Prove Me Wrong: American Airlines is the worst domestic airline

[DaysOff 7821]

Currently on a United flight headed back to the gate because they couldn’t get the left engine started.  Uh hello?! You have TWO engines!

I'm guessing a MAX. It is a delicate flower.

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

3 hours ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

Currently on a United flight headed back to the gate because they couldn’t get the left engine started.  Uh hello?! You have TWO engines!

Saving fuel on taxi out. Planes break too. 

[Trey3216 15325]

A buddy’s sister posted this from her flight….

 

I present you….Spirit Airlines!

 

[Incredulity 11532]

Fuck that.  

[gsoda3 3233]

so many questions.

[BrazilHorn 6576]

That’s like a leaky diaper. WTF? 
reason # 11,000,000 not to fly spirit airlines 

[TornACL 7673]

Passengers didn't pay the extra $15 for line maintenance.

[Blotto 23418]

1 hour ago, TornACL said:

Passengers didn't pay the extra $15 for line maintenance.

can you imagine how much money that airline would make if they allowed people to smoke for like $45 per flight? 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:28 AM, Trey3216 said:

A buddy’s sister posted this from her flight….

 

I present you….Spirit Airlines!

 

ABC would be on the left side, and if the picture was taken looking towards the tail the letters wold read CBA. 

In short, while the picture may be real of some bus somewhere with some questionable cosmetic work, it’s not a Spirit Airlines A320 model. 

Edited February 28, 2023 by Bobby_Batronic

[Massive Horn 41]

Friend's late night American flight to Vegas was cancelled last week because the pilot said he was too tired to fly. Pilot also apparently proceeded to argue with passengers at the gate for 30 minutes after announcing this. Dude got no hotel room and was told the best they could do was a flight 12 hours later. 

[TornACL 7673]

21 hours ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

ABC would be on the left side, and if the picture was taken looking towards the tail the letters wold read CBA. 

In short, while the picture may be real of some bus somewhere with some questionable cosmetic work, it’s not a Spirit Airlines A320 model. 

Also I am pretty sure none of the Spirit placards are in fucking German.

[BrazilHorn 6576]

I’m on Delta flight to LAX that took off out of Gate 1. 
The next gate (3 I think) shared a desk with Delta and was an AA to Miami that was due to leave at 5:30. 
At 5:12 a couple of folks walked up looking to board and were not happy they’d already pushed and taken off. 
I could hear AA gate agents providing the exemplary customer service AA is known for. 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

2 hours ago, TornACL said:

Also I am pretty sure none of the Spirit placards are in fucking German.

I see some Spanish, but that would be expected. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Bobby_Batronic

[Evil Bill Obrien 3164]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:28 AM, Trey3216 said:

A buddy’s sister posted this from her flight….

 

I present you….Spirit Airlines!

 

I mean if tape was good enough to fix Apollo 13...good enough for Spirit I guess??

 

[Aqua Buddha 14488]

I'm Platinum Pro on AA and ever since I made that, I basically do whatever I want once I'm booked.  Recently on DTW to DFW and that flight was going to leave an hour late, making the connection tight but doable.  Went to the app and picked a later flight and got the first class upgrade.  Got to that gate at DFW and there were 15 stand by's.  They prolly put me on there at the expense of someone in Group 15 or some shit.

[BearSchlong 8076]

Not to be a bitch, but is that admirals club in AUS near gate 22 the only one? Geez.

[YGIFS 19449]

On 3/1/2023 at 8:26 AM, Bobby_Batronic said:

I see some Spanish, but that would be expected. 

I don't know if you've seen or heard most Spirit Airlines passengers, but Spanish ain't the issue.  Most of them don't even speak English.  They do, however, claim to speak something called 'Murican, which near as I can tell is some pidgin amalgamation of myriad southern dialects, muh freedom speech soundbytes, and a slightly more formal syntax they use when appearing before a family law judge.  

[royiv 9131]

16 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

Not to be a bitch, but is that admirals club in AUS near gate 22 the only one? Geez.

The only Admiral's Club? Yes. It's super undersized and it gets incredibly overcrowded in the late afternoon before the BA LHR flight. American had announced they were going to build a new club on the concourse level around gate 15, but have apparently scrapped those plans in favor of building it in the mezzanine of the western gate expansion similar to the Sky Club in the new eastern gate expansion. That's going to be years off so the current Admiral's Club will continue to be a cluster.

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

I don't know if you've seen or heard most Spirit Airlines passengers, but Spanish ain't the issue.  Most of them don't even speak English.  They do, however, claim to speak something called 'Murican, which near as I can tell is some pidgin amalgamation of myriad southern dialects, muh freedom speech soundbytes, and a slightly more formal syntax they use when appearing before a family law judge.  

I see you’ve never set foot on Spirit Airlines. But I do appreciate the attempt at humor. 

[YGIFS 19449]

I haven't flown 'em yet.  But I'm sure I will.  I gotta fly and swim with the white trash before I can put 'em on trains and busses.  

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

44 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

I haven't flown 'em yet.  But I'm sure I will.  I gotta fly and swim with the white trash before I can put 'em on trains and busses.  

That’s what I mean. It’s an ultra low cost airline and not a white trash airline. It would be very safe to say that all varieties of of melanin are represented on a given flight and that the white trash segment is far and away the a minority on many of their flights. 
 

It is what it is. I hitched a ride home on them the other day. Downloaded some entertainment and enjoyed the lack of pretentiousness in the cabin. 

[BearSchlong 8076]

AA late last night, BPT, gear down, flaring for landing, “yeah it’s foggy, we can’t see the runway, we’re going back to DFW.” Cancelled.

Which is somehow why I’m sitting in the golden nugget in Lake Charles right now, eating a steak on house money.

[DalTxHornFan 3084]

5 hours ago, BearSchlong said:

AA late last night, BPT, gear down, flaring for landing, “yeah it’s foggy, we can’t see the runway, we’re going back to DFW.” Cancelled.

Which is somehow why I’m sitting in the golden nugget in Lake Charles right now, eating a steak on house money.

That sounds like the opening sentences of a compelling story.

[BearSchlong 8076]

Plot twist - I continued east.

[pearlandhorn 3277]

After the whole SWA shitshow, I’m done with them. Flew Delta from Hobby to Albany, NY and was quite impressed. Disappointing that they only have 3 flights a day out of Hobby and only to ATL but oh well. If I fly east coast, I’ll fly delta. If I go west, I’ll go United out of IAH. 
 

I had companion pass for 3 years with SWA but just can’t stand them anymore. Terrible planes, terrible clientele, very ugly stewardesses.

[DalTxHornFan 3084]

1 hour ago, pearlandhorn said:

Terrible planes, terrible clientele, very ugly stewardesses.

That's so sexist and wrong!  You should be saying "very ugly flight attendants."

[YGIFS 19449]

Very ugly sky broads

[Guest]

On 3/25/2023 at 7:03 PM, pearlandhorn said:

After the whole SWA shitshow, I’m done with them. Flew Delta from Hobby to Albany, NY and was quite impressed. Disappointing that they only have 3 flights a day out of Hobby and only to ATL but oh well. If I fly east coast, I’ll fly delta. If I go west, I’ll go United out of IAH. 
 

I had companion pass for 3 years with SWA but just can’t stand them anymore. Terrible planes, terrible clientele, very ugly stewardesses.

The airline pisses me off now and I’ve had better AA experiences. The flight attendants are generally bitchy. 

[BearSchlong 8076]

I had credits to burn and a very expensive ticket (thanks, dynamic pricing!) so I flew LUV.

It puts American back into perspective.

I suspect 75% of these people have never sat in a wheelchair until today.



And I really enjoyed the “no, your boarding pass doesn’t say medical pre-board, get your ass back in line and wait for me to call boarding group C” show from the WN agents.

[Guest]

Maybe next time don’t go to Ft. Lauderdale. Hopefully you got some Cartel coffee. 

[BearSchlong 8076]

Portland to Houston via Phoenix

And yes I got a cold brew.

[kevwun 15594]

Delta fucked us a few weeks ago.  Flew in to JFK from Athens.  Our flight to Austin was supposed to leave at 4:00pm.  It got cancelled because they had no pilots.  So did many other domestic Delta flights which apparently happens kind of often there.  We waited in a very long line that didn't move at the Delta counter for several hours.  Luckily we were able to rebook our on flight home ourselves through their app but had to connect in Salt Lake City.  Delta would not give us our luggage back so we had no change of clothes or toiletries.  We spent the night in a rat hole hotel near the airport that we paid for ourselves and had to fly out the next morning at 6:30 so we got about 3-4 hours sleep after a long international flight.  Delta gave us each 5,000 miles for our trouble.  2 weeks later United cancelled a friend's flight out of Austin overnight and they got 30K each for it.  All airlines suck now.

[Blotto 23418]

Flying is such a fucking beating these days. Based on recent experience, Delta has been better than the others I've flown, but how the fuck do they defend this shit?  Rolling a plane out in Vegas where the outside termp is 114, and then just let it bake out there for 2-3 hours. Who is the brainiac that figured that was the sensible playcall? I'm convinced at least 50% of airline employees are mentally handicapped, like a giant make-a-wish industry.  If I'm on an exit row, I'm giving serious thought to letting it rip.

Quote

LAS VEGAS – Nevada's triple-digit heat is to blame after multiple airline passengers became ill Monday while awaiting takeoff for hours on a scorching tarmac in Las Vegas.

A flight from Harry Reid International Airport was scheduled to arrive at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 1 p.m. EDT. However, the plane never took off and sat on the tarmac for more than 3 hours, according to FOX News field producer Krista Garvin, who was aboard the flight.

Temperatures in Las Vegas reached 114 degrees at 2:28 p.m. local time Monday. It was 2 degrees short of a daily record high, and 3 degrees shy of the city's all-time record high.

Garvin said she felt like a dog trapped inside a parked car on a hot summer day as she was waiting to take off. She also said there was no air conditioning on the plane.

After about two hours, things began to go south for many passengers on board after the pilot instructed passengers to "hit your call button if you’re having a medical emergency."

According to Garvin, the airline said passengers could deboard the plane, but it could possibly take days to get another flight to Atlanta

"The sanitary crew came on board because some people had thrown up," Garvin said. "I want to say one woman walked up the aisle. She was visibly ill. She couldn’t even open her eyes. She was swaying back and forth."

 

[Telegraph_it 3353]

10 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Flying is such a fucking beating these days. Based on recent experience, Delta has been better than the others I've flown, but how the fuck do they defend this shit?  Rolling a plane out in Vegas where the outside termp is 114, and then just let it bake out there for 2-3 hours. Who is the brainiac that figured that was the sensible playcall? I'm convinced at least 50% of airline employees are mentally handicapped, like a giant make-a-wish industry.  If I'm on an exit row, I'm giving serious thought to letting it rip.

 

Seems reasonable to open the exit door and nope out of there. 

[Guest]

On 7/19/2023 at 9:06 PM, Blotto said:

Flying is such a fucking beating these days. Based on recent experience, Delta has been better than the others I've flown, but how the fuck do they defend this shit?  Rolling a plane out in Vegas where the outside termp is 114, and then just let it bake out there for 2-3 hours. Who is the brainiac that figured that was the sensible playcall? I'm convinced at least 50% of airline employees are mentally handicapped, like a giant make-a-wish industry.  If I'm on an exit row, I'm giving serious thought to letting it rip.

 

I would’ve made myself vomit right by the cockpit door and then on a flight attendant. There’s no excuse for that. None. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Porterhouse

[Paper_jam 828]

It seems like there should be a market for a new airline that isn't luxury, but provides just enough consideration for the customer to approximate the experience of air travel in the '80s or '90s. Like you get a free checked bag, one or two inches of extra leg and hip room, a simple free meal like a sandwich and a complimentary beverage (whole can). And free wifi and in-flight entertainment. It seems like someone could offer all of that with only a very modest increase in fares.

And, if you could add to all that a rule that no kids under 5 are allowed, people would beat a path to your door. Is there no legal way to operate a baby/toddler-free airline, or is that doomed to get crushed under some kind of EEOC lawsuit? What if you structured your airline as a private club that requires membership?

 

[rage-a-holic 4299]

9 hours ago, Paper_jam said:

It seems like there should be a market for a new airline that isn't luxury, but provides just enough consideration for the customer to approximate the experience of air travel in the '80s or '90s. Like you get a free checked bag, one or two inches of extra leg and hip room, a simple free meal like a sandwich and a complimentary beverage (whole can). And free wifi and in-flight entertainment. It seems like someone could offer all of that with only a very modest increase in fares.

And, if you could add to all that a rule that no kids under 5 are allowed, people would beat a path to your door. Is there no legal way to operate a baby/toddler-free airline, or is that doomed to get crushed under some kind of EEOC lawsuit? What if you structured your airline as a private club that requires membership?

 

I'm all over this, but I'd ban 12 and under.

Just spent a 10 hour flight from Madrid last month with two 8 and 10 year old fuckheads kicking our seats every 2 minutes. Their only supervision was an 80 year abuela in the aisle seat who slept the entire flight. 

[Rudiger 1160]

10 hours ago, Paper_jam said:

It seems like there should be a market for a new airline that isn't luxury, but provides just enough consideration for the customer to approximate the experience of air travel in the '80s or '90s. Like you get a free checked bag, one or two inches of extra leg and hip room, a simple free meal like a sandwich and a complimentary beverage (whole can). And free wifi and in-flight entertainment. It seems like someone could offer all of that with only a very modest increase in fares.

 

I think that’s called first class now. 

[millhouse 2587]

Yeah that is pretty much JSX

[NeverMarryAStripper 21780]

Yeah let’s ban kids from flying, that should  solve all our problems.  I’m tired of watching all those videos of kids assaulting flight attendants, trying to open plane doors mid flight, and all the other shenanigans that cause flights to be diverted or delayed.

[Hagbard Celine 10734]

On 7/13/2023 at 1:34 PM, kevwun said:

Delta fucked us a few weeks ago.  Flew in to JFK from Athens.  Our flight to Austin was supposed to leave at 4:00pm.  It got cancelled because they had no pilots.  So did many other domestic Delta flights which apparently happens kind of often there.  We waited in a very long line that didn't move at the Delta counter for several hours.  Luckily we were able to rebook our on flight home ourselves through their app but had to connect in Salt Lake City.  Delta would not give us our luggage back so we had no change of clothes or toiletries.  We spent the night in a rat hole hotel near the airport that we paid for ourselves and had to fly out the next morning at 6:30 so we got about 3-4 hours sleep after a long international flight.  Delta gave us each 5,000 miles for our trouble.  2 weeks later United cancelled a friend's flight out of Austin overnight and they got 30K each for it.  All airlines suck now.

You wrote "us" which means there was more than 1 of you.  TATL or TPAC on every airline and at every departure airport globally you get a personal item and a rollerbag.  That means you had 2 rollaboard/rollerbags across which you pack the remainder of your clean or least dirty clothes and you divide your stuff as best you can across those 2 bags.  If kids are in tow, expand the same strategy.  ALWAYS ASSUME that your stateside post-ICE connection will fail.  If you bought stuff, try to pack it in to your rollaboards/rollerbags and pack your clean/least-dirty clothes around the stuff you bought.  Electronics, meds and makeup are mandatory in your carry-ons.  ALWAYS ASSUME that you will not see your checked bags until they are delivered to your home days later.  This gives you tremendous flexibility.  Ignore your bags.  99% of the time they will show up at home.

NEVER wait in the long line.  The moment you detect trouble, crack your laptop open and book a room you want preferably with shuttle service to the airport.  Do not book a room that can not be cancelled for a minimum of 3 hours from the time you are booking it, UNLESS there are thousands of people stranded and hostage to the airline - then you book it and pay for it and write it off as a loss if seats spontaneously miraculously become available to get you home "that day".

Standing in line is falling for the banana in the tailpipe.  While one of you is booking the room the other calls the airline.  Stay on hold - do not accept the call-back option.   After the room is booked, open up the airline's site on the laptop and see what it says about your trip.  Then logout (IMPORTANT) and login on the airline's app on your phone and see what it says.  If your partner gets an agent on the line have your partner hand you the phone and stop all activity on the site or app.  It is important to know what the site and app are showing you before the agent comes on.  The agent can always do more see more and fix more than you can on the site or the app.

In this case, kevwun took what the app offered - zero-dark-thirty ATL departure going 4000 miles out of the way - why did the app offer that? - because it was best for Delta - obviously not best for kevwun.   Were there seats on a nonstop later the next day, possibly even a bump to up front, that would have allowed kevwun+ to actually sleep and get a meal?  Only the agent would know.  Whenever one is in this situation - know your options - and ask the agent on the phone to look for you.  ASK for the upgrade to first on a nonstop and list the nonstops in the order you want them.  Next ASK for the upgrade to first on connections in the order you want them.  In the case of DL, DTW then MSP are both preferable over SLC if one has to connect to get home because DTW and MSP eliminate 4-5 hours of extra time in the air.  I also guarantee you there were seats on some of the 9 or 10 scheduled ATL-AUS nonstops that next day.  Airline apps are getting better every year - but they are still no substitute for a knowledgeable human with skillz.

(DL protip: inside any DL station, if you see a red coat at a podium at a gate with no pax - ASK if they have the time to help - they may say no - always carry chocolate bars to offer as a bribe when asking agents at podiums/counters for anything - hand it over clandestinely - just drop it over the edge of the counter under a piece of paper - you don't need to say anything.)

Do not leave TSA until you are comfortable you have a plan.  You *MAY* in extreme circumstances have to stand in "the line" but the flight fix is the same or better and definitely faster on the phone, and whatever vouchers you are going to get for a hotel and food are not worth the time to stand in the line.  Even if the airline decides to comp you a voucher for a room, it's going to be in a property you don't want to stay at.  Also, counter agents don't hand out miles for your trouble because even with megastatus they don't want the pax behind you bitching when they get jack.

The day before you left, in addition to knowing all of the nonstops from your ticketed international arrival airport to home, you built a flight matrix of all nonstops to home from that airline's other US arrival airports (if any), and the connection options on your airline from your ticketed arrival airport through that airline's other hubs to get home "that day" and a 2nd matrix through all hubs of your ticketed airline to get home "the next day".  This also has utility in the event of a crew or mx irrop on departure and a possible shift to a different US return arrival station.  In particular, the big euro stations: LHR, CDG, FRA, have flights to/from multiple US airline hubs by the US airline.  Know your options before you leave if you are spontaneously switched from say LHR-ATL to LHR-MSP.   When the agent comes on, you already know your top 5 choices in all circumstances.  When you landed while taxiing to the gate you turned on your phone and checked the weather situation at each station that day and the forecast for the next day so you minimize the opportunity for additional fuckups when you self-rank your choices.

Note: for trans-oceanic travel with a connection outside of the US, for outbound, whenever possible build in enough of a gap to account for a late arrival, and if there is a hotel in the airport or very close by get a room, get your bags and continue 18-24 hours later.  Returning home booking less than 4 hours to connect is a risk.

The methodology to obtain your compensation, if any at all, will be electronic, faceless, and after you get home.  Open a thread on flyertalk describing what happened with no subjective editorial and ask best method to request reimbursement for your expenses.   You likely won't get any cash, but listing what you spent might get you more miles, or any miles at all, depending on how the customer service roulette wheel lands when your request gets processed.  Note that the twitter team is sometimes faster and your 'request' is actually read and processed by a human.  This is supposedly true with AAmerican.

[PilotsError 2280]

Travelbuzz has entered the chat.

[kevwun 15594]

I just won't connect through JFK again.  That sounds easier than putting in a similar amount of planning as the invasion of Normandy.

Edited July 24, 2023 by kevwun

[Hagbard Celine 10734]

wouldn't it be cool if you had an AI-driven app that did it for you?

[Hagbard Celine 10734]

re: JFK

terrible nearby accomodations for overnight irrops - and not a Delta hub for domestic connections - would have never ticketed jfk on Delta unless you were O&D tri-state

[Hagbard Celine 10734]

5 hours ago, PilotsError said:

Travelbuzz has entered the chat.

Travelbuzz does not deliver military-grade command and control as part of their Mission Ops profile.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Hagbard Celine

[Js1 85055]

On 7/23/2023 at 11:20 AM, Hagbard Celine said:

ALWAYS ASSUME that your stateside post-ICE connection will fail

You mean CBP

[Hagbard Celine 10734]

cbp is rarely the cause of a delay getting to a connection

ice can be if the computers decide your number is up

[Beantown Express 2.0 6531]

On 7/24/2023 at 2:00 PM, kevwun said:

I just won't connect through JFK again.  That sounds easier than putting in a similar amount of planning as the invasion of Normandy.

I went through JFK at the beginning of July on my way to Iceland.  What a shitty airport that was.  I had a 5 plus hour layover to boot. 

As far as American Airlines goes, I have had 5 flights on American in the last 7 days.  One from Heathrow to DFW and then flights to and from New Orleans and Las Vegas.  All 5 were delayed with some as much as 2 hours.  

[kevwun 15594]

The layout is terrible.  I think we walked 2-3 miles in that airport just on the first day we were there.  When we first landed, the walk to get to customs takes forever.  Then there is the mile long terminal.  Before our flight got cancelled, the gate changed and we had to walk from one end of the terminal to the other.  I had no idea it was that bad a head of time or we would have never connected through there.

Edited July 26, 2023 by kevwun