MIA Gate E9 on 3/8/12 totally lied to husband
 

My husband's flight #1886 from SFO was delayed 40 minutes from SFO to Miami (no weather problems, just stupidity apparently) so when he landed he only had 10 minutes to get to his second connecting flight (AA made the connections that close) over a mile away from where he was in a different terminal.

I called the airline to try and get the plane to hold and the connecting flight knew that there were 10 people (besides my husband) from this delayed flight running to the plane (Flight 1051). When everyone got there, the plane was there but no one at the gate would let them on. My husband was told to go to customer service, which he did away from the gate since no one on the second flight would let them on.

While at the customer service desk the lady informed him that "there are mechanical issues, Flight 1051 is now delayed and they are letting people on" the customer service rep radioed the desk at the gate to let them know that my husband was en route back to the gate and when he got there they shut the door in his face and said "tough" even they all knew at the gate that my husband was heading back there. I have tried to talk to customer service online via their site, on the phone, via Twitter and FB. American really could care less about their passengers. So wish there was something more I could do.:mad:

I feel your pain
 

It is incredible how truly bad things can go in the WONDERLAND that is MIA. I had a very similar experience last year when AA elected to HOLD the plane I was leaving on in Dallas to WAIT for a dozen people who were connecting from Peru. That was pretty stressful because it made us awfully close to my departure time in Miami. All would have been fine (still close) except this nimrod AA employee could not figure out how to operate the thingy that attaches to the plane so you can get off. So, we lost precious minutes and yes, even tho I RAN the whole way to the departure gate, and the plane was sitting right there, I was told that "Federal Regulations do not allow us to open the door once they has been shut". So I got to spend 24 hours in the armpit of the world (MIAMI) waiting on the next plane to Montevideo. Lost a full day of an already short stay. No apologies from AA. NADA. Oh, and did I mention that I did not get to my crappy hotel in Miami until 3 a.m. because none of the cabbies wanted to accept my voucher?? AND a similar scenario has happened twice before!?! At least we have this website to vent on!!

I'd have to agree that in spite of the drastic improvements to the MIA facilities, this is AA's absolute weakest link in terms of customer service. The apathy and even downright hostility among the FAs and APO agents at this base so appalling and pervasive and has gone on for so long that I cannot from imagine from a management point of view how to begin to repair it, even under the current bankruptcy reorganization.

In contrast, you've got it dead wrong about the City of Miami. I used to feel the same way until I started spending a great deal of time there on business. It actually has quite a bit of charm, beauty, and pleasure to offer -- you just need to know where to go and avoid all the tourist nonsense. Besides, everyone knows that Milwaukee is the true and uncontested armpit of the world.