[A. Murgatroyd]

Here is a summary of the many failures of the captain and crew on the American Airlines flight from Newark to Miami on March 30th:

• Poor, inaccurate and misleading communication after 4 returns to the gate;
• Lack of empathy and concern, and at times even a condescending demeanor from the crew;
• Lack of support, and care. After 11 and a half hours on a plane, we were only given a small bag of pretzels and a drink shortly after take-off from Newark. Prisoners are given better care.

Here is my unfortunate story. I hope that it will be used as an opportunity to learn, grow and improve in communication, support and customer relations:

I was a passenger of Flight 1801 headed from Newark, New Jersey to Miami on March 30th, 2025. I have been flying over 50 years now and was traveling on business as a lawyer returning from a trial to my place in Miami. I was with my nephew I have never filed a complaint with any airline before. In my 50 years of travel, I have never encountered a worse travel experience.

We were fully boarded at 12:30pm. Our flight was planned to take off at 12:55pm but was delayed. Rumors spread through the passenger area that a fellow passenger was being kicked off the plane. People saw it happening. The Captain wasn’t very honest and gave us an excuse about some things needing to be straightened out. We were taken back to the gate. We took off at around 1:48pm.

At 4:45pm we were diverted and landed in Tampa. We are being told that there are thunderstorms in Miami and they aren't letting planes land, and that because of this, we need to refuel. I have to assume they planned enough fuel for the trip to Miami to begin with, so the need for more fuel must have been to hover over Miami until they cleared us to land, but this wasn’t explained to us. Even if my assumption were correct, it still made no sense to me why we would need gas to hover over Miami. Why couldn’t we just sit in Tampa and wait for the storms in Miami to clear? In any case, again, given the absence of full transparency and honesty, we were all left us all with more questions than answers.

After sitting on the runway for over an hour and 15 minutes, we finally reached the gate in Tampa at around 6:08pm. At 6:45pm we got our gas in Tampa and were told we would be leaving soon. At 7:25pm, we still had not taken off, after sitting on the runway over 40 minutes.

At 7:27, the Captain told us that we may have had a bird strike to our engine. He said that mechanics needed to come out to evaluate the engine. After 7 hours in a plane, a few passengers began expressing dissatisfaction. Instead of empathy and understanding , I actually heard a flight attended say, “why are these people so upset”? We taxied back to the Tampa gate again.

At 7:48pm, we are told there was no bird strike and that we would be taking off. At 8:38pm we had been on the runway for over an hour ,and still not cleared for take-off. At 8:41pm, the Captain said he asked flight control to prioritize us for take-off. He then said, “if it doesn’t happen in the next few minutes, we will have to go back to the gate again”. No explanations were given to us why. I didn’t observe any plane ahead of us, and did not understand why we would have to go back to the gate.

At 8:48pm, we are headed back to the Tampa gate. This is now our 4th return to the gate. This time we disembarked. No explanations were given why. No apologies. Not a hint of empathy or concern. I expressed my dissatisfaction to the Captain and crew. The flight attendant scolded me telling me to stop complaining because she had nothing to do with it. I got the feeling that she was about to call security on me, so I quickly stopped speaking and left the plane.

In the interim, I was caused to spend my own money to buy dinner. This was the first time I had eaten since the small bag of pretzels and water I was given 9 hours earlier. My nephew who was travelling with me was too horrified by the experience to get back on the plane. He called and asked his father (my brother) to travel 3 hours each way from Port St. Lucie to Tampa in order to pick him up. I gave him $70.00 to pay for his meal and mine and returned to the gate.

As I sat around at the gate in Tampa until we re-boarded. Again no one ever attempted to explain why we needed to get off the plane. We finally took off for Miami at 11:08pm. We arrived in Miami around 12:00pm.