[sandraw]

American is not doing much of a job maintaining its planes. An MD80 needed a new part prior to leaving for Dallas from Seattle on August 25. Had to borrow the part from Alaska Airlines! Delay meant I missed connecting flight in Dallas. Was rescheduled for the next day. Got to Dallas the next day. The evening flight to Buenos Aires left and after an hour and a half, had to turn around due to failure of a hydraulic system. Rather than looking for another plane (which they said they would do) the flight was cancelled and everyone was given a hotel voucher and had to call in to get re-booked. I was rebooked on a flight to Miami the next afternoon. When I called the airline to confirm the flight I was told the flight had been cancelled due to mechanical problems. I was finally rebooked on the evening flight to Buenos Aires, which luckily arrived with no problems. American's only compensation was some miles in my bank. When I said it wasn't enough they basically told me to take it or leave it, even though I have been a loyal American customer for over 20 years.

I had similar problems with American last year on two flights to the same location.