American (Airlines) Experience

[GRG55]

Warning: Rant (but already resigned as unlikely to meet Sac Arrow standards for such)

I haven't flown American in quite a long time. Might be quite a long time before I try again. Strikes me flying AA regularly might lead to the eventual need to engage with that other AA.

Qualifier: This is not a criticism of American Airlines staff - for the most part they seemed to me to be doing their level best to help passengers while working in a crap system, with planes that seem to have too frequent mechanical issues, and that is wearing them, and their passengers, down.

Had 5 business meetings in 4 days in 3 different cities in Texas and Louisiana last week. Scheduled to fly six legs over 5 days on American Airlines (or American Eagle), each flight either arriving at or departing from DFW. All flights on either a CRJ or an Embraer.

Starts with the flight to DFW on Monday afternoon. Some sort of problem with the speed brake indication on the glass screen. Had all of us get off the plane taking carry-on baggage while still at the departure gate after an announcement they are "consulting with maintenance and need to reboot the computers". Some 2 hours later we are back on the plane, problem apparently solved, waiting for push back. Another 50 minutes lost while visiting the deice pad before the conga line for take-off.

Arrive DFW ~3 hours late, taxi off runway and stop, engines idling, between two parallel runways. Naive me thinks we are waiting on ATC to cross the other active to get to the terminal. Spend more than 20 minutes sitting there as planes are roaring past landing and taking off on both sides of us. Finally captain announces they have some other undisclosed mechanical problem that precludes taxiing to the gate and they are "in consultation with maintenance". I'm thinking maybe I need to start going to church more often. Moments later engines spool up and we finally start moving.

Miss connection to Midland (some would say that's a good thing ). Spend 2:10 in line at the service desk (one poor staffer, just before midnight, trying to deal with a long line of customers with missed connections from the same flight). Waiting to get a hotel voucher and rebooked onto a flight the next day. Unable to get me on either of the first two flights, so earliest I can get to Midland is after 2:00 pm. Scrambling to rebook meetings using my phone email. Oh joy. Bag is checked through to Midland. Cannot be retrieved according to AA. So the clothes I'm wearing are all the clothes I got. But they did give me a toothbrush. Directed by AA staff to a phone at exit for hotel shuttle; keypad 1-9 with a second set of 1-9 for 18 options in total. My hotel is not one of the 18. Bad omen. Give up and arrange an Uber. Low expectations for hotel do not disappoint. Resolve in future if I am stranded I'll take care of the hotel myself. Little realizing how soon that would be necessary.

Next day's uneventful flight to Midland is the only one of the six legs I fly in the week that gets me to destination at the expected time. Go direct from airport to first meeting wearing the same clothes I left home in the previous morning.

Next day's flight back to DFW is late due to "mechanical problems" on the inbound flight. I have a connection at DFW to LFT. When we arrive DFW captain announces there's been a gate change (to the far end one on the corridor), and then we come to a halt as our progress is blocked by an aircraft being pushed back, which for some inexplicable reason takes more than 10 minutes to clear out of the way. Captain is apologetic, but very professional in her passenger announcements. One of those pilots that makes you feel you are in good hands despite the minor problems. Arrive at reassigned gate. Unable to deplane. After a bit the captain comes back on intercom, now sounding just a little bit exasperated, to announce the gate we are at shares a corridor with the adjacent gate, which is currently boarding an international flight. Security regulations don't allow mixing domestic passengers getting off one flight with international passengers boarding another. So we get to wait inside our aluminum tube until they have everyone on board and close the doors on their aluminum tube. Only positive is my connection to LFT has suffered "mechanical problems", imagine that, and is also late, so everything sort of works out.

Fast forward to DFW on Friday evening trying to get home. Boarding pass from check-in kiosk says "See gate agent for seat assignment". Sounds ominous. Sure enough 10 of us get bumped off the flight heading north. This time it takes a full 2:51 (yes, I clocked it) after the flight has departed the gate before I have a boarding pass for the only flight on Saturday. Others are still waiting. Absolutely unbelievable system where AA systems and procedures add insult to injury by making people hang around an airport for hours after denying boarding. I was told by AA gate staff they cannot even access their system to start to rebook us until the flight we were supposed to be on has actually departed the gate. Who comes up with this stuff?

Boarding pass for Saturday flight does not have a seat assignment. I am advised flight is overbooked and to arrive 3 hours before departure to maximize my chances of getting a seat. I tell them to keep their hotel voucher as I've already made my own arrangements. Once again checked baggage cannot be retrieved. Receive covetous award of another free toothbrush. Clothes I am wearing are only clothes...

Arrive 3 hours early Saturday. Kiosk won't assign a seat. AA service desk prior to going through security cannot assign a seat. Instructed to go to gate. Go through security. No staff anywhere to be seen at gate - too early I suppose. Speak to a friendly (and very lovely) AA staffer at nearby gate that has just finished boarding, and she quickly gets me sorted out (about then I am wishing I was 30 and single again ). Pleasant way to end a lousy week of travel.

Plenty of time before flight departs. Discover scrambled eggs and sausage with a cup of coffee (no toast) costs $17.50 in DFW Terminal B. AA food voucher covers the first $12.00. LOL

Full disclosure, AA provided a voucher for $1800 for compensation for being denied boarding on Friday. The only problem is if I use the voucher...I have to fly American Airlines.

 

[Grum.Man]

AA is really no different than any other mainstream airlines. I used to say the same thing about Delta but truthfully AA is the same way. The only real outlier in my view is Southwest. I love their boarding system, the planes at least used to be newer and you get free TV and text on your phone or tablet. They are my go to and the rest are all more of the same.

Edit: I also like the fact that 20 minutes of my life pre and post boarding isn't spent listening to them pitch an AA credit card!

 

[GRG55]

AA is really no different than any other mainstream airlines. I used to say the same thing about Delta but truthfully AA is the same way. The only real outlier in my view is Southwest. I love their boarding system, the planes at least used to be newer and you get free TV and text on your phone or tablet. They are my go to and the rest are all more of the same...

They aren't all the same. United denies boarding by dragging you off the plane, bloodied and beat up. AA is a bit more civilized about it.

To be frank, I prefer Alaska over all the others, but we closed our Seattle office and moving it to Houston in the new year, so I'll be flying United and Delta a lot more now.

 

[Van Johnston]

Time to spare, go by air...

 

[Doc Holliday]

I avoid AA.

 

[SCCutler]

Consistent with my experiences. Agreed, it is not the people, who are by and large very determined to try to help. They are constrained by policy from so doing. The USAirways merger did not help things, as a substantial part of the merged carrier's management is from US, and their standards had slipped to poor (from what had, in years past, been decent).

It is in irregular operations that they fail so badly. Interminable lines, unbearable waits on the phone (followed, often, by an unceremonious hangup).

Contrast with Southwest who, of a major delay or cancellation occur, send teams of agents to the gate area to find affected passengers, and to the extent possible, fix it.

 

[flyingron]

Being based in CLT, I'm kind of trapped on AA most of the time. They've just reduced the level of service again for things I pay extra for (Admirals Club). I occasionally get Delta or United, and have to say Delta is doing a much better job all around customer service wise these days than either of the other majors. The planes are also noticeably cleaner.

 

[catmandu]

Branding issue. American in name (and responsibility, admittedly), but actually other airlines flying under the American Eagle logo. Your CRJ flights to MAF and LFT were either flown by Envoy or Mesa. Not to say DFW-HNL flights don't have their own issues.

 

[flyingron]

Sorry, but I hold the airlines responsible for their partners. In this case, even more so. Envoy isn't even a separate company. It's wholly owned by AA. I even hold them responsible if they are contracting to another airline for ground agents at an outlying airport (though oddly, I usually get better service if American is NOT providing the ground services, those gate agents don't like American management either and are more willing to bend things for your benefit).

By the way, if AA cancels your flight, unless you are first or second in line at an agent, grab your phone and call them. You're competing for the slots on the replacement flights and they indeed will be gone by the time you wait in a 2 hour line.

 

[GRG55]

Branding issue. American in name (and responsibility, admittedly), but actually other airlines flying under the American Eagle logo. Your CRJ flights to MAF and LFT were either flown by Envoy or Mesa. Not to say DFW-HNL flights don't have their own issues.

But the two times I ended up in Dallas hotels with a forced overnight stay last week were both mainline AA flights.

 

[Mtns2Skies]

FWIW Delta and Alaska are tied for 1st for me, with Southwest being a close second. I'll tolerate United, but don't particularly like them. I actively avoid the rest if possible.

 

[Fastglas]

That is a tough week of flying.

I also fly commercial a significant amount and most of it is on AA. I find that the AA flights are more reliable than AA Eagle but it does feel like delays and maintenance issues are more common across both. Outside of delays, though I have no data to back this up other than my own history with these two airlines, I find the AA Eagle crews to be much less accommodating and “here for your safety” more so than AA. Having said that, all airlines, including AA, gave up on building customer loyalty and customer service from flight crews a long time ago. Passengers moved to “baggage status” right after 2001. I find the exception is Southwest and almost any Asia based airline (some European airlines may also be great but I have little experience). Of course, if you are fortunate to be able to afford a $5000+ intl biz class fare anywhere in the world nowadays on AA, cabin crews are quite pleasant.

It just seems this is how things are now.

To keep my sanity and frustration in check when traveling, I have just learned to accept delays and issues and ornery employee interactions and try to roll with the punches. Several decades ago, competing carriers used to offer matching status in an effort to win your travel agenda over. If Delta or United did this, I wonder if AA would find itself in a precarious situation. Then again, the other carriers may be in the same “boat.”

 

[JOhnH]

I’d say that rant met Sac minimums.

 

[Bill]

Out and back to DFW last month, I normally fly Delta, but AA had a direct, so what the hell, right? And this was on AE as the planes were CJRs. Flight over was fine. Flight back, three gate changes, then a 3.5 hr delay for mechanical issues. Plane is finally off a little before midnight. In bed 3:30am, at work at 8am next morning for a meeting that could not be missed. Oh, the joys of airline travel! I still think I prefer Delta, and will probably go back to them next time.

 

[wsuffa]

Full disclosure, AA provided a voucher for $1800 for compensation for being denied boarding on Friday. The only problem is if I use the voucher...I have to fly American Airlines.

If it was an involuntary denied boarding, I believe you were entitled to cash, not an airline voucher. But you could voluntarily not take the cash in favor of airline funny-money (voucher). The airlines prefer the voucher because it doesn't cost them real cash but simply space on another plane that might have gone empty anyway. There's a whole St of rules around involuntary denied boarding - search on that term. You should also write AA and enclose a copy of the hotel receipt..... Ask them to cover the cost. Some people are successful at getting the hotel cost refunded.

 

[Ravioli]

Full disclosure, AA provided a voucher for $1800 for compensation for being denied boarding on Friday. The only problem is if I use the voucher...I have to fly American Airlines.

My address is 741 Aviator Drive. More than happy to take that burden off your shoulders.

 

[MIFlyer]

I’d say that rant met Sac minimums.

yeah, but did he get a lettuce wrap version of it?

GRG, sorry to hear about your trials. I have had many similar eperiences flying commercial and as you know, those of us out in the corner of the country have fewer ways to get places. I've spent enough nights sleeping in airports due to airline incompetence than i'd care to say as a percentage of the flights I've taken.

On Delta, I've been pleasantly surprised twice when our flights were on time! it was great. all other delta flights have been late for me, especially coming out of ATL.

AirTran is the best though! I flew ATL -SEA once and departed 22 hours after we were supposed to. It started with the standard drip torture of "flight will be delayed 45 minutes" that went on for 6 hours. then we finally took off, ascended partway, and had a "mechanical issue" and returned to airport, where I got to sleep on benches, taking turns playing sentry with my coworker on the same trip.

I generally prefer this order
Alaska
Southwest
American
Delta
the rest

Somewhere between Southwest and the rest, I might prefer to travel via covered wagon with no shocks, as at least we'll be moving towards my destination versus being told we're boarding in 45 minutes for 8 hours.

Just freakin' tell me it'll be 8 hours so I can find a comfy spot, get wifi and a drink and not be hovering, watching announcements.

 

[Bill Greenwood]

The airlines know they have a slight public relations perception problem with the validity of their pronouncements when there is a delay. And they are heartbroken over it and resolve to do better. As a matter of fact they have hired two noted consultants, Bernie Madoff and Shawn Spicer to do in house training for their employees.

 

[kayoh190]

I was deadheading next to one of our 'important' clients in first class a few months ago, and we got to talking about this. He always flies the same route - one served pretty equally across the Big 3, and he says he switches every 3-5 years or so. As he says, if you fly one carrier enough they'll eventually break your heart. I've said it before - it's like arguing about domestic beer. People have their preferences, but at the end of the day it's all pretty much p!ss. None of us hold a candle to many of the foreign carriers.

 

[PPC1052]

I am sure there is a business reason why this won't work, but it would seem that there would be room in the marketplace for an air carrier to compete on the basis that they don't oversell as their standard operating policy and simply charge passengers a little more for a guaranteed seat.

 

[MountainDude]

Alaska or SWA.

 

[Mtns2Skies]

I am sure there is a business reason why this won't work, but it would seem that there would be room in the marketplace for an air carrier to compete on the basis that they don't oversell as their standard operating policy and simply charge passengers a little more for a guaranteed seat.

Jetblue does this.

 

[kayoh190]

Alaska or SWA.

My bread is buttered elsewhere, but those are my two favorite!

 

[Larry in TN]

I am sure there is a business reason why this won't work, but it would seem that there would be room in the marketplace for an air carrier to compete on the basis that they don't oversell as their standard operating policy and simply charge passengers a little more for a guaranteed seat.

OverBOOKed = More tickets sold than seats on the airplane

OverSOLD = More passengers showed up at the gate than seats on the airplane

Most overSOLD flights are not overSOLD because the flight was overBOOKED. They are overSOLD because of disruptions such as passengers missed earlier flights (by their fault or the airlines) and have been put on the "next flight", delays or cancellations of previous flights, or other similar reasons.

The actual overBOOKing of flights is very low and almost always results in everyone getting onboard due to no-shows, misconnects, etc.

As mentioned, JetBlue does not overbook. I haven't checked recently, but they used to have the highest rate of involuntary denied boardings, even without overbooking, due to A321 flights being subbed to A320 aircraft when they were short of A321s due to maintenance or delays. When the airplane is down-gauged it turns a flight that wasn't overbooked into an oversold flight.

 

[Zeldman]

On the other side, several years ago Continental cancelled my reservation for my return flight from Panama. Not bumped to another flight, but cancelled.

AA took my Continental ticket and gave me a seat on their flight. And the nice lead FA felt sorry for me and gave me a seat up front. Bonus.!!

AA was my hero until a few years later when jumpseating a AA gate agent actually yelled at me for not being in flight clothes. I mean yelled loud and long enough that security came up to see what was happening. After a conference with someone that had a desk I was given a boarding pass to my destination.

PS. Flight clothes consisted of Carhartts and are really too warm for the lower 48....

 

[texasclouds]

TLDR, sorry bro.

 

[Radar Contact]

If only @GRG55 had a very capable de-iced twin to travel the country in and avoid the airline hassle...

 

[chartbundle]

I used to fly America West frequently before all the mergers. They always had at least one leg of every round trip delayed or cancelled. It's nice to see that American Airlines is keeping up the tradition of legendary service. And a reminder that legends sometimes only serve as a warning for others.

 

[wsuffa]

I used to fly America West frequently before all the mergers. They always had at least one leg of every round trip delayed or cancelled. It's nice to see that American Airlines is keeping up the tradition of legendary service. And a reminder that legends sometimes only serve as a warning for others.

A friend of mine says "American Airlines since the merger is really America West d/b/a AA...."

 

[Rushie]

We were at DFW on Friday too, maybe we crossed paths.

One of the Skyline trains was down. Everyone was packed onto the other, and we did not realize when we boarded the one that was working, that it was going the wrong way. We needed to go to the terminal right next to the one we were in, and we had to ride that damn thing ALLLLL the way around through all the terminals and it was packed with people. I got claustrophic. I was like Elaine on the subway on Seinfeld. It stopped in the middle of the track at one point and I thought it had broken down, I nearly lost it. At another point it jerked and I stepped on the guy behind me's toes, he was wearing flip flops! That wasn't you was it?

Who flies in flip flops?

So coming back on Sunday through DFW, our connection plane had arrived at gate D1 and for some reason we got a text that our gate had moved to D4. So everyone tramps over to D4, but no plane there. We wait and wait, and finally, 15 minutes after we were supposed to start boarding, here comes the plane being towed up to this gate. (WHY? what was wrong with gate D1? Why move the plane, that's where it had arrived from the prior flight?) Okay, fine. While waiting to board we both get a text from AA that our gate has been moved to D17. What? Our plane is right here, there's the staff, there's the pilot, and indeed they board us all and we settle in. Then the captain announces a "maintenance issue" and takeoff will be delayed a few minutes.

A few minutes later the Captain says, actually we need to deplane because the maintenance issue cannot be fixed. We need to all go get on another plane at gate D17. Ah HA! How come we all got a text about gate D17 before the pilot knew?????

Everyone deplanes and schleps over to D17 where of course those with paper boarding passes need to get out their picture ID all over again. Thank goodness we have new passes already texted to us. (A plus for emailing your boarding pass to your phone, apparently if you did, and you need a new one, they will automatically send you the new one.) So we didn't need to get out our DLs.

We all got on the "new" plane and end up making up some time in the air, the pilot "flew fast" so he said.

I'm surprised when I survive these trips.

 

[Bill Greenwood]

One of the very nice perks about flying on Southwest Airlines is that they use Love Field which has a human sized terminal not to mention Dickeys Bar B Q in the food court. so you don't have to go to DFW. As a kid I was born and started life nearby Love Field.

And even better in Houston SW uses Hobby Airport and they have Papaduex restaurant in the food court. You can delay me a long time and tell all sorts of fake news about what is wrong with the plane or fantasies about when it might be leaving, as long as I have got a cold Corona in hand to wash down some Red snapper or soft shell crabs.

 

[Greg Bockelman]

Who flies in flip flops?

Someone once said that deregulation tends to empty out the bus stations. I tend to believe it.

A few minutes later the Captain says, actually we need to deplane because the maintenance issue cannot be fixed. We need to all go get on another plane at gate D17. Ah HA! How come we all got a text about gate D17 before the pilot knew?????

Believe it or not, the flight crew is typically the last to know. Don’t know why.

 

[geezer]

There are different ways to deal with more passengers than seats.

My family booked an SWA non stop round trip flight to JAX from BWI, well in advance, for a low price. The return flight was the last one out of JAX that night, and I asked the gate attendant if it was over booked, and she said she was fine, then as an afterthought, asked if I was available for a voluntary bump. Yes, but I am traveling with my wife, two or none. Thank you, give me your names, and at that point my son asked if he could also volunteer, but he was 4 passengers. She took his name, too, and we went back to our seats.

As loading time came, she came over to where we were seated, and advised that they needed 5 seats! We would all 6 be given tickets for the first flight out in the morning, supper and breakfast plus a hotel for the night, shuttle to the hotel and back.

She had called and held our luggage off the plane until the last minute, so we had all our clothes. We went to the shuttle and had a normal night.

The next morning, I again asked if they might have too many passengers, again, no, but let me have your names, we have a lot of no shows on this early flight, but you never know. Naturally, the six of us were added to the expected load for the flight, so the likely hood was greater than normal. Too many showed up, and my wife and I were bumped to the next flight, through Norfolk, no change of plane. My son and his family needed to get home, but we did not.

I always try for the window seat, the isle seat turned out to be a man who was going to Norfolk to check on his crew servicing the Ghost Fleet" of mothballed naval ships, he swapped with my wife, and he pointed out the troop ship that I had crossed the Atlantic on years ago. That more than made up for the delay.

The first bump was a full refund of the discount fare.
The second bump was a full, last minute fare, more than twice the first.
We arrived at BWI 12 hours later than originally scheduled time, and being retired, no big deal.

Later that year, we flew to Portland Oregon using mostly the money from those bumps, and on the plane change in Salt Lake City, bumped back 3 hours. With prepaid rooms at our hotel, we did not have a worry about arriving late. Our luggage arrived on the original flight, but was picked up and held by the Portland luggage office.

The net of all those bumps was we made the round trip to Portland for free.

The real point is that by pre arranging potential bumps with customers who can afford to arrive later, SWA has happy customers.

Equipment malfunctions are a different problem, but but sorting the people who have to be there from those who can wait still reduces the problems.

 

[flyingron]

A friend of mine says "American Airlines since the merger is really America West d/b/a AA...."

That was certainly the case when Cactus took over US Air. They just that the US Air was a more national sounding name. Of course, if you want to hear real griping, my Airpark was founded by the VP of Piedmont and there are still a few of those guys around who can tell you about the issues with that merger.

 

[Tantalum]

AA is really no different than any other mainstream airlines

Actually, AA is quite a uniquely miserable experience.. other than "sometimes getting from A to B alive" their product is an objective joke, outperformed in some cases by low cost carriers like Spirit, Frontier, etc. They're total crap.

I fly fairly often for work.. the handful of times I could not fly Delta or Alaska my worst experiences were always on AA.. I have yet to take an AA flight that did not have one of the following:
-lost baggage
-cancelled (not delayed, but cancelled, not rebooked, just "here's your money back")
-broken window shades
-water (probably some kind of condense) dripping from the ceiling
-panels pulling off
-a staff that looked like they absolutely hated their jobs..

United is marginally better, but they definitely don't treat their pax with any kind of "customer centric" attitude, unlike Alaskan or Delta which goes out of their way to make you feel welcome on their planes it almost seems like UA's attitude toward passengers is adversarial.. hopefully once they ditch Oscar Munoz with Scott Kirby we'll see improvements..

and I don't think it's purely perception either.. check out the WSJ airline rankings:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-and-worst-u-s-airlines-of-2018-11547648032


We will see where they put Delta, Alaskan, and American for 2019 when WSJ puts their article out in a few weeks

**Notice that DL continues to be at the top, with Alaska.. United floats in the middle.. and American skips along the bottom.. that's a pretty pathetic place to be for a large carrier

 

[Flocker]

Last time I flew AA was for a snowboard trip to Colorado. My snowboard and all my clothes ended up in Miami.

 

[kayoh190]

Actually, AA is quite a uniquely miserable experience.. other than "sometimes getting from A to B alive" their product is an objective joke, outperformed in some cases by low cost carriers like Spirit, Frontier, etc. They're total crap.

Sorry you had a crappy experience in your 'handful' of times flown on AA, but when you dig into that data you posted, everyone is generally within a few percentage points of each other in those categories. So while some airlines are measurably better than others, the disparity isn't as great as you might think. The fact of the matter is that I stand in the doorway and thank each and every passenger I fly (or try to - sometimes I get pulled away) - and the vast majority thank me back for a great flight. Stuff happens, and AA has a lot of work to do, but I roll my eyes when people say "xxxx" airline is ALWAYS late, or ALWAYS cancels flights, or ALWAYS loses luggage. It's just not true.

 

[Tantalum]

Sorry you had a crappy experience in your 'handful' of times flown on AA, but when you dig into that data you posted, everyone is generally within a few percentage points of each other in those categories. So while some airlines are measurably better than others, the disparity isn't as great as you might think. The fact of the matter is that I stand in the doorway and thank each and every passenger I fly (or try to - sometimes I get pulled away) - and the vast majority thank me back for a great flight. Stuff happens, and AA has a lot of work to do, but I roll my eyes when people say "xxxx" airline is ALWAYS late, or ALWAYS cancels flights, or ALWAYS loses luggage. It's just not true.

Thanks, the percentage difference mayb small and ultimately air travel tends to be bemoaned by many but perception is reality and I do find that the small handful of times I've taken American Airlines, while it being a very small sample size, my experience was just not pleasant..

there's something to be said for how a corporation act when things go south, and usually the flight attendants themselves and the pilots are the best part of the whole experience, but it's the overall corporate culture that impacts the consumer

My worst DAL experience involved an 8 hour delay in Minneapolis and two different MD-80 having to return to the gate, by the time I made it home I had sat on three different md-80s that day..

(1) taxi to runway, pilot said there was something wrong with the nose gear, so we taxi to a maintenance hangar, sat there for 45 minutes, and we're told to go back to the gate.. it was actually interesting watching them jack up the plane at the gate and four big dudes were unable to pull the right NLG tire off even with large crowbars and a torch.. so they put us on plane number two

(2) during push back while we were turning there was a tremendous sound and the whole cabin shook and the plane stopped moving.. needless to say something broke and they pulled us back to the gate

(3) finally on the third airplane we made it home however not without a delay as a storm had moved in in the meantime

..throughout all of this the gate agents and pilots were cracking jokes, giving people vouchers, giving people phone numbers to call to take them to a direct person to discuss travel arrangements and mileage compensation, they gave us free pizza, and on the third plane home all the drinks on the flight were free, all classes, and the internet was also comped.. that was a real class act


**AA basically couldn't care less about me and made it known when they cancelled my flight.. or when it takes 45 minutes for baggage, etc.. maybe I got unlucky, but the half a dozen or so times I flew them were all miserable for one reason or another

 

[Tantalum]

might not be culturally appropriate anymore, but Louis CK actually had a very funny bit about air travel, maybe later when I'm back at my computer I'll post a link to it

 

[Van Johnston]

Who flies in flip flops?

People who would otherwise be riding the bus if air travel wasn’t so cheap, relatively speaking. Herb Kelleher always said his competition was Greyhound, not American or Braniff.