Wanna join the mile high club? (American Airlines)

Member Name: jo1l

Product:	American Airlines
Date:	25/11/03 (893 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap

Disadvantages: delays, bad customer care

American Airlines, is one of the major airlines in the US flying to over 275 destinations worldwide. Along with it's regional airline American Eagle it is a key player in the Airline industry in the US. Serving a wide and diverse international and regional destinations. American Airlines/Eagle operates some 4,100 flights daily using a combined fleet of 1,100 aircraft.

From the UK AA fly from London's Heathrow and Gatwick as well as Manchester with direct flights to New york and Chicago amongst other US destinations. Given the wide range of destinations cover by American Eagle it is relatively easy to pick up a flight from a hub airport to practically any place in the US. This might mean you have to negotiate a trip from one terminal to another but at most airports the signing and transportation between different terminals is relatively easy. One thing to bare in mind is if you are flying into the US then onto another City you will have to claim your luggage at your first port of entry in order to go throw Customs and immigration.

Booking AA flights is a relatively painless experience. On their web site www.aa.com there is a simple to use feature, but obviously you'll find a more competitive ticket price by shopping around. My ticket cost me £370 to go to Pittsburgh by booking with Opodo.co.uk where as if I'd have booked direct it would have been some £200 more expensive!The ticket included a "free" stop over in New York for 3 nights - this is common practice with most of the American airline industry as I found out whilst searching for that el cheapo ticket. AA prides it's self on being a competitively priced airline perhaps this is why they are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy!

During the weeks leading up to my flight I familiarized myself with AA's website mainly so I could find out what the in-flight movies were only so I could be the first to say I know what the movie is! Unfortunately the inf
ormation that was given on site was unreliable as the films shown bore no resemblence to what was posted on the web site. I'm also informed that the onsite tracking facility is naff as it was used to track our return flight to the UK. The site does give some useful information about flights, in-flight comfort, places they to, missing baggage, how to complain - with contact details and how comfortable first class seats are these days!

With in a 10 day period I flew with AA on a return transatlantic journey and a shuttle journey from Chicago to Pittsburgh. The journey times were 8hrs30mins(10 hours 20 mins with delays) 7hours and 1hour 10 mins.

The transatlantic flights were on board their flagship planes a Boeing 770, should you wish to know any further specifications I'd suggest you go take a look at AA's web site where engine capacity, number of wings etc is all ready listed for you! All I can say is it's a blinking big plane!

The sitting is formatted in a two- four- two. Luckily we managed to get one of the two seat arrangements unfortunately this was together! ( joke!) The aircraft is arranged into a series of cabins. The exclusive first class with it's luxurious booths and lay flat seats was at the front of the plane and not readily visible to the rest of the rabble in the cheap seats. The Business class seats did indeed look very comfortable, with leather fittings, a wide seat and loads of leg room!At the back of the plane are the economy - read cheap seats, my heart sank as I saw what looked like rows upon rows of cramped up tiny seats! I think having just strolled past the ever so comfy with the miles upon miles of legroom was a ploy for us to ask for an upgrade next time!

AA was one of the first airlines to take on board the DVT scare and look at the comfort of passengers traveling in the economy section. AA removed some 7,200 seats in it's coach class ( or economy class) this now gives legroom tha
t depended on the type of aircraft flown is between 33" and 35". On their flagship flights the legroom is an unprecedented 35" - those extra two inches definitely make a difference!! I'm 5'11" and found the leg room was far much better than on any other plane I'd flown on. Even with the seat in front tilted backwards I still had plenty of room, the fight for the arm rest was lost by me on the trip out! But shared on the way home!

Facilities on board the transatlantic crossings included a back of the seat TV screen, with 8 different channels plus an array of rather naff music channels. The flight tracker and gazing out of the window was rather entertaining especially as concentration skills were limited in our excitement to actually get someplace soon! In the pocket was the usual array of in-flight magazines - why can't they leave you something decent to read? The duty Free was rather limited for an american airline they didn't support one of they're greatest perfumer producers at all well! Only 3 Calvin Klein perfumes were stocked! The toilets were clean and functional for their proposed purposes but a little bit cramped so any would be Mile high club members might have had to look else where to join that particular club!

The Air hostesses employed by AA are not of the dim barbie doll type. AA has gone for the more mature hostess. For the first 4 hours of the flight out they came up and down the aisle at an alarming rate then suddenly they disappear only to return about an hour before our landing into Chicago! During the first four hours drinks, snacks and the usual airline dinner was served.On the whole the Air Hostesses were pretty good at answering any queries and appeared to actually want to do their job unlike others I have had the misfortune to encounter with other airlines! Thankfully they serve all special request meals first so my meal was still warm. Prior to landing in Chicago a snack was serve
d. On the way back as it was a night flight the disappearance of the Airhostesses wasn't as noticeable. The breakfast served prior to landing at Heathrow was substantial to say the least containing a variety of items and fresh fruit!

The flight onboard the American Eagle, was only notable for the fact the plane was small! The seating arrangement was of a two -one format with a limited amount of legroom, but given that this was a short shuttle flight this was not too irksome. Beverages and a snack was also served on this flight by the sole flight attendant. The journey was only notable for the rather spectacular thunder storm it flow through as we finally approached Pittsburgh! Toilet facilties were available at the back of the plane.


I would have liked to have ended this opinion on a positive note, but unfortunately what lets AA down is it's appalling customer service. I'm a very forgiving person I really am but AA basically drove me to the point where I wanted to scream!

Our original booking was:
London Heathrow - JFK - NYC - Pittsburgh - 6th May flight time to JFK being 7hrs 30mins and then 1hr 25mins to Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh to JFK-NYC - 12th May
JFK-NYC - London Heathrow - 15th May - 7hrs

About 4 weeks prior to our departure I found out that our flights had been rerouted via Chicago - 8hrs 30mins. It was with some alarm I then found out that AA had chosen not to book me on any internal flights or indeed inform me of all the changes. Had I not been flying out with someone else for this trip I'd not have known till I arrived at Heathrow to book onto the flight to New York!After about 2 hours of calls to Opodo.co.uk and to the help desk at AA it was finally sorted out.The woman I spoke to at AA did not inspire me with any confidence what so ever. Tickets were to be collected at Heathrow. The fact that our journey time had been extended some what didn't even rate an apology from AA. But as I
said I'm a forgiving person and basically all I wanted to do was get on a flight that took me to Pittsburgh.

At Heathrow I encountered an AA employee who really does need to go on a customer care course! After checking my confirmation email she appeared to be rather puzzled and looked blankly to try and work out what happened next, apparently I wasn't on their computers! Funny how when a BMI employee had rang to ask if my luggage could be checked onto the flight minus a ticket there wasn't any problem! After handing her the old tickets and explaining that I wanted this problem sorted out, it materialized there wasn't a problem at all! I get the impression that she perhaps couldn't spell my name!!

As I said I'm a forgiving person I really am! After these two minor glitches I was still happy - I was flying to Pittsburgh and nothing else mattered!

Our flight was due to leave leave Heathrow at 12.30pm, it finally took off after a nearly two hour frustrating wait in a cabin without air conditioning! After about an hour iced water was served, but in all honesty it would have been better to have allowed us to leave the plane and wait inside the airport.the only good thing about this was mobile phones were able ot be used so Kimber who we were going out to see knew of the delay. Over 10 hours sat in an airplane seat isn't fun at all! The delay meant that our planned connection wasn't a feasible option and we spent the whole of the journey wondering what time we would finally arrive in Pittsburgh! Unfortunately we could not be informed of timings on the flight until we arrived in Chicago

On arrival at Chicago, I wasn't in a forgiving mood what so ever! I was tired I was grumpy and most of all I needed a cigarette!

As most of the plane had by now missed connecting flights all chaos broke out whilst we waited to check in for our connecting flights! We were informed that we were going to have to w
ait till 7.50pm to get our connecting flight which arrived in Pittsburgh at 10.25pm. Only 3 hours after we should have arrived! My first experience of the US was not a pleasant one due to the handling of the flight at Chicago by AA

After chilling out for 6 days in Pittsburgh, I really didn't think AA could cause us any more havoc! As they had stopped flying to NYC from Pittsburgh we had been booked on a Delta flight - or so we thought! After an initially checking in at the Delta desk we ended up having to go over to the AA desk to be given proper tickets for the flight! Some thing that should have had been done at Heathrow in the first place!

The return flight check in will be memorable due to the fact Iain had to undo his suitcase - heaving with goodies from Maceys and practically every other shop in NYC as the check in staff stated he had been issued with a paper ticket and not the E ticket he was proffering them! Funny how he'd been traveling on so called Etickets for all the journeys made! After 10 minutes of frantic searching the woman on the desk said it didn't really matter anyhow!

In closing would I travel AA again? Unfortunately not. AA might well be the cheapest but you can see quite clearly where the corners have been cut in their customer care!

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