American Airlines:
Written: Nov 04 '04 (Updated May 23 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good selection of flight times and destinations.
Cons: Cramped up seats and overhead bin space.
The Bottom Line: Average, like the rest.
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| cbaker8887's Full Review: American Airlines |
Following is a review of American Airlines. This review is based on my experience as a frequent traveler on American flying full fare coach class for business and occasional travel for leisure on cheaper tickets. All my travel with American has been domestic travel within the United States, including three trips to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The bottom line on American Airlines is that it gives you average to poor service. I’ve mostly had good – meaning average – experiences on American. There times when they have royally angered me for their dishonestly and incompetence, but those are not very frequent. Compared with other domestic American airlines, American is about the same as the rest of them.
American generally has good on time performance but it generally seems to have more trouble with delays and cancellations than other airlines I have flown on. This is entirely my perception, I have not studied the on-time performance statistics for the airlines, nor do I care to.
I have had a couple of particularly bad experiences with American on flight delays – mainly because they were not totally honest with the customers. I was stuck in O’Hare for eight hours one day because a flight was cancelled and American kept sending every passenger to different flights throughout the day that we could never get on because they were full. They should have put us on a non-American flight. I was livid to say the least, as were the rest of my comrades in this fiasco.
PURCHASING TICKETS/FARES/NUMBER OF FLIGHTS
For business travel I do not make my own travel arrangements. When I have made my own travel arrangements for leisure travel I have typically used a combination of Web sites, but usually use Expedia. Buying tickets is very easy and the fares posted on Expedia, other Web sites, and American's Web site are the same in my experience. These days I almost always fly using electronic tickets. I have had only one very negative experience with this in the past fives years. I can’t even remember the last time I had a paper ticket for domestic travel.
American, being a major carrier, has an excellent number of flights at convenient times and locations to all over the United States. Finding direct flights or flights with minimal layovers is always easy except on rare occasions. Currently, American compares very favorably to other airlines for flight times, locations, and convenience in my experience.
CHECKING IN
The crowd at the airport determines how easy or difficult it is to check in. Other than if there are flight delays, American has been consistently fine dealing with a crowded check-in. They are neither great nor bad, but seem efficient, which is all I ask for.
Your best option to check-in on all airlines is either to use the Skycap or through the electronic machines that spit out a boarding pass after you swipe and ID. The use of these machines has been great and it really speeds up the process of checking in. You can grab a boarding pass quickly and go right to security and not even have to deal with any staff. (Note I have never tried checking in on-line).
Of course going through security, especially after 9/11, can be a painful process sometimes. If it’s crowded just relax, take your time, and get through the process as quickly as possible. Getting anxious or snippy with the security people will get you nowhere and delay the process.
THE FLIGHT
To me, American Airlines seats in coach seemed cramped. I feel like I have less leg and elbow room on American flights than other carriers. Maybe I am spoiled by Economy Plus on United Airlines, but I don’t think so. I always dread if I have to take American Airlines on a cross-country flight. It could be just me, but the bottom line is that I find American Airlines less comfortable than other airlines.
American also seems to have less space in the overhead bins and I have had more trouble with my bags on American than any other carrier.
Customer service on flights is okay, nothing special. I have never had any particularly bad experiences with the service on American’s flights.
I have never had any issues with my baggage being lost or damaged on American Airlines.
FREQUENT FLIER MILES
Ironically, I probably have enough miles on American to get a free flight but I don’t even know how many miles I have. I do not get very many mailings or updates from them for some reason.
OTHER COMMENTS
American Airlines is about like most current US domestic airlines. From check-in to boarding to flights, it’s pretty average to poor service. And when I say poor service it’s usually just slow, inefficient, or just indifferent service. Not very helpful when you have a problem or ask questions. They are just there for a paycheck. And despite that your patronage and your tax dollars (in the form of bailouts) pay their salary, they don’t care.
If you ever get a cancelled flight and they say you can get another American flight – if they don’t put on that next flight out INSIST that they put you on another airline. Otherwise you might wind up with a long, unnecessary delay like I did.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Based on my experience with domestic airlines it is not surprising they are going bankrupt and I have a problem with my tax dollars going to bail them out. I empathize with their high labor costs, increasing fuel costs, and being in stiff competition for lower fares. But you would think at the very least they would undertake structural changes, including better customer service, that would help them compete and improve their bottom line.
Other Airlines:
Air Jamaica
British Airways
Continental Airlines
Delta Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines
Recommended:
Yes
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