American Airlines

User Review(s)

Worst airline to fly with! Depart from: Montreal, Canada   To: Leon Mexico - On date: 13/Jan/2010 - Flight Type: Economy On Monday December 14th, my fiancee, two daughters, and I had a scheduled flight leaving Montreal at 7:45am with one stop in Dallas, Texas. Our final destination was Leon, Mexico at 2:45pm, had everything gone as planned. However it did not, which is why I am now taking time from my holiday to tell you what happened. We arrived at the American Airlines counter at 6:15am to check in. The line-up was moderate, but we noticed that it was not moving very fast. We did not arrive at the counter until 6:40am. While we were waiting I noticed two things. Firstly, an attendant kept leaving her station to aid those at the E-ticket Kiosk and secondly, there was a couple in front of us who got to jump the line because their flight was being called. At the counter I was informed that one of my suite-cases was over by 18 pounds and was given the option to remove some items and place them in our other suite-cases to try and lighten the weight. It took me less than two minutes to decide that we were not able to place items in the other suite-cases. As I turned around to inform the attendant of my decision, I saw that she (Pascal) was preparing to wheel some elderly people to their gate. I approached her and she said she would send someone to help us. My family and I were still standing at the American Airlines check-in counter with no assistance, 15 minutes later. After searching for another attendant, her first reaction was to call people on the radio to figure out what was going on. Now, at 7:00 am, it was boarding time. After we checked our luggage, she did not offer to try and rush us to the gate. By the time we passed through immigration (and we were given preference as we were traveling with a 7 month old baby) we arrived at the gate, saw the plane and were informed that we had missed our flight by Pascal. Pascal's reaction to when she saw us? "What happened to you guys?" At this point my fiancee answered "You left us there." Pascal immediately was defensive and took no responsibility for what had just occurred. She told us she had sent a gentlemen named George to help us and called him on the radio. It turned out that George had went on break, and very conveniently forgot about the family Pascal had told him to help with. After they had contacted the supervisor, the supervisor placed the blame on us, saying that we only arrived at the check-in point at 6:40 and that was not enough time to make our flight. I told them that we arrived there at 6:15, and had waited that long. They then okay'd the crew (Pascal) to find us a flight even if it was with a different airline. They gave us two options, one was Miami ending in Mexico City and then we would have to get to Leon on our own or fly to Chicago, then to Mexico City and finishing in Leon at 11pm. I feel at this point it is important to note that we booked with American Airlines to avoid travel to Mexico City and to also avoid more than one stop, as I previously mentioned we were traveling with our children. We decided on traveling to Chicago, via Mexico City ending Leon. While waiting for our plane to Chicago, they made an announcement that there was a problem with the plane and that there would be a delay, they did this three times. After I approached the attendant at the counter and explained that we had a tight connection because of the delay, I asked if they wanted to send us on a different flight. The attendant guaranteed that we would make our connection. So we boarded for Chicago. I think it is extremely important too note at this point that not one of American Airlines employees took the time to apologize to us. On top of that, the supervisor refused to take 10 minutes of his time to speak to us. Working for one of the worlds largest hotel chains, I know first hand that this is beyond unacceptable. We arrived at Chicago at approximately 2:40pm and had to make our connection with AeroMexico at 3:05pm in a different terminal. When I asked for help at the gate they refused to call the other airline or get me any assistant (such as an electric cart to get us there in time). By the time we made it to the terminal at 3:00pm we had missed our flight once again. So we went back to the American Airlines counter and spoke to a gentlemen named Tim. After we explained everything that had just occurred, he first asked us to repeat everything because he didn't even believe us. When I went through the story a second time he was beyond embarrassed for what employees of American Airlines had done or in better words, not done. He began looking for flights for us and informed us there was no flights that night and that we would have to take a plane the following day. At that moment, I refused and told him to look for a different alternative. He said that all the flights were booked and there was nothing until the next day. Then, he found one other option. We would have to fly four and a half hours to LA that night and then take 1:30am flight from LA to Leon arriving in Leon at 6:30am. My fiancee burst into tears at this point as our 7 month old was crying and our other daughter was feeling sick already from all the traveling. I told him it was unreasonable to fly all night with a baby and wanted to speak to his supervisor. The supervisors name was Johnny and very unfriendly. After he checked on the computer his answer was "You either stay here for three days or you take that flight." At this point, we took the flight. I do want to make a note that one attendant, named Anita, made an attempt to at least give us one extra seat and she succeeded in doing so. This we were very greatful for and thanked her. However, when we boarded the plane, they had given the seat away. A couple of things that I would like to mention at this point. I asked Tim to look at sending me at a couple of different cities inside Mexico close to our final destination he said "I'm not going to send you to another city just because it is convenient for you." At this point I replied "I don't think you understand, your company had a contract with me to be at 2:45pm in Leon. That was not fulfilled and the least thing you can do right now is try and accommodate us." Tim did not seem to understand this. He also did not want to use a different airline. When I requested to try and bump someone on an earlier flight the following morning he simply said "no." I feel it is important to mention I witnessed other companies in the past that when they are in a situation like this they offer a compensation flight for anyone who would give up their seats. They didn't even offer to do that for us. I don't think I need to explain how an overnight flight with a 7 month old baby went. She was crying and grabbing her ears in pain all night. As a result of all this we lost two days of our vacation. When we got back home we continuously tried to contact American Airlines, we finally receive a response from a Maria with Customer Relations. We received a generic apology email and were told we would receive "vouchers" from AA as soon as we provided our mailing address. I emailed back the same day sending our mailing address and asking what the vouchers included. Over a week had passed and until today I still had heard nothing. I sent another email and included my phone number. I received a call this evening in regards to my follow-up complaint the lady said she was from corporate office and she mentioned that she did not answer my email in regards to my question about what the vouchers included because she was waiting for my address. I told her I had replied with the address and questioned what type of vouchers were they going to send me. She said that she was going to send 3 $150.00 vouchers. This, was not acceptable and when I pointed that out to her she said that she was not calling to negotiate and that my family and I did not give ourselves enough time to catch the plane and she was just sending that as a follow-up. Clearly, I ended the conversation and hung-up. It is clear that customer service is the last worry for American Airlines, and that I can't change that. What I will do though is tell this story to anyone who will listen in hopes that it will at least change a few peoples minds when they are picking an airline to fly with.

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Do you want to have the worst flying experience of your life? Fly American! Depart from: Jacksonville   To: Mexico City - On date: 28/Jun/2009 - Flight Type: Economy Do you want to have the worst flying experience of your life? Fly American! They are always delayed, planes are old, they charge for everything, and worst of all, their employees are RUDE! Besides, if you lose a connection because of them, they will not even pay for the hotel. Bottom line: Don't fly with American Airlines / American Eagle

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