I know many travelers have a love-hate relationship with the airlines and it couldn’t be any more true for American Airlines (AA) customers. I’ve been one of their top tier elites for years since I fly them so much and love all the perks, including free upgrades (when space is available), a dedicated phone line so I can usually get right through to an agent, free checked bags, twice the amount of points and more.
However, it really ticks me off when AA or any airline schedules more than what they can fly, overwork their employees, pay their executives way more than the workers who really get the planes off the ground and cut corners regarding safety.
I never thought I would write a post like this but after watching a recent CNBC interview with the head of American Airlines pilot union, the Allied Pilots Association, I’m now wondering. Dennis Tajer, who is also a 737 pilot with American Airlines, had this to say on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box.’
Dennis blames the recent delays and cancellations as “a failure to plan by management.” Dennis says management received $13 billion from the U.S. government in payroll support but they didn’t train the pilots. “And now what we’re seeing is a failure to utilize the pilots that you do have and their backlog and training is epic. And now here’s the real problem. They’re trying to fly airplanes without the pilots available. They are pilot pushing and they are narrowing the margin of safety. Our fatigue calls have gone up tenfold, and this has just got to stop. It’s a very serious issue right now and I’m out on a trip right now and I had very little time yesterday to spare. Otherwise, I would’ve gone illegal and been unable to fly the rest of the sequence.”
Dennis goes on to say, “this is a failure of management to utilize the money that was given to them by the American taxpayer to have us ready for recovery and we’re not. They just did not have a plan. And now we’re starting to see them trying to cut corners in training. For instance, Guatemala City, which is a high terrain, very challenging airport. They used to have an experienced instructor go with us on our first flight there. Now they’re telling us, hey, why don’t you just take a look at this iPad course and you will be good to go. I think Boeing learned that’s not the way to train pilots.”
You should watch the whole interview as it’s only three minutes long but Dennis ends it with this: “You know, you gotta wonder why American Airlines right now, the US government, that books travel for our military members and federal employees has said do not book American Airlines because of the cancelation rate and the inability to rebook your flight. That’s stunning. The federal government is saying don’t book on American Airlines. They sold tickets that they know they were not going to be able to fulfill this summer. And today we have 82 of the 84 flight that have canceled for American are all coded because they could not connect the pilot to the airplane. That’s just not doing business. That’s just selling something that you don’t have.”
I have multiple flights booked on American Airlines and now I’m second guessing them. This is really disturbing to have the captain of their pilot’s union raise these red flags.
On top of this, Captain Sully Sullenberger, the hero commercial pilot who safely landed a US Airways (now American Airlines) Airbus A320 on New York’s Hudson River in 2009, announced yesterday that he would step down as U.S. envoy to an international aviation group on July 1. Reuters reports: “Sullenberger was confirmed in December as U.S ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization based in Montreal. He said in a statement that “relinquishing my role” was not an easy decision but did not offer a reason for his departure after just over six months. Last month, a pilots union distributed a statement from Sullenberger raising concerns about efforts by regional airlines to reduce new pilot requirements, quoting him saying they were “trying to weaken critically important pilot experience standards that are needed to keep passengers and crews safe.”
I’m not sure if I’m reading between the lines correctly but it sounds to me like Captain Sully doesn’t want to be around when things really hit the ground fan.
What has your experience been like flying American Airlines the last couple of months? Have you had an AA flight delayed or canceled? How do you feel about flying American Airlines after hearing from one of their lead pilots sound the alarm? Please share your experiences below so others can discuss.
I flew American Miami to JFK April 29th and back May 1st. Only delay I faced was when we landed in Miami had to wait 30/45 minutes for a gate
Apparently we were not only plane arriving with that issue.
When it comes to flying anymore, it’s not just the airport…it’s all the crap you have to contend with in order to get on a flight. I, for one refuse to take “the jab” in order to board a flight! Ask the state of Hawaii how they fared with their very restrictive quarantine requirements. They lost 98% of their vacation income due to that little dictate. Did they learn from it? Apparently not. So, home sweet home it is until common sense comes around again.
Very important column Johnny. Thanks. I’m wondering if other airlines, like Alaska, Southwest, Hawaiian and United are managing their fleets, pilots and schedules better?
Your opinion matters. However, it has nothing to do with the issue at hand. If safety is being compromised by lax pilot training and understaffing, that’s possibly as deadly as COVID. If you don’t get a jab it’s just you and it’s on you and that’s fine, your choice. A plane crashes with 250 souls on board that’s no one’s choice.
Captive at DCA but taking nonstops and buying seats up front helps. Fingers crossed :-)
March trip DCA SJN RT OK JetBlue
April trip DCA-DSM RT OK
May Trip DCA-JFK OK. Same day to connect to SQ JFK SIN Then SQ SIN FRA Then LH FRA IAD Seat 1K in the B747-8i sweet
July Trip DCA-LAX TBD morning nonstop to connect with 9:00 pm Polaris to SYD Any delays rerouting will cut into my Lounge hoping at TBT.
August Trip DCA-DEN RT on United ;-)
September Trip DCA-STL. MSP-DCA for Viking Mississippi cruise so day ahead
October Trip DCA-DSM RT TBD. GOTV
November Trip DCA-DFW-LAX TBD involves lounge hopping at DFW then B787 to overnight at H Hotel. Next day First Class Qantas to SYD. Then SQ Suites SYD SIN FRA JFK. THEN AA JFK DCA to get me home
Where to this coming winter?
“US government, that books travel for our military members and federal employees has said do not book American Airlines”
I’m military and flew AA recently. Wondering what he’s talking about with the above quote. Still see AA bookable on the defense travel system. Maybe he’s saying he knows someone in government, and they are making their own assessment that AA scheduling is risky but anyone have a source for official policy.
This article is alarming, and I’m seeing more and more of it. We just flew to Costa Rica from the Twin Cities with a stop at Dallas/Fort Worth on AA. Things couldn’t have gone better. Everything went off without a hitch. We leave Costa Rica(Liberia) with a 5 hour stop in Miami on AA. I’ll try to repost if there’s something to update from our experience. Fingers crossed.
I always suspicious when the spokesperson works for the union, the comments are always one-sided in cases like that. The worker is always being taken advantage of.
My wife & I are in the middle of a round trip flight from Tampa to Dallas. I had not heard the comments from the union president but it does concern me. We did the outbound last Thursday with the American flight originally scheduled to depart Tampa at 12:55pm. We also ran into a number of delays with the plane finally lifting off at 2:30pm and arriving in Dallas at 4:07pm
I was expecting to hear the pilot say the overwhelming high number of customers was the cause of the delays but that was not the case. The pilot said the reason for his delay was a medical emergency on board that caused them to turn back to their departure point. The skeptical half of my brain is saying “Is that the REAL story”?
We are scheduled to fly on American back to Tampa on Monday departing around noon. Hope we can avoid more delays
We just returned from Cabo San Lucas yesterday. Flights out of Memphis to Dallas and to San Jose del Cabo. Four flights, no issues with AA. Everything went great.
My son’s family recently flew on a late arriving plane from IAH to DFW . They had just literally minutes to make their connection in DFW to Glacier. Running through the airport with 2 little kids and luggage, they missed their flight because the flight took off 5 minutes early. They had to be rerouted to Seattle after sitting in the airport for 5 hours and arrive in Glacier the next day. A little help and coordination from AA might have helped them catch their flight but they got no help. AA couldn’t hold the ONE flight to Glacier for a few minutes? Very disappointing.
I flew them last October..now I’m disabled and am aware of all the steps I need to get on a plane..and I’ve flown for trips..last time,it was the most awful experience I’ve had.. Usually, I have someone from the airline helps me when I see my chair…not even recognized.. and they were very dismissive and rude . thinking about another trip but may not..sad and disappointed
Five hours before my departure to Miami from LAX, they canceled my flight and rebooked me at 8:45 the next morning. When I tried to get a hold of them to explain that I would miss my cruise because of that and they could book me on JetBlue and I would get there on time, they said no they couldn’t. I ended up spending $700 on a one-way ticket so I didn’t miss my cruise. Fuck American Airlines
Have been flying AA for 20 years and can honestly say I never had a problem until this summer. However, that problem has amounted to only flight delays. I choose to be thankful that the plane did arrive safely, if late. You are doing AA and their employees a grave disservice when you single out one airline for a problem all airlines are having. If the President hadn’t shut down the airline industry, none of this would ever have happened. I just read a report yesterday that said, after the Euopean airlines, AA has one of the better records regarding cancelations, etc. Ever heard of a disgruntled employee trying to “get back” at an employer. I’m not at all afraid, to fly AA.
So far so good flying AA, round trip 4 times in the last year, only one minor delay out of all flights, luckily did not cause me to miss my connecting flight. The only situation now is I’m concerned about my upcoming flight this Fall as it was since they changed my departure time and would cause me to miss my connecting flight, so I had to make a change and have a longer layover on my connection. Keeping fingers crossed as I have a Train trip I have to be on time for the following day.
Flew to Costa Rico in mid May. PHL to MIA and MIA to Liberia. No issues down and back. Recent flight from PHL to DFw to Salt Lake and back. Again no issues and great crews.
In April my wife, daughter and I flew to Boston. Our flight home was cancelled and AA was unable to rebook us until the next day. We decided to rent a car and drive home. This past week, I was in NYC and due to fly home Wednesday night. That 10pm flight was cancelled at 8pm, and I was rebooked on a morning flight. That 2nd flight was cancelled around 4am, and I was rebooked on an afternoon flight. That 3rd flight was cancelled around 8am. I took the train home. AA rebooked me on a flight Friday night, which I got notified was delayed. They did refund half my ticket price on request.
We are due to fly to Europe on Wednesday. We think the PHA to Paris will be ok, but we’re wary of the flight to Philly.
If this was an AA only problem I may give him a little credibility. All airlines have the same struggle. The issue is multifaceted.
I would say yes – airlines over scheduled in hopes it would all work out. Majority of airline profits are made in the 90 days of summer and the weeks over the holidays.
The Pilots Union shares blame. They are in contract negotiations and trying to pressure bigger raises and work rule changes. I know people on the inside at AA that state that pilot sucks call rates are 40% higher than normal. How do you staff for sick call rates that high.
How about Pilots that have no concern or care for customers. Calling in fatigued when rescheduled (and still working within their original time parameters). Refusing to delay a flight for connections or they would “call in fatigued”. Using the F word allows the. To scream safety and not be held accountable. Make no mistake about it – they share responsibility for the issues happening.
The government. During the same period of the pandemic, the government made a decision to slow hiring of air traffic controllers. As airlines try to ramp up flight schedules (still lower than 2019) air traffic centers and tower are severely understaffed and overworked. Take a look at places like Jacksonville Center, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles Center as just a few examples. Try flying to FLORIDA with any type of weather and delays can average 1 to 6 hours! You can’t run an airline with flights to / from FL delayed 6 or more hours.
So, let’s not focus on one airline. Focus on the issues that are impairing all airlines. Nearly every Pilot group is in contract negotiations and union leaders have an agenda. Amazing to me that you would push people away from flying your airline while demanding pay increases. How the hell are you going to pay for those raises, the huge jump in fuel prices and the Billions of dollars in losses the last two years.
I have always flown AA. I love this airline, and yes one time I had a delay so many times, due to mechanical issues out of CLT that I had to stayed overnight because they cancelled the flight. Other than that, I have been extremely satisfied with AA. They’re a great airline.
Had flight booked from Louisville to Ontario, Ca for May 24 with a layover in Dallas. Two hours prior to departure we get informed our connecting flight in Dallas was cancelled due to weather and there would not be another available until 5/26. Rebooked out flight for 5/26. Flight was to leave at 2 pm in time to catch connecting flight in Dallas. Find out around 10am the 2pm flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on a 4pm flight, causing us to miss the connecting flight until the next morning. By the was we had first class tickets and were downgraded to economy for the first half of the flight. We were forced to rebook our flight out of an airport 2 hours away in order to be able to make our connecting flight. We were delayed a total of 2 days, forced to drive 2 hours to a different airport and downgraded from first class to economy.
The icing on the cake is they expect me to accept a refund of $89.00 per ticket for the downgrade. Those tickets cost over $200.00 each for first class.
I am fighting this and an curious if our flight insurance would come into plan for this.
I had a flight on AA on June 1st going to Atlanta for my birthday the next day. I get to the airport, checked my bag, and went to my gate. My flight was delayed an hour and started to change gates. After the third gate change, the flight was canceled. I had to go in the customer service line and cut in front of so many people just to try and get another flight to Atlanta that night. When I got to the customer service agent she told me there weren’t any flights going to Atlanta until Friday. I had to rebook my flight to Birmingham, they booked me on the flight, and I went to the terminal. I waited from 7 pm until 12:45 am just to have that flight get canceled. AA already sent my suitcase to Atlanta and I had no change of clothes. After they canceled the flight the gate agents wouldn’t give all the passengers hotel vouchers they just gave us a card with a customer service number to call and book another flight. I had to wait until 4:30 am to call and luckily AA booked me on another flight to Atlanta at 10:30 that morning and it wasn’t canceled. I had to spend nearly 24 hours in the DFW airport and had waste part of my birthday traveling. I never got a refund for the inconvenience. I will never fly AA ever again because of this experience.
Flew from Kansas city to Miami with a 2 hour layover in Dallas fort worth for a cruise in April flight was fine from kc to Dallas fort worth but we were delayed 12 hours in Dallas no captain to fly the plane ??? The airline did put us up in a fairly nice hotel with food vouchers and a voucher for cab rides the cab driver told us this is every day for American he doesn’t know how there making any money . We almost missed our cruise but luckily we left the day before.
We just flew this May with AA. Our first flight was delayed and they rescheduled our connection for the next day. Lucky for us a caring employee put us wait list and we were able to make another flight the same day. On our way home we confirmed our flight and seats but at the airport I got bumped out of my preferred seat with no explanation at all. It is frustrating when things don’t go as planned. What was even worse was the process of trying to get our money back from the upgrades. If you miss a day at the resort well then you’re just SOL!
I booked a friend’s teenage daughter to fly to Maine last week on American. She got to the airport at 9:30 in the morning and the flight was delayed so many times and then finally canceled at 6:00 p.m. and they put her up in a hotel at the airport. She was at her home base so I don’t know why they spent the money to put her in a hotel but they did. She flew out the next morning although that flight was also delayed she had to spend 12 hours in Washington DC and didn’t get into Bangor till midnight just in time for a wedding. It was a horrible experience and unfortunately I am booked on that same connection in July. I am dreading it. I fly Southwest most of the time and I’m very happy with the two free checked bags and the ability to change or cancel and always get a credit. I have a flight on Delta later this year and one on Air Canada and one on Swiss international and several others on various airlines. American is an airline I will avoid. I worked for 20 years for Pan Am and TWA, both of which eventually went bankrupt. I love to travel but it’s getting extremely frustrating.
6/222022
PHL-JAX via MIA.
6:30pm PHL-MIA departed 9:55pm
Was going to miss JAX flight but received notice
that flight delayed until 1am. By the time I arrived in MIA @ 12:10am, flight cancelled.
Line for hotel vouchers has 100’s in line. Booked
my own hotel, Ubered (took me to wrong hotel), another Uber arriving hotel @ 1:30am
6/23/2022 Rebooked on 9:00am to JAX, delayed until 9:45am. Arrived 11am to Jacksonville.
No more flying for me this summer!
It’s not just AA people! All the major airlines are having the same issues. I just had the worst nightmare experience with Delta on Tues 6/14/22. At LGA for 10 hours. Couldn’t rebook. Lines at ticket counters that were ridiculous. Waited on line for 2 hrs just to find out where our luggage ended up after flight got cancelled. No way of getting home and no one around to help. This was such an awful experience that I no longer will book a flight anywhere till things get better if that even happens. Driving is the way to go even with the gas prices. You couldn’t pay me to get on a plane right now! I’m done!
We had two PHX to CLT flights cancelled last minute back to back days. All but ruined our 10 day trip to the EC. For an additional $1000 in last min bookings we managed to get to Nashville and drive to Asheville to start our trip from there. 3 days lost, 5 trip based events cancelled, $2000 in refunds for hotel and activity cancelations. Total S-show. Flying back to PHX on AA with connections next week. Should be a blast.
On top of all the other risks and discomforts, flights attendants are encouraged to come to work with covid rather than be penalized with a sick call. So everyone, pilots, passengers and fellow fight attendants are stuck in a flying petri dish with covid… brilliant.
As far as Scully is concerned, as an ambassador, he doesn’t have the freedom to push his views at international meetings, but needs to represent the position of the US administration. There may have been some position he was not willing to support, and his only option at that point is to resign. No one but he will know what that position was, but he can express his views more freely when he does not represent the United States. I doubt you will hear it directly, but if he supports some measure, but the US does not, it will become clear over time. It could also be something like shilling a position which would support Boeing without mentioning Boeing.
On June 12 arrive at LAX to depart on flight #1289. While waiting in the Priority line for over 30 minutes. I received a text the flight was cancelled. Continued to stand in line waiting for an agent to either rebook or provide guidance as to my next step. When I approached the agent regarding rebooking, To my amazement, the agent stated, the flight was cancelled due to the lack of crew. Continued to state, it was late and he was suppose to be off. Therefore, he directed me to talk to a supervisor regarding the need to be rebooked. To add insult to injury, the agent walked away.
Finally, I was able to get assistance at the Admiral lounge. After several stand by attempts. I was finally able to get a flight.
My loyalty to American Airlines (Executive Platium member) is coming to and end!
We flew AA GUA to ORD in early June and SFO to GUA middle June. We were basically on time both ways except for a 35 minute delay in leaving SFO and arriving at MIA which made for a close connection to Guatemala. Very good experience overall. AA has been our airline of choice for years and have never lost any luggage etc We still have a trip pending possibly for the fall.
Our only problem is that of excessive amount of time and stress at TSA. We are seniors and we’re tired of having to take our shoes off for the inspections. We really enjoyed our restful AMTRAK trip from ORD ro SFO.
We flew American to Zurich on May 19 and returned to PHL from Amsterdam on Jun 1. Both flights were on time, staff was courteous and capable, and we actually arrived a few minutes early in each desitination. We did carry-on luggage so can’t speak to baggage issues.
Just missed my 2nd international connection in as many months due to AA issues. The first was lack of a gate crew to bring a plane to the gate (45 min delay) followed by a maintenance issue (another hour delay), and just yesterday my origination flight left 4 hrs late because of a pilot shortage for the incoming flight. Missed my international connection in ORD.
Flew AA recently, ended up spending an extra night in my vacation city at my expense due to canceled flights. Then the rescheduled flight had no crew causing delays etc. Got home 24 hours late. Glad I wasn’t trying to make a wedding of something important!
I fly AA usually at least once a month. The majority of the time everything is great but there have been delays and problems on a few. I don’t think it’s AA only, I think it’s airlines in general.
Never had a horrible experience with AA until this past weekend trying to get out of LGA. I received a notification in the app that my flight was delayed (weather) but my missed connection wasn’t addressed. Maybe an hour later, the app finally offered selections for rebooking which unsurprisingly, were only for the next day & beyond considering my original flight was in the evening. I rebook then arrive at the airport for the new flight which gets cancelled (minimum flight crew not reached) a little over an hour before scheduled. No options to rebook in the app & the costumer service line is long and barely moving. Most of the passengers are keeping their cool though. I call customer service & wait on hold simultaneously while I’m in line. I get a rep on the phone first & ask to expand departure airport to Newark or JFK, same or next day. After she’s booked a next day, SOMEHOW… MIRACULOUSLY a seat opens up on a DFW flight. Awesome. Make it out of NYC but then my connecting flight to DSM is constantly delayed for maintenance & finally cancelled. I’m able to rebook through the app myself for the next morning & line up @ customer service, happy to get a hotel & meal voucher.
Understandably, IRROPS do not help the already-struggling rebound but attempting to travel on 17 June was my most stressful experience to date. The customer service agents were amazing even though, as a former one myself, IRROPS are the bane of the job. I lucked out. Many had it worse.
They cancelled my flight out of DFW with my 7 year old granddaughter on 6/17 and just rebooked us on 6/19 with an overnight in charlotte, not getting home until 6/20. Unacceptable. I had no choice but to rent a car and drive 10 hours to get us home on 6/18.
Cynthia Gibb, this is utterly false. Hawaii did not lose “98% of its tourist revenue.” Where are you getting this figure? We were on two islands in Hawaii in November and it was jampacked. Rental cars were impossible to get, and our flights were completely full. At worst they may have experienced a decline of 29 to 34% in 2020, but that’s when nobody was traveling anywhere.
I for one was very happy that everybody had to be vaccinated to be on the flight.
Just completed Honolulu to Fort Lauderdale on AA on 6/24 with stops in LAX and DFW. Everything on time. Even got a 1st Class upgrade on the HUL to LAX…!!! No complaints here…
Believe it when it’s discovered by a pilot that training is going to the sideline over money. Pilots know. We don’t need a major crash again to remind us of doing the right thing. Remember the Max. They didn’t even tell pilots so they wouldn’t have to spend money on training!!!! Not enough pilots everybody. Scary. My brother was a Captain for Pan Am. Flew untill it wasn’t safe and came back to the US from Berlin (Lockerbie bomb he flew that route). He once went to superiors and complained about a pilot (Captain) that was a pain. Didn’t ground him. He flew a plane into the mountains and killed everyone. So I guess we should listen to Good pilots, if they say it’s not safe it probably isn’t. Sully quiting – yea take that as an omen.
Thank you for the information on AA. It is disheartening, to say the least. My hubby and I stopped flying AA a couple of years ago due to their disrepect of their customers. We are both older citizens, and handicapped to boot, and always choose an aisle seat opposite each other due to complications of trying to get into and out of the middle and window seats. On one particular flight, we had a layover in Denver, which is a huge airport. Our gate was changed FOUR times within a short period of time, which made it extremely hard on us. When we finally arrived at our departing gate, we found that our assigned seats ( which we had paid extra for) had been changed to the very last row, middle seats. Anyone in the flying public knows that these are the absolute worst seats in any plane. We waited in a very long line to explain to the attendant the reason why we could not fly in these seats, but he simply did not care. He then looked down at his computer and ignored us. So we just stood there, holding up the line. He finally asked someone to trade with us, making it sound as if we got better seats, but all he did was change us to the aisle seat in the last row. Once we boarded, I nicely explained to a stewardess that I had a bad back and asked her for a pillow. She very nastily told me that pillows were for first class passengers only. Wow! Right then and there I decided to never fly AA again! Now you have given me another very good reason to fly other carriers. Back then I was appalled that an airline would treat their passengers so badly, but to now know that they are also risking our lives reaffirms our decision to stay away from American Airlines. Thank you Johnny. You provide an invaluable service to the flying public.
I flew May 18th Phoenix to Fayettville NC thru Charlotte. Only a 10 min delay on return from Charlotte to Phoenix. Have flight res in September to Maui. We will see. So far I have no issues with American. But its alarming to me if they are lowering the standards for pilots. Safety should be their first concern and not lining their pockets with taxpayer money. If indeed thats the case. When I fly I want to know my pilot is the best qualified.
I was awaiting a AA connecting flight when it was announced that the second pilot was running late. We waited for approximately 30 minutes when this poor disheveled young pilot wanders up looking like he had slept in his uniform. The flight was crammed full as usual.
The pilot communicated with the passengers constantly apologizing and he got us there, fast, safe, and prioritized at the gate. We were lucky!
When is the FAA going to do their job?
These pilots and staff are human and can only handle so much.
The Airlines are selling its employees and passengers short and getting away with it while endangering lives.
The greedy corporate executives that funneled all the free bail out money into their pockets should be made to correct this problem at their cost.
I’m sure they are flying in private jets using pilots that have slept. Why should they care when no one is calling them out?
I’ll be sticking to for wheels on the ground for the time being.
We flew AA
DSM-PHX 4/13 no delays or issues
PHX-DSM 4/20 no delays or issues
DSM-ORD 6/7 short delay
ORD-CLT 6/7 2 hour delay and plane change after boarding due to mechanical failure
CLT-DSM 6/14 45 minute delay due to ground crew shortage.
lol “pay their executives more than…”
When people write that it’s usually a good indicator to skip the rest of the article.
Such a nonsensical comment.
I was suppose to start my vacation Saturday. June 18, 2022 at 6 am flying out on AA. They sent me a text message the day before at 4:30 am canceling our flights (5 people in my party) They did try to reschedule us. I got on the phone and had to do it myself. They were able to get everyone but me on an early Saturday flight but I had to wait until Sunday. My friend in New York was having similar issues. First thing Saturday we get another email pushing my family to Monday. Which is cutting into more vacation time. I take my family to the airport talk with agent and having to ask for the manager. The Manger sees how many times our flight has been changed since we got the tickets a year ago. He transfers my family to United. Sunday morning comes and I am on my way to the airport still on AA I get a message flight canceled and rebooted for Tuesday. Now I am angry. I get on the phone and after a lot of verbal judo, they move me to United my friend in New York not so lucky. She is stuck in CLY with delays and finally gets up in the air for the final destination Grand Cayman but have to make a stop in Jamaica to refuel. (How does an aircraft take off with not enough gas?)
I am now in Texas on united with a 2 hour delay which scares me. Not only do they get us on our flight the have bottled water and cookies and crackers for free as we wait in the terminal for another plane to come. (Now that is customer service). On the way back from Cayman Island our plane takes off late which makes us miss our next flight back to Pittsburgh. (The plane left early) On AA once again I wait in a line that doesn’t move for 45 minutes for a new flight. A woman tells us to go to another area for help we get to that area and the AA emoyee said she was only going to help one person. A woman in from of me tried to explain to her that we were sent. She didn’t care she wasn’t willing to help. Another employee next to her said she would help us. As she looked at the flight she said to me “looks like you are going to be sleeping at the airport.” My response was looking like you are going to have a guest at your house. And just to let you know I snore. ( I was already tired and nor in the mood for sarcastic remarks.) She finally get 2 people in my party tickets on a 10pm flight and the rest on standby which was interesting because the other part of my family who did book with us was having the same problem and the gentleman told him he can give him the last two tickets and he would have to be on standby. So if that is the case how was I able to get two tickets about 2 hours after him. I believe it wax a setup. We eventually got home but I will never ride AA agsin
Why does anyone fly AA. Their record of employee relations would make anyone cringe. But Doug parker and his minions continually give themselves bonuses but the employees have gone without a contract ( or pay raises for years). Their reason for lack of compensation, they say, is because they could not negotiate because of COVID, but again, that did not stop them from giving each other raises. They tell the employees that they should be proud because they work for the largest airline, but not necessarily the best. Front end ( pilots) and back end ,( flight attendants) are just considered as equipment and expected to go for unusually long hours with little time for rest. And please, the FAA is a complete joke. Have we forgotten how they handled the Boeing Max aircraft. Flying is not what it use to be.
Three weeks ago we flew American Airlines to Bangor, Maine. We had a short connection in Charlotte but we made our flight to Bangor. Return was totally different!! Departure from Portland to Charlotte was delayed. We missed our original connection in Charlotte and AA told us we would get on a later flight. We arrived in Charlotte. AA changed our gate departure 4 times and we finally boarded the plane at 11:45 pm. Ready for departure and the pilot announced a mechanical problem and maintenance will have to repair. We sit on the plane for an hour. The pilot then announces he can no longer fly and we will have to get off the plane. It is now 1:00 am. We spent the night at the Charlotte airport. 10:00 am AA issued hotel vouchers to a hotel with vacancies and we spent the day there. AA then put us on a flight at 9;45 pm. This flight was also delayed waiting on the crew arrival. We did depart at 11:00 pm to Little Rock. I was already nervous about AA but after your article I am even more concerned. I am suppose to fly AA in September but am going to explore my options.
I am a travel advisor and 9 out of 10 times, there are issues with AA. I myself was headed to DC last week to meet with legislators about issues in the travel industry and do you think I made it? NOPE. Couldn’t even get there and I went out a day early and had the FIRST flight of the day to make sure I didn’t miss anything. THEY ARE A MESS and people do not deserve to this. We’ve all prepared for the return to travel. Why haven’t they?
Has everyone been living in a hole. Do you not remember Covid knocked the world on its ass and the airlines took a bite during that time too. There were thousands of retirement and although you say the airlines didn’t plan well, what would your suggestion be? No one could plan for that. I’ve been in the indrust 35+ years and have never seen anything like this except during 9/11 t I me. Airlines are hardly talking profits and many executives (greedy as some are) are cutting their salaries.
It’s great to be on the one side and criticize and I do understand the guest / passenger frustration…I’ve been flying myself. From an operational side, it’s a logistical nightmare. Workers are overworked. But until the cost of learning to flying comes down, kids/adults won’t be able to accumulate the hours the need till they are older and they can get on smaller airlines, which then becomes a training ground for the majors.. It’s a vicious vicious circle. Patience is the key.
Flew AA in March PHL to Lax, and last week PHL to FLL, both flights on time, no issues. The PHL to FLL was cancelled the day before my flight.
Scheduled for PHL to SAN, late August, maybe things will be better overall.
Perhaps FAA/airlines should extend by 1 year the mandatory retirement age.
We booked r/t frights to & from FLL 2 weeks ago. As we got in the car at 6:15 AM that morning to go to the airport, I saw the text message sent at 2:45 AM that our 9:38 AM flight was cancelled & they were working on new flight. We went ahead to CHT and I went in & talked to agent at Customer Service desk. He put us on a 4 something flight & priority standby for 1 PM. It was only 7:00 AM at that point. So at around 9 AM we went back and agent said due to weather (bad storm in Charlotte) people missed their CLT connection & we were on the 1PM. They refunded my $ for upgraded seats and game me better seats at no cost. We went to get something for early lunch & as we were done, got a notice 1 PM was cancelled. They put us on a 7:15 AM flight next morning. We tried to get to CS on B concourse & line had to have 100 ppl waiting. So we decided to go back out to CS by check-in and ended up getting last 2 seats on an 8:45 PM flight. It wasn’t even 1:30 PM. So we hung out all day. Tracking the bags was a challenge. It said I didn’t have any checked. But shortly before our flight, it showed bags caught a 5:30 flight but that was delayed but bags arrived in FLL before us. Total time from when we got to CLT to arrival in FLL was 16 hrs. Flight home however fine. No probs nor lines there. Short weather delay of about 20 min. But otherwise no prob on the return. It is a nightmare right now! Not enough pilots, flight attendants and ground crew. Luck of the draw right now.
Union looking for a new contract!! Bullshit story!!
Friday 6/24/2022 my husband made it from Alabama to Dallas, but there things went bad. After boarding and then deplaning, they finally canceled the flight in the early morning hours when they admitted the copilot wouldn’t make it afterall. The AA gate staff left, didn’t help anyone, including the elderly couple on oxygen who were dropped off at the gate by the airport staff. No number to call, no help at all. I called AA and the robot said the wait time was 8 hours! Fortunately I somehow found a flight departing at 5:30AM, but to LAX instead of San Diego. I drove 5 hours to pick him up and bring him home. Trying to get a refund for that flight. So thoughtful that we recieved an email from AA telling us they rebooked him for Sunday evening, um, from Friday evening? Wow
Our flight from Chicago to Barcelona, Spain was Delayed 4 hours because they couldn’t find a pilot for this flight!!! We were told that our pilot had been called to fly another flight! It cost us a previously paid trip and we were unable to see beautiful Barcelona. Our eventual pilot told us he had been moved from a flight to Dublin to our flight! So I’m guessing those poor people were now facing the same situation we were in! Unacceptable!!!
Pathetic. Awful. Disgusting. I’ll crawl on broken glass before I fly in the US again. Hilton is just as bad now charging for “upgraded” rooms in a Hampton Inn??! It’s amazing how arrogant these commodity servers get when business gets good again. Unfortunately I must travel for work, thankfully I’m not subjecting myself to this torture for “pleasure”. Not kidding, I should be CEO of American or Hilton. I’m not a Wall St ho and I get things done.
My wife flew a brickyard flight (and this call sign is a dead give away that I know aviation) last night and the flight was delayed 4 hrs…stuff happens…the crew was cleared for take off three time before they even acknowledged KLGA tower (who rather sternly asked if they wanted to vacate the active runway)…it was very late at night…but looking at the national airspace and the volume of traffic in the air…there really was no excuse…the inbound aircraft was also delayed for crew issues…lastly…upon landing my wife wondered if the pilot was trying to trap the number 3 wire…(Naval Aviators know what I mean)..and also upon egressing the bird she noticed that the flight deck crew were yawning and half asleep…she knew this was exhaustion…ps…she is a senior teaching physician…Also I do work for the US government and will definitely not fly AA on TDY if I can help it…I would rather drive the seven hours…which I am doing today…
I had AA flight from LAX to PHL canceled on June 13. Booked myself on an earlier AA flight that AM via ORD and they ended up delaying the first leg so much that I would have missed the connection. I’m a doctor and had to be at work the next AM. I ended up taking a Jetblue redeye that night to an airport 2 hrs from home, spending $300 for a cab to my house and working a full day on no sleep. Thanks American!
My first time flying American because the timing and the price was right
Got concerned reading all the bad reviews but all four flights were in time and the crew were great
This was the beginning of June 22
I missed my mom’s funeral bc my flight from Charlotte got canceled after we sat in the plane two hrs waiting for a captain to fly with co pilot. It was after 1 a.m. when we were told no captain was coming. My mom’s funeral was that day at 10 a.m. and AA said next flight to BUF wud not get me there till 10 p.m. 12 hours after the funeral that I had hoped to attend to say my good byes to Mom and visit with family. I missed a one time event bc AA booked the flight knowing full well no captains wud be available. Thanks AA. I wrote to the co and will pursue compensation. I filed a complaint with both the BBB and DOT.
OMG. I am so sorry to read this. Unreal
I purchased a ticket for my daughter she had to be to work at 3:00 p.m. on June 13th. She received a canceled notification of her flight at 9:25 p.m. on June 12th. She and I both called and was placed on hold for hours on the June 12th and 13th. I drove to the airport to get another flight.One of your workers said the counter closed at 9 pm and that they didn’t reopen until 2am. I had my 2 and 4 yr old granddaughters with me.She ended up catching a greyhound bus back to Louisville 12:15 am June 13th. I want a refund back. The flight was canceled after she checked in.I tried to get a refund online but your website said it was ineligible.I finally spoke to someone this morning.She said another flight was rescheduled for her. My daughter didn’t get new flight information. American airlines robbed me and STOLE MY MONEY. All flights from any other airline were sold out to be able to get on flight AA4654. I demanded a refund. AA only credited me half the amount back towards a future flight.
This is outrageous. If they don’t refund you in full email me. Try contacting them via twitter. You will have better luck
American Airlines failed to get me to Boston over memorial weekend. I laid $400+ for the round trip flight and got to LaGuardia 3 hours late and after 9 more hours of delays had my flight canceled. I missed an event with my son. I was left stranded in New York and told they could not get me a flight until 24 hours later. I ended up having to pay another $270 for a train to Boston and $110 for a hotel. I was not given flight credits. I finally got to Boston 26 hours after I was supposed to. But my luggage somehow miraculously made it to Boston???!!! On the return trip my flight was delayed at my connection in DC by 90 minutes because there was no crew. They had to fly a crew in. I will never book a flight with American again.
AA has screwed up all day today. KSAV to KPWM with a stop at KCLT. TSA sent me back to the ticket counter because something was wrong. I didn’t get the window seat I’d carefully arranged and paid for. The second flight was delayed several hours for lack of a first officer. The plane landed at Portland and sat on the taxiway for a long time for lack of ground crew. I despise American Airlines. Never again.
I take probably 100 individual flights a year on AA and this year they are really struggling. At least 80% of my flights since March have been delayed to the extent that I missed connections. The admirals club agents are amazing at getting me where I need to be and at times have booked me on other airlines if necessary. So yes, they’re clearly having problems and their decision to lay off so many of there experienced staff-(not just pilots, also gate agents and ground staff) was clearly short sighted. But for me personally, they have bent over backwards to get me where I need to be.
Have disliked flying since the late 80s I avoid it when I can. Definitely wouldn’t check bags now days. Take the train or drive.
Seems there is a lot of misinformation here. Since Covid first started and flying was hit hard, most airlines were giving incentives for early retirement both main line and the commuter airlines. Somewhere about 20 to 30% took the deal. When the flying picked back up there were not enough Capts to fly all the flights that were added back. So the Fo’s got promoted for main line and the Fo’s were being replaced by the Capt’s from the commuter airlines. So now you have low time Capt’s for main line and the commuter airlines and a lack of Fo’s for the commuter’s. Do a search for pilot contract and look to see what kind of bonuses have been negotiated. Everyone has an opinion, does not make it right or wrong but get all the info first. All the airlines are going through this issue now so don’t try to say one is worse than another. There are some passengers that have also not helped with the situation and also weather has a lot to do with delays and cancellations.
An union head has no credibility with me.
I fly AA to Guatemala often and have not had any issues
…and I am really a big Delta fan
I actually booked a trip to Jamaica in May, departing September. Since May, AA have changed my flight 3 times. Initially when I booked my trip, my friend and I was supposed to be on the same connecting flying going and coming. Now, were departing different times and they changed our upgraded seats we paid for to the back of the plane. I can’t imagine how many additional changes will take place. Hoping it gets better after the summer season.
Friends had flight DAL to STL cancelled, 5 hour layover, luggage lost for four days.
Aweful. delayed flight. Nearly missed connection. Bags arrived at destination on the night before we were leaving to go home. Long lines at airport moving very slowly because not enough workers.
We did four flights from Fort Lauderdale to Maui and returned in early May. All flights were on time. Just sayin’.
The problem is not only with American.My sister just flew to Vegas on the brand new, incredibly convenient Breeze Airway. Direct flight, non stop. The plane was late, on the ground in Syracuse for over an hour and had to stop in Omaha for fuel. Does Syracuse not have jet fuel. Meanwhile, my 88 year old mother, my daughter, and I were supposed to fly up to Vegas on Allegient. Again 10 minutes from the house. Our flight was canceled. Had to rebook out of Phoenix on Southwest. Coming home, Breeze canceled the flight to Syracuse. I’m sure because of lack of crew. Got my sister and mom, both in wheelchairs, flights on American. They flew to DFW where they changed gates 8 times and were delayed 4 times. Meanwhile both in wheelchairs. What the hell is happening. Don’t accept reservations if you don’t have the manpower to handle them. And don’t tout new routes for the same reason. Additionally my daughter and I got to the airport and our flights were also canceled. No advance warning. Rebooked on Southwest and finally made it home. I do have to say we were compensated pretty well on Allegiant.
We were on a flight May 25th, 2022 to Chicago from Westchester airport. Our final destination was Traverse city for my daughter’s graduation. Halfway to Chicago, the pilot gets on to announce that the de-overs aren’t working and we had to go back to Westchester airport. The fight attendant calmly told us about. All the flights we could catch some with other airlines. After being on line 2 and a half hours they could not find us a flight to Traverse City until Friday. They finally got us a flight to Detroit where we rented a car to drive the rest of the way. I had to pay for bag check with Delta, which they assured me I would get reimbursed for. They said to call about all the problems and we would get reimbursed for the half of a flight and the car rental. So far we have received no reimbursement and got an email telling us that because we accepted the Delta flight to Detroit, we are not due any other reimbursement.
I felt bad for the staff helping us . They did what they could, but they did not seem to know about the flights the attendant on the plane knew about. All the passengers had to find flights on their phones and then when they showed the flight to staff helping us then the staff would book it. It was sad. We saw a whole wedding party cancel their flights because they couldn’t get to their destination in time and all of us had to pay more money to make arrangements. I had booked these flights in August 2021.
We’ve had two instances on American with our flights being cancelled. The first one they cancelled our flight from Jax to Miami at 12:30 am the day of travel and rebooked us on the next day. Lost one day at resort. Next night same thing happened so we got up and drove to Miami to catch the flight to Honduras.
The second trip was coming home from Colorado through Charlotte. Flight kept getting moved until cancelled at 12:15 am. They gave us hotel voucher but due to American cancelling so many flights there were no hotels available. I am very skeptical to fly American Airlines again. We were told it was staff shortages. No pilots. How sad it has come to this.
The whole problem with air travel on any carrier was caused by the current administration. Joe Biden forced all airline employees to be vaccinated. Many chose not to and took retirement. THAT is the reason all airlines are short staffed. Don’t blame the airlines…the blame is fully in the lap of Biden.
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You’re dreaming
Team Poppy’s not dreaming, he’s delusional.
I flew AA to Mexico through DFW twice this month. No problems. Flights were on time, AA staff were wonderful. Sorry for all the people who had problems.
Horrible experience not once but twice recently on AA. They once were my “go to” airline but when they caused me to miss an entire day of a vacation planned, paid for and purchased 1yr ago, citing weather, I lost hope. Knowing they would make excuses, I tracked the weather along the route and captured screen shots showing no weather issues, only lies. They didn’t have the staff to manage the flight they collected money for. Ground staff later admitted the issue as staffing only after I pressed them. I had to but a one way flight on another airline, in Austin, just to make a connection in Dalles to ensure I didn’t not lose a second day of vacation. It was a nightmare. Fast forward to this week as it took me 24hrs to get home plus money spent on a hotel and one way flights on a budget airline. AA rebooked me to come home tonight although my plans and ticket said Monday. Those are my last flights with AA. I am divorcing you!!
Flight delayed and then canceled DFW to MSP a couple weeks ago. Weather blamed, but didn’t see other airlines’ flights canceled for the same route. Was told I could look it up and it was the FAA that canceled it. Could not find any confirming information anywhere. No concessions other than I could get on a flight 2 days later. Added $520 in cost to book a replacement flight the following day on another airlines. Doubt it was from weather and would love to know for future if there is anywhere to confirm or refute those claims about cause of delays.
I of course find the articles concerning, but we’ve flown American this summer domestically and had zero problems.
I flew round trip from Boston to Phoenix in May with no problems. Just saying….
After dating and being married to an AA pilot for over 20 years, this is not new news! My husband constantly complained about the fatigue, no food, early flight starts and long days to cause him complete exhaustion. AA has never been Pilot/employee friendly and have always been cutting corners in training. Taking a training course via a computer or tablet rather being in the flight simulator has been their preferred “cheaper” training process.
I refuse to fly AA?
If they would bring back all those pilots and flight attendants they let go that were not ‘jabbed’ then there would be no shortage but then that would take some common sense and eating of crow and of course they can’t let that happen.
In mid-May 2022 we flew on AA to Europe. When we checked in at our local airport, we were only provided with 2 of the 3 boarding passes we needed. We fly to Europe two times a year to visit family and this was the first time I can recall not getting all the passes at the beginning on a trip. It meant trying to figure out where to go in Frankfurt to get the last pass, after arriving half an hour late. The last leg was on Lufthansa. In Frankfurt we went to several service desks. AA insisted that Lufthansa had to issue them; Lufthansa said AA had to handle them. We missed our connecting flight. We stood in line for over an hour at Lufthansa where they again said we had to go back to AA. I finally convinced the agent to help us and eventually we got the passes. AA and Lufthansa supposedly have an alliance, but obviously don’t communicate. I think the stress caused me to get sick by the time we landed at our destination.
I may be in the minority here. I’ve flown American twice this year with no trouble. Once to Florida and once to Cancun. All flights were on time, no lost luggage, smooth transfers. My daughter and I are flying to Greece the first of September on American and I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
Just flew AA 2 days ago. Three flights. All delayed considerably. Had to rush to make connecting flights, and getting info from AA staff was frustrating.
(Also, the food was horrible.)
Do not fly American Airlines. We were supposed to arrive in LAX on Saturday 6/25 and didn’t get our flight because the Pilot in Chicago O’Hare Airport was extremely late and in turn it delayed our next flight from O’Hare to LAX who waited as long as they could for us then left minutes before we got to the new gate because when we landed we could not get off the plane until everyone in the front seats exited the plane. The pilot should have known that due to his being late we needed to be the 1st off the plane to catch the next flight. Unorganized. There was others that also missed their flights because of the late occurrence by the Pilot. Then American Airlines set us on a flight leaving at 3pm the next day. We did not accept this and insisted on a flight to Santa Ana around 8am on Sunday (we had to stay in the Airport all night so we wouldn’t miss the flight) in which our luggage arrived with the LAX Flight that we missed. We requested American Airlines deliver our luggage, after being misled for 3 Days, I finally got the name of the luggage delivery company which turned out to be incorrect information. We went to the location given to us and person there gave us the correct address on 11160 Hindry, Suite M, in Los Angeles where we finally located and picked up our luggage. We didn’t get any sleep while waiting for our flight. A total nightmare. We do not recommend American Airlines. Be aware.
I booked AA flight from Palm Springs to Ft. Lauderdale the day before a booked cruise. I arrived at 3:30 am for a 6 am departarture, saw in line for an hour and was told by the AA counter agent that the flight was already full and I had no seat. I was told there were no more flights to Ft. Lauderdale that day and my option was to book for the next day or rent a car and drive 80 miles to the Ontario CA airport. No other options were discussed or offered. Over two hours later, after waiting and insisting on speaking to an AA manager, I was given the option to fly to Miami and pay a fee of + $206 dollars. I dod this to ensure I would make this cruise, but it necessitated my paying $56 hor an Uber from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale. I found out later that I should have been offered compensation for being bumped off the fight.
I am flying AA late Aug to Boston then the London. I very worried from all of what I’ve heard that I will be delayed and lose time off my trip & already scheduled activities.
I am trying to stay hopeful so let’s pray all goes as planned but with all the notices I’ve received of changes since booked i have to admit I am not the optimistic person I try to always be.
I am American Airlines advantage member since 1995. On the 26th of July I took AA flight from DFW to Toronto YYZ Airport. Being an advantage member I have the benefit of 1 free checked bag but was surprised when they charged me $30.
I travel for work. I’ve had numerous horror stories with AA. The best was finally getting to Springfield IL at midnight due to numerous delayed flights. No luggage, no car rental place open and even got locked out of the airport. And no taxi!
Shame on you! I’m don’t with AA.
This episode was last spring.
I was part of a travel group for an alumni thing to dublin Ireland. We started in Phx then got stuck in chicago for 2 extra days and 1 night in Philadelphia. Took about 3 hours being in line to finally see someone. Was originally told we couldn’t get our checked luggage, then they said we could get it only to be told we couldn’t again since everyone working the luggage area had left since we were waiting around for so long to get our vouchers for the night. They almost even sent our luggage direct to dublin before we could even go.
Also, once we got to Philly they ran out of rooms because of so many more canceled flights that we almost didn’t have a place to stay(travel company ended up helping but very last minute). They already displaced us several days but weren’t even prepared to room us having two prior days notice on it all. Unacceptable. They did that to us.
The long lines happening at their customer service desks is appalling and I hope they at least try and relieve the time displaced for people there.
I recently booked AA to go to my nephew’s birthday and graduation in CA. I didn’t make it to either. AA kept trying to get passengers off the plane out of Portland, then finally said air traffic control was rerouting us so we had to get more fuel. That caused me to miss the Charlotte flight and they wouldn’t get me food or hotel vouchers since it was supposedly not their fault. The rebooked flight would arrive too late for the graduation, so I stood through a massive line (freezing hungry thirsty and aching) to try to get something sooner. Got one still the next day but I might have got in during graduation. After freezing all night with nowhere to sleep, I got on that plane and after a long wait, the pilot said we didn’t have a copilot. Waited maybe an hour+ for them to try and get one, then he announced flight was cancelled. Another massive line to rebook and I wasn’t seeing it happen automatically on my phone. I found somewhere to sit dejectedly and thought how I was going to have to live there. Finally got my rebook message. By that time I wasn’t even functional enough to get the digital boarding pass. I just had to hand over my phone to staff and ask for help. Thank goodness I planned long enough trip to at least see my family. AA was ridiculous.
Flew Chicago/Key West May 24 and had no problems. Actually arrived ahead of schedule! Flight back same thing but waited for gate roughly 30 min. Also traveling to Las Vegas end of month and no hesitation with American.
I fly internationally several times a month on business and I promised never to fly AA again about 20 yrs ago. Rude, mean, unprofessional, and unhelpful staff is an indication of the culture of a company. Quite honestly, it’s the European and Asian airlines that have hospitality down as an art form. By the way, although I’ve had a few major delays ths year, no cancellations so far.
From Panamá city, Panamá AA has a flight to Miami going at 600am. Fresh Crew, all has been fine getting there to MIA the last 18months, 9 or 10 trips. Coming back was mostly empty planes with 30 passengers, pleasant. Last flight out of Miami was a comedy of errors. Packed full plane, long weekend, and some bad decisions by AA. As we taxi out for take off to PTY, warning light on rear door. Back to gate. Wait for repair. Fixed, but repair guy bumps plane with scissor lift, wait for inspection. Wait longer. Ok everyone deplane take carry on bags with you. Get to lobby, announce preparing meal tickets. Cancel meal tickets. Get back on plane show boarding pass. Some refuse, get arrested. Lady behind 1st class, leaves bag in isle, no room in overhead. Attendant will move bag to rear, lady refuse to allow it, says how will she get it at end of flight, her in front bag in rear( good point) Call police in to arrest her. Two of us step in and make space for her bag, police come in to get her, attendant cancels arrest. I told the two ladies flying with in my row, this is better than any movie we could watch, if only we had screens on the air bus. You can’t make this S-it up
Flight 1336 from Dallas to Orlando on the evening of June 22, 2022 was a terrifying. The flight was delayed 3+ hours due to “maintenance”. The fuel was too hot and we waited for it to cool. We boarded, took off, but maintained low altitude. Flight attendants ran up and down the aisle in a panic. About 15 minutes of flying the pilot announces that the plane will be turning around and flying back to Dallas. He asked us to follow all directions given by the flight attendants as he would not be making any further announcements. Upon returning to DFW, we were met by many emergency vehicles and fire trucks. Quite alarming! We were then told there was a fuel leak and deplaned. The flight was canceled and hotel vouchers were offered…it was near midnight. We flew out the next morning at 11. Fortunately everyone was safe, but why would AA knowingly put people at risk to begin with? Not to mention the inconvenience for travelers…hotel reservations, Disney park tix, car rentals, etc. that were lost. AA made a poor decision putting that plane in the air and risking lives.
I worked for American Airlines for three months, the things I saw and learned have scared me out of the sky, no flying for me, it’s not safe. I also learned the company is full of incompetent people, especially management and training.
Booking not a problem. Make flight reservations based on schedules. Days later – OOPS your flight has been changed – Not just a few minutes sometimes several hours – Mid day flights now early morning or late evening. Not convenient for the traveler. Not really a time change the flight itself cancelled and you are rebooked with very little choice.
Our flight was canceled the morning we were to leave Costa Rica to Miami no crew. Couldn’t get out until the next day then in Miami they also canceled our last leg home it was a toss up between ours and another flight crazy. We are frequent flyers also.
I’m a CK member and am terrified to fly AA. Last 2 flights out of a regional airport were some of the scariest I have flown (and I clearly fly a lot). Actually had the thought prior article that the pilots did not seemed well trained (went through jet wash on one flight and aborted a landing on the next one). Then JUST read an article that same connection just had an aborted take off due to smoke in the cabin.
I don’t have a lot of options but I also want to be safe. There has already been smoke, when will the fire come?
In my experience, AA is consistently…..terrible and I avoid flying AA even when the route and cost is desirable. From the delays, cancellations, and overall “clock punching” demeanor of the employees, there are better travel options available than to revisit an experience that hasn’t changed in 10+ years.
Fact: The FAA/Federal Government set pilot rules for hours per day, month, quarter etc.
Fact: Posturing by Union President
14 CFR § 91.1059 – Flight time limitations and rest requirements
a) No program manager may assign any flight crewmember, and no flight crewmember may accept an assignment, for flight time as a member of a one- or two-pilot crew if that crewmember’s total flight time in all commercial flying will exceed –
(1) 500 hours in any calendar quarter;
(2) 800 hours in any two consecutive calendar quarters;
(3) 1,400 hours in any calendar year.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, during any 24 consecutive hours the total flight time of the assigned flight, when added to any commercial flying by that flight crewmember, may not exceed –
(1) 8 hours for a flight crew consisting of one pilot; or
(2) 10 hours for a flight crew consisting of two pilots qualified under this subpart for the operation being conducted.
Only a few people on here have commented on the real issue of pilot shortages – covidvaccines. The whole industry shut down because of mandatory closures and the airlines furloughed pilots so the airline business would not go bankrupt. Then airlines (not just American) started mandatory vaccines and more pilots either took retirement or furlough offer if they didn’t want to be vaccinated. So now AA is short staffed for the flights people are demanding. You should see the incentives they are offering for new pilots and even the referral incentives – if you find them a pilot. No one wants to fly for an airline that mandates the vaccine. Being part of the union, no one can say that. But they are making their point with calling out sick or fatigued because they can’t be fired for that. Get rid of the vaccine mandate and you will see a flood of pilots willing to fly. All airlines have their bad service and disrupted travel. Use this forum to complain about it, ok, fine. But don’t expect to hear anything useful about the real issue. The solution is not to boycott one airlines or another. The solution is to revoke the vaccine mandate and allow pilots to fly no matter their choice.
We’re lowering the standards in every area of our lives: education, fire, police, politics, professionalism, morality, how people talk, how they dress (or don’t dress) in doors and in professional settings. We want to open the door to more people but rather than taking the time to train them and help them grow and mature, we are cutting corners and ignoring our responsibility to ourselves, our families and our community but lowering the standards and saying come as you are and stay that way. We should open the doors and prepare to train people who may need more training, prepare for the lag in time b/c they may need more time. I have a young girl who works a dotted line to me in a fellowship. She is uneducated and has no experience in the professional world. But rather than mentoring her (which is a requirement of the fellowship), we allow her to be disrespectful, not learning to discern when to speak and when not to speak, how to properly communicate with leadership b/c to accept her means to accept her as she is and letting her “be her”. I’m so grateful for the grace that was given to me when i was young and full of energy and opinions but I’m also for the people in my life who sat down with me in private and taught me, lessons needed for a professional environment. If we lower the standards for customer service, for managing self, for speaking in public, for training and safety, and character, the business will eventually suffer b/c you need these things to lead a successful business but more importantly, we will suffer when we want to take advantage of those services. We will implode from the inside.
My comment is that on june 14 l took a trip to nyc l was so excited because l had never being there before the visit was amazing but when l was to return home to las vegas on saturday june 18 l was sent a message on my phone on friday that my flight was canceled and l would be update never received an update from AA and was sitting at the hotel trying to find another flight then a message pop up on my phone that my connection flight to Chicago was on. I got a uber and got to the airport to see if l could get another flight and l was first put on stand by and that flight filled up and I ask the flight agent why were they over booking and he told me that there expect people not to show up is that crazy or what if u buy your ticket u will so up and l explain to a flight agent name shatell that was very rude that l need to get home because l was out of medicine so the guy other agent next to here found me a ticket final and instead of making it home at 5:00 Pm did not get home til 11:30 pm because plane was routed to charlotte NC so l have another flight book with AA in Sept to go to Arkansas would nice if AA would give me a voucher for the upcoming trip and credit my card just a thought
Dennis Tajer is head of AA pilots union. Need I say more?
I tried to get from Scranton/Wilkes Barre to Tulsa to visit my 94 year old aunt. My first trip was canceled at Charlotte and I had to spend two nights at a hotel in Charlotte, pay for meals and transportation, etc. American couldn’t get me confirmed after 3 days, so I returned to Scranton/Wilkes Barre and home. A week later American sent me a credit for another flight, so I rebooked. Guess what? I got stuck in Charlotte again for two nights! This time I was able to get a flight to Tulsa from Charlotte on the 3rd day. Never again on American for me!
My husband and I had the dame issue with AA. We took our long awaited vacation and our first flight was delayed causing us to get to our connecting flight 2 min before departure which we were thwn told was full. We went to book another flight and were told if we didnt mind sitting in the wxit row we could be booked on a flight hours later. We arruved to that gate and waited foe hours then for an hour in line at the gate desk to confirm and get seats. Ony to be told they my bot have may not have any seats available. I didnt fathem why an airline would not have my seat available when i paid for it. I carefully chose the times and seats 3 months prior foe the best rest rate and to accomidate our plans there and back. Not to mention i have to take meds to fly bc i have panoc attacks when flying so be seated with my husband was a must. We were finally given an option after the counter person proceeded to buy tickets from passengers for higher than they booked them for as an incentive. We had to risk flying seperate on the plane or run the risk of waiting for another flight which may or may not have room for us. This is insne to me. Time is valuble, its not like moneyit cant be reimbursed. I dont understand how n airline is legally aloud to oversale tickets to a flight people book way in advance. If I purchase a this seat at this time months in advance thats what i expect to receive. Why waste time booking seats or inding a flight that has seats together that work for the schedule we need if thats all smoke in mirrors. Im so disappointed.
I have been an airline customer for decades and I’ve never had a flight cancel until flying American June 23. I had previous negative experiences with American and vowed never to fly with them again, however I had credits with them and decided to use them for this trip. Biggest mistake ever. My connecting flight was canceled and rebooked for two days later. After standing in the customer service line for an hour, while simultaneously on the phone with American Airlines customer service, I was able to get rebooked through two more flights to replace the one that was canceled. A couple hours later, the first leg of my replacement flight was canceled. I ended up spending 14 hours in the Dallas airport before finally getting a flight to a different destination airport in the middle of the night. Now I’m fighting to be reimbursed. I will never fly American again.
There is a fb page called American Airlines Complaints. The stories there are enough to tell me not to fly AA.
I flew American from NC to CA without incident. The only issue was an overcrowded plane. I’m concerned about my daughter flying to NC from CA in August. She’ll be on the first flight both ways but still….
My Grandson had a flight scheduled from Dallas to Lubbock at 10 AM. Flight cancelled. Next flight at noon. Was told flight was full. Excuse me cancel that flight and let the 10:00 folks get out. Finally got out at 3 making him late for orientation. Others on his 10 flight didn’t get out till 6. Terrible service. They knew much earlier that they didn’t have staff. There should be compensation for these passengers. The airlines are taking advantage of the public
I was dreading my June trip from Florida to Sacramento because of all the recent news stories of flight delays and cancelations. My experience on AA was anything but disappointing though. 3 flights, Panama City to DFW, DFW to Phoenix, Phoenix to Sacramento. No delays. No cancelations. No problems. I was impressed by how closely each flight matched it’s published depart time. I’d be happy to fly AA again.
Flew both to and from my location with numerous delays. The steward on the return flight stated that the plane was there hours before but they had no pilot !
We intend on flying a few more times this summer but we are already on edge that we may not make it to our locations.
I only fly AA frequently (before covid and now) and I would say other than the mass amount of cancellations… which is all airlines, everything else seems to be running pretty normal. When there was an issue, I was put on a different flight and the only other annoying element is the multiple gate changes your flight has before you are able to get to it. It’s concerning about the training, however aren’t these pilots hired because they have been through Aviation school which requires training? Not saying it’s not proper to provide training at any new job but I would hope these pilots do know what they are doing. I think the over-working and tired pilots is very scary. Thanks for sharing!!
Recently had a wonderful experience with AA. Flying into Key West, no issues. Flying home to Philadelphia, a short delay. The flight attendant TJ was fantastic. Calm, in control, and did everything in her power to help those with connecting flights make it. Asking those without connecting flights to stay seated so the 13 passengers who needed to, could exit quickly. Everybody complied. The frequent fliers next to me said they never experienced anything like that. TJ had shuttles waiting for those passengers! TJ made it a point to thank all of us left on the plane. Everybody was all to happy to help. The folks next to me were two of those 13. Flight 1989 July 1, 2022
I have been real lucky with my flights from AA so far. I did have some bad issues with United and Sprint this year. I think it’s most all the airlines having problems after Covid-19. I’m sure many airlines have lost employees due to not wanting to take the Covid-19 vacation and horrible passenger’s behavior. I hope things get better for ua all and prices go down..
I have said this for years re AA (US Air) 3 things are true in life- death, taxes and AA will cancel the flight from Charlotte to Florence..always..they keep delaying it until they cancel in the end. Many many times we’ve rented a car to head home or stayed the night. Will use them ONLY as a very last resort.
Typical biased unprofessional blog. The pilot or pilots that have talked are probably part of the unprofessional entitlement group who if they don’t get their way go off and spout negatively towards the company that pays them. As far as the troubles besetting the aviation industry worldwide, it is not solely an American issue. This has all been in the news for over a year, so if people still think an issue is not going to happen to them, then well do I really need to say anything more?
My last two international connections were screwed up by AA. One due to ground staff shortages followed by a maintenance issue, the 2nd due to a pilot shortage and the incoming flight was 4 hrs late. I think twice about booking another AA flight this summer. The old 2 hr layover buffer no longer works, 4-5 hrs are necessary and will still not guarantee success. I am about to fly Delta this week; not confident that they will be any better.
I flew just 3 weeks ago from Daytona Florida lay over in Charlotte going to pa and got stuck flying around Charlotte for 45 mins then we had to land at another airport because we were running low on fuel and then went back to Charlotte… most people missed their next flight or their next flight was delayed because of rain … It was crazy they tried telling me they didn’t have another flight from Charlotte to pay for 2 days that all the ones before that are booked…I flipped out as they paid my hotel room place was a dump I wouldn’t even sit on the bed forget lay on jt… I ended up calling and they got me out the next day that the people at Charlotte airport just didn’t wanna give me a ,700 dollar seat for next day cause my ticket was 179 …won’t ever fly again with American
We booked a trip June last year to Barbados for our anniversary this year with AA first class seats. My husband had never been internationally so this was to be an epic vacation. We drove to Dallas Thur night to catch our flight only to be told it was canceled, and we could not fly out until Sunday, two days late for our trip. On top of that, the airline we would be flying out of did not have first class seats. We had to ask for a hotel, and was told to email customer service to inquire about a refund for our seats. In which, we received a “courtesy credit” of $125. The upgrade cost way more than that.
We missed our prepaid activities for those two days. Then, my luggage with all my shoes was lost, and did not show up until later that Monday.
We had two and a half days left of our trip. Which was really hard to enjoy with all the issues, phones calls, and no appropriate shoes for a day. We were not looking forward to the return flight that again we paid for first class upgrade so he could have the experience, and for rightful reasons are concerns were validated.
The return flight initially was on time. After arriving at the airport we were informed it would be delayed for 30 minutes due to refueling issues. However, we were over an hour late leaving. Once we landed at JFK we did not have a gate so we sat on the tarmac over 30 minutes waiting for a gate. The pilot announced he called ahead to a supervisor to see if he could help those of us with connecting flights. That failed!! Now we’re over an hour and a half late. Of course, with international flights there’s customs. A 10 minute run from a gate from the other side only to get to customs and was told there was no connecting flight line, and to wait like everyone else…rudely. By this time our flight was boarding.
I began chatting with AA about our options and of course there was nothing they could do. Over an hour in line for customs when we got to the front there was a line for connecting flights (thanks TSA for that lie). We get to customer service she said we need to run let’s go they have not left yet she radioed ahead. We were running, got delayed waiting at security only to get to the gate and the flight had left on time.
Now we’re in another line waiting to find out how we could get home. We stood in that line for one hour and 43 minutes. We were the second in line as two lines opened up only to be told by an AA associate to move the other end. WTH!!! We were in that line 45 minutes. Luckily, the associate was very nice she worked diligently to try and help us. There was no flight out until the following evening at 8pm. By this time it’s after 10pm. We asked to be placed in a hotel there were none close so we’d have to pay $86 round trip for an Uber. Nope! She kept checking for us a hotel with a shuttle It’a now after 11pm, and she was working on the flight. As best we could get was a rolling standby for 5am for a booked flight and no first class.
After all of that and staying in the airport almost three hours in line for subway we made the 5am flight separate seats, and we received a “courtesy credit” of $125. Our anniversary trip was not a trip my husband says a journey I say a heartbreaking experience. Thanks AA five emails later to get the other $125 credit for my husband.
In late June I was scheduled on an AA red eye from SoCal to connecting in Charlotte with an 830am arrival in Philadelphia. About 4 hours before departure I got a text about a delay. A few minutes later when the second text delay came through I realized I would miss the connecting flight. I called AA and rebooted on an early morning flight the next day through Dallas which would still get me to Philly mid-day. I printed and downloaded a boarding pass. I went to the ticket counter the next morning to see about a refund for the seat upgrade I had paid for to Charlotte and was told I was not booked on the morning flight, but that AA had rebooted me for the redeye that night. I explained that I had called, spoken to an agent and rebooted through Dallas and had a boarding pass and extended my boarding pass. The agent said, “That is worthless. You are not booked on this flight. Don’t even try to show it to me.” Eventually I got on a flight to Dallas with a connection which was supposed to get me to Philly late afternoon. After boarding and sitting on the connecting flight in Dallas for an hour, we were told there was a mechanical problem and they had to find a new plane. After gate and terminal changes and waiting that spanned several hours, they started boarding our new plane. After calling boarding group 4, the line stopped and backed up at the gate. They then announced that the Cree had timed out and everyone had to get off the plane while they tried to find a new crew. Surely they knew before boarding that the crew did not have time to complete the flight to Philly. After more waiting, a crew was found and we eventually took off. I arrived to a deserted airport in Philly at 2:30 am for a flight on which I should have arrived the previous morning at 8:30 am. Aside from all that, my main question is, how did I manage to be issued a boarding pass for a flight on which the airline claims I was not booked? Isn’t this yet another safety hazard?
This past week my daughter had a similar experience on AA which boarded, deplaned, delayed and then cancelled a flight to the east coast, offering rebooting on the same flight the next day. She simply walked over to the Southwest terminal, booked a flight to her destination leaving an hour later and asked for a refund on her AA rountrip.
I am done with American Airlines.
Flew on AA (well actually it was a JetBlue flight but purchased through the AA site and numbered as an AA flight on my ticket) out of MSY on June 30. After arriving at the airport 2.5 hours early as instructed by AA (or JetBlue?), for the flight that was scheduled to leave around 620pm, it was delayed twice, and I was holding my breath. But we did finally get out–and it arrived in JFK a couple of hours later than planned. I was just glad to get home. Nobody was wearing a mask though–not even the flight attendants which I really don’t get but…I kept mine on the whole time. It was a long day, but it could have a lot worse.
We flew AA from Miami to Philly on Sat, June 11th with “only” a 45 minute delay and the return was O’Hare into Miami, over an hour delay. We tweeted and wrote in, they gave us all 7,500 FF miles each. Not bad.
By my latest calculations I have spent more than 3.5 years of my life in airplanes. I am simply not at all concerned about the comments made in this article. The free market will determine the future of A/A and if there are repercussions to their actions the consumer will respond and they shouldn’t respond to some speculated fears. I have been at the top status with A/A for more than a dozen years and I feel they do a great job.
Enough fear mongering. “Is it even safe..” of course it’s safe. What a corny article.
Flew with AA July 2022 from Ft.Meyers, FL with connection in Charlotte and ending in Charleston, SC. No problems or delays.
Flew with AA r/t from MSP to West Palm Beach with a connecting flight in CLT. Quick trip from 7/28-7/31. EVERY AA flight was delayed. We ended up on standby on a later flight out of CLT going. Our car pickup business was closed so had to book Uber to our hotel. The trip back from CLT to MSP was about 5 hours delayed causing us to miss our Delta connecting flight home so we had to spend an overnight either in the Msp airport or get a hotel. We opted for the intercontinental hotel connected to the airport d/t convenience and an early fight out to our home airport. Last minute hotel booking cost us 250$ for the night. All airport restaurants were closed by then so we grabbed something to eat at the very overpriced hotel restaurant. At least it was open. AA couldn’t care less and offered no voucher or anything…gee we are sorry would’ve been nice…as we only booked with them to Msp which was true; however, living in a rural area home airport option is limited to Delta only. Also to rebook delta cost extra $$ bc their price went up ?. The gate agents at CLT kept “teasing” us by saying 15 more minutes which turned into making us go to a different gate 5 hours later. Honesty would have been nice so maybe we could’ve gone out to eat while waiting.
We flew from Sydney and had a 1.5h layover in Dallas to Lima. We travelled with 2 small kids and the airline lost 1 of our big luggage with full of children’s chlotes and necessary items. It has been 3 weeks now and still couldn’t locate the bag. We had to spend quite a lot money to rebuy everything for the boys and they refused to pay back until they get news of the bag. What a crap Airline and their policies are the worse. Leave the customer and small kids in foreign country without any support to help them out I never experienced that. We are looking other way now to get compensation. People I highly recommend not to fly with American Airlines they are just not worth the risk as if you have issues you are alone with your problem :(
Flew American August 10th from ida to dfw supposed to go to buf. Flight was canceled after 4 hours of delays and 8 gate changes. Rebooked us for 2 days later stuck in airport overnight because ALL hotels were full. Missed concert which was purpose of flight and finally got out next day but to different destination. It was miserable experience
I paid extra to fly a day earlier for an appointment. But AA canceled that flight and rescheduled a day later. Then, late at night before the new flight scheduled the next morning, they canceled that flight also, rescheduling a couple days later. That would have destroyed my purpose for the trip, so I booked very quickly with another airline. I am continuing to work on a refund from AA.
AA is the worst airline ever.
They cancelled our flight going to Austin on the 7th August 2022 and no provision or compensation was available for young children of 19,16,14 years of age coming from the UK. We slept on the floor in the cold at Nashville (BNA)Airport with no duty of care from the staff or AA crew member. My parent is ready to take this up.
YOU ALL HAVE TO REMEMBER, IN AMERICA, THE KING IS THE DOLLAR. AIRLINES LEARNT FROM THE BOEING MANAGEMENT, YOU CAN KILL PASSENGERS AND CREW AND GET $MILLIONS AND NO PENALTIES. SO HEY WE ARE HOME FREE! ALL FOR THE BOTTOM LINE AND WALL STREET. STILL WANT TO FLY?