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American Airlines Reviews
All reviews about American Airlines
I’m an Advantage member and fly American Airlines every other month plus addition trips throughout the year. I’m very disappointed with how American Airlines does not care about their clients and unwillingness to work with them when a situation arises.
I bought round trip tickets flying from AZ to Ohio a few months in advance as I typically do and was scheduled to fly out Wednesday Oct. 9th. I received a call on Saturday October 5th that my brother was in the hospital after two heart attacks and now needs a heart transplant because only half of his heart is working. Obviously, I took the first flight out the next day to NC to see him. I stayed to visit my brother and flew to Ohio from NC, so I did not need my ticket from AZ to Ohio. I figured I could just use the second half of my round-trip ticket to fly back from Ohio to AZ. To my surprise a few days before my return trip to AZ I checked the American Airline app, and my flight was not listed. American Airline had canceled my return flight that was scheduled in a few days for October 16th.
I called and American Airline gave me the runaround. I mentioned wanting to talk to a manager several times and they would make comments all while not mentioning anything about putting a manager on the phone. After several calls I spoke with someone (not a manager) and all American Airlines would offer was the full price of what my original ticket was, and I had to pay the difference.
There are a few things that is upsetting about this entire situation…
1st is that American Airlines canceled a flight that I paid for and that has not happened yet. I paid for that flight so why has it been cancelled? Just because I took a different flight to my destination for a family emergency doesn’t mean I don’t need my second flight returning to AZ for Ohio.
2nd is how American Airlines is unwilling to work with you. All I heard from American Airlines is that they are not “able” to help me. This is not about being “able” to help as it is more about American Airlines not wanting to help, because they are 100 percent able to help if they wanted to.
3rd is when I finally got American Airlines to help me, they only offered to apply the original price of the ticket I purchased to a new ticket and pay the difference. What upset me about this is that it was over $200 I had to pay, and American Airlines told me “Why sir it’s because it’s so close to the flight date and you should have bought your ticket earlier”. Ummm yes, I originally bought the ticket two months in advance as I typically do and I’m only in this situation because they canceled my flight. What’s really upsetting is that American Airlines acted like they were doing me a big favor by giving me the original price of my ticket to use on my new purchase. And again, I would not be in this situation if American Airlines didn’t cancel my flight.
4th is the fact I know American Airlines had plenty of seats on the plane as well. They offered me isle seat or window seat while getting a new ticket. I also went online several hours later and saw they had 29 seats available on the plane. Several of those seats were free and more for extra cost. And being an advantage member I have free options for most of those seats they we are charging for. So, American Airlines could have simply reinstated my ticket as a good gesture considering my situation.
I will have to reconsider flying with American Airlines and spread the word to my friends and others to consider the same. I’m very disappointed in American Airlines and their ability to show any empathy to clients and any situations that arises. I truly hope this is not how other airlines treat their clients.
American Airlines is the worst. They care less about their customers. To say they cancelled their from Dallas to Atlanta due to mechanical issues with their plane; they refused to place college students on other flights despite being told they have tests tomorrow. They have customer no-service. I wish they go out of business
AA confirmed my flight & then the day before departure they sent emails asking to compensate me if I would rebook to leave at a later time on the same day due to an overbooked flight. I declined. Hours before the flight they emailed that they cancelled my flight. The flight was actually still happening. They had simply overbooked & just cancelled the flight for a few economy bookings to make it work for them. The rebooking they offered me (with no compensation) wasn't even for the same day. It ruined all my plans. I will be closing my account with AA. Can't be trusted to look after the interest of their customers.
In February, I had a flight from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Chicago, for a one day trade show. I checked my bag that had a Japanese Sword in it. After being stuck in line at 4:45 a.m., I got to the ticket counter 2 minutes late to check my bag. Apparently AA has a rule you must be at the ticket counter 45 min. before the flight is SCHEDULED to leave or they won't check your bag. So I had to be re-routed to Dallas on an hour later flight, to then fly to Chicago. And the supervisor STANDING RIGHT THERE would not waive the 2 min. late issue. So instead of me taking one flight Chicago, AA wasted time and money to make me take TWO FLIGHTS. So I get to Chicago AND AMERICAN HAS LOST MY CHECKED BAG. Then baggage claim in Chicago won't let me fill out a lost baggage claim form because Chicago wasn't my final destination. Yes it was for that part of my flight. But they wouldn't listen to me. So I waited at O'Hare for 4 hours hoping to find my bag that AA confirmed was delivered to the airport. They couldn't find it. So I got back on my 2:55 p.m. return flight and came back to Tulsa. I checked with baggage claim in Tulsa and at 2:15 p.m., O'Hare located my bag. BUT THEY DIDN'T PUT IN ON MY RETURN FLIGHT. Baggage claim in Tulsa said it was coming in on a (roughly) 10:00 p.m. flight. I asked them to deliver the bag to me. AA regulations prevent it SINCE IT IS A WEAPON. I told them the bag had LOCKS ON IT and the driver wouldn't know what was in the bag!! So I had to drive back to the airport the next day to get my bag. FINALLY, AMERICAN REFUSED TO REFUND MY FARE even though I accomplished nothing on that flight since they lost my bag at O'Hare. SORRY * AIRLINE. I'LL NEVER INTENTIONALLY FLY IT AGAIN.
American Airlines is constantly changing their website which would be great if it ever became an improvement but instead every iteration makes the website worse and worse. Why do they feel the need to constantly F___ with it?
Dealing with American over missing baggage. The process has been beyond frustrating. Following a 4 hour delay in Dallas (weather related and no one’s fault) our bags did not get on the plane. Arrived, waited until everything was off the carousel and went to report it. Employee assured me they would be on flight today. They did arrive into our local airport but have not been delivered. I cannot reach anyone who knows why or when they will come. Several employees have been less than pleasant. Not being able to get information is very disturbing.
I have special dietary restrictions, so meal reservations take priority when flying. I have two complaints re this matter.
1. Due to faulty and misleading wording/information stated on website re meal reservation for flights, we are all wasting time. When contacting live reps, we are given inconsistent information. See below for reference:
Site AND app state, in this exact wording:
You can reserve a meal beginning 30 days (and up to 24 hours) before your flight.
Available within 30 days of departure
EVERY time Ive come across this issue, Im told its not available to reserve yet, even though its been 30 or less days prior to flight.
Web techies could save us (and AA reps) time by adjusting this information to read less misleadingly. Idea:
“You can reserve a meal up to 24 hours before your flight. (In select cases, this option may be available as early as 30 or less days before departure.)”
Ive contacted them several times about this over the years. Nothing has changed.
2.They never have vegan options, only vegetarian. Most reps seem to not know the difference between the two. When I have had to speak with one over the phone, many times, Im given attitude, as if Im simply being picky and a nuisance. Veganism is more than just a diet - it’s an entire lifestyle, much like religious restrictions, such as kosher. I wonder if religious restrictions are given the same impatient attitude. I doubt it. Whats the problem with people who arent vegan getting so threatened with veganism?
Im not preaching to them or trying to convert! Live and let live with respect.
Solution: provide vegan options.
Again, multiple times requests on this.
No change. AA doesnt actually care about individuals, only their money.
American Airlines: Absolute disrespect and disregard for their customers.
I flew American Airlines from Boise to Phoenix. We left late. The flight attendant said they were waiting for 2 people. Once the 2 people showed up we didn't leave. The pilot stated on the intercom that the flight was overbooked and they were waiting for 4 people to argue it out for the 1 empty seat. Once the final person was on, we left. Again, we were now late leaving Boise.
We were scheduled to leave at 1:48 and the doors closed at 2:04, left about 5 minutes later. We were scheduled to arrive at 2:54 arrived at 2:58, so the pilot made up much of the time. We got to the gate at 3:03. I was off the plane by 3:11.
I ran from gate A2 to gate A22. It's a much larger trek than it seems since it's a different arm of the terminal. I'm 65 and have COPD so this run was very difficult, but I am still pretty fast. I heard my name over the intercom as I ran so I just kept running. By the time I got to the gate, I was breathless and couldn't speak. The door to the tarmac was closed, but they opened it and I ran 3/4 down the tarmac before they shut the door to the plane. I collapsed on the tarmac out of breath from the run.
My flight was scheduled to leave Phoenix at 3:22 and it left at 3:17. So they not only didn't they wait for me to make the connection, they left early. They could wait for people in Boise and make us all late, but left 5 minutes early and couldn't wait 1 second for me in Phoenix
What absolute disrespect and disregard for their customers.
I can't even give them 1 star but I had to! Flown American Airlines 4 times in the last 6 weeks and not once was my flight on time!!!! They say it's the weather, Huh, all the other airlines are still leaving the runway as we write this and while it's raining!!!! Prices are again ridiculously high not to mention stressing folks out on how and when they will get home. The worst airline ever!!!!
I am very disappointed with AA. I had booked flights to Jamaica in March of 2021, Unfortunately I had to cancel due to testing positive for Covid19. AA provided me my flight credit and told me I need to book a flight within a year. In February 2022, I contacted AA to use my flight credit for an upcoming vacation and was told, I needed to actually Fly within 1 year of the flight credit and that i was given wrong information when they told me i simply just needed to "Book" a flight. My Vacation that I was looking to use the credit for was several months after the one year date, but I was going on what I was told, that as long as I booked within a year.
I was told that since I am not flying, I lose the $590 AA Flight Credit All together. I was told that even though it was Covid 19 related, there was nothing that could be done to get the credit extended. Very Sad... I spoke to several people including supervisors/managers etc, and I am still without the credit. Bad Business Practice if you ask me,
This has to be the worst Airlines out there. I used them a lot in the past but over the last few years they have completely dropped their customer service. Every single time you book on American they have flight delays and sometimes for days at a time. You try and speak to someone at the airport and they tell you to call the 800 number and 1 1/2 hours later they say they can’t do anything for you. There is nothing American about American Airlines. Worst flight records and worst customer service.
Talk about the absolute worst experience ever! After getting married and having our honeymoon in Cancun…the nightmare began. We sat on the tarmac in Cancun for 52 minutes. Finally taking off then we get to Dallas. Since our flight was late, and we had a layover of 1 hour and 25 minutes before the delay. Immigration was a joke too. So needless to say we knew we were going to miss our flight. Called American Airlines to see if we could get another flight. Lady on the phone said they could get us out but wouldn’t be until 830 the following morning. Also they would cover room and food for the delay. Finally get thru immigration, and now off to the customer service desk, along with about 70 other folks who were going to be missing connecting flights. After standing in line for near 2 hours there, we finally make it to the counter. The lady was very helpful, but trying to find a flight was a joke! She tried sending us to any airport possible. Said if we wanted to make it back to Portland we would have to wait 48 hours in Dallas on our own dime. Not even a voucher for food! Their best option was to send us to Philly the next morning, have a layover there for 7 hours then fly us to Seattle….and from there find our own way home? I don’t think so! I paid for a round trip flight to Portland Oregon! We sat in the airport all night long, and they had taken our bags from to us for the flight to Philly. While we were waiting at the airport, we decided to look for flights on other airlines. Figured we wouldn’t find anything since the ticket agent at AA said they couldn’t find any other flights on any other airlines. After looking for 3 minutes we found a flight from Dallas, to LAX, then to Portland oregon the next day. So we decided we wanted to book that flight, but tried to be proactive and get our bags back so they would be with us. After phone calls and more phone calls, we couldn’t get any answers. Decided to book it and say the hell with AA since they had been no help since the first moment. We went to the ticket counter for AA at 330am to see about getting our bags. Lady was very rude about it, and said she put it in the computer to get our bags back, but didn’t know how long it would take and we just needed to go wait. Wouldn’t even cancel our flight we weren’t going to take, or even make a simple phone call to baggage to get our bags! After waiting 40 minutes for our bags we had to catch our delta flight so we had to leave. Come to find out, our bags were sent to 3 different locations….Dallas, Philly, and North Carolina….what a joke! Once we FINALLY made it back to our destination in Portland, 37 hours later mind you, we had to put in for missing baggage. After this experience, American Airlines will NEVER get my service again, and we have let all our friends and family know about how horrible this customer service is.
I fly frequently and my experience with AA has been consistently awful. Most recently, an AA flight canceled due to a crew member not showing up. I was placed on another flight the following day that had additional layovers because that was "all that was available." I was not in my home city so the AA agents gave me a voucher for $150 for cab fair/hotel but when I tried to use it, I was told I needed to pay out of pocket and contact AA Customer relations to get reimbursed. There is no phone number for AA Customer Relations (apparently they do not have phones), only email. I never got an email response and was never reimbursed. And, as if that is not frustrating enough, because I was added late to the alternate flight, I was the last to board, we somehow ran out of overhead space (on two separate flights) and they had to check my small (18"round) carry-on. I pleaded with the flight attendant to let me keep it because it had valuable/fragile gifts in it but she insisted and it broke. I will never fly AA again. Not just because their customer service is terrible, it is literally non-existent.
March 10, 2015 I was scheduled on 1:20PM flight AA 3574 from LGA to ATL. Around 1:20PM I was informed the flight was cancelled and was re-routed to a 3:15PM US Air flight 3967 to PHL with a connection to ATL. I was assured that I would make the connection and arrive in ATL by 8:49PM. The PHL flight was delayed to a 4:35 departure time. When I went to the gate to confirm my checked luggage would make it to ATL, I was then informed that I would not make my connecting flight and was put on a US Air flight to Charlotte, with a connection to ATL. While in Charlotte I was forced to check my carry-on items. I finally made it to Atlanta at 11:49 PM 7 hours after my original arrival time. My checked luggage came on an earlier flight but my carry-on luggage to to ATL the next day! I know you did not handle the Charlotte luggage, but by cancelling the original flight,AA put me in this position.
When I checked flightstats.com, flight 3674 was the only cancelled flight to ATL, from Laguardia that day. All the other 40 or so flights made it with most on-time. AA gave no explanation and was indifferent to my questions and frustrations.
most of the thing don't work on the planes the entertainment center in the last three flight s did not work properly the stewardess are so tired of working they just throw the things at you
if you complain they don't care
As a former AA employee, I do feel sad about people mainly "trash" the airline. It is really true that when someone is upset, they're eager to let anybody else know, and when everything goes all right, they don't even mention it. In 15 years working (and travelling) with AA, I never had any trouble other than being delayed (it seldom occurred to me) or not being able to make it on the flight as I always flew "space available".
Unfortunately, the U.S airline business, despite having airlines with global reach, they have a strong competitor on an airline which offers basically nothing onboard, plus all the stark economic situation they've going through. You cannot compare Emirates, Singapore Airlines or even BA or Lufthansa with AA, United or Delta.
My experiences with AA were always excellent. I proudly say I am a former AAer and it is my first airline of choice.
Thank you!
NEVER book with American. Just had the worst travel experience ever with them. They delay us in Dallas for 5 hrs just to tell us our flight was cancelled, they refuse to give us our bags, and tell us they can't do anything about rescheduling out flight. Customer service is terrible and they kept us in Dallas an entire other day just to get cancelled again. Save your time, money, and patience and NEVER book with American. Not to mention their planes are never clean and the stewardess have been very bitter to the passengers.
I recently flew AA from Washington National to Albuquerque. There were some equipment issues as well as weather problems in DC. American had us collect our bags and recheck in. I went through security 4 times! and was told 5 different stories about my flight over the course of 30 minutes. No-one knew what was going on and on their website they had 3 different flights with the same flight number leaving at the same time from both Dulles and National. When I finally got on the plane on my (delayed) original flight, not one apology from anyone for all the confusion.
The closer to the date you want to fly, the more eiexnspve tickets usually get. At a minimum, try to purchase them AT LEAST 3 weeks in advance for the best price. If seats are advertised at X' low price, those aren't all the seats, only a percentage. When those are gone, the others are higher priced, so buy your tickets as far in advance as possible. Generally speaking, tickets are also cheaper for travel on tuesday, wednesday and thursday and also not within 7 days on either side of any major holiday.
Following is a letter I wrote the CEO of AA
To give you some background, I have recently flown on a 767 from Chicago to Dublin, Ireland, and returned. Enclosed you will find a copy of my itinerary. I found myself on your airline because of a partnership your company has with Alaska Airlines, which transported me for Portland, Oregon to Chicago. Upon sitting in one of the coach seats on an American 767 it was obvious the leg room for my seat back to the seat in front of me was three to four inches less than Alaska provides. This caused me great concern since I am six foot four inches tall and was literally squashed between seats (by the way I have 34 inch inseam which is considered short legged for my height). I approached a flight attendant, and she was kind enough to move me to a bulk head seat, all though, when sitting normally in the seat my foot nearest the isle was in the aisle due to the jog it makes continuing into the first class section.
A little more background information and the third paragraph will get to my concern. Starting my return flight from Dublin I arrived at the airport four hours early to purchase an up grade to first class. I told myself I was willing to pay five hundred dollars to relieve the pain of the cramped seating. Upon being shuffled among the ticket counter, help desk, and helper person at the computer check in, I was told the cost for an upgrade was either $375 or $425. I then had to run the gambit again to hear these answers. “The computer won’t let us do it.” “We can’t upgrade you because you’re flying on Alaska earned miles.” “We can’t do it because you needed to do that yesterday.” “ You can turn in your ticket and get your miles back and purchase a new ticket in first class (it turned out this wasn’t allowed either).” This song and dance and obvious lack of employee knowledge on how to do anything to help me was very frustrating. I ended up with no help, what soever.
Finally I boarded the aircraft, and during the flight I went up to the first class area and noticed many vacant seats. My counting indicated there were thirty first class seats and a total of only fifteen passengers in first class. I was willing to pay for my wife and myself $1,000 for an upgrade, which your company turned down. It is easy to understand why your company is in bankruptcy after the experience I had dealing with your employees and their inability to provide customer service. You have a big job to get things squared away, and I would suggest you start by taking every legitimate $1,000 offered by a customer for an upgrade. After my experience, do you think I will recommend American to anyone? Turning down money and irritating customers is not the way to survive bankruptcy or retain loyal customers.
We have a comfirmation for tomorrow on American Airlines Flight 769 from New York to San Juan and connecting on American Eagle Flight 4822 for Santo Domingo and coming back to New York is on Friday on American Airlines Flight 1752 and they did not responded for the preparation to send us an email us a confirmation of my ticket with my frequent flyer 3258CJ0 and so maybe we've better wait and see what to do next month until we rebook the ticket for me to San Juan and Santo Domingo and coming back nonstop to New York, otherwise we'll change it from American to JetBlue Airways or Delta Air Lines.
I purchased tickets for Philadelphia to San Jose Costa Rica on the American airlines web site. Sometime during the transaction process my destination changed from San Jose Costa Rica SJO to San Jose California SJC. The mistake was not recognized until boarding on the Dallas San Jose leg of the trip. We were able to change tickets but only with an additional 200% charge to our tickets. Should have just bought a cheaper ticket from another airline but had to make an instantaneous decision we were a family of 4 all having coordinated vacation time to travel together. I expressed my concerns to AA. Customer service from AA consisted of a cut and paste generic email response 2 times and no response to a postal mail letter. For decades I have traveled internationally several times a year and have never had such a purchase experience and totally dismissive customer service. They really don’t care and I will never travel with them again. Do yourself a favor, use another Airline, any airline can do better. The plane to Costa Rica was so old, decrepit and unimproved, it still had built in ash trays.
Purchasing 4 tickets to San Jose Costa Rica was a disaster, American airlines response has been form letter responses in email format to both email contact and in response to regular hardcopy post offfice mail only to dismiss my concerns.This is a short description of what happened.
-Tickets were purchased online on their site
-During process (probobly when the page refreshed)the destination changed from San Jose Costa Rica to San Jose California, The ariport codes are very similiar (SJO and SJC). I didn't notice the change so I share some responsibility but believe the airline is responsible for their point of purchase. I am sure I am not the first person to have this confusion between these 2 codes
-Mistake was discovered at boarding, The boarding staff was great but the change fee was an additional 200% of the ticket price in addition to price paid. Should have bought another ticket on another airline which would have been cheaper and more direct but had to reticket with AA in 5 minutes or lose my flight.
- American Airlines was less than helpful and their support for problems or customer complaints is truthfully non existant. I am not even convinced that my problems were even considered from the perfunctory responses recieved from an email address without an address that can be replied to.
-I travel internationally 2-3 times a year for the past 30 years and have always purchased my tickets fron the Airline web sites since this option was made available.
-This is the first time and only time I have had the experience of NO customer service from a major corporation. BTW you cannot call them if you have a problem only email or hardcopy.
-I will NEVER again fly American airlines and caution others if they plan on using them. Most bus services that are more responsive.
Unfortunately, I disagree with you. AA is not the best airline in terms of customer service. Why? With my experience with them, staff at the airport were not friendly!!! Maybe with their mileage rewards, I agree with you that as being part of the OneWorld alliance, privileges are excellent. Despite some issues during my last travel with AA, well, I will still fly with AA if the opportunity comes again – for domestic flights not with international routes.
American Airlines needs to improve the attitude of their Flight attendants. They are snobby, rude, and impolite. This airline charges for every thing, even food and water. One day they will charge for using in-flight lavatory. Flyers are careful when you fly this airline. Try using Delta for international service because Delta does not charge for second bag, American Does. American used to be a very good airline that si in the 90’s not it SUCKS!!
We flew first class LAX-BOS on AA international configuration 767-300ERs. AA's business class product is light years behind most European and Asian carriers, and it lags behind Northwest and Virgin America among US airlines. The seats were the angled lie-flat seats, ie. they recline to a flat position but are not quite parallel to the ground, which makes sleeping difficult because you're always sliding downhill. They are also on the narrow side for first/business class at only 20 inches in width. The pitch was a bit tight for widebody first/business, but there's a cutout in the seat in front of you for your feet. However, if you're taller than 6 feet your feet will not fit comfortably in this small space. There are no seat-back monitors, but you get a portable monitor with a 7-inch screen with about 15 movies, 20 TV/short programmes, some games and 150-200 songs. The food going out (breakfast) was ghastly (granola and fruit or some sort of mystery omelet) and coming back it was better. We don't drink alcohol when flying, but other passengers were complaining about the poor selection. FA's were professional if a bit cold and didn't go too far out of the way to please. It was what I came to expect from AA - average on all levels. Didn't disappoint in any areas and didn't excel in any areas either.
Check-in problems for AAdvantage members. We have battled this since Spring 2007 when the system was changed to "prevent abuse by some members." Now, the computer recognizes the AAdvantage status of the first person on the reservation - all others are simply "companions." My husband and I are both ExPlat. members, but the computer will not read me as having any status of my own, therefore, if we receive a complementary upgrade prior to check-in, we cannot check-in on line or at a kiosk. It says that we need upgrade credits. Since neither of us earn credits anymore (due to the ExPlat status), the computer will allow him to check in, but not me. I've written and written to Customer service but no feedback. Otherwise we love American Airlines.