[IhateAA]

From the 24th till the 27th, i went on 4 AA flights, and had issues with EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. I have never had a worse experience with an airline, and I am honestly never flying with them again. They totally ruined Christmas for me.

We had our first flight on the morning of Christmas eve from Toronto but that was delayed two hours (because of snow which is totally understandable), but that made us miss our connection in Dallas and the next one available was at 9am the next day. I didnt have any issues with that at all because I knew stuff like that happened during the winter especially around holiday time. So, we spend the night at the airport since because of so many flights and cancellations, there were no hotel rooms availabel, and get ready to leave at the 9am flight the next day only to find out its been delayed for technical breakdowns or something. We finally board the plane about two hours later, everyone is seated with seat belts on and ready to go when we're all of a sudden told to deplane because something is wrong with the lights??...we then wait another two or so hours while the next plane comes and when it finally does, its apparently out of gas and no one is coming to fill the stupid thing up..I think we sat in the plane for like another 45 minutes or so till they finally got it filled up, and then we were on our way (6 hours later). Those two flights pretty much turned our 8 hour trip into a 30 hour trip
On our way back on the 27th, we're sitting in louisiana to board our plane once again but its about 30 minutes late or whatever...we board that plane, get ready to leave and my sister and i were all happy because that was like the quickest an AA plane had been able to get flying out of the three that we had taken at that time. BUT, obviously we something HAD to go wrong because just before takeoff, they start breaking to a stop again and we find out that someone was saying that they were feeling ill and wanted to get off. The pilot then goes back towards the airport, the individual gets off and we think, well ok..we should be on our way now. But clearly not because that person got off and then they were like oh, we have to wait for their luggage to unload which took like forever. That espeically frustrated me becuase they held the airplane for so long knowing that most of the people on the flight had connections in dallas and were going to miss them. so then we ended up being about 2 hours late again and thinking we were gonna miss our connection once more!! but then we get back to texas, we're running to our terminal to board the last plane to take us back to toronto, but then we get there and see loads of people moving about and looking confused..so we check the board, and the flight is cancelled!!! It wasn't even anything weather related...apparently it was cancelled due to maintenance, something that I feel the airline should've known about much before than 10 minutes before the boarding process.
So then, we just got in line and tried to get the next flight out, but they were like oh, we dont have room but we'll put you on stand by for the next one and confirm your place on the one after...well the standby thing was all BS...they had everyone on the standby list wait till AFTER the plane started moving away before telling us that there was no room for us at all. Since we didnt get on that plane, we then had to wait for the one that was like 11 hours later so once again, our 7 hour trip took us about 20 hours this time.
I literally hated every experience I had with them...I feel that the airline is completely unorganized and I'm telling every person I know about what happend with our flights so that they dont have to go through the same thing as us. I would completely understand if one flight was delayed or cancelled but for EVERY single flight we had with them to have some kind of an issue that they should've been able to resolve quickly is really sad.

[PHXFlyer]

Will you please re-post this in the regular black font. My eyes are bleeding out!

Sounds like you just had a string of bad luck. Just because every single flight you were on had an issue doesn't mean every single flight everyone else will take on AA is guaranteed to have an issue. And just how was an ill passenger the airline's fault?

[IhateAA]

I dont care that the passenger was ill...what ****** me and everyone else on the flight off was the fact that the flight wouldnt just take off and then ship their luggage back later. They had us wait god knows how long while they took their luggage out and others on the flight in the meantime missed their connections. Why should 50 other people have to wait for one person who decided to get on the plane and then get off? its completely stupid

[The_Judge]

Originally Posted by IhateAA

I dont care that the passenger was ill...what ****** me and everyone else on the flight off was the fact that the flight wouldnt just take off and then ship their luggage back later. They had us wait god knows how long while they took their luggage out and others on the flight in the meantime missed their connections. Why should 50 other people have to wait for one person who decided to get on the plane and then get off? its completely stupid

Risking the wrath of the admin, I vote this (bold print) as possibly the silliest comment of the year.

This is the epitome of a security violation.

[jimworcs]

This is a catelogue of problems which typify the travel experience on airlines in the US. The response of AA is also typical. A bit of communication goes a long way... but the airlines are very bad at this and often resort to deception and lies.

The ill passenger incident is a good example to explore. We can look at that and say

And just how was an ill passenger the airline's fault?

But, the OP did not blame the airline for this. However, there are questions as to how this is handled. If a passenger is unwell, the Captain is able to make the decision to continue.. but lets accept his judgement was that they needed to return to the gate.

The next essential requirement is communication. It is a federal requirement that a passenger who disembarks after the flight has been despatched, must have their luggage removed. Indeed in Europe, the whole flight has to be disembarked and the cabin searched, before the plane can continue. This should first be explained privately to the passenger asking to disembark, and they should be asked if their illness constitutes an emergency. If so, and the Captain agrees, they should be disembarked. There should then be an announcement to the remaining passengers explaining the rules and the reason for them.

The next requirement is to help the passengers. The airline should advise the passengers that staff will be assisting them with rebooking. The airline doesn't need to wait until the passengers arrive in Dallas, stressed and upset and make them stand in line for hours. They know they will miss their connections, and have enough time whilst the plane is enroute to help them.

There is a whole mixture of problems, some in the control of AA and others not which the OP experienced. He knows that perfectly well. The real complaint, which is a thread running throughout this forum, is that AA's handling of it was TERRIBLE.

[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by IhateAA

I dont care that the passenger was ill...

Well that says a lot now, doesn't it. Peace on Earth, good will...and all that rot. Next!

[Leatherboy2006]

after what almost happened on xmas day, the op should have been more horrified if they had not taken the sick persons bags off. what if being sick was just a way to get off and leave a checked bag with something dangerous in it on the plane.

[jimworcs]

Exactly right Leatherboy, but all they had to do was explaint that to the passengers. What is it about airlines that they seem unable to communicate effectively with their customers?