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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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 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.
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.
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!
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!