[youthchg]

Flight 2211 from DFW to PDX that was supposed to leave at 9:20 PM and didn't depart until 7:30 AM the next day.

This flight was delayed by 10 hours because AA couldn't find a pilot. In the morning, they still couldn't find a pilot and now they also had no flight attendants to work the flight. That extended the delays in the morning after a full night spent shivering and wide awake at the departure gate.

Worse, AA refused to provide lodging vouchers despite repeat requests from me and countless others. I had found lodging 12 miles from DFW since no rooms were open closer. I was repeatedly refused lodging assistance by the supervisor and gate agents, and instead had to wait nearly two hours for a cot that I had to beg and plead for. There were insufficient blankets and I shivered for the entire night while an ear-shattering loud TV blasted stadium-level sound throughout the gate area. I am now quite ill, exhausted and traumatized, and did not make it to Portland in time for my meeting that I was flying to. This was not just a trip in vain, it was a trip in pain.

AA refuses to refund me even though I arrived too late to get to my commitment that I was flying to.

Passengers were screaming and swearing at the gate agents, and I have images of passengers sleeping on parked passenger transport cart seats, on bare concrete floors and upright in chairs. I have pictures of passengers crying, babies and children shivering, and Moms yelling and begging for lodging for their families. This is the new face of American Airlines.

It was an entire night of suffering in what amounted to an American Airlines refuge camp. AA should be ashamed of themselves.

Bottom line: An airline without pilots at one of the world's largest airports makes a dubious business plan. AA has but one job: to fly passengers. If AA can't do that any more, they need to alert the public. I strongly suspect that their pilots are staging a work slowdown that AA is trying to keep secret. What else can explain 10 hours without a pilot at the world's largest airline at one of the world's largest airports?

If you plan to take an evening flight on AA, bring a tent and be prepared for dirty bathrooms, freezing cold conditions, and heartless staff that won't help you find a hotel room or even a cot. Their new slogan should be "American Airlines, when you want to spend the night in an airport refugee camp."
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