Prove Me Wrong: American Airlines is the worst domestic airline

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

38 minutes ago, Nueces River Rat said:

 The Mad Dog flies very smooth but the seat feels like a mattress from the Motel 6 days when you could get a room for $19.99 and enjoy the black and white TV.

Just wait until you "sit" on the "eurobrand" leather plastic-wrapped metal seat bench on new AA eurometal.  These "seats" passenger containment units are almost 1.75" "thinner" than seats on the MD-80, allowing Der Furhrer Parker to claim 31" pitch, when in reality you now have almost 2" less of personal space.  MCE on new airbii has the same "cubic volume" of personal space as non-MCE on an MD-80.  And, by cramming in 8 more rows than the 321 was originally designed for, the front of Y has an exit-row overhead-bin mismatch with the number of rows up front in Y.  On departures from DFW i've seen ExecforkingPlatinum pax having to store their bags in an overhead 6, 7, 10 rows behind where they are sitting as a result of the overall airbii config, the new boarding rules, and the hoards of loyalists at the lAArgest hub.

Oh, and if you want a window or an aisle, in other words, anything other than a middle, you get a sharp metal box under the seat which eliminates any possibility of pointing your legs forward, forcing you to pretzel for the entire fucking flight.  Note: sharp metal box is Herr Parker's cost-saving decision to put IFE in each seat back.  Note that underfloor IFE hardware has been a thing since Virgin and Air Canada started using it 12 years ago.  I believe Herr Parker has instituted a plan to undo this idiotic decision which should have seen the shareholders draw and quarter him, AFTER inflicting the viking "flying eagle" treatment, which would be AAppropriate given the original corporAAte symbol.  IFE in single-aisle metal should be delivered by wifi on personal devices period end of story.

If seatguru.com were interested in the truth, a properly colored A321 seatmAAp would show 66% red and 34% yellow.

Legacy US eurometal does not have these problems.  But Herr Parker's AAirbii are flying torture chambers.  3 years ago on a long flight from the northeast I heard a large man in the window seat behind my row crying in pain for the last 90 minutes because his legs were cramping.

American Airlines.  Doing what they do best.

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by Hagbard Celine
derps

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

6 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

Just wait until you "sit" on the "eurobrand" leather plastic-wrapped metal seat bench on new AA eurometal.  These "seats" passenger containment units are almost 1.75" "thinner" than seats on the MD-80, allowing Der Furhrer Parker to claim 31" pitch, when in reality you now have almost 2" less of personal space.  MCE on new airbii has the same "cubic volume" of personal space as non-MCE on an MD-80.  And, by cramming in 8 more rows than the 321 was originally designed for, the front of Y has an exit-row overhead-bin mismatch with the number of rows up front in Y.  On departures from DFW i've seen ExecforkingPlatinum pax having to store their bags in an overhead 6, 7, 10 rows behind where they are sitting as a result of the overall airbii config, the new boarding rules, and the hoards of loyalists at the largest aa hub.

Oh, and if you want a middle or an aisle, in other words, anything other than a middle, you get a sharp metal box under the seat which eliminates any possibility of pointing your legs forward, forcing you to pretzel for the entire fucking flight.  Note: sharp metal box is Herr Parker's cost-saving decision to put IFE in each seat back.  Note that underfloor IFE hardware has been a thing since Virgin and Air Canada started using it 12 years ago.  I believe Herr Parker has instituted a plan to undo this idiotic decision which should have seen the shareholders draw and quarter him, AFTER inflicting the viking "flying eagle" treatment, which would be AAppropriate given the original corporAAte symbol.  IFE in single-aisle metal should be delivered by wifi on personal devices period end of story.

If seatguru.com were interested in the truth, a properly colored A321 seatmAAp would show 66% red and 34% yellow.

Legacy US eurometal does not have these problems.  But Herr Parker's AAirbii are flying torture chambers.  3 years ago on a long flight from the northeast I heard a large man in the window seat behind my row crying in pain for the last 90 minutes because his legs were cramping.

American Airlines.  Doing what they do best.

 

Damn.  Thanks for the warning.    How is the Business Class on these planes?

And yea that commercial brings back some memories.   

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

in 2019 the front of the plane on aa/dl/ua is about the same service standard as any domestic Y in 1979.

In other words, 21-century survival class.  Your body won't hurt, you might eat, you might get lucky and get free drinks, they can't steal your bag, and in the event of an irrop you get "taken care of".

Maybe.

[Surly Bevo 24908]

I fly once, maybe twice a month...so not as much as some but still a lot more than many.  Usually either to LAX, ORD to DCA for work out of DFW.  The credit card thing is spot fucking on.  They just whip your ass every flight with that shit and then the one or two people you actually see taking anything from the FA look like they have no business on a plane much less carrying a credit card.  Think the disheveled masses who look like they packed everything they own into a haversack from the Civil War era that they then spend a solid 2 minutes submitting you to their stank body while they struggle to cram it in to the overhead bin because they were too cheap to check a bag.   Although i will submit the dirtiest, smelliest person I've ever shared an airplane space with was Ron Jeremy...but I'm guessing he had reasons.  

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

They whip your ass with the credit card because it’s an not inconsequential revenue stream due folks thinking they’re are getting one up on the airlines or credit cards with “miles” or “points”.

In addition to being forced to hock that stuff the FA’s make a commission for each submitted form and a healthy sum for each accepted application. 

And in case you haven’t noticed credit card companies are only marginally interested in whether you have any business owning and using one. 

[Surly Bevo 24908]

So Sky Waitress is now Sky Salesgirl...cool

 

Also I work in the mortgage industry so I full well realize the way creditors view the common man...doesn't make me wrong

Edited April 13, 2019 by Surly Bevo

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

@batronic or other drivers....

does the FAA still consider a person a flat 170 pounds for paperwork purposes?

[Neonmoon 38129]

American Airlines at DFW = flight delayed 

I don’t think I’ve flown AA through DFW without my flight being delayed 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

1 hour ago, Surly Bevo said:

So Sky Waitress is now Sky Salesgirl...cool

 

Also I work in the mortgage industry so I full well realize the way creditors view the common man...doesn't make me wrong

I would suggest that the mortgage industry is a bit more demanding than the credit card industry with regard to accepting applications. And yes, the FA’s are there to help push credit cards. Much like Sears became a credit store with some nice stuff out front. It’s that way with nearly every other business, and I fail to see why the airlines should be any different. 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

@batronic or other drivers....

does the FAA still consider a person a flat 170 pounds for paperwork purposes?

Average weight for us including carry on bag is 190/195 lbs for an adult summer/winter and  82/87 lbs for a child. A checked bag or bag in the overhead is 30lbs and a heavy bag (50-100lbs) is 60 lbs. 

Certain city pairs will have higher average weights per our ops specs (Mexicans and Jamaicans I’m looking at you), and we plan a takeoff weight 2000lbs above predicted weight for some fudge room. 

Pax can be + or - 2 persons, and bags can vary by 10. 

[BBQ2Bayou 807]

4 hours ago, Surly Bevo said:

I fly once, maybe twice a month...so not as much as some but still a lot more than many.  Usually either to LAX, ORD to DCA for work out of DFW.  The credit card thing is spot fucking on.  They just whip your ass every flight with that shit and then the one or two people you actually see taking anything from the FA look like they have no business on a plane much less carrying a credit card.  Think the disheveled masses who look like they packed everything they own into a haversack from the Civil War era that they then spend a solid 2 minutes submitting you to their stank body while they struggle to cram it in to the overhead bin because they were too cheap to check a bag.   Although i will submit the dirtiest, smelliest person I've ever shared an airplane space with was Ron Jeremy...but I'm guessing he had reasons.  

I can attest that it was not just a bad smell day for RJ. It's a built in stink that can only come from years of where that man has been. God bless his soul. 

[Anastasis 23457]

7 hours ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

In addition to being forced to hock that stuff the FA’s make a commission for each submitted form and a healthy sum for each accepted application. 

Should I be bartering a filled out form for woodfords?

[RPM 26315]

On 4/12/2019 at 2:52 PM, Pig Bellmont said:

The real answer is Frontier or Spirit 

[Armybrat 40821]

Bet that’s the same plane they use for leaving Las Vegas 

[GHOSTUSER 361]

I was very pleasantly surprised by the service I received with United customer service this week. My flight from IAH last Sunday was impacted by the crazy weather we were having. Flight got canceled and rescheduled the next day but they couldn’t honor my economy plus booking on the new flight. Got a very kind email apologizing for it, refund on the booking and was given 10,000 miles. I made sure to tell them I noticed and appreciated the improved customer service. It had nowhere to go but up. Finally, fuck Jeff Smisek for eternity.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Iconoclast Texan

[thunderlounge 7813]

On 4/11/2019 at 6:12 PM, Prepuce of Doom said:

No, but I have tweeted shitty indignance at the DFW Twitter account on every layover I've had in the past five years about how inexcusable it is that they don't have a Whataburger, and 6-8 months ago, they tweeted me out of the blue to let me know that plans had been finalized to add one later this year. 

You're all welcome. 

 

Don’t you fucking tease me like that. 

[Surly Bevo 24908]

3 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

 

Don’t you fucking tease me like that. 

Yea but it's going over in Terminal E in the satellite wing of that terminal....not exactly the hotbed of AA activity.

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

Oh, it will be. AA will try to squeeze every possible connecting flight through the E island in order to clog up the alley and  put a pinch on Spirit. Which will probably work to an extent until the next economic correction. 

[Shaggy3.0 1695]

SWA—i’ve never flown but Im a customer today bc I hate AA. AA burned me with delays and late luggage delivery the last two trips out. I prefer DL, but they don’t arrive early to my destination. I purchased SWA’s early boarding thing bc this grab any seat thing is amusing. I’m in boarding group A. Let’s see gow this goes.

[RPM 26315]

I've only had 1 good flight on American and that was IAH - BZE. I had the emergency exit seat with extra legroom. The flight was 1/2 full so service was fast. Great flight. Every other one, including the return leg from Belize, was a cattle call. Southwest has consistently been the best experience, but even they are a shadow of their former selves. I remember some HOU - DAL Friday night flights that were Animal House at 20,000. 

[Rougarou 594]

Another Monday, another horrible experience with AA. Original flight gets cancelled at 4:45am; shenanigans occur, and here I am in the middle seat at the back of a plane just grateful to have a shot at getting to where I need to get, I guess. Haven’t sat back here in ages forgot how tight it is and I’m sure it’s going to be hard to use a laptop.

All my big 4, MBB and sales road warrior brothers who fly every Monday and Thursday be strong; AA announced extended grounding of the 737max until August. This will just continue to be fun.

[DigglerontheHoof 21175]

On 4/11/2019 at 4:35 PM, phdhorn said:

I think the gist of this thread is, at least for domestic flights, no one, and I mean no fucking one, can even begin to lick Southwest's balls in comparison.  And Southwest isn't perfect by any means.

Yep, I try as much as possible to fly SWA.  When I fly internationally, I prefer BA.

[phdhorn 6224]

2 hours ago, Shaggy3.0 said:

SWA—i’ve never flown but Im a customer today bc I hate AA. AA burned me with delays and late luggage delivery the last two trips out. I prefer DL, but they don’t arrive early to my destination. I purchased SWA’s early boarding thing bc this grab any seat thing is amusing. I’m in boarding group A. Let’s see gow this goes.
 

If you're in A, it's going to go pretty damn good.

[troph 24781]

SWA—i’ve never flown but Im a customer today bc I hate AA. AA burned me with delays and late luggage delivery the last two trips out. I prefer DL, but they don’t arrive early to my destination. I purchased SWA’s early boarding thing bc this grab any seat thing is amusing. I’m in boarding group A. Let’s see gow this goes.

 

 

Business select you can probably get any seat you want. Rest of A group you can get any seat you want with the exception of front row aisle and exit row. SWA is easy just make sure you’re A group (early bird add on) and you’re good to go.

[Spankytoes 1739]

2 hours ago, Rougarou said:

Another Monday, another horrible experience with AA. Original flight gets cancelled at 4:45am; shenanigans occur, and here I am in the middle seat at the back of a plane just grateful to have a shot at getting to where I need to get, I guess. Haven’t sat back here in ages forgot how tight it is and I’m sure it’s going to be hard to use a laptop.

All my big 4, MBB and sales road warrior brothers who fly every Monday and Thursday be strong; AA announced extended grounding of the 737max until August. This will just continue to be fun.

It's all relative.

I had a 7:30 AM flight from LGA-DAL on Saturday that circled Dallas for over an hour and had to divert to HOU due to low fuel. Then we were stuck at HOU for a few hours with very little info being provided other than "we're waiting on the paperwork". They allowed people to deplane to get some lunch. Just when I was going to rent a car to drive it, they announced that we are reboarding. Then, it was an almost 2 hour delay at the Jetway because they couldn't make the PAX count match prior to when we deplaned. (Maybe some people were flying LGA-DAL-HOU?) I landed in Dallas at 4:30 PM while all scheduled HOU-DAL flights from 11 AM - At least 3:30 PM had been cancelled due to the pileup. By the time I arrived in Dallas, the weather was fine. So at least the 3:30 PM flight could have gone and the 2:30 PM flight would have been OK with a delay. (Air traffic aside)

All of this was due to weather, which is completely outside of SWA's control. But, in the moment, you can't help but get angry at the lack of info being provided so you can continue your plans. If we weren't leaving, I needed the option to rent a car to finish the journey or rebook HOU-LGA, which was leaving in a few hours with only a couple of seats left. In the end, I burned 24,000 points for about 20 hours in Dallas. But, at least we got there. That would not have been the case with AA, who would have cancelled the flight and offered me another one the following day.

But, I've had true bad experiences with Southwest too. Several months back, I was flying the LGA-DAL route again with a 7:30 PM departure. At 2:30 AM, they told everyone that they could get us on the 6 AM flight in a few hours. I declined, booked that 11 AM departure and went back home. The delay was due to mechanical issues and then the pilots running out of time and finally the FAs running out of time. Southwest knows their schedule. If this was going to be an issue, surely they were aware of it hours before they called it. I got absolutely nothing in compensation for the troubles. On the way back, almost an identical issue. Got delayed until 11:00 PM on a 7:30 PM departure. Only, they ended up canceling the DAL-LGA flight completely and making a new flight that landed at EWR. Well, that's quite a trek for me as I live 25 minutes east of JFK. We were told by the gate agents that we could send our info to Southwest and they would reimburse us for the travel. Fair enough as we would be landing in the wee hours with no traffic. 1.5 hours, and a $230.00 Uber ride later, I was home. I called Customer Service the next day and, of course, they denied responsibility for the travel. As this was a business trip, it wasn't as big of an issue because I got reimbursed, but it pissed me off that they told me a bullshit story to maintain order at the airport.

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

5 hours ago, Spankytoes said:

 We were told by the gate agents that we could send our info to Southwest and they would reimburse us for the travel. Fair enough as we would be landing in the wee hours with no traffic. 1.5 hours, and a $230.00 Uber ride later, I was home. I called Customer Service the next day and, of course, they denied responsibility for the travel. As this was a business trip, it wasn't as big of an issue because I got reimbursed, but it pissed me off that they told me a bullshit story to maintain order at the airport.

Always, _always_, *ALWAYS* get the name of the employee who gives you any information.  Ask if you can take their picture with your phone.  If they won't give you their name AND allow you to take their pic, they are lying to avoid ownership or accountability of your issue.

[Anastasis 23457]

Thats creepy AF. 

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

5 hours ago, Spankytoes said:

"we're waiting on the paperwork"

This is a phrase unique to the southwest culture which is generic catch-all language created by their legal department as the universal excuse to be given for any problem or issue prior to and possibly leading to an irrop, or during an irrop itself.

Missing a pilot and can't depart on time?

"We're waiting on the paperwork".

They know they have a mechanical, but to "capture" that flight's revenue, they sardine the can, and then wait until the crews time out.  Excuse for the delay?

""We're waiting on the paperwork".

Sometimes, "the paperwork" gets fixed quickly.

Other times, it's your cue to run for the hills.

Anyone that cares, PM me for THE secret protip in the event you perceive a pending irrop on any carrier.

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

6 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Thats creepy AF. 

It's 2019.  Commercial air travel is war, and requires command and control tradecraft.

They created this situation.

[ChuckNorrisActionJeans 2663]

11 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

Always, _always_, *ALWAYS* get the name of the employee who gives you any information.  Ask if you can take their picture with your phone.  If they won't give you their name AND allow you to take their pic, they are lying to avoid ownership or accountability of your issue.

lol like the gate lady in Charles de Gaulle airport who I asked if she'd check and see if my luggage had made the trip with me so far, so it would get there with me to Frankfurt.

Checks, and assures me it's there.

Narrator:  It wasn't. 

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

Institutionalized lying to avoid ownership of an issue is the direct result of the last 25 years of upper management culture that punishes truth acceptance and cost incursion.

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

3 minutes ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

lol like the gate lady in Charles de Gaulle airport who I asked if she'd check and see if my luggage had made the trip with me so far, so it would get there with me to Frankfurt.

Checks, and assures me it's there.

Narrator:  It wasn't. 

And specifically to address your situation, depending on when that happened, and what airline, she wasn't just lying to you, she had no ability whatsoever to access the data that would answer your question.

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

oh, yes, this is why flying nonstop and never EVER EVAR *EVAR* allowing your primary bag to be stolen from you at any time for any reason is one of the paramount prime directives in all travel mission decision criteria.

[Homercles 10205]

oh, yes, this is why flying nonstop and never EVER EVAR *EVAR* allowing your primary bag to be stolen from you at any time for any reason is one of the paramount prime directives in all travel mission decision criteria.

Flying with you must be a joy

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

I consider myself an unpaid staff augmentation resource.  I help people get their luggage arranged in the bins, answer questions unsolicited to comments made in earshot, and in general do everything i can to seem like the best passenger on the planet.

[Homercles 10205]

I consider myself an unpaid staff augmentation resource.  I help people get their luggage arranged in the bins, answer questions unsolicited to comments made in earshot, and in general do everything i can to seem like the best passenger on the planet.

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

I feel for those of you that fly every week.  Brutal.

[Superhero 8827]

I gave up on SWA because they rarely left SFO on time. I missed the birth of my son, his first little league, high school prom and college graduation because the SWA flight was delayed.

I'm mostly UA now because they could me home from SFO in time.

[Elvis 3371]

I hate AA so much, especially the people there.  It's like management sends an email out every morning cutting some benefit or making their uniform more uncomfortable.  Everyone is on the verge of quitting and passengers are fodder for their FU moment on the way out.

[phdhorn 6224]

Laughing (for now) about this...

American sent me an email changing our June 29 flight... they're moving us to a 737 MAX 8 from a "regular" 737.  Fucking lovely.   I mean, really?

[DaysOff 7946]

You read that wrong or they fucked it up, but they've pulled MAX from the schedule into August. UAL into July.

[Prepuce of Doom 21052]

My 6pm AA flight out of LAX yesterday (which had been booked for two months - traveling with the wife and Doomlet, not booked last minute for work or whatever) was canceled at noon Pacific, allegedly because of 5" of snow at ORD on Sunday. 

I'm only Platinum, but my work schedule is very unpredictable and my clients have limitless money, so almost all of my work travel is booked last minute at high fares, and I have at least one change fee tacked on more often than not - sometimes several. So I'm probably a pretty profitable customer for them. All that in mind, they graciously rebooked us on a red-eye departing only 30 hours later, free of charge!

So now we're flying United back home today, and I'm preparing to write a Sternly Worded Note. 

Motherfuckers. 

[gecko 1104]

Wait...AA booked you on a red eye 30 mins later for no charge and you’re pissed? What am I missing here?

 

Edit...just saw “hours”...not minutes. Never mind.

[gecko 1104]

And specifically to address your situation, depending on when that happened, and what airline, she wasn't just lying to you, she had no ability whatsoever to access the data that would answer your question.

When you check a bag with United their app tells you where your bag is based on when and where it was scanned.

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

29 minutes ago, gecko said:

When you check a bag with United their app tells you where your bag is based on when and where it was scanned.

And United's back-end system that scans and sorts based on the rfid in the printed tags is most definitely not in use at CDG.  The mobile app and the "bowels of the airport" system are not the same thing.

[shakahorn 1645]

5 hours ago, DaysOff said:

You read that wrong or they fucked it up, but they've pulled MAX from the schedule into August. UAL into July.

Yeah i got an email from AA saying that the MAX is out until August.  And I don't even fly AA, I just had to put miles accumulated from LATAM somewhere when we went to Easter Island a couple years ago.  On a side note, if anyone has any good ideas on how to use like 4.6k AA miles feel free to chime in.  Other than magazine subscriptions.

[Js1 85266]

47 minutes ago, gecko said:

When you check a bag with United their app tells you where your bag is based on when and where it was scanned.

AA has this as well through the app.  At least it did when I had about 20 min to switch terminals at DFW to catch a flight to MAD and was able to check before takeoff that my bag was loaded. 

[gecko 1104]

doesn't deserve a thread, hardly deserves a post, but United is announcing a new livery on 4/24.

[DaysOff 7946]

That true? I'm always the last to know something.