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.
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.
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.
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?
I flew round trip from Boston to Phoenix in May with no problems. Just saying….
I of course find the articles concerning, but we’ve flown American this summer domestically and had zero problems.
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.
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!!
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.
Team Poppy’s not dreaming, he’s delusional.
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
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.
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.