American Airlines - The Big Airline That Couldn’t!
Written: Nov 10 '02 (Updated Jun 09 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: legroom, luggage
Cons: late, staff, food, seats, aircraft
The Bottom Line: An airline that doesn't care for its passengers.
|
|
|
| jetbluefan1's Full Review: American Airlines |
It was a rainy, yet a naturally busy day in New York City’s LaGuardia Airport. It was 6:00 o’clock in the morning, and as we entered the Usairways terminal, we saw massive crowds, and a television monitor indicating our flight to Charlotte was canceled! Don’t you just hate it when your flight is canceled? I certainly do, also when you have to catch a connecting flight. In this case, we were supposed to fly from LaGuardia to Orlando via Charlotte.
Since our flight was canceled, we called the Usairways phone number: 1-800-428-4322. The agents finally came on after helping other LaGuardia passengers with canceled flights. She booked me on an American Airlines flight, non-stop to Orlando. The only problem was that the flight would leave from JFK International Airport (NYC) at 8:45 pm. Okay, no biggie. I was glad to hear that I would be able to get to Florida without having to pay extra to fly on another airline.
It was about 4:00 pm, and we decided we would head out for JFK for our flight, just in case there were a few problems, we would have time to work them out. When we got to terminal 5 (they use it as a substitute terminal ever since TWA was bought by American), we entered the ticketing line.
”Next.”
I walked over to the ticketing agent that just said “Next”, and showed her my Usairways tickets. She told me that we would have to go back to LaGuardia and get the American Airlines tickets printed out from there. I replied:
“The Usairways agent told me that I needed to get the tickets from here.”
She says with a sour voice”
“Well I say you have to go back to LaGuardia to get it. Geez, some Usairways people can be dopes.”
I looked at her with a concerned face, and got back in the car to drive down the traffic-jammed L.I.E Expressway to LaGuardia. When I finally got there, the Usairways agent took her sweet time printing out the tickets.
So now I have ran around the whole west side of Long Island, and am back at JFK International Airport.
I entered the coach class ticketing line, and an American Airlines agent shooes me to the next available ticketing agent.
American Airlines agent - “Tickets.”
I hand her the tickets.
American Airlines agent - “Okay, you’ll be all the way in the back of the airplane in the last row.”
Me - Wow, I’m surprised that the flight isn’t sold out since it’s such a busy season.”
She rolls her eyes and says, “It is now.”
After finally getting away from Madam Mean, I went to the waiting lounge in front of the plane.
It was finally time for boarding and I handed my boarding pass to the first American Airlines agent I saw. She rolled her eyes too, and said, “You give your boarding pass to the agent halfway down the gate.” So I continued down the gate, handed my boarding pass to the American Airlines agent. She threw it back at me and said, “go.”
Hmmm......can we say attitude problem at American Airlines?
When I finally entered the old DC-9 airplane (an aircraft known for loud engines and uncomfortable rides), I noticed that it was not going to be a pleasant flight. The flight attendants just stood there chewing their gum, not even smiling or helping anyone with their carry-ons. I actually assisted an elderly lady put a carry-on in the overhead compartments because she was having some serious trouble with it. The flight attendants couldn’t care less.
We finally departed on-time, thank God. The pilot didn’t come on to say “hi”, and the flight attendants simply said, “Buckle your seat belts so we can leave.” They didn’t even welcome us aboard.
They soon came around and distributed packets on three or four small pretzels. They also gave us a tiny cup of soda, water, or juice. They also had coffee and tea. Wines were $4 and beers were $5.
Legroom was a little bit better than usual. This comes from American Airlines’ logo: More room throughout coach. Even the one inch of extra legroom made a small difference.
The seats were hard and made of cloth. They were more cramped than your everyday coach airplane seats, and they didn’t even recline. There wasn’t even a headrest. Instead, there was a hard piece of plastic where my head was resting.
The rest of the flight went uneventful.
We finally arrived about 15 minutes off of schedule. Thank God I got off that plane.
As I got off the plane, I saw the flight attendants filing their nails. They were all crowded in the front and didn’t say “goodbye”, and didn’t help people unload their carry-ons. How surprising.
The luggage arrived, undamaged. Now there is a surprise! Of course, it was the last suitcase off the plane.
American Airlines needs to improve on everything except legroom and baggage. The staff were unprofessional and rude. They didn’t even care for the passengers. The seats were cramped and uncomfortable. No entertainment was available, but why aren’t I surprised?
Good thing my Usairways flight wasn’t canceled for the flight back.
For the New York City - Orlando route, I recommend trying JetBlue Airways. They have seats made of leather and are a lot more wider and comfortable. They will respect you, unlike the American Airlines agents. They also do operate their JFK - Orlando flight with an on time average of 97%. Of course, they also have the 26 (yes, it is now 26) channels of LiveTV at every seat.
American Airlines obviously has to make fun of other airlines to put themselves in a higher position. It was very rude for the American Airlines agent to put down Usairways when she told me that some of the staff members working for Usairways were dopes.
Also, American Airlines put down JetBlue Airways by stealing (yes, stealing) some its slots at the Long Beach Airport in California. Long Beach Airport didn’t want American Airlines to start service from Long Beach to Chicago and JFK because they would have to use JetBlue’s slots, and the Long Beach Airport wanted JetBlue to keep all its slots. Instead, American Airlines went ahead and started the routes without the Long Beach Airport’s permission.
American Airlines - The Big Airline That Couldn’t!
Visiting Florida?
Visiting Florida?
Transportation: JetBlue Airways Usairways Continental Airlines American Airlines Virgin Atlantic
Hotels: Celebration World Resort Hilton Cocoa Beach Silver Lake Resort Comfort Suites Orange Lake Resort & Country Club
Amusement Parks: MGM Studios Magic Kingdom Epcot Disney World Universal Studios Islands of Adventure
Other Places: Kennedy Space Center Orlando International Airport Old Town
Attractions: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Test Track Space Mountain Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Indy Speedway Universe of Energy Haunted Mansion Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin Splash Mountain
Food: Capone's Dinner & Show Nascar Cafe
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.