I hate American Airlines

September 20th, 2006 · 19 Comments
Public Relations

What is worse than a 38-hour trip back to DC from San Antonio?

Having just lived it, I tell you: not much.

As promised in an earlier post, here is what happened (and why I hate American Airlines). I apologize for the long account, but trust me, it is worth it after the jump:

Photo: from the movie Airplane!

I had been in San Antonio to provide media and event support to the Army vs. Texas A&M football game. It was long and hard work (I was averaging 16 hour days during the weekend), but well worth it. Sunday, I was scheduled to fly out of San Antonio at 1 p.m., connect in Dallas at 4 p.m. and arrive back in Washington around 8:30 p.m.

So I am on the plane, we pull away from the gate and the pilot gets on the loudspeaker:

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are being held on the ground here in San Antonio because of weather in Dallas. We had to pull away from the gate because another plane is scheduled there, so we will just wait on the runway until we get the all clear from Dallas. It shouldn’t be too long.”

Four hours later, I had missed my flight and we still had not left San Antonio.

For those of you who aren’t from Texas, you might not be aware that the two cities are just about a 40 minute flight apart. And because American Airlines is in the financial toilet, they don’t stock these short flights with food. By hour four, they were out of beverages as well and customers were starting to get angry. People started requesting to get off the plane, and about 15 were permitted to leave and board a bus back to the terminal. Two of these passengers were a couple on their honeymoon to Paris. They decided that they were tired waiting and would just take their trip at another time.

With plenty of time to wait in San Antonio, I got on the phone and rescheduled my connecting flight from Dallas to National Airport so that I am on the last flight out of Dallas, an 8:30 p.m. flight. It would put me back in DC after midnight, but at least I would be home. The American Airlines “assistant” (although she wasn’t very assisting) had an attitude on the phone, but promised that I would be on the last flight out of Dallas.

A few hours later, we finally get clearance to take off and go to Dallas. I go to the terminal for my connecting flight to pick up my new boarding pass when the person at the gate shocks me.

According to him, I am not confirmed on that flight.

Rather than being empathetic and trying to work with me, he just tells me that I am out of luck and I can call an 800 number to rebook my flight.

Furious, I call the number. The next flight I can get on is the following evening, almost 24 hours later. And it is not to National airport (it is through Dulles). And it is not a direct flight (I have a connection in Chicago).

Unable to do anything else, I spend the night in Dallas.

The next day (Monday now), I get to the airport at noon, try standing by on three flights (all to no avail) and resign myself to my 5:55 p.m. flight. So it comes time to board. Five minutes after boarding time. Ten minutes after boarding time. Fifteen minutes after boarding time. And we still haven’t boarded.

I go to the counter to ask if there is any information on when the flight is leaving because I have a tight connection in Chicago and that flight is the last one to DC for the evening. I am tired and visibly concerned, but the woman working the gate doesn’t even look up from the computer, just curtly saying: “You’ll make it.”

I don’t think she even listened.

Sure enough, the flight leaves 45 minutes late and I nearly miss my flight to Dulles.

I finally get back to DC well after midnight and have to pick up my bags, which were sent to National airport, the following morning.

Never have I seen such ill-will towards customers on so many levels. The sad thing is that all of my negative interactions with American Airlines came from customer service personnel.

American Arlines, here are some tips:

Be honest with your customers. Don’t tell them you will be leaving shortly if you won’t be. And if you aren’t sure, say so. Just be honest. We’ll appreciate your honesty, even if we don’t like the result (i.e. a delayed flight).
Remember that young customers are still customers. And may have a blog in which they will tell the world about your inferior service.
Provide service. Your passengers are in your hands; we have no control over our destinies as long as we are being shuttled around by your carriers. That puts us in a vulnerable position and makes it all the more important for you to be helpful and nice.
Speaking of which, it is especially important to be nice. Air travel can be stressful. Why compound that stress by failing to show empathy?

I am disappointed, American. But unfortunately, not surprised. Get your act together.

19 responses so far ↓

1 Mike Sacks // Sep 20, 2006 at 10:20 pm

Insert any airline into that story, and you have the flight industry. I have horror stories from numerous airlines, Midwest being a shining exeption. And tell me why most airlines are in the financial toilet?

But hey, can’t beat college ball.
2 Steve Field // Sep 21, 2006 at 6:15 am

What about JetBlue? Or Spirit? And (at times) Soutwest?

You are right though. At least there was football. And what a game! (Army actually almost won!)
3 chris everard // Dec 4, 2006 at 12:30 am

i have worked at american for 21 years. i was googling blog sights from pax just to see what they were saying. you see, in the years since 9/11, i have had my pay cut by one third and i work about twenty percent more than i used to just to make ends meet. my expense money is exactly, i mean exactly, the same as it was the day i was hired. i am bringing home what i brought home eleven, ELEVEN years ago. pax tix prices are at around 1973 prices. so i am very curious, what were you expecting?
4 They Know Why I Fly and Do Not Care: American Airlines, Your Are The Years Biggest Loser! at A Media Circus // Dec 23, 2006 at 6:22 pm

[...] More and More Hate Them [...]
5 Andrea // Jan 2, 2007 at 8:44 pm

American Airlines is a terrible Airline. I came back from Brazil at 5:00 AM to find out after 9 hours flying that my connection to Washington DC from Miami was cancelled. All the flights were overbook and we stayed at the Miami airport all day trying to fly in waiting lists. They suggested that if we really wanted to fly that day we could go from Miami to Chicago, Chicago to New York and from there to DC. Is this ridiculous or what after flying 9 hours from Brazil? After waiting all day long for a flight, we were sent to a hotel in Miami, to fly the next day late in the afternoon. However, our entire luggage went to DC without us and we were now in the hotel without any clothes to wear until the next day. Additionally, we figured it out that the food voucher that they gave us to eat at the hotel actually did not cover our expenses at the hotel. Can you have breakfast for 5 dollars or dinner for 10 dollars?
Anyway, we also figured it out that this hotel gets American Airlines passengers every single day because they screw up every single day. I will never flight this company again in my life. It is nice to know that there are many other airlines to choose from. If you flying somewhere, just do not flight American Airlines.
6 JESSICA // Jul 7, 2007 at 5:10 pm

American airlines made my first trip with my 4 month old horrible. They took all of my formula at security. When we arrived at the gate on time we had found that our 7am flight was cancelled and we needed to re book ourselves through the 800 number.
All of our luggage went somewhere else and 1 of the bags still isn’t located 2 weeks later.

They could care less. We had first class tickets but we were treated so horrible and inconsiderate. We called the baggage number at least 15 times they were so rude thet even hung up on us 3 times.

They only care about saving money and they treat their passengers like dirt.
7 p12 // Aug 4, 2007 at 8:37 pm

Little people are people too!.
8 Pablo Arbelaez // Oct 14, 2007 at 6:25 pm

Ok listen to this one. My Flight to October 13, 2007 from Miami to Panama was canceled 30 minutes before the scheduled time. No Explanation. Nothing. The purpose of my trip to panama to attend a college expo on Sunday October 14th witch cost $1,500 and for I had already paid.

Since all flights were full and I wasnâ€™t able to get to panama on time I decided to get a refund for the ticket and get my luggage back. I got my money back â€¦. Yea thanksâ€¦. As far as my luggage the story goes onâ€¦. I went to the luggage counter at the Miami airport where they have a bunch of rude people who just treat everyone like crap. They tell me they will make a request to get my bags back but that processes would take from 3 to 5 hours. What kind of crap is that? But thatâ€™s ok I wait 4 hours in front of the counter with my wife and two year old twin daughters . After that time they come to me and tell sorry sir but we can locate the bags. MAYBE they were sent to Panama. What do you mean if the flight was cancelledâ€¦.? Sorry sir please call the 1800 number. I said no way. I need my bagsâ€¦. The manager comes up and says to me sorry sir we can locate your two bags. Please wait 24 hours and see what happens. Then I said ok lets file a case for the missing bags and her answer was sorry sir since Miami is not your final destination we can not do that here. You have to do it in Panama. Yea but Iâ€™m not going to panama because you cancelled the flight. She goes again â€¦. Sorry sir we can not do that because Miami is not your final destination. How STUPID is that????? If this is what I get being a gold member who has been flying for the last 10 years more than 1 million miles. I can imagine what the regular passenger get when problems like this happens.

Here Iâ€™m at home with no bags, no where to look because I just called the 800 number and they told that without a case number there is nothing they can do.

If American Airlines really cares. I would First expect an apology, second compensation for all the dame, third my bags!!!!. You have my number

Next time you consider flying American airlinesâ€¦. Think about it twice!!!!!! And expect people to trat you like crap and give you STUPID answers.
9 Jackie // Jan 12, 2008 at 2:39 pm

I felt horrible about 3 minutes ago after an unforgettable experience with American Airlines. However after reading this blog and its responses, I´ve realized I´m not the only one who feels this way. Delays, lost baggage, inefficient service (Don´t waste you time with the lost baggage 1800 number. It´s easier to talk to the President of the company then for them to help you find your bags.), lack of responsibility and sometimes rude responses are just some of the ways I can describe my experience with AA. I just hope that someone from this airline can take these as suggestions before more and more people decide that its worth paying a little more than flying with them.
10 N. McAlister // Mar 9, 2008 at 3:21 pm

American Airlines ruined our eagerly anticipated family vacation to Peru, when their flight from Toronto to Boston was delayed for an hour and a half, then canceled without alternate arrangements.

We were still stuck in Toronto trying to find alternate transport to Peru, when we missed what should have been an easy connection in Boston with another AA flight. The best they would offer was to get us to Lima four days late — when a substantial part of our vacation itinerary would have been missed.

We rescheduled our vacation several months hence, with a direct flight on Air Canada. We shall never trust American Airlines with our travel plans ever again.
11 N. McAlister // Mar 9, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Our eagerly anticipated family vacation to Peru was ruined when an American Airlines flight from Toronto to Boston was delayed by an hour and a half, then canceled without alternate arrangements, causing us to miss a connection. American could not solve the problem, and our holiday was scrubbed as a result

We have re-booked some months hence, flying direct with Air Canada next time. This family will never trust American Airlines with our travel plans again.
12 Jo // Mar 24, 2008 at 10:02 pm

My family and I just got back from a trip to Florida for 9 days. My family of 5 had a wonderful time. We did not have one thing to complain about, not one bad meal, we battled the crowds at the theme parks…..it was great! Until we started traveling this morning with American Airlines. We had a 6am flight to Dallas from Tampa this morning. We got to the airport and returned our car with absolutely no problem. When we got into the ariport to check our bags there was a mob of people already in line (at 4:30am). There was a youth group of I don’t know how many kids that were in line in front of us. It was horrible! American Airlines needs to take a lesson in lines for people. Maybe they should take a lesson from Disney World. They seem to move people even though the wait is an hour long it does not seem like it is. It was complete chaos and AA did not have enough workers to help all these people. After we got through that we thought no problem. Little did we know that when we got to security it was like a cattle barn running people through the shoots. There were about 400 people in line and the AA personel would not listen to people asking to get moved up in line because of a 6am flight. It was such a log jam there and all the attendant would say was “I understand” to people whenever they expressed concern over not making the 6am flight and then walk away. My family (3 kids) barely made it through security. They were doing last call to board as we were grabbing our things out of the bins at security. I actually ran down the hall carrying my shoes to get to the gate. My kids grabbed all their things (backpacks, ipods, computerss) and just ran behind me. As I think back I wonder how hilarious we must have looked. The people behind us were pushing through and the empty bins were flying off the line onto the floor with a little help from us. I didn’t even care at that point. I think I may have whipped a few on the floor myself as the empty ones were getting in the way. Unfortunately the lack of customer service that AA portrayed this morning from check in all the way to the flight staff, did not change. Shame on you American Airlines. If they really want to be the best of the best in the airline business, they should read these hate blogs to improve their staff or hire better staff.
13 Dana // Apr 8, 2008 at 2:44 pm

My family just returned from an equally horrific AA experience, getting rheemed at BOTH ends of the journey. Lost luggage at the front end and 24 hours of “travel” on the return that should have been 6.
Chris from AA who posted earlier should get a new job. If you can’t do the job well with a good attitude, get out.
14 Ken // Apr 11, 2008 at 9:19 pm

Perhaps we should all be writing our Congressperson, as it is the FAA that controls the airspace, spacing between airplanes, takeoff and landing slots, etc. From start to finish, all commercial aircraft movements are controlled by the Federal Govt., yet they still seem to escape any blame. Could it be that the FAA’s airport trust fund has been spent, and used to mask the out of control federal budget deficit, without bothering to modernize our ATC system, build a new airport (Denver Intl was the last one) or ensure adequate staffing of ATC controllers, tower personnel, or ground personnel. We all love to blame the airlines, but perhaps we should all ask the question of “who is ultimately in charge” for our regulation, movement, and safety.
15 Jacob // May 20, 2008 at 1:20 am

Ahh, you Americans have no idea, don’t say, “the flight industry” because i can tell you now, these problems are confined to the US. Has anuone ever flown with Qantas, or any other low cost Australian airline? Always helpful, cheery and FREE FOOD!
16 Jim // May 21, 2008 at 6:03 pm

I just had the chance to fly this airline for the first time last week, and I can see how this happened. Out of 4 separate flights to and from Cancun, ALL of them were delayed. Our flights were routed somehow to spend more than 2 hours extra in the air (not a big deal, but AA is the one that’s complaining about fuel prices right? get a clue and find shorter distances for connecting flights at least), not to mention that the guy next to me was flown in from Vancouver, to Dallas, to Detroit (I’m not sure if he was further from home in Detroit while he was in Dallas or in Vancouver). Our suitcases were lost TWICE, once on the way there, then (yup you guessed it) once we got home, and there’s no way in hell I’ll ever use their services again. The management staff at American Airlines should be smacked with a stick of salami until they get their act together. On a lighter note, I seen Willie Nelson in line at customs, so that blinded their incompetence for a moment. Willie, you rock, loved you in BeerFest : )
17 John // Jul 18, 2008 at 3:34 pm

All of the stories are so similar, and ours is no different. We booked a week long vacation in Jamaica (flying from San Diego). The flight leaving San Diego (6:30 am) was late getting into LAX. We missed our connection to Miami. The plane was still at the gate when we arrived, and seats were available, but they said sorry. The gate agent basically told us it was our fault for missing the connection. There was no way to get to Jamaica that day. It took 32 hours to get from San Diego to Jamaica. Every flight we took (6 total) was late. They finished our vacation by not getting our bags back to San Diego with us. We will not fly American again!
18 Ricardo // Feb 12, 2009 at 5:11 pm

I have had experiences like most of the above. My favorite was was the time I checked in by computer on the evening before my flight the next day to discover that the flight scheduled for 1 pm had been cancelled, and that now I was on a flight at 6 am. I live an hour from the airport and needed the morning to get ready for my flight. When I complained, I was told that you should check the day before. I told her that that was exactly what I was doing, and she told me not to get rude. I was then informed that to change to the following day (at 6am) would cost me $100.oo for ticket change plus the difference in price.

Don’t ask a question. I once asked approximately what time my flight would leave. The plane hadn’t arrived yet and it was past departure time. “How the Hell should I know,” he answered.

But management is just as bad. I fly a regular three hour flight. The md 80 has been removed and a canadair commuter has been substituted. One small dirty bathroom in which you can’t stand, no carry on luggage, hard seats that slope forward so that you have push back for the whole flight not to fall out of the seat.
(Your knees pressing against the seat in front can hold you in).
Not a bad plane for a 45 minute flight.
But three hours!!!

As a platinum flyer with needs for frequent flyer miles (my kids live in a country across the sea and I invite them for the holidays annually), I’m trapped. But each trip makes me angry one way or another (see examples above).
19 Gary Agnew // Dec 29, 2009 at 4:12 pm

I can’t beleive it is getting worse. Now you had better have a receipt for everything you fly with!!
February 2009 American Airlines charged me $125, for each leg of my trip (a total of $250), to carry the sporting equipment I required for my holiday, it would be reasonable to assume they would take all due care in delivering it to the tagged destination. At the time of this charge, no one ever suggested I would have to produce receipts for the ownership of my personal equipment if it were lost or damaged; however, the agent refused to check said baggage unless I paid the additional fee. The fact that American Airlines was negligent in caring for the items entrusted to them, and there by ruining my vacation, I have not submitted these damages as part of my loss claim, however perhaps I should. I will speak to my solicitor on that point. In fact, the hard sided carry case was smashed beyond repair and the fishing rods inside were missing as witnessed by the Agent in Baggage Claims at the Miami Airport. The one rod that remained in the case was damaged beyond repair. All this was examined by an AA Agent in Miami on arrival.
As American Airlines charged me for the transportation of my fishing poles, in addition to my personal airline fare, it is reasonable to presume American Airlines assumed responsibility of the equipment and therefore are responsible to ensure it was properly insured for its safeguard and delivered to the destination tagged.
Eight months later and several letters AA Management advised me if I cannot produce receipts for my property then the incident never happen. Now that is what I consider client abuse and a management philosophy that condones their employee’s theft practices. I have always believed that you treat others as you wish to be treated and that what goes around comes around. They lost a lot more than just my property they lost my respect.