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 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.
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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