I sit writing this at the Chicago O'Hare airport, while awaiting my flight. I don't own a laptop, so instead, I punch this in on my Handspring Visor (I wrote about my Visor in a previous epinion).

Overall, this has been my second successful trip on American Airlines this month. I write this praising epinion, even though I am currently sitting through a lengthy, unexpected layover at O'Hare. The delay appears to be weather related (blame the fog, not American).

So, what has gone well?

As I stated, this is my second trip this month. The first was from Iowa to Phoenix, and the second was from Iowa to Reno. Both trips I had the pleasure of flying American Airlines.

Again you ask, what has gone well?

O.K. I'll get to it!

The fares

I booked my flights through hotwire.com and expedia.com. I was seriously impressed with the fares I paid for both these trips. American beat out all of their competitors. Please see my epinions on these sites for details on their use.

Expedia
http://scottcolson.epinions.com/content_19008687748

Hotwire
http://scottcolson.epinions.com/content_19013406340

Customer Service

This is a big deal for me. I figure, there are a lot of choices for air carriers, so customer service better be good, or I'll take my business elsewhere. Every employee I dealt with, from the initial ticketing agent to the last one, treated me politely and answered my questions quickly. (Even through the minor problems we had, the customer service representatives were very helpful, see below).

The airplanes and seating

Each of the airplanes I flew on were very clean. The flight attendants were well-attired and pleasant. The most important feature, however, was the seating. As American proudly proclaims in their advertising, they have removed a number of seats in each jet. This gives each passenger more legroom. I didn't think I would notice, but with my long legs, I appreciate the space! It does make a difference

The food

What? Airline food?!? Yech!

Actually, I disagree. I was pleasantly surprised with the food. I don't recall the food from the first trip, but, it was good. For the second trip, I had a really good chef salad on the outgoing flight. On the return flight, just a few hours ago (as I write this), I had the choice of a Chinese chicken salad or a steak and cheese sandwich. I ate the sandwich, and it was really good!

Free entertainment

On the return flight, from Reno to O'Hare, they showed Air Bud: World Pup. I thought they would charge for the headphones, but on this flight, they were free. I never would have rented it, but it was sort of cute. (Epinion on this movie upcoming).

What was my one problem?

My wife and I had difficulty getting our seats together. We noticed this on the first trip, and figured it was probably due to the way we booked our tickets rather than a problem with American. For the second trip, we had booked our flights separately, so we expected a problem. I was able to get half of our seats assigned together over the phone, but the others were assigned upon our arrival to the airport. We didn't get seats together, but we were able to switch around once we boarded the plane. My recommendations for the future: if you book online, call American after you book in order to get your seats together.

Overall

I will use American in the future. I was very impressed. Maybe I'll even start to use that AAdvantage frequent flier account!

Thus ends my first epinion written on my PDA while waiting at the airport. Thanks for reading, 45 minutes to go, I better check on my flight.


Recommended: Yes