AMERICAN AIRLINES sucks big green donkey dicks!

The BBQ Pit
1

I just have to get that off my chest.

So I had to fly out over the weekend for a surprise funeral. Got on American Airlines because of bereavement rates got a discounted price. Flew out from Houston via DFW to Columbus, Ohio. No issues with the flight out.

Return trip was Sunday. I had a 12:30 pm boarding time for a 1 pm departure at Columbus. Because I was riding with my brother and he was flying out, we got to the airport a bit early. And I didn’t sleep well the night before.

A weather delay in the Dallas area had most of the flights in and out behind schedule, so my 1 pm flight slid out to 2:30. I had to get my connecting flight bumped, got a standby on the 4:30 flight from DFW to Houston and got a confirmed seat on the 6:00 flight.

Still waiting in Columbus, the plane finally arrives, and they announce there’s a fuel pump problem and some maintenance log issues that have to be resolved. Sit and wait, sit and wait. Finally we start boarding at 3 pm eastern. We get in the air, and arrive in Dallas at around 5 pm Central.

I jump out and ride to the correct terminal, check the boards, shuffle to the gate, alas even though the 4:30 was delayed I miss boarding. Fine, I have a seat on the 6 pm, I ride the tram around to the right terminal and get ready.

The PA system is out in that wing. I’m trying to follow the flight, but we start having delays. The flight time slides out from 6 pm to 6:15, then 6:30. Maintenance issues. Great.

So they swap us to a different plane, and send us all down the terminal to a new gate. Joy. We hike down, park, sit and wait. I snag a sandwich, because it’s getting on 7 pm. Now this airplane is having maintenance issues. Next they send us back down the terminal to our old gate, and then to a different gate. We’re now in plane number 3 for this flight. It unboards, and voila - Maintenance issues. It’s now 8 pm, we’re on airplane 3, and not flying out anytime soon.

And then I hear one of the other passengers saying this happens all the time. She’s flying this route every weekend and she moved to the earlier flight because she was taking the 9 pm and it was routinely late.

By 8:30 I’m starting to get frustrated and annoyed and a little concerned that American can’t pull a single working plane at DFW. I talk to the desk about changing to a different carrier, but nobody else flies from DFW to Houston Hobby, they all fly to Bush Intercontinental.

I sit and wait a bit longer. It’s 9 pm, showing a 9:30 departure I don’t believe, and frankly I’m not feeling confident in the airline any more. I’m wiped out from a stressful weekend, insufficient sleep, and spending all day in an airport or airplane. I’m ready to be home. I talk to my sister on the phone and make plans to have someone pick me up for the night. I went back to the counter to reassess my flights.

American can get me on a 7 am flight. Right. First off, I am NOT getting up that early in the morning. It just isn’t happening. I’m not a morning person, I have sleep problems as it is, and I’m definitely not getting up that early to sit around a terminal while they scrape together a plane out of left over bits.

Frankly, I want to be done with them completely, but I am too exhausted physically and mentally to sort anything out to get me back to my airport where my car is staged. And I’m pissed at staying over night and missing another work day, not to mention parking fees, etc.

I reluctantly reserve a spot on the 3 pm flight (the next open flight) and leave. Oh, did I mention that I had one checked bag that did make it on to the 4:30 flight, so is now sitting at Houston Hobby waiting for me?

So I went to my parents’ house, had a reasonably good night’s sleep, get up around 9 am and start figuring out my options. I ended up calling up Southwest airlines over at Dallas Love Field (different airport). They have flights just about every hour with open seats. Great. I sign me up on one. Then I called up American to cancel my flight with them and get a refund. They put it in but can’t get into the system for the refund and tell me to call back later. Bastards.

So I had my dad drive me to Love field, had lunch, got on my airplane at 12:30, and had a nice pleasant flight on an airplane that worked and an airline that flew on time and got to Hobby, where my car and bag were, by 2 pm. Then I had to hike around to the American Airlines station to claim my bag.

I found out that American is in the middle of a merger and apparently some sort of labor dispute, so it’s likely all the “maintenance issues” were obstacles being created by the union workers. THANKS, UNIONS! Have a big 1 finger wave on me.

I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or not. On the one hand, it means it is less likely I was riding on RattleTrap Air or that the staff is incompetant. On the other hand, it just makes them assholes.

Eventually I did get ahold of AA and arrange for a refund on that final leg of the flight. That still doesn’t balance the $200 I had to pay Southwest, plus the $10 parking fee for the 3rd day, nor address the missed day of work.

I never want to have anything to do with American Airlines again. They can all go fuck themselves with rusty hammer.

2

In November, a friend rented a house for a week in Oahu with her boyfriend and midway through the week, boyfriend’s father died so he had to head home to help mom settle things up. Friend asked if I’d be interested in coming out, explaining I’d just have to pay for my plane and food, not to worry about the house, since it was already paid for. So, I got on Kayak. Lo and behold, $320 round trip airfare on American to Honolulu. . . and if I got their lil credit card, they’d give me $200 back. Well, who am I to not fly to Hawaii for $120? So, I purchased and off I went.

Strike one: because I had their little credit card, I wasn’t supposed to pay for luggage. It said this ALL OVER the application pages, on the benefits page, and in the email they sent me. Hell, they even emailed me a little temporary card and said to use that on my trip. Sweet. Except when I go to LAX, the American counter girl, who acted like I was a nuisance, told me that I had to physically have the card or it wouldn’t be waived. Well, gee, thanks. I showed her the email, she said it didn’t matter. Great. I had packed a checked bag because I was told it would be free- if I had known I’d have to pay, I’d have just brought a carry on (I was only going for 2 or 3 days).

The flight to Honolulu was otherwise uneventful. A newer looking, clean plane. As comfortable as cattle class can be, etc.

When it came time to leave, I had to pay for my bag (again). Then we got on the plane-- this one was noticeably older than the last. I mean, I don’t know much about planes, but I’d have guessed this one was from the 80s or earlier-- it was that style, that worn. The plane takes off and instantly I can tell something is wrong (I fly a lot)-- it wasn’t making the usual sounds, going through the usual motions. I start to freak out quietly to myself, but then I look around and everyone else is super calm, so I throw on my head phones and try to fall asleep. Over the next 20 minutes, the engines full on shut off no less than 4 times. The plane FELL each time-- the last, it fell so sharply that stuff hit the ceiling and I later had a bruise from the seat belt yanking at me. Finally, the pilot comes over the intercom and says, “I’m not looking to be a hero tonight. We’re going back.” And we did.

We all lined up for about an hour in the terminal. Finally, they came over the intercom. . . but it wasn’t working. So, the actual pilot came out and stood in the middle of the room and loudly announced that the plane couldn’t be fixed and there wasn’t a replacement. Oh, and there were no flights out until tomorrow, sorry.

I got in line to make arrangements and even though I was 4th in line, I wasn’t seen for almost an hour. While waiting, I called customer service and they got me on the earliest flight the next day-- which is good, because by the time I got to the counter, they said the earliest I could get out would be TWO days later.

Long story short, they put us up in a hotel in Waikiki, gave us free transportation, and breakfast. That was all nice. I got back to the airport and eventually got to LAX. Unfortunately, I was supposed to go out of town for work and ended up having to cancel an entire day of meetings for this.

When I emailed CS when I got back, they agreed to offer a “one time courtesy” of refunding the bag fees (gee, thanks) and that’s that. No future credits or discounts for my troubles.

Needless to say, I cancelled their card. Ridiculous.

I guess my point is: no, your experience doesn’t sound unique, based on my experience. Like I said, I fly a lot and I will often complain about how awful United is, but American has made me appreciate United like you wouldn’t believe.

3

:eek:

4

Oh, yes. I have my own American story at DFW. I have to add, American is not the only airline to have a shit-ton full of horror stories by travelers, but it’s what we know, amitrite? Not to mention, flying almost anywhere nowadays is just such a trial. You spend forever with the security, and the lines, and you pay fees out the wazoo … and then you get weather or maintenance (or labor) issues, and it just gets worse and worse. I hate to fly. And I’m an air traffic controller by trade!

Okay, my story. My wife and I had flown to San Antonio a couple of years back. She had a conference down there and I flew down to join her for a few days, so we took separate flights out of different airports. So, on the way back home, we were on the same flight from San Antonio to DFW.

I walked with her down to the gate for her flight from DFW to Cedar Rapids. As I walked back to the gate for my flight to Moline, I saw a group of passengers at another gate who were obviously delayed (Amarillo-bound, if I’m not mistaken). I get to my gate (just around the corner from there), see my flight is on-time, and everything is hunky dory.

After a while, I notice some extra people drifting over into my gate waiting area. Then I hear some announcements about a gate change. I look up to check on my flight again … suddenly, the information on my gate is that this flight is now going to Amarillo, and not Moline.

Yep. American STOLE THE AIRCRAFT RIGHT OUT FROM UNDER MY NOSE. For whatever reason - load factors or whatever - they decided those of us going to Moline didn’t count as much as this group of people going to Amarillo.

Now follow with me here. As I spent some waiting time strolling around DFW, I saw there were several more flights that day going to Amarillo. This one that had a mechanical issue with the plane was not the last flight of the day - not even close. But, there was only ONE more flight that night to Moline. One. And by the time those of us waiting realized our plane had been taken away from us, and got in line (or online) to rebook, THAT flight quickly was full.

So that’s what American did to us. Took a perfectly good airplane scheduled to go to Moline, gave it to people going to Amarillo (instead of putting them on one of their several later flights to Amarillo), and screwed over a good number of passengers who now had very few alternatives to get to the place that they had purchased expensive tickets to.

It worked out okay for me, as I was able to get on a later flight to Cedar Rapids (which is where I live anyway … my car just happened to be sitting at the Moline airport, but at least I got home). THAT flight was jammed full, too, with a few other people doing the same thing I was doing. I heard a few other people trying to get flights from DFW to ORD and then to Moline … but I am sure there were some people who either ended up spending another night in Dallas or rented a car for the 12-plus hour drive.

I’m still irked at that move by American. These Amarillo folks had several other options to get home … by giving our plane to them, American really hosed over the passengers booked on this flight to Moline. I blame some sort of Texas-based conspiracy.

5

I do have to say everyone I talked to was very polite.

They did offer to put me in a hotel. They did offer to arrange a flight on an alternate carrier, though that would not go to Hobby, but to Intercontinental. But they did not seem ready to pay for my shuttle from Intercontinental to Bush. They did not try to reimburse me for my Southwest Flight, nevermind my parking fee.

They did seem willing to refund the last leg rather than a credit.

But the overall experience still has me steaming mad.

The baggage handler at Hobby asked if I just got in, that she didn’t think they had a flight expected in then. I told her that I came in on a different airline, one that could actually get me home in a reasonable time. Told her about the 3 hours and 3 different planes. She’s the one that mentioned the merger and implied the delays were associated with it.

6

Motherfucker. I booked through AA for the first time in years to go to a conference Thursday/Friday, and now I’m reading this. I mean, it’s a half-useless work conference in Baltimore so I won’t be heartbroken if things get screwed up on the way there and delay my arrival, but I will be pissed if it holds me up from getting home promptly.

(Then again, I have (knocks wood) literally never had problems flying United out of/into O’Hare for years, and by many people’s estimations, both the airline and airport are utter disasters, so maybe I’ll be OK anyway.)

7

American’s operations have been a complete shambles for a couple years now. I have a philosophy of not traveling on airlines that are currently in the midst of a bankruptcy. Sure, that cuts my options by about 65%, but what the hell. It seems to work out.

8

Regarding the planes with maintainenece issues, where they from the MD-80 series (long thin fuselage (2-3 seating), two engines at the back instead of under the wings)? I HATE those planes, and they are uniformly old and in need of retirement (the American fleet at least). Uncomfortable, noisy, no modern amenities, etc. They are replacing them with newer jets, I’ve heard. Thankfully.

9

Alas, pretty much every airline’s operations is a shambles on a semi-regular basis. The trick is figuring out which one is having problems at any particular time, which can be tough to do if you don’t fly regularly. And of course weather delays screw things up for everybody.

Sorry about your unpleasant flight. At least when United delayed my flight home by 5 hours two weeks ago, I got comped 3000 frequent flyer miles.

10

I fly Southwest whenever possible and have never encountered problems like this. Having said that, at best, flying these days sucks sooooo bad.

This Fresh Air interview deals with subject. Sorry, this is the mobile link. Author is Mark Gerchick. Book is Full Upright And Locked Position.

11

Just think: after the merger goes through, the final entity will be still called American, but the management will be USAirways’ . The suckage, at least on the domestic routes, is likely to continue a while.

(but where the hell do you get those green donkeys???)

12

I have. Southwest nearly stranded me in San Francisco a few years ago when they had to ground their entire fleet for emergency inspections following a serious mechanical problem with one of their planes. In my experience, no airline is immune.

(That said, Southwest picked up the bill for my last-minute one-way flight home on another airline. I had to lake the booking entirely on my own, though - they offered no help with that at all - and received the financial compensation later. Good thing I had my iPad with me! On the whole, they have very good customer service, but they’re not perfect.)

13

No, SWA is not perfect, but they’re good. Especially compared to other airlines.

One thing that someone mentioned up thread, if you do get bumped off a flight, immediately get on your phone and call the airline to get a seat on whatever next flight you can. Don’t count on there being any seats left if you ever get to the front of that long line at the ticket counter. Make sure the booking number of whatever airline you’re traveling on is saved in your phone in case you need it.

14

I had not heard that they were still doing that–at least it dropped off the news radar many months ago–the two big issues the unions had were that they were pushing to try and force the merger with US Airways (which looks likes it will happen) and they were annoyed that they were being asked to take all the big pay and benefit cuts while the CEO that led them into bankruptcy was being let go with a $20 million severance package (which last I heard was being questioned by the Feds in the bankruptcy as well).

Also, as I understood it, none (or at least very few) of the maintenance requests were actually bogus. Rather, it was a case that over the years AA management, in order to cover their own ass, created such a large set of rules and regulations that it resulted in a not-atypical large company bureaucracy where if everyone actually goes strictly by the book, nothing can ever get done. So that’s what the maintenance guys were doing.

15

Flying American out of Houston? Ouch.

Not that it’s your fault, but I learned a long time ago only to fly Southwest (Hobby) or United (IAH) for domestic trips. And my preference has tilted towards Southwest after the Continental/United merger.

The Southwest Dallas-Houston route is a particular pleasure. It’s regular as clockwork and one of the oldest SWA runs. And it even frequently runs ahead of schedule.

16

Surprised to hear all these problems! I just flew on AA from John Wayne to Nashville, thru DFW. The only thing that happened was my flight out of John Wayne was cancelled due to the weather in Oklahoma, otherwise it all went like clockwork.

17

The last time - and I DO mean “last” - I flew American was out of Boston in the winter. We were delayed several hours due to a snow storm. Fair enough. I can’t blame them for the weather. However, my wife and I were put in seats next to a little galley area where the flight attendants congregated, and we got treated to several long, loud conversations between them about the horrible passengers, and how DARE they be upset that their flight was delayed, and don’t they know that they should be glad the airline exists and all, and that lady up in 13F is such a miserable bitch and on and on and on. I mean, sure, we all complain about our jobs, but maybe wait until, you know, the flight is over and a dozen passengers CAN’T overhear everything you say?

And then they put us up overnight because of the delay. Long story short, my heavily pregnant wife (who was wearing very inadequate sandals) and I had to go hiking for a couple of miles through a very questionable area of Dallas in the middle of the night. Again, not entirely American’s fault, but not entirely not either. But when the CS person informed us that it was “our lucky day” because we got to go to a FREE hotel, well, that was a bit much.

18

Ah well, I do love my Ryanair.

  • Get carted around like livestock
  • Fee’s on everything
  • Not connecting flights
  • expensive charges for changes (like a name change €110 online at desk €160)

… but they do get you where you need to be on time (mostly) and cheap.

Just make sure, you have printed your boarding pass and made sure you do not exceed your baggage size and weight.

19

I’ve had great luck with JetBlue and Southwest. I’ve had no luck at all with any of the major US carriers; I always get the impression half their staff have never seen an aircraft before. If I fly internationally, I take British Airways or the local flag carrier.

20

Heh. While waiting for over an hour at PDX last week, the American gate agent got on the PA and said we were delayed because the “Portland based” flilght crew was late getting to the airport due to traffic. WTF! You mean the same traffic I checked on, and accounted for by leaving early myself so I wouldn’t miss my flight? That traffic? The plane is fine, there’s no weather delays, they’re not even coming from another flight that was delayed - they’re just late for work. Outfuckingstanding.