Do not fly American

[cannon_fodder]

Long story... my flight was canceled this AM.  When I asked why it was "due to weather in Chicago."  However, as they said that 2 other flights to Chicago were leaving.  They said it was because O'Hare was limiting flights.

I checked the FAA website:
http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/flyfaaindex.jsp
No general delays in O'Hare.  Arriving and Departure delayed 15 minutes.  I then called the FAA and verified.

I also called O'Hare's customer service line.  I asked if they were canceling lots of flights due to the weather.  She asked "what weather?"  No flights had been canceled as far as she knew due to weather.

For good measure I looked at the Chicago radar.  "Cloudy with a slight breeze, chance of afternoon showers."  Since this was 5:30 AM, I dont think the afternoon showers would be in the way.  In short, not weather in Chicago.

They told me they could get my wife to her destination on SUNDAY!  The tickets had been booked for 3 months, she offered to fly out of OKC, Tulsa or Fayetteville and go to Moline, IL, Dubuque Iowa, or Cedar Rapids, IA.  Apparently they could not get from nor to any of those destinations until Sunday.  Going online to AA website, there were 3 flights TODAY that could get her from Tulsa to Dubuque or Moline and they were still selling tickets for those online (ie seats available).  No rebooking offer was made before Sunday.


So, basically:
Canceled the flight, lied about the reason, refused to rebook.

In the long history of crappy service by the airlines, this wins.  It was the worst display of "the flight wasnt profitable so screw you" I have ever seen.  We had a  contract - I pay $600 you fly my wife and child to Dubuque.  

In any event, I will no longer be flying American Airlines.  Not only did they cancel the flight, they then systematically lied about the cause and REFUSED to seriously try to remedy the problem.

[TheArtist]

Well that sucked.  Any chance you got the cancellation reason in writing. Surely there could be some recourse.  I am not at all a fan of people suing for everything but that sounds wrong.

[sgrizzle]

Was the flight through dallas? They seem to be delaying/cancelling those flights.

[tulsa1603]

I fly almost 100k miles a year, mostly on American, and have never had a problem like that.  []

I hope you email their customer service department with as much information as you can.  Something doesn't sound right about this..."limiting flights" doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard before.  Stay on them, they should make it right, probably with a credit for your next flight or something.  How much later was your flight than the flights that were leaving as they told you that?  Sometimes they'll cancel flights in anticipation of bad weather.  And it's not always bad weather IN the destination city, it's sometimes cutting through the route.  Last Friday I had several flights delayed due to weather that wasn't AT DFW but near it.

As an aside, I'm not saying this is you, but in my experience, people will often say "I'll never fly ______ airline again" after a bad experience.  But when they look up tickets on expedia, cheaptickets, or orbitz, and that airline comes up cheapest, guess who they pick?  When consumers quit flying on cost only, then the service will improve.  It's not the other way around.  There is a VERY slim profit margin on all flights - many make the airline less than $1,000!

[iplaw]

AA sucks.  There, I said it.

They are the WORST airline servicing the US.  I just returned from the UK last week and flew Continental.  They had, hands-down, the best customer service I've ever seen on a trans-atlantic flight.  

AA's planes have very few amenities and you practically have to pay for a cushion for your seat, as it's not included in the price of the fare..."to keep prices down."  My a$$.

People make fun of Southwest for being budget air travel...AA is the cheapest of the cheap, and I will never fly them again if I don't have to.

I'm dreading flying Iberia, which is an AA partner airline next week to Spain.  They have a strict "no electronics" policy on an 8 HOUR FLIGHT across the atlantic.  Of course, I didn't realize this until after I bought our tickets...

[pmcalk]

I usually fly AA, as does my husband for business.  Generally, we have had good luck.  However, once my husband had a similar problem.  He wrote to AA's customer service, and got an immediate response.  They were very apologetic, and sent him a $200 voucher.  I think its important not to judge an entire company by one bad incident.  What's important is if Customer Service rectifies the situation.

[RecycleMichael]

I flew American last week to Pittsburgh through Chicago then home through Dallas. Every flight was totally full and every flight took off and landed exactly on time. That has never happened to me before.

The lines at the United counters were very long after their computer glitch canceled thousands of flights mid-week.

[tulsa1603]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

AA sucks.  There, I said it.

They are the WORST airline servicing the US.  I just returned from the UK last week and flew Continental.  They had, hands-down, the best customer service I've ever seen on a trans-atlantic flight.  

AA's planes have very few amenities and you practically have to pay for a cushion for your seat, as it's not included in the price of the fare..."to keep prices down."  My a$$.

People make fun of Southwest for being budget air travel...AA is the cheapest of the cheap, and I will never fly them again if I don't have to.

I'm dreading flying Iberia, which is an AA partner airline next week to Spain.  They have a strict "no electronics" policy on an 8 HOUR FLIGHT across the atlantic.  Of course, I didn't realize this until after I bought our tickets...

They're also the only legacy carrier that HASN'T gone through bankruptcy.

Southwest has it's place, but I don't like the cattle call, lack of a decent frequent flier program, etc.

And American has no control over whether or not Iberia allows electronics.  They're only partnered.

If American is so bad, why do you continue to fly them? [}:)]

[iplaw]

quote:Originally posted by tulsa1603

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

AA sucks.  There, I said it.

They are the WORST airline servicing the US.  I just returned from the UK last week and flew Continental.  They had, hands-down, the best customer service I've ever seen on a trans-atlantic flight.  

AA's planes have very few amenities and you practically have to pay for a cushion for your seat, as it's not included in the price of the fare..."to keep prices down."  My a$$.

People make fun of Southwest for being budget air travel...AA is the cheapest of the cheap, and I will never fly them again if I don't have to.

I'm dreading flying Iberia, which is an AA partner airline next week to Spain.  They have a strict "no electronics" policy on an 8 HOUR FLIGHT across the atlantic.  Of course, I didn't realize this until after I bought our tickets...

They're also the only legacy carrier that HASN'T gone through bankruptcy.

Southwest has it's place, but I don't like the cattle call, lack of a decent frequent flier program, etc.

And American has no control over whether or not Iberia allows electronics.  They're only partnered.

If American is so bad, why do you continue to fly them? [}:)]

I only fly them when they are a last resort due to time or logistics.  Unfortunately, my business requires last minute travel from time to time.  As I said before, I don't fly them anymore for a reason.  Our flight to Spain next week was the only flight into Pamplona on the day we needed to get there. AA is responsible for the airlines they partner with insofar as they should not partner with airlines which have poor records for customer service like Iberia.

To give you an idea of what Iberia is like, here is a quote from a satisfied customer, "A day without Iberia is like a day without a stone in your shoe."

[sgrizzle]

I have flown american many times and have had about 25% of my flights been on time. On one round trip to denver, all 4 legs were 30 minutes or more behind. Plus they direct almost all flights through DFW, one of the worst places to connect on the planet.

Northwest has cancelled 50% of the flights I booked with them while I was in the waiting area. On one of the few that I did make the trip, my luggage didn't.

Southwest may have it's flaws but I earned a free ticket in one month flying southwest before, plus I have arrived within 5 minutes of my scheduled time everytime and they are friendlier and have never lost my luggage.

[Wekiwa]

I somehow don't see how a travel voucher can make up for the fact that the travelers didn't get to their destination when they contracted with the airline to get them there.  Don't know the circumstances, but if it were something like a wedding or funeral, those are unique and personal events in one's life.  And not being able to attend them due to some dipstick airline decision is something that cannot be compensated for by a lousy travel voucher.

[Conan71]

I don't fly near as often as I used to.  I'm averaging about two round trips a year now.  The last two trips I flew on Continental and have been very happy with their in-flight service.  I'm getting ready to book another flight with them for the end of July.

I used to fly once or twice a week and had experience with NW, Delta, AA, UA, and SW.  I finally asked the travel dept. where I used to work to quit booking me on AA and Delta.  I thought their in-flight service was snooty.  

Worst experience I ever had flying was on AA coming back to Tulsa from Montreal.  

First, we had a four to five hour ground delay while we waited for AA to fly in an avionics instrument for our plane which had failed during their pre-flight after we had boarded.  At least they let us back off the plane.  All understandable, safety first, right?  I still think they could have flown in a replacement plane and got us on our way quicker.

We finally got to O'Hare in Chicago.  We originally had a direct flight from ORD to TUL.  We missed that by a large margin, so they put us on a flight to DFW with the plan to connect us to TUL from there.  No problem, right?

We rushed across the terminal and boarded as huge thunderstorms came into the area.  Instead of remaining at the gate, knowing the airport was shutting down for weather, they taxied out and we sat on a taxiway with no air conditioning for another three hours while a tornado warning was issued for the area.  When the airport finally resumed flights, we were 30-something in line for take-off.

We got to DFW after the last flight to TUL had left for the night.  The airline has a policy of not paying for a hotel room due to weather.  We pointed out that we would not have been in the weather position if their equipment had not failed in Montreal in the first place.  I went so far as to write letters, and all I got back was a boiler-plate letter basically telling me to pound salt in my ear.

SWA was probably my favorite, I liked the in-flight service, and the cattle call never bothered me.  I wasn't aware that SWA had dropped their frequent flier program as one poster mentioned.  I used to rack up free tix pretty quick on there.

[sgrizzle]

Oh yeah, for those who love assign seating over the southwest way, I was on a plane with some people where American booked them seats that didn't even exist on the aircraft. 6 people had to get a different flight.

[bacjz00]

Southwest hasn't dropped their frequent flyer program and in fact Rapid Rewards is growing as Southwest gains more loyal customers.  8 roundtrips gets you a free ticket to anywhere Southwest flies and their car rental and hotel partnerships include about every major chain in America now.  I've probably enjoyed 10-15 free tickets on SW over the past 5 years and while mostly I fly back in forth to Texas, the free tickets have allowed me and others in my family to fly to California, Florida, Vegas, etc...

[DM]

I like American more then any other airline. About 5 years ago I only flew United. But after flying American a few times and dealing with them, I have like them a lot more.

Even when they lost my luggage during the ice storm, they were very helpful in trying to locate it. Which they did.

Sorry to hear about your experience though.