# American Airlines Worst in the World! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634 "2015-01-12T16:45:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![livesalesonline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@livesalesonline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/livesalesonline)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/1 "2015-01-12T16:45:26Z")
After the most bizarre experience I have had in over 60 years of flying with American Airlines I wrote and fedex’d the following letter to Doug Parker its CEO: January 5th. 2014 Dear Mr. Parker, I am certain that you are a very busy person and I would only take the liberty of writing to you in extraordinary circumstances. I am 70 years old and I began flying when I was 6 years old making the trip from London to Manila about twice each year (in those days it took 3 days). Since then I have flown many millions of miles and until about 1990 American ws one of my favorite airlines. However there was an incident that caused me to switch to United and for the following ten years I was a United 1K every year. As I moved to Florida in 2012 I decided to give my business to American again and for the last two years have maintained a Platinum status with you. Over the last 64 years of flying I have had many issues with many different airlines but what happened yesterday is so outrageous to me that it caused me to write to you. In November I arranged for an itinerary under the AA locator ORXUUT which took me from Miami to Denver to Portland (via Chicago) to LA via Phoenix and then. back to Miami. As my plans changed I cancelled the final portion of the itinerary and left it open for later rebooking (understanding that IO would have to pay the change fee when I rebooked). Yesterday, January 4th. at about 11:07 MST I called the AA Platinum desk in order to rebook the LA to Miami portion of my itinerary. The agent I spoke to took note of my request and told me that she needed to speak with the rate desk so I was placed on hold. Some time later the agent came back and asked me if I had flown the portion of the itinerary from Portland, Oregon to Phoenix which was AA flight 0630 operated by US Airways. I told her that yes of course I did take that flight. After a very long delay the agent returned and said that she was unable to rebook me because AA’s records showed that I never took the flight from Portland to Phoenix? I thanked her for her efforts and asked to speak with a supervisor. The person that I spoke to was Miranda Arrowood at the Raleigh AA centre. I found Miranda to be very cold and after another interminable wait (the entire call is registered in my phone as a total of 1 hour and 14 minutes) she informed me that I did not take flight 0630 at 8:45 am on December 9th. and that this was confirmed to her by a supervisor at US Airways (the supervisor told her that I did not show up on the passenger manifest). I told Miranda that this was absurd as AA shows that I did take flight AA 5382 from Phoenix to LAX at 1 pm on December 9th. I told Miranda that this was patently absurd as I was on the flight and how did she think that I got to Phoenix (it turns out that the only flight that would have allowed me to connect to the LAX flight from Phoenix that day was in fact, AA 0630). I found Miranda to be arrogant and unhelpful. he tried to tell me that AA and US Air are separate entities and when I told her that legally the Corporations are one she said, “not according to the FAA” so she was argumentative and mostly uncaring and unwilling to help. She said that she was following “policy”? I then called US Airways and spoke to them about the situation. The agent called up the record and said to me, “I don’t know what they are talking about, I am looking at your record and you did complete that flight”. I begged him to help me to get the message back to AA and he asked me to hold and then without further comment I was transferred back to an AA agent. I again explained my situation and asked for a supervisor. She transferred me back to Miranda. I explained my call with US Air to Miranda who said that all she could do was to call US Air again and I would have to wait. I told her that I had already been on the phone over two hours so would she please call me back. Miranda told met hat your phone system does not allow for callbacks to customers??? I said that I had an appointment to go to and that the last time it took over 40 minutes for her to speak with US Air and that I could not afford that much more time. Her comment was that “if I was so sure of what I was saying, I would wait”?? In other words that I was lying?? I told her that the situation was alarming and ridiculous and that I would contact you. I also said that I would likely not continue as an AA flier. She said, “well that would be my choice”!!! I really find this situation disturbing and again I apologize for taking up your valuable time with it but I do, take it very seriously as it seems to me that there is a security issue involved here? I have copied my email to the TSA below for your information and would appreciate any assistance that you can offer me. Sincerely, [edit: removed personal information- Loach MPSIMS Mod] The response was a call from “Anita” who said that actually yes I was on the flight and there was a “discrepancy” that caused them to tell me that I was not!!! She promised to correct the information in the system to allow me to use the unused portion of my ticket. Today I called AA and was told that my ticket has been voided!! They are the worst and will never get any business from me or, my company from today forward!! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/2 "2015-01-12T16:47:29Z")
Reported for forum change and possible spam(username). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/3 "2015-01-12T17:03:32Z")
**Moderator Action** Welcome to the SDMB, **livesalesonline**. The About This Message Board forum is for questions directly related to the SDMB, i.e. questions about the rules here, problems posting, etc. This seems a bit mild for the Pit, so let’s try MPSIMS instead. Moving thread from About This Message Board to Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/4 "2015-01-12T17:19:18Z")
And I have removed from the post the apparent IRL name and phone # of the OP. \*\* livesalesonline\*\* I’m hoping it was a mistake to post your personal information like that. It appeared to not effect the purpose of your post so I just removed the information and noted the edit. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/5 "2015-01-12T17:25:22Z")
**livesalesonline** , if that is your worst experience in flying over 70 years, you are a fortunate person. ETA: The OP is difficult to read without paragraphs. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/6 "2015-01-12T18:21:13Z")
That is a _very_ interesting username for a perturbed customer to choose. Is there a story behind it? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/7 "2015-01-12T18:24:31Z")
> [@livesalesonline](#): > > I am 70 years old and I began flying when I was 6 years old …and boy are my arms tired. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/8 "2015-01-12T19:18:58Z")
I think it is a hoax. Everyone KNOWS that there are no arrogant supervisors in the airline industry. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/9 "2015-01-12T19:26:23Z")
American Airlines lost me when they started buying Airbus planes. Not very American! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-airlines-worst-in-the-world/709634/10 "2015-01-12T20:14:31Z")
As soon as I got to this part of the rant: > [@](#): > > Over the last 64 years of flying I have had many issues with many different airlines I knew what I was dealing with - someone who is never, never, NEVER happy. A chronic complainer. An exaggerator. An entitled know-it-all. Someone who is never happy with anything in their sad little life.