been scared to death to even look some of the aa flight attendants in the eye let alone say hello. I flew American despair or useless air back when they purchased a great airline known as America west and for many years following I chased points and for the most part kept my platinum level for many a year give or take but I have to say the workers certainly were not happy folks I knew a few maintenance workers in PHl when airbus had piles of wings sitting in the big hanger to be sent back for repair as they had to use composite rather than metal (Boeing) and they all had the same disregard for management. Such a shame and yes first world problems Wife has pushed me into using SW but I really hate the cattle Shute When the system works it’s a great time saver over driving but when it falls apart what a nightmare. Helta skelta delta and useless air were my go to but Sw does seem to have happier employees. Still better than driving in my opinion
Is this an American thing that I keep hearing about?
How people are polarised in life and become abusive and disrespectful towards other.
Reading the comments – which let me remind you all is a travelogue blog – not a political blog, nor a teenage social media group – which is how it sometimes appears with the level of language and the depth of abuse. If you are one of the people using abusive language towards other contributors including the original author – you really need to take a good look at yourself and seriously consider refraining from participating in any social media or comments to travel blogs. Is this the standard that you would want to set for your own children or grandchildren? Sad really.
Bear in mind this is a travel blog. The author contributed to this with his own recent experience. First world maybe – but we all participate with this in our travels – but entitled no. It was a commentary.
You sound very entitled and seem to have a vendetta against American. Get a grip.