American Airlines Reviews

Luckily there was a couple in the front of me that was in the army also. They told me they would watch my son really fast while I get the bag, so the man that works at AA said he called the police (he seen me bring the bag in). Then it was about 505 and I had to have my bags checked by 520 to board by 6. He called the people in front of me and at 505 he stopped calling my line. (I was next in line.) He procrastinated and then called me at 521 to the front of the line to check in my bag and told me he wouldn't be able to because it was 521. He didn't offer to put us on the next flight as a stand by and told me and the others in line we had to call AA customer service to Book another flight.

I then had my bag come back to get us from the airport and call AA customer service. The rep I spoke with told me I would have to book and pay for a 1 way flight because I was a no show. I explained to her what happened & requested a supervisor. The supervisor was very rude to me. I explained to her what happened and I felt like it was discrimination and requested a Manager. She then told me no there was nobody else to speak with and hung up on me.

I called back and spoke with another supervisor who explained there was nothing he could do and I would be paying 301 for a 1 way flight. My orig ticket was for a round trip was about the same. I then found a flight I could afford for 179 but was 2 hrs away leaving from SJC TO PHX (Phx is 2 hrs. away from Tucson) but that was all I could afford. I then had to have my dad drop us off and that airport and then flight was delayed. We ended up flying into Phi and getting picked up by my Husband and drove 2 hrs. Home. I was being discriminated against and racially profiled. This isn't the first time with AA but this is my first time reporting it. I will never fly with them again.

Once my puppy buyer arrived there to pick up their puppy they gave him horrible service the bagged desk. The desk person's name was Alex at Albuquerque New Mexico is the baggage claim desk!! He told my puppy buyer that he probably bought from a scam breeder and wouldn’t even look at his flight itinerary on his phone. They gave him a nasty attitude and did not want to help him whatsoever until he had to get me on the phone in order to speak to them. This company is awful. They give all cargo shipment companies a bad name. I will never use them again. I am extremely disappointed.

For us, we not only missed our Charlotte to Seattle connection, we were holding first class tickets for this flight flight, but now we were going to be lucky to get a seat in coach the next day. We were not compensated for losing our first class seats, 'because it was mileage tickets', and although American caused the problem, it was not their mileage so they accepted no responsibility for their late flights and missed connections. The other airline did not delay any flights so they were not the ones to be held accountable. Further, because we were not in Seattle that evening we missed our Seattle to Anchorage connection later that night, and ONCE AGAIN lost our preferred seats and had to take whatever was left in coach the next day. Finally our dogs In Anchorage had to stay another night at a kennel, and of course we had to absorb this charge as well!

What did American do for us? They gave incredibly poor customer service for everyone on the flight. We were in line for two hours at the Charlotte airport. They did not add any extra personnel to help mitigate the delay. I was accidentally upcharged for a seat by the Charlotte agent, and the agent was unable to figure out how to "undo" it, even after she placed a call to someone. ( I finally told her to just leave the charge on there and let us go. ).

I am sure the agent that charged my card additional fees for one seat could see that this plane had many, many empty seats. She also knew that everyone in that line had suffered as a result of American delaying takeoff of the flight in Tampa. Considering the circumstances I am left wondering what American Airlines idea of customer service is? Delays are not good, but one would expect helpful counter service to remedy this. The Charlotte employee insisted that unless we each paid for upgrades, we were not going to sit together.

(For some reason she was unable to remove the charge once she placed it, and therefore we could not sit together in the back of the plane either. The person on the phone was unable to walk her through the refund process. I thought the flight was so full that we had somehow lost the seat, so I told her to leave it and we would just pay for one seat upgrade as long as we were both on the same flight.)

The next morning the ticket agent at check in moved us together AT NO EXTRA CHARGE. Since the plane was half empty, I was wondering why we were even charged on the first ticket, or why we couldn't sit together somewhere (anywhere!) when our tickets were put in the system the night before. Again, poor training on the reservation system, and even worse instruction on how to win customer loyalty.

The moral (!?) of this story is flight delays apparently mean nothing to many of the American Airlines Charlotte employees. Our hotel clerk told us that 'American always does this' - (fills their hotel with unlucky travelers) but other airlines don't seem to. Why American and not the others? I don't know. Why would American have such clearly untrained and uncaring employees? I don't know. Should anyone book a flight with American if they have other options? That would be your decision. Hope this helps!

Well after waiting for my zone to board a rep at the gate told me I would have to check my bag because there was no room. I informed the gate rep that I had all my belongings including medicines and glassware in my bag. He rudely stated, "Oh well??" He said I can not take my carry on bag period! Having no other choice I had to check my bag.

After getting on board and watching the very last person board I was shocked to see there were several open overhead storage bins with no bags whatsoever? Talk about being highly upset. To make matters worse it was raining very heavily so my non weatherproof gym bag got totally soaked by the time I retrieved it at my final stop. I have never been so highly frustrated by the entire situation. I will take every step possible to avoid flying American Airlines on my future travel plans. Personally I think something has to be done to stop American Airlines from scamming its customers into paying more money for advanced seat assignments, then penalizing customers that choose not to do so!! Not sure also why there is not better communications between the gate staff and staff on the plan to better determine what room is available as staff boards.

The airlines also told my employer there was a seat available to purchase on the aircraft even though I was told it was full by the AA clerks at the gate. Then AA proceeded to lie to my employer and state I wasn't at the gate reason being me not making the flight as I was watching the plane pull from boarding ramp and talking to AA workers that were scanning the tickets, liars!

So they leave me stranded in Philadelphia with no coat in the cold or toiletries and without my luggage, in which they stated that they were not sure exactly where my baggage was. I was told to look online and locate it. I specifically looked at the three airline clerks and told them I had a checked firearm and that they would responsible if it got into the wrong hands and they did not locate my bag! I had to demand they find out, which they never did standing there clueless of who to call. If these people are this clueless then what about the people flying the plane! Will never fly this irresponsible/unprofessional airlines again! I fly Delta usually and will no longer fly AA again!

Again, we live in Reno, NV therefore we had to get a flight with American Airlines to Los Angeles. Our flight from LA to my hometown was through Volaris since there were no connecting flights that can be done. I made sure to leave a 2 1/2hr gap between our arrival to have enough time for our next flight. Now here is where my nightmare happened. We arrive at the airport in Reno to find out their systems were down so it took forever to check in. Due to that our flight gets delayed from 9:30 am to 10:15 am. I grew a little concerned since I would still have to pick up all of our luggage and rush with our niece and nephew to the next flight. They start boarding the flight and also start having system issues there.

There are two flight attendants on the counter in our gate and one of them says “we apologize however if you have boarding tickets please go to the gate to my right and everyone with their pass on their cellphones check in here.” At this point, the lady behind us sees our passes in our hands and says “you guys need to go over there” so we go, the flight attendant lady there gets our boarding passes, scans them (I didn’t hear any beep) and says “thank you. Have a good flight”. We get in the airplane and all of our seats are taken...(a family and another older gentlemen also had their seats taken.) I flag over the flight attendant and she brings us to the back of the plane.

Once everyone is boarded the flight attendants start figuring out what happened and finally the manager walks in the plane rushing saying “you guys are in the wrong plane and your flight just took off”. How does this even happen?!? They take us off and say, "We will get you guys in the next plane to LA." Keep in mind our flight from LA to our Hometown leaves at 1:30 pm. So they find a flight and it leaves at 12:00 pm! I tell the lady we need an earlier flight as we will miss our second one. She says that is all they can do for us.

The lady at the other counter comes and starts saying, “sir you're the one that boarded the wrong plane.” I get upset and start telling her “Lady you put us on that plane and even scanned our 4 tickets!” I then ask for their manager and she says “Look sir, our job is to get you from Reno to LA, any other flights after that are not our responsibility.” I get on the phone right away and call their customer service and they say I need to figure it out with the Manager at the location. My wife finds the manager and he tells her “we can’t do anything about it”. I called Volaris customer service and they tell us since we will miss our flight they cannot refund us our tickets and we will have to buy new tickets for the next flight and that American Airlines should be responsible for it. The next flight leaves in 7 days! (There is only one flight a week and once a day from LA to our Hometown.) We sit down and see alternatives and have no luck.

They then announce that our new flight is delayed from 12:00 pm to 12:20 pm due to maintenance issues. 12:20 pm comes up and we are still just sitting trying to find ways to get to our destination and they announce our flight is delayed again from 12:20 pm to 1:15 pm! At this point I along some of the customers on that flight go up to the counter. I start telling the new lady at the counter if there are any flights they can get us to where we arrive at a near town and then we can catch a bus or something.

She looks and says there is nothing. I tell her, “there is nothing at all? What is your policy for not meeting a customer's expectations?” At this point she ignores me and I’m just standing there burning inside... I never felt so helpless... I tell my wife to get some food for the kids since it’s going to be a while. As I go back to my seat, the guy behind me starts arguing the same thing but he was going to Australia through Southwest and his flight had been canceled so they set him up on this flight through AA. Right away the lady starts giving him all of these alternate flights to get him there! I wait for her to assist him and I go back up and tell them, “so you can find a solution for him but not for our family?!?” And she ignores me!!!

After all this chaos we land in LA at 3:30 pm and are now stranded. We talk to AA customer service and say there is nothing they can do. We go to Volaris and they find a flight the can get us 6 hrs away from our home town. We book the flights, we arrive there at 12 midnight and get a taxi to the nearest bus station. On the way there the taxi driver mentions how dangerous it is at night and recommend to get a hotel, get some rest and leave in the morning. We take his advice and to get to the end of this. We get to our home town the next day at 4 pm almost 24 hours and $1,100 later. Keep in mind this does not include the non-refundable missed flight which was $1900 for all four of us round trip so I would say $950 one way. So where is the justice? How is this fair to any customer? I hope this review can go high up and the word can be spread as no one should go through an experience like this...

I want to understand how people will have the patience to read a pop-up when they are in an emergency and don't have an option to go back to the website to read the cancellation policy. I had another booking with SPIRIT airlines, but they were able to refund at least half the amount because it was within 24 hours. I don't understand why American Airlines can't update their website accordingly. I'm totally disgusted with them. I'm NEVER BOOKING them in future.

Let me tell you, I take responsibility for my own faults, but if you ever cancelled a flight, THERE IS NO INFORMATION PROVIDED on how to re-book it or its validity. I thought it was one year from the day I cancelled it. Turns out it was from the day it was purchased, but this was not provided to me at time of cancellation, nor over the phone, nor in the cancellation email. Right now, after several exchanges, they are refusing to try to help in any way. I am not asking for much, my goal here is for them to recognize the lack of information they give out, and how difficult they make it for customers to find the information. Extremely disheartening. They must be doing not so good if they hanging on to every penny! Stay away from AA. And they used to be my favorites. :(

The attitude was, "Sorry but I cannot do anything." There was no explanation as to why the seats were allocated to another pax and we are left now with a take it or leave it situation. I have my own theory as to what has happened and I understand that BA block out seats for high tier pax and frequent flyers but the seats I chose back in April were open for booking. Furthermore I called on Feb 7th and was told the equipment change happened on the 6th. This very frustrating but lesson learned. If flying to USA stick to Virgin. AA sucks.

A few minutes later, I received an email explaining that they were unable to complete my booking and to call them for another “great” fare. I called the (800) number on the email and spoke with a lady with a foreign accent. She told me my booking did not go through and she would assist me by booking my flight over the phone. I don’t remember the fares she quoted me, but they were much higher than the fares I attempted to book online. So, we ended the conversation, with me telling her “I would purchase the tickets from another travel service,” and she told me “my credit card would not be charged”. I believe it was the next day when I purchased a set of tickets at a higher cost from a more reputable travel service company. To my surprise, the unauthorized/invalid charges were added to my credit card statement in the amount of $1,040.64.

Also, The American Airlines Customer Relations department is a joke. Their only response was a canned message: “Your tickets are non-refundable. We value you as a customer.” Hollow words when they treat you like **... I am looking for others to join me, if you have been victimized by American Airlines, treated like a second-rate citizen, followed by the words “We value you as a customer” as they offer no concern or solutions for their poor customer service. Please, post your story! Together we can make a difference, and hopefully show them what the American consumer can do! Join me in this push to eliminate online scams and corrupt corporate practices. When you consider the growing number of online purchases and all the fraud and scams resulting from such online sales, it is very important that American Airlines and other corrupt companies are held accountable to the very people they call “valued customers”.

So here we are again in PHX going back to FL - about to board - All of a sudden I couldn’t get my mobile boarding pass on the phone and we were just about to board. So I go to her and ask for a boarding pass. She is not busy - not doing anything - and says... “Someone will be with you in a minute...” and then just stands there. What??! You’re not doing anything and you can’t help me? I roll my eyes and then somehow she finds time to print out the pass. Then my turn to board the plane and says I have to consolidate my bags - ie - my TINY little purse has to go in the backpack - OMG really? Just to be a ** control freak “because she can”. I was grumbling down the gangway and another couple had a similar BAD experience with her. Maria - no last name - you’ve done a good (i.e. bad) job of creating a very unpleasant experience from the start and have reinforced that I will not be flying American anytime soon if I can help it.

The person who I was speaking with basically said, "Consider your ticket as a donation to American Airlines." I told her, "I am not asking you to change the ticket free of charge. I know that there's a difference that would have to pay", but again I was turned down. American Airlines by far is the worst airline that you can fly and deal with. They don't care about anything other than themselves and the money that is going into their pockets. Very disappointed with how they handled this situation. I WAS TOLD, "WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER AND HER HEALTH! GO BUY ANOTHER TICKET!" Never again would I ever book a flight with this ridiculous airline. Think before you book this airline!!!

Passengers had to spend an extra night in Jackson Hole, AA did pay for a hotel, whoopdedoo. My friend was a pass customer so he got nothing. In the end he rebooked on Delta to be guaranteed a seat and a trip home. American Air has the most flight delays, and worst service of any US airline. I stopped flying them long ago, and now my friend will too, despite paying a nominal fee as a courtesy passenger. Not worth the grief. AA flight attendants are the nastiest and rudest as well.

We made our way back to the main terminal only to wait in line for about an hour and 15 minutes to speak with a representative that casually asked if I wanted to wait another day for my flight in which my response was "Will you compensate me for the day?" and he quickly found another connecting flight in Charlotte. However, I paid for us to sit together and I asked for this to be done on the new flight and was told I would need to reconcile this in Charlotte. After the new flight was arranged, we had to wait again in TSA's line for another 40 minutes to just wait for 2 hours for this delayed flight.

Once arriving to Charlotte, I went over to the customer service line with about another 20 customers in line looking for answers and was told that If my partner and I wanted to sit together it would cost me $32...which was absolutely incredible considering that my travel day is now approaching 11 hours instead of a 4 hour day. I advised the AA associate that I already paid for seating and she said that it was automatically refunded (which has not been the case yet) and that unless I paid the 32 dollars, we would have to sit apart from each other.

Bottom line: Tampa International AA staff - Rude and unprofessional. Flight 2001 1/28/2018 Rude and uncaring. AA staff at Charlotte Rude and uncaring. AA flight 2068 was fine. I have always relied on Delta and JetBlue - If you're looking for a courteous company with customer oriented staff - please choose one of the two that I have mentioned. American Airlines treated us like we owed them something and I will never ever fly them again. Hope this helps.

Half month later Citi informed me "you are not enrolled and not eligible for $200. If you want to cancel, we won't refund you anyway". I was transferred back and forth between two companies and all different departments. Basically they were telling me "Sucks to be you that you believed our promises and none of us would give you the reward that tricked you into the purchase." 3. I was on a trip in hot summer (+100F). AA didn't turn on AC the entire trip no matter how many passenger required how many times. Even after I asserted that I am getting so sick from suffocation. The temperature was never turned down. It was the worst airline I have ever dealt with in my entire life among all airlines from Asia to US to South America.

I am a Priority Gold traveler with AA, (**) but that loyalty is one sided, there is no reciprocal benefit. Yes, I had an inexpensive discounted ticket, but that was available, I bought it less than 48 hours before my flight. Take a look at my purchase history this past year. You'll see I also bought a lot of expensive tickets as well.

Your decisions are set up to abuse your most profitable customer the business traveler. Recreational traveler know their flights weeks in advance lock in schedule and get fares that business travelers can only dream of. Me short notice, do the best that I can and hope for a little luck once in a while. I promise I will let as many people as I can know of AA's commitment to its customers, especially friends who travel on business. Unfortunately I'm not the social media wizard my children are but sitting here waiting 4 hours for a flight gives me time to learn.

I'll be making this same trip a week from Monday and I will do my very best to be boarding a JetBlue flight from terminal C instead of my usual AA flight from terminal B. I hope this wakes you up. I also hope I can clarify your reputation. I've flown you since Mohawk Airlines, stayed loyal for years and got kicked to the curb regularly.

Sorry, but that was a little too extreme for my taste. Nothing like that has ever happened to me and instead of conveniently taking me to my final destination, I was losing my already short vacation time, treated like a felon, and was about to sleep on a cot in a police cell. So my solution was to buy a soonest ticket from Rome to Russia on my own, which, considering the situation, American Airlines or Finnair should have done in my opinion. That, obviously, created a problem with my luggage and my returning itinerary.

Luckily, I got my luggage delivered in Saint-Petersburg a day later, but I had to buy a ticket back to the USA by myself. So, obviously that doubled my expenses for the traveling which I was not planning on during my trip. On top of that I had to deal with both Finnair & American Airlines through all of the experience by calling 2 places instead of one. Got a partial refund from Finnair but American said that it was all my fault. I have to look out for myself and know the laws. Never again will I fly with them and don't recommend you!

My wife's future credit (minus the $200 fee) must be used within 10 1/2 months, as I purchased the tickets 'early'. (Must be used within 12 months of ticket purchase). When I asked the operator to send an email confirmation, he said AA would NOT send an email confirming my wife's cancelled ticket and would NOT post it on her AA account as a 'reminder' to use remaining balance, essentially setting us up to 'forget' the balance and further the chance of losing the remainder of the fee that was paid. When I asked the AA gentleman, who was overall pleasant, about the outrageous costs of doing (rather not doing) business with AA, he said that it "Helps with other costs, overall." Unbelievable!

The original ticket price for my wife and all associated fees cost $386.00 and was booked 2 1/2 months in advance. The cancellation fee and new ticket for my son to travel in the same seat cost an additional $290.00. God forbid, if we fail to use the balance of my wife's first ticket within the next 10 months the 'little change' will cost nearly $476 OVER the original ticket price, nearing $850 for a ticket change. I understand the concept of purchasing 'trip insurance', however it should be called 'Terrible AA ticketing and refund policy insurance'!

There are no TV screens, no movies and the attendants are back to doing safety drills physically like in the old old days. It's bad enough one has to deal with the attitudes of 90% of the ground staff and then have to bunched up like pigs on truck to slaughter. Next time you're flying you will know what I mean. Especially if you fly a lot as I do. It's insane how they can get away with this, when in fact it is a HUGE safety factor in terms of being able to get people off a plane in an emergency. So as usual, someone will have to die before they get that squeezing you in a tube for more money is pathetic at best.

My wife and I have been fighting the credit card company for months now to get those miles she was promised. She actually spent about $1300 on the card and when I called a couple of months in to see about the miles they said she would get them in the next billing cycle. She never got the miles. Now they are saying that she had to spend $3000 on the card within 3 months and she did not do it so "tough". We canceled the card but it takes my blood pressure up a couple of points every time I hear the flight attendants telling the same old lie.

Last, I got their platinum credit card and paid 200.00 annually for their companion ticket. The catch is you have to spend 30,000 to qualify for the companion ticket. I tied to downgrade and they were nasty and said I have to cancel. I plan to! I have been with them since 2001. No loyalty. Compared to Delta, I can’t believe an airline can function with such bad service. Even the staff seems unhappy. Where is customer service? Basically they are looking for ways to shaft the consumer not create happy customers.

Sunday comes enjoying the hockey game, it's about 3:00 pm and planned on being at the airport in Phoenix by 7:00 pm for an 8:30 pm flight, when we get a text that our flight had been cancelled and rebooked for Wednesday, 3 days later. Now we are spending the rest of the hockey game trying to book a flight since we can't sit around for 3 days in Phoenix. Managed to get a flight on Southwest to LA, rented a car and drove home. Got a text Wednesday that our flight for Wednesday had been cancelled and booked on another airlines. Never, ever again with American Airlines.

All I wanted was to have my seat that I had paid for and sit down in it or at least have the flight crew change it in their flight log as my previous flight almost crashed during the storms on Jan 2, 2019. So I told the man to update his flight log to indicate that I had been moved and then the crazy lady in my seat said, "I WILL HAVE AN EXCHANGE WITH YOU!!!" And started to stand up, raising her hands and acting very aggressive and threatening. It was totally embarrassing, uncalled for and scary, this absurd woman yelling and being allowed to carry on this way in a quiet cabin full of passengers already seated. What is wrong with people? Why did the flight crew apply blame to me as if I had started this?

The flight crew guy was very condescending to me, the situation had escalated to the lady threatening me and no one told her to shut up, calm down or get off the plane. I did not provoke anything. I was not allowed to have my seat and I wanted it to be documented in case anything happened. The flight crewman then leaned over from behind and shoved a tablet in my face pointing and again condescendingly said, "See? I have changed you, just like you wanted, there you go!" So I had a five hour very uncomfortable flight with no one making eye contact with me. It was humiliating and I plan to pursue a formal complaint with AA.

After complaining and some looking around, I was left with the option of flying to Hartford, which is 2 hours away from Albany and needed to find a way from there. When I got to Hartford, CT, my luggage wasn't there. They told me they would send it to CT but being that I was going to Albany, I had to cause a stink in order for them to even send it to me there instead. I had nothing for an entire day and a 1/2 other than what I was wearing. I plan to make a monthly trip like this for the next 8-12 months but I will never choose to fly an airline like this in risk of all the mayhem and hassles associated with it.

There were several people who were bumped waiting for the next flight in a couple hrs. There was no room on any other flight for me until 5 pm. It is now 5:30 AM. I also have to go by way of Chicago instead of Newark. I am try to get to Tenn to drive a vehicle back to NY that was bought there. Now the dealership will be closed when I get there so I will have to pay for a motel and won't be back in NY on schedule. I'm not a happy customer and probably won't be a customer again. I have flown all over the country bring new, and used car, pickups, and even semis dump trucks, etc and have never been treated by any airline company in this manner.

On the way back on 12/29/2018, we had to fly in to Charlotte again. We flew in with plenty of time to get to our new gate. I flight (AA 1172) showed "On time." Then it got delayed by 2 hours and eventually, cancelled all together until the following morning. The excuses we received ranged from "mechanical problems," "De-icing issues" and finally, "We grounded all our pilots/too many hours of flight time." An honest answer would have been nice. In talking with the hotel shuttle driver and also the hotel we stayed in, American Airlines does this chronically, not just on holidays. Because of this fiasco, I will certainly look at other airline options before American Airlines for my future flying needs. American Airlines service has eroded over the years and this by far, is an all time low as far as quality and service for their customers.

The next few days we tried to recuperate we were on able to experience any of the excursions we had planned. Upon my arrival back home to the states I contacted American Airlines where they have the following to say “we apologize for this inconvenience however we will give you $100 credit each for this inconvenience please note they do expire within a year”. My husband and I almost never travel and we blew all her vacation time to do this trip with one another. I am beside myself with regret and anger towards this airlines and the fact that they would not help me beyond this hundred dollar credit voucher.

It would’ve been better if these would never expire since in 2019 we cannot take anymore time off. They should’ve put us on a different flight to begin with or had a top priority to get the flight fixed. Bawling your eyes out in a row of people you don’t know because your honeymoon just went down in flames is humiliating. Go to American Airlines I think you are making me look like an idiot making me ruin my time off for 2019 and giving me the worst honeymoon I can ever imagine.

When we first booked these tickets, it was at an earlier time which was best for my mother, but they delayed the return flight (2 weeks prior) and had us coming home very late which was not good for my mother. Do we get a reduced fare? Of course not. This ends up being a disaster and a costly experience. Never ever will I fly American again, and that will be a big loss of money to them as my family often travels between Vancouver and Phoenix.

The return flight from MCO to JFK was an absolute nightmare. Upon entering the plane, the AA boarding agent saw Lucky and immediately told us to put him in the travel bag. We understood and cooperated. However, she then proceeded to follow us on to the plane to make sure that Lucky was in the bag. She even came to us as we sat on the plane and said “the dog needs to be in the bag during the entire flight.” We were confused because Lucky was in his bag, on the floor, giving no trouble whatsoever. We did not see the need for her to follow us and tell us a second time when we cooperated before boarding the plane.

A few minutes after, we saw the boarding agent talking to one of the stewardesses. The stewardess and the boarding agent came up to us and said that Lucky’s bag needs to go all the way underneath the seat and if he could not fit underneath, then she would need to call her supervisor. We told her about our previous experience using AA (only 10 days ago) and how Lucky was able to sit on our laps on the last flight, so we did not see why there was an issue with him being in his bag during this trip. The supervisor came and asked told us that if the bag was too big, we would need to get off the plane. We refused because this treatment was completely inconsistent with our last experience.

Another flight attendant told us that we would need to get off the plane unless we wanted to bring this to the attention of the pilot. We agreed and asked her to tell the pilot. The supervisor then returned and told us that we would need to get off the plane or they were going to call the police. We were extremely frustrated and requested reimbursement if we had to reschedule our trip. The flight attendant didn’t give us any assurance on reimbursement or rescheduling. Regardless, we prepared to leave the plane to avoid issues with the police. However, we then received word from one of the flight attendants that the pilot said it’s okay if Lucky lays on my fiancé’s lap during the flight.

At the end of the flight one of the flight attendants came up to us and lectured us about the law and how we will be documented for the next time we fly with Lucky. Her body language was aggressive and condescending as she invaded our personal space and continued to point her finger at us as though we were children. The stewardess, whose name was “Joe”, told us how the company would get fined big money if a member of the FAA was on board and saw that they do not follow rules. Again, this is not our issue, as customers.

The experience was extremely unfair and humiliating because of the company’s double standard in following AA policy by its own employees. Although we managed to fly on our intended flight, we still cannot get over the embarrassment, rudeness, and inconsistency of policy that we experienced. After the flight, several of the passengers that witnessed the event, approached us expressing how terribly we were mistreated by the crew. Most of them added that we should file a complaint. We have been considering the use of social media, and possibly pursue legal action.

So I confirmed my new flight. Once I got the digital boarding pass on my phone I noticed the flight time was still 6 AM! I had to scramble to get ready and leave to make it on time. I then received another text message 20 minutes later indicating that flight 1066 which was originally scheduled to leave at 6 AM but then delayed to 11:09 AM but maybe was not delayed after all according to the boarding pass you sent me was indeed CANCELLED.

I called your customer service center in Mexico City. I waited for 10 minutes on hold to talk to someone. It was 3:30 AM. A rep named Alex got on the phone and as I began explaining my situation he hung up on me and I was directed to some automated message asking me to rate my experience with the service I had on the call which never actually began. I called back and waited another 15 minutes to finally talk to someone. This time another rep answered, a woman, who tried her best to help me. She rebooked me on an Aeromexico flight scheduled for 8:40 AM. She advised me that was the only flight available through their partner airlines and the only other option for an American Airlines flight would at the earliest be December 30th. I decided to take the 8:40 AM flight. She advised me to get there at least 3 hours early because of the long lines.

Do you really think it is reasonable to send people a text message at the very last minute giving them an option for a flight that departs 6 hours earlier? Essentially you were saying "oh just kidding the flight departs at 11:09. Ah no just kidding again it still departs at 6 AM. Oh remember when we said that flight was delayed until 11:09? Well it's now been altogether cancelled and you don't have any options until December 30th." That's after I moved at breakneck speed to get dressed at 3 am to figure out what the hell was going on.

The nerve of you people. You charge $700 bucks to cram people like sardines into what more or less amounts to be a tin can. Seats are getting smaller and people are getting larger. How is it reasonable that you guys are so damn greedy you just try your best to stuff a few more seats in the same space every year? This ordeal doesn't even include my experience flying TO Mexico back on December 19th (flight number 2350).

I was so miserable the entire flight. I had no room to move my legs and I'm not a big guy. I weigh about 150, I am a runner so having my legs in a position where my knees are constantly rubbing up against the back seat of the passenger in front of me is torture. It's pure torture. Being in the middle seat I had absolutely no elbow room at all whatsoever. I felt sorry for the guy next to me who was 6'3 and about 220lbs. He was very miserable. Is it any wonder that incidents of air rage have escalated over recent years?

When you put so many people into tight and cramped conditions you are setting up a powder keg ready to explode. Again I really want a straight answer. How can your CEO and other higher ups who make millions in salaries sleep well at night selling miserable experiences to people? How can you charge exorbitant prices for flights-$600 up to thousands of dollars for a seat, nickel & dime your customers on luggage fees, attempt to extort more money from passengers during the check in process for upgrades to get a few more inches leg space in business class and be so arrogant about it? Once passengers have boarded the plane you guys act like your customers are so fortunate that you even give them the privilege of spending such extravagant prices for seats. It's almost like paying someone to torture you while the torturer treats you as if you are lucky to have the opportunity.

I'll tell you one other thing. In contrast my flight back on Aeromexico was 1000 times better. They don't try to pack everyone in like sardines. I actually had leg room to stretch my legs out fully and yes I only had an economy seat. They also provide a decent sandwich for lunch and their stewardesses are actually very helpful. They don't employ old maid rude beast hog flight attendants-past their prime- like your company does. That leads me to another observation. On my flight 2350 to Mexico your flight attendants did not have enough customs forms to distribute to passengers. How is that possible?

You are charging an arm and a leg for a flight and can't even provide the simple convenience of supplying ALL of the necessary customs forms so that your passengers can at least have one less thing to be stressed about when going through customs in a foreign country? Your flight attendants actually are very cavalier about this issue. I have seen that demonstrated on past flights when customers ask for these forms before landing and your flight attendants act as if it is not their concern.

I'll end by saying this. During yesterday's ordeal I was sick with a fever and lot's of congestion. I didn't need to be jolted out of bed at 2:45 in the morning with your disorganized text messages, bad customer service and general chaos. I won't even go into the over 2 million plus advantage miles my Dad racked up with your company over a 23 plus year period from the 1970's to the 1990's when he gave your greedy company so many of his hard earned dollars only to have his advantage miles stripped off him. When it's too expensive for your bottom line to have customers, loyal customers, with so many advantage miles you just take them away. Your greedy executives just love fleecing people who want nothing more than to see their families over the holidays.

My family has flown on American Airlines on countless trips not just back and forth from Mexico and the U.S. but all over Europe as well when I was young. This however is the straw that breaks the camel's back. I will NEVER fly American Airlines again. I am going to let everybody know about my experience-no social media platforms will be spared. Social Media is a great thing! I hope people come to their senses and stop flying American Airlines. Maybe that will force your company to come to their senses.

Asked for my check bag so I could retrieve medication only to have my bag located in Philadelphia. Not sure why it was in Philadelphia since I had no connections there. Customer Relations agent, Sofia, told me I should have put my medication in a carry-on. When I placed the initial reservation, Basic Economy allowed only 1 personal item that could be placed under the seat (my purse counted as the 1 personal item). It appears AA now allows 1 personal item and 1 carry-on. I was never notified by AA about this change. Again this policy changed between the time I reserved and travel time. I did not misunderstand the policy because although AA changed policy online with a Special Notice, they did not take down signs at airport stating Basic Economy was 1 item under the seat. I took a picture of the AA sign as proof that this was their policy.

Next day, flight to Columbia was diverted to Charleston. Finally made it home after 28.5 hours only to realize that my checked bag had made it to final destination earlier. AA kept telling me that delays were due to weather yet they could get checked bags to the destination faster than passengers. I have been a traveler for years and flown many different airlines. Hands down, American Airlines is the worst.

Finally get through to customer service. Agent transferred me to her supervisor. When the supervisor was taking the payment info, the call dropped. I know it was not on my end. Regardless, the supervisor should have called me back. Again, for the 2nd time I put in a call to receive a callback in over 1 hour. Finally the agent was able to take my change seat request. Probably the last time for me flying American.

We have friends leaving the same airport which is Tulsa with different airlines and neither of them were cancelled nor delayed!! My fiance wanted to try and stick with American since they headquarter in our local city (Tulsa), She finally said never again. We will cancel our American Airlines credit card as well since we will no longer need their frequent flyer miles. Good Riddance American Airlines!!! WE HATE YOU!!!

I cannot even tell you how angry that they not only have a "I could care less attitude", but when it comes to a person that protects and serves your country is disgusting. He missed a day home with family spent his money on hotel, and travel insurance that apparently is a ripoff. I re-booked his flight back to base with another airline. American Airline should be ashamed of how they treat the men and women who serve and protect. I will never use their service and hope others do the same.

The plane was old and not cleaned either. This was a flight from ATL to PHL. Later, I walked to the customer assistance desk in PHL and every person up there ignored me and continued to engage in their own personal conversations. Finally, some dude said “can I help you” while he sighed and acted annoyed by my presence. I asked to change a flight to an earlier flight that was leaving and they said it would cost $75 (after I booked insurance on my ticket and paid the extra fees)! The flight was not full so I asked if I could fly standby and they stated that also cost $75 additional dollars that way as well. Don’t purchase insurance, don’t expect anyone to be nice and DON’T FLY AMERICAN!

I will never fly American Airlines again. Rude unprofessional and obnoxious. I held my peace while in excruciating pain from all that running. That brings me to tears every time I think about it and I am a man. Tough as they come but this is extremely hard. My advice to you is never fly American Airlines. I'll drive across country before flying American Airlines again. Care nothing about their customers.

Instead, we were put 17 rows back in seats 18D & 18F. There was a young ** Male seated in 18D, but he was called out on intercom and asked to move his seat. That could have been done the exact same way for those 2 persons seated in our prepaid seats (1A & 2B). We could have become belligerent, and unruly, but since my fiance was already experiencing chests pains, and was literally about to collapse, we needed to be seated quickly. The worst lack of Customer support I've ever experience. My fiance was physically injured from running through that airport. Unbelievable! We continue to seek justice and to be duly compensated for this fiasco! Never desire to fly with them again! AWFUL EXPERIENCE!!!

Is American hurting this much for money? Other airlines charge a small fee to change a ticket, on top of that look at the other fees American charge, baggage fee, seat change from a cabin seat to an exit aisle seat or a comfort seat. Shame on you American Airlines, treat your customers fairly and think of a way to compensate for people who cannot make trips rather than keeping their money...you look and sound desperate.

When I reached airport the time was 3:00 pm. When I tried to check in still it said my ticket was not found and when I reached to American Airlines they said, "Your ticket was not there." After that I called the manager. She came and gave, "I cannot help you. You are late," and issued me ticket on 22nd Dec and she said, "In holiday season we won’t confirm any ticket." In my lifetime this is first airlines who cheated liked this and took 440 dollars. If they cannot confirm and give the ticket why did they deducted money from my credit card? Why they cheated all the way? The customer service was really bad. They just take your money and issue the next day flight when you come to airport. I want some authority to take action on American Airlines. Will never travel in my lifetime in American Airlines.

I ended up eating all my tickets and had to spend $2,000 on round trip airfare (with a new airline) for a vacation I had paid and booked 4 months in advance. When I get back from vacation they give me a voucher for $300 and Now as I book a flight 3 months in advance from Boise to Oakland (a 45 minute flight) the tickets are $700... I literally spend less money going with another airline like Southwest than I would going with American airlines and using my credit! I have no Idea how the prices are so high God knows they are not using that money to make peoples experiences better... I will never fly them again!!!

I usually Travel with Southwest, and have just tried Frontier, and I am sure that if you want someone's continued business, you don't take their money and then say, "We hope that you fly with us again." I hope to never have to ride American Airlines again in my life. To Me, this was incredible, no prorate or nothing, just make your money, so make your flight with American Airlines or you will Pay dearly!

SATAN! The airline from Hell.

The flight attendants, however, cooked themselves hot meals in the galley. The flight attendants were pleasant but did not exhibit any effort to make it a business class experience. Trash littered the floor in-and-outside the forward cabin and no cleaning effort was made by the crew who simply stepped over it. Attempts to complain at the airport service desk were deflected to their website, and requests to speak to a person were dismissed. Bottom line: business class on American is NOT business class.

The answer I received in return was yes. I was happy about that. The next day when I went to check in for my flight, I was told that since I got a refund I no longer had a ticket. I was fuming with anger. I wasn’t told by the representative that since I was getting a refund that I could no longer be on the flight. I thought I was getting a refund for the inconvenience and for just common courtesy. I was told that I had to purchase a new ticket which cost more than the price I had paid for a round trip flight.

I wasn’t given any sort of discount or and any kind of reimbursement. It’s disgusting that I had to pay to get on a flight due to the wrongful information provided to me by their representative. Because of this person's failure to tell me that my ticket was going to be canceled and because I never even received any email telling me that I no longer had a ticket, I had to pay more than 3 times as much for a new flight! This is outrageous! I will never fly on American Airlines EVER again! I never received any kind of reimbursement. These people DO NOT care about their customers and have no decency what so ever. Do yourselves a favor and NEVER fly with them. What an awful experience!

We had about a one-hour layover in Miami so sat in a cafe near our gate where we could see and hear all flight schedules. Our flight was scheduled to leave 7:35 pm so got to our gate 25 mins ahead to find nobody there. We asked an attendant who said the gate had been changed last minute, though we heard or saw nothing to that effect. The gate change was miles away and though we got to the gate with 15 mins to spare they had already closed the gate that wasn't supposed to close for another 5 mins. Bang! Missed our flight. The gate women claimed that she made an announcement well ahead though we and two other couples disagreed. None of us had heard the announcement. We figured people at the first gate were told to go to the new gate so made their flight but us naughties who just wanted a coffee apparently were deaf. This is where it starts to get interesting...

We had to go to another desk to change our flights and the not so pleasant attendant says she can put us on standby for the next flight. Standby? It was then I noticed a monitor behind her that showed the list of standby passengers and there were 14 of us! Unlike the guy behind us I hadn't totally lost it yet, ** happens, so pleaded to have confirmed seats, which she hesitatingly agreed to. I told her we had paid extra for two seats together, but she looked at me as though I was asking for an upgrade to 1st class, so we were once again separated. After a 2.5 hour wait, we got on our next flight okay, as did at least one of the other couples, so things were looking up.

Though we had paid for seats together (our missed flight we would have had two seats on their own, no third seat even!) My wife was squashed in the middle of two people, which she is really uncomfortable with. I always give her the window seat. In the meantime, I'm looking around for two seats together and had to go to the toilet at the back of the plane. I had to wait for gent to come out and saw that he was sitting in a middle seat towards the back, next to a very old and frail looking woman in the aisle seat (found out she was 95!)

To get in his seat, the woman's son had to get out of his very back seat about 4 rows back, unstrap her, lift her up, while the other gent got into his seat, put her down and strap her in again. When he came back, I asked why he couldn't get two seats together, he had been told there weren't any spare or pairs. Suddenly I didn't care so much about our seating position and was thinking how terrible it must be for the old women and her son. When I got back to my allocated aisle seat, there was nobody in the other two seats, so I figured I'd stand until they got in. In the meantime, I asked the gent in the seat next to my wife if he would mind swapping, which he happily agreed to. Passengers were talking and moving around and I realized another four couples, just around us, had been separated and were all working together to swap seats!

Then the strangest thing happened. Though the guy in my original seat had no one next to him, it was announced we were about to take off? He had the all 3 seats to himself the entire flight! I looked around and saw quite a few empty seats and gauged that, every single couple could easily have been seated together! WTF?

Can you believe when we finally got home, our Consumer Report mag waiting for us, had a feature article on why we were all just treated so unnecessarily badly! Did you know there is a new kind of economy class? We didn't, and it's called "basic economy". We figured we had bought regular economy tickets, where treatment can be bad enough but wait until you get stuck with "basic economy"! It's why we couldn't check in or choose seats, even if we wanted to pay the extra. Our return leg was regular economy so we could, and even that didn't work out so well.

In a nutshell, it is a ploy to unnecessarily piss off people so much that you would prefer to pay more for regular economy, where you can choose your seats, though at an extra cost. And it works! We will never buy basic economy again! And hopefully never fly American Airlines again. BEWARE of that crazy "cheap" ticket and NEVER TAKE BASIC ECONOMY! Unless you want to be treated like a piece of dirt and in the end, possibly, with all the hidden costs, pay more than regular economy. And it's not just AA doing this of course. BTW: any kind of refund for paid seats we didn't get, impossible!

Now you know what was on my mind today.

Our flight back was cancelled due to bad weather at JFK so American automatically re-booked us on a flight to Miami two days later. Two more nights in a hotel room before we could go home. Once again I had to pay $320 for seats that were actually no better than anywhere else on the plane. At the airport in Barcelona we were told we would receive a credit for the seats we paid for on the original flight. After no refund was received and no automatic credit was received for the seats we paid for on the flight that was cancelled, we had to do our own research by going to their website and searching for a place where you can request a refund. I found the link, filled out their form and was eventually refunded.

Upon our arrival at Barcelona airport American wanted to charge us each for one bag. REALLY? You're now charging to take even ONE bag. You did not charge us on the way over. Why charge us now. We were told that some flights now charge to handle bags. But we didn't request this flight, American re-booked us. So after a 35 minute battle at the ticket counter they finally took our two bags (one bag each) w/o charge. UGH! BTW, we waited also 40 minutes at baggage claim to finally get our bags in Miami.

Flight attendant service, attentiveness, & friendliness was less than satisfactory. They acted like passengers were an inconvenience. At one point a flight attendant walked down the aisle shaking a garbage bag rather wildly to let us know she wanted our trash. No words, just wild shaking of a garbage bag in our faces. Our economy class tickets ended up costing almost as much as the class above us after having to pay additional dollars to choose seats. And the seats on this 777 were as tight as they could get them. The word sardines comes to mind. We paid extra to fly 10 hours packed like a sardine and treated like cattle at feeding time. The food served was barely edible. A choice between pasta or chicken. (If you're smart you bring your own) Avoid the pasta at all costs.

I am an American Frequent Flyer, albeit, I have not flown them in some time and these flights reminded me why I stopped flying them in the first place. I really believe American Airlines must treat their employees rather badly because some of their employees do the same to their customers. Their employees are not empowered to do anything other than adhere to their company's ill-focused customer policies. Flying is no longer a pleasure and especially with American Airlines.

I contacted American Airlines and this was their response. “Thank you for contacting American Airlines Customer Relations. We know you were disappointed at having to pay an excess charge for your baggage when you traveled with us. (I wasn't disappointed at paying for my luggage. I was disappointed at paying for overweight luggage that was not overweight.) We depend on our agents to assess the items and collect the applicable charge, and in this case, our agent judged that the total amount, size, or weight of your baggage exceeded the free allowance, and we assessed the applicable amount. (I did not think my baggage should have been free. I should have only paid $60 per baggage not $100.) Since our agents are adept at accurately calculating these charges, it wouldn't be appropriate for us to second-guess the amount we charged.

"Too, I don't have the benefit of actually seeing your items -- as our airport agent did. Accordingly, we must respectfully decline to refund the checked baggage charge you paid. (So basically our agents don't make mistakes and you are a liar.) Kevin, we appreciate being given this opportunity to address this issue. We hope to see you aboard again soon.” Based on the response they gave me they didn’t even understand what I was asking for. I knew I had to pay for luggage. I just didn’t want to pay for overweight luggage when it wasn’t overweight.

He announced we would now land in Greensboro, NC... But then 10 minutes later the plane swerved and it was announced that now we were being diverted to Raleigh, NC. We landed around 1:38 am to be greeted by the alarm going off at the bridge. We were told by a man taking off our bags to pick up our bags at the carousel and waited about 20 minutes. NO ONE from the flight or the airline was there to tell us what to do. 48 passengers, 3 1/2 hours late, airport closed for the night, in the wrong airport! We were handed a slip of paper giving us a # to AA at the baggage claim. When we called, they called back 20 minutes later to say they couldn't help us. No one was there to help us get a hotel, a car, or to suggest how to get to our actual destination. I've written AA complaints online- hopefully they will reimburse us for the car we rented to get from Raleigh to Wilmington. I would say terrible service but there was NO service.

I couldn't believe my eyes, my steel-toed army boots had severe dents that till this day I have no clue how they even managed to damage it so badly. Also, my CamelBak (water tank) was clean-cut in a half with a burnt-looking cut line. Like, What the...? How the...? You know what's the worst? Someone along the way noticed that it was so severely damaged and just decided to clear tape it. I did not even get an apology. LOL, just LOL. I will NEVER fly AA. I tell my friends and family all the time to never fly AA. They never reimbursed for any of damages. They are just that horrible. It is very UN-American of them to damage soldier's property like that. They should get rid of "American" in their name and stop dishonoring America.

BA had booked me thru American airlines which are a horror story in itself and so I flew via AA to London where BA was going to take over. At the London airport, it was found that the BA flight that was to fly to Mumbai was having issues where the entertainment system wasn’t working and so they now had to wait for another BA flight to come in that would fly us to Mumbai….well long behold, that process delayed us by 4 hours and I reached at 3 am instead of 12 midnight.

Well, if this was not enough, on my return flight, Sept 26th, 2018, from Mumbai to London, BA operated on time, but the horror was yet to come once we took off from London on AA 101... oh boy!!! An hour into our take off, it was informed that there was something wrong in the left wing and they are diverting the plane and making emergency landing in Dublin, Ireland. Once we landed in Dublin and are still on the tarmac, we see fire trucks and police cars all around the plane, the captain tells us that there doesn’t seem to be anything majorly wrong but they will check it out. We all sat in the plane impatiently while young children were crying, no flight attendants had the courtesy of offering water even to the passengers , until we all started going back into the kitchen to quench ourselves… kids still yelling and crying.

We sat in the plane for a full 2 hours before they announced, “this plane isn’t going anywhere” and that we will be greeted at the airport by AA reps that will take care of us and that we will be responsible to get our luggages. There were no AA reps to ‘greet’ us, all passengers took their luggages and formed a huge line at the airport near the desk, I waited in line from 3 pm to 6 like everyone else. There were kids, elders, but there was no respect to be found. Other staff at the Dublin airport were yelling at us for forming such huge lines and blocking the way... as if it was in our hands. It was after 6 long hours that someone thought of bringing water and chips for us refugees, it was at dinner time that vouchers were given for breakfast and lunch and dinner.

Dublin airport stores and their customer service is even worse, I had one store deny to take the vouchers and yell at me for using vouchers at their store. Another store refused to take the voucher because, “they were closed,” although they hadn’t really closed the register, they literally had just shut off their lights 10 secs prior to my entering. Obviously it wasn’t my fault that I got the vouchers this late, but there was no sense of accommodation or respect. This was reflective of how nastily people get treated when they present vouchers instead of cash, I was made to feel like I was on welfare. This I feel should have been the airline reps, which are local to the airport, responsibility to make sure the travelers don’t get treated like doormats. Eventually I had to settle for McDonald's at the airport.

After 11 hours wait at the airport, without sleep, rest or being able to obtain proper hygiene, smelly, stinky, I finally was booked on a flight to JFK, but my final destination was Cleveland and long behold, they hauled me from JFK to Charlotte and then to Cle and did not even bother to check my luggage all thru to the final destination, so come JFK I had to haul all my luggage out, only to be informed that immigration could have been completed at the Dublin airport, but they DIDN’T… I just pray that they don't put passengers thru such misery and then don't even compensate them for it. I wrote a detailed version. Included my ticket number and itinerary to them to demand for compensation, but haven't even heard acknowledgment. This just shows how they think of their customers.

So here is the story: I was in the airport two hours before the flight (like it is recommended for international flights). Went directly to the check in, when I arrived in the desk (after making a small interview with on agent of AA) the lady asked me for my passport and then the ESTA, I said that I was not going to the US but to Mexico, and I didn’t had an ESTA. The lady said “Ah ok, wait there for my colleague that he will explain for you about the ESTA.” This colleague was the same that made the interview with me a few minutes before. He was on the phone and I waited for him. When he finished the call, he looked at me and said: “So you don’t have an ESTA? Then unfortunately you will not make into this flight!”

I was shocked. I told him that I was not going to the US, that I already had past Visas and had been many times to the US without problem. Then he said “Well this old VISAs are expired, you will need to get the flight tomorrow, we can rebook it for you, just go to the desk across the room and we will relocate you for tomorrow.” I said: “If you can rebook me without charge I can fly tomorrow.” He: “I didn’t said it was without charge.” I asked: “Can I make it online right now?” He: “The check in is closing now”. I: “But it’s more than one hour before the flight! I only have a carry on.” He: “Yes but the Check-in is closing, you don’t have time.”

*Personal question: why didn’t he asked me if I had the ESTA before, during the interview.* I went to this desk, couldn’t find it immediately, asked other people from the airport where was it. Arrived at the desk and no one was there. Came back to the check-in desk, asked why nobody was there. They said “they will come soon.” OK.

Then I looked. There was a girl that arrived after me with her phone trying to fill the ESTA. Then I asked the man: “Why is she trying to fill the ESTA if you said the check in is closed?” He: “Because she had already started an application (or something like that).” Then I asked: “So can I also make it?” He: “It depends how fast you can do it...”

*Can you imagine how pissed I was at that moment? Why didn’t he said that before?!* I started doing it, shaking because I was so nervous. A few minutes after he said: “check-in is closed!” The girl got in, I didn’t. What makes me angry is the fact that if they had told me from the moment I was at the check-in desk that I had 20 minutes to make the ESTA, I could make it. I was there before the check in was closed, I could clearly make it on time. But they lied to me, they made me waste my time. I could do the ESTA in 10 minutes.

They could have done so many things to get me in this flight, but they simply didn’t. Long story short, they didn’t rebook my flight because I bought it from a travel agency and I lost everything. Not going to Mexico anymore and lost €680,00 (ticket price), lost hotel reservation and another flight that I had inside Mexico. All that because they were not willing to let me in, and probably the flight was overbooked. I cried so much that I had a super strong headache.

I will never flight with American Airlines again in my life. My brother also had problems with them, his credit card and his wife’s card were cloned in American Airline official website. My friend that has a travel agency says he doesn’t fly American Airlines, and he was the one that said my flight was overbooked. Now you can see how much they respect their clients.

THEN we came to Chattanooga today for our return flight and our seats were canceled. The ticket agent reassigned us seats, we asked if we were still sitting together and he called us "high maintenance". His name was Steve ** at the Chattanooga ticket counter. It was an absolute nightmare flying with you guys. After having to pay all the upgrade fees for the flights (that we didn't get), the inconvenience of the lost luggage, the berating of the ticket counter person, cab and hotel fees and time lost we need some sort of compensation.

When we arrived at the gate, the agent, Ian, was very rude to us and said that the flight was full; we would not be able to sit together, that they would have to seat my daughter (a minor) separately in the back of the aircraft. We were travelling with our 8 month old baby and they refused to let us board first with the baby. Instead we were the last ones to get on the plane and were then informed that our luggage would have to be checked because the overhead compartments were full. Keep in mind all the baby’s diapers and bottles were packed in our bags.

The agent told us that despite choosing our seats when we purchased the tickets we needed to check in 48 hours prior to actual reserve them. So, we entered the American Airlines app and tried check in 48 hours before our return flight. We did this exactly 48 hours before the flight and they had already given our seats away, the only way we could reserve seats was if we paid an additional 50 dollars per person.

Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come, we were returning to Florida and had the same problem, full flight and separate seats. When we arrived at Gate C22 the desk was empty, no one was working these and a line formed to be given seats. We waited for an hour and 15 minutes before a gate agent showed up (16 minutes before the plane was scheduled to board. The gate agent, Kiana, was incredibly rude to everyone. We were the second in line needing to gate check the baby’s stroller and car seat as well as receive our seats. She was very rude, she said to wait and she would call us up to receive seat assignments, but told us we would be able to board first since we had a baby, she said the same thing to several people and did not respond to any questions.

We were all waiting for her to assign seats and then 3 women who appeared to be her friends came and asked her to assign them seats together. She gave them seats in 2 seconds in front of everyone who had been waiting there for over an hour. She then began boarding passengers without assigning anyone else seats and refused to give us seats until everyone had boarded. She forced us to check our bags, but when we boarded there was still plenty of overhead bin space. When my husband said to her “I thought you said we would be able to board first because we have an 8 month old baby with us” she laughed and said “Well, about that, you need seats to be able to board and that is going to take a little while”. Worst travel experience of my life.

We have been flying with American Airlines for several years, but this was definitely the last time we ever will. I would prefer to fly with an airline like JetBlue that puts an emphasis on customer service. American Airlines should train their attendants about the importance of customer service, if they do not like the work that they do. They should be looking for another job that doesn’t involve human interaction and customer service.

My pregnant wife, son, and in-laws will be sleeping in an airport because of your blatant disregard for humanity and common decency... Oh and the paying customer which big airlines like you shaft so you can line your pockets with our hard earned money. If there were any breaches of contract in the course of business on your end I'm sure you would use the full extent of the law to defend yourself... But why not defend and provide for us with the same vigor? We trusted you to provide us with a service. But we don't get to make an agreement with you. Instead we get a disclaimer, a waiver of your liability that we fly and pay at our risk whether services are provided or not. So despicable.

When I asked the flight attendants if they could possibly assist those passengers which are now most assuredly going to miss their flights off of the plane first they very rudely said that they cannot do anything "Maybe they could make an announcement but you know how people are" is what they told me. So they immediately shifted the blame to the other passengers that would not allow the delayed passengers to get off the plane as justification for not doing anything. They had given up before even trying to help. The attendants that literally did nothing but basically tell me... "Tough luck buddy" were Odette and Brenda on my flight 441 from Mexico to Phoenix and they made an insulting comment which my wife heard, she was a few passengers behind me and then let me know.

I know things go wrong. No one is perfect. But compassion is free, as are sympathy and empathy. All of which we received none... We missed our flight. Delays on every side of the airport process. Then as we got to our gate we were greeted by the two gate employees that told us we missed the flight and they had just closed the doors. No "I'm sorry" or attempt at helping us resolve our issue. They said the door is closed and there is nothing they could do. But in reality... Nothing is what they did. We pleased for help but instead they argued with us for minutes and brushed us off to customer relations... We will tell everyone about this American Airlines experience.

They didn't help me and I missed the flight and I am also missed my one day at work. I book hotel and I went there and I called again and after 2 hour discussion with manager give reason that I am not flying on single way and that's the reason we cancel your round trip. Then I reply to him that already call in customer care and I informed them so it's not my fault. Still they didn't agree with my words. After they check in system and manager was agree that I already informed. So they again book flight for me but that's worst experience. I already missed my one day at work and I spend 150$ to stay in motel for one night. They didn't accept their mistake.

The improvements are mostly cosmetic unfortunately. US based carriers have had a race to the bottom with the level of service. Thusly, and finally to the point, the culture of bad service can’t be rubbed off with even the most pristine fleet. I am writing this from an AA flight from Dallas to Hong Kong. The staff are hostile, territorial, and overall a bitter lot. At present, they’ve gathered in an area and are chastising anyone that deigns to walk through their enclave to get a refreshment. I will try to document with videos. There isn’t any common decency in the way they speak to people. It is quite aggressive, dismissive, and cocky. This is a flight of mostly Asians and most passengers respond with patience. I actually saw a similar behavior on my connecting flight from NY to Dallas. AA is just a classless tacky service culture airline and it will take them another generation to refurbish or replace this culture of uncouthness that they’ve normalized.

To be fair, it isn’t all of the staff but a significant majority. I fly over 400,000 km a year and AA is amongst the worst. I typically take Cathay, Japan Air, Emirates, Etihad, Korean, Swiss, Air France, Royal Jordanian, or British, etc. but this year I have had to use AA probably 5-6 times. I sit on a Board with one of the AA Board members and I will suggest they do better. Dr. ** I don’t have time to make suggestions but there are plenty to be had.

I fly with my dog frequently, she is wire fox terrier 15lbs, and every time I get clearance from my veterinarian to fly and pay $60 for the paper to show the airline. This most recent time at the Phoenix terminal the staff was not prepared, did not know what forms to fill out, and called over the manager to disapprove my boarding and journey further because they deemed my dog "too tall" for the bag. First off, it is a Sherpa bag, a bag approved by many airlines, second, she can stand up in the bag, turn around, and lay down, which is their policy. However, when she gets on the plane and is in the bag, she lays down anyway. I also always get the Premium upgrade for extra leg room so she also has room. The staff member said because she touched the bag height that she was too tall, it is a flexible bag and she can indeed stand in it.

The staff member was deeply insulting and tried to shame me as a pet owner, as an AKC certified pet, who travels with me all the time, I was appalled the staff member took this stance and even put up an argument when the manager told her "they had to allow me to go home on my returning flight." The staff member was upset that she was being told to allow me to get my ticket and then made sure to tell me twice that she was "flagging" me in the system and would also send a message to the Portland, Oregon airport staff to not allow me to fly with my pet again.

My dog is an emotional support animal who pretty much goes everywhere I go, including work. But I was also previously given such a hard time and asked about my medical issues, which is illegal, and twice was harassed by American Airline staff so much so that I gave up on declaring her as emotional support and started to pay for her to travel to avoid the additional stress. Still, I am being harassed. I understand policies are changing, however, I now pay $125 each way for my pet to travel with me and I assure the reader, someone who travels as much as I do with her pet, would not do so if the pet was not well taken care of, often times her fee costs more than my ticket.

To have American Airlines staff shame me, give me a hard time nearly every time I am in Phoenix airport terminal, and make my journey stressful, I have to say this was the last time I will be flying American Airlines. I realize, I am one person in a very small pond of millions of people and the airlines can certainly care less about one person, but I needed to finally write a review. After several months of traveling 1-2 times a month, this was the final straw.

My second accident happened because I purchased liquor in a Barajas Airport duty free shop. In Charlotte airport my duty free purchase weren’t allowed to be taken on a plane with me, and I was made to check it in as luggage. The airport staff helped me to wrap the purchase in my blanket and jacket. Despite that the bottles broke because of the negligence of transportation staff. As a result I lost my purchase on the amount of $35.00 and my belongings. The package was leaking so badly, that it had to be immediately after being picked up disposed into the garbage. Honestly I won't be flying American anymore. They seem to be the worst airline these days.

He was scared to get fired. He was so unprofessional. Couldn't find any number to call to explain my issue. Anyway my flight got cancel because of that stupid person and I went to Reagan Airport to get another flight. I thought in US they respecting the customers and the people but as far as I see most of them has a mental problem especially that guy in American Airline.

Original Review: Oct. 14, 2018

A mistake was made when my elderly mother used American Airlines check in. Due to the deceptive nature of the web system, she ended up paying for priority boarding when she thought she was paying checked baggage fees, as we do on other airlines (this is an opt-out rather that opt-in option, designed to make such mistakes easier to cash in on situations like this). When we arrived at the airport and discovered the error, I immediately brought it to the attention of the baggage check receptionist. He told me he could not reverse the mistaken charge, that we would have to try to do that online, but he said he made a note in our travel record.

I asked to speak to his supervisor. She informed me that it should be no problem. I believed her, but I informed AA personnel at the gate of the error that we thought could easily be remedied. I asked if there was a time stamp on boarding, and they said there was. So, we did not use the priority boarding. Anyway, to make a long story short, when I did try to do that through American Airlines Customer Relations, the representative, Helaman **, refused to issue the refund that had been promised--A SERVICE THAT WAS NEITHER INTENDED TO BE PURCHASED, NOR USED. I informed Helaman that we had done our due diligence to inform AA of this in every way possible. I feel this is very unreasonable and a poor excuse for adequate customer service. I will continue to seek a satisfactory outcome. It is very disappointing that American Airlines chose to not make this situation right.

She then told me I could purchase my own and I would be reimbursed. There is a hotel attached to the Philadelphia airport and their cheapest room was $313. After taxes and fees it came out to $364. Since I was told I was getting a reimbursement I didn't think it mattered how much I paid. At that point I purchased my own hotel and the next day e-mailed American Airlines for my reimbursement. An agent e-mailed me the next day telling me I would not be getting a refund. After arguing my case over e-mail and the phone I was then told I would be getting $120 back.

I have been trying for days to get the rest of the reimbursement but have been told multiple times the maximum reimbursement for hotel stays are $120. It doesn't seem to matter that I was told I would be getting a full reimbursement. The fact that they are willing to lose business over $244 is so crazy to me. This is the worst customer service I have experienced and I will not be giving them my business or recommending them to anyone anymore.

I was impressed. However, I did not get notified so called and found out flight did not get canceled due to slow movement of Hurricane so I sent letter from Dr. Stating my inability to fly through the proper website for AA. On 9/27 as soon as I got letter from Dr. I needed to find out 10/4 that it was denied. Have used AA for years but will remind everyone I know of this unjust treatment and will never again use their services. Sad there is no compassion. That refund financially for AA is pocket change but for us it is a bill payment during this time of pending medical bills.

2) AA only provided me $459.38USD refund per passenger, while I purchased the round trip tickets at $1218.41 per passenger. In fact, this refund is not even enough to purchase a one-stop AA flight ($558) from Chicago-Dallas-Shanghai where I cut my final destination of Harbin. The flights’ numbers are exactly the same as in option 1 provided by AA: AA1625 and AA127. Another trip from Chicago-Dallas-Beijing-Harbin which has the same date and time and very comparable trip itinerary with AA provided in option 1 sell the ticket at $673 per passenger. Those prices are provided by Google Flights which should be the lowest prices. Based on those prices, it looks like AA provides less than 68% of the original sale value to refund their customers.

I contacted AA Passenger Refunds who explained that the refund is based on mileage and fare availability at the time of purchasing, and refused to provide more refund. I accepted the refunds at the time (because I have to), though I didn’t agree with his explanation. It is AA who canceled the flight, not the customer. I bought round-trip tickets 4 months ago; the reason to buy the one-way tickets now is AA’s cancelation of flight. Why you refund me based on the value at the time of purchasing? Additionally, a round-trip value is always cheaper than the value of two one-way trip tickets (especially for international trips); AA should especially take care of customers who already used part of a round-trip ticket of an international trip. Since it is AA’s one side decision to cancel the flight, AA should take full responsibility to make up any loss (money and convenience) that may cause to their customers.

I called American Airlines refund rep and she stated we were emailed a seating change the following week. We were on a tour bus and not in an area were WIFI is available during our trip so we could not receive emails. By the time returned to our hotel and printed our boarding passes, we noticed different seat assignments but it was too late to make changes. By the way, I checked our emails and did not find any notice of changes to our flight reservations regardless of what the refund rep told us.

We do not plan to fly American Airlines again not that it makes any difference to their CEOs' or their reservation department. The refund clerk did say we would be receiving a refund check(?) in a few days. Guess this is better than a "stick in the eye" or no refund at all...we'll see? If anyone out there in cyberspace plans a trip with American Airlines...beware...you have been warned. It is a "bait and switch scheme". Oh yes, we did arrive home ok so guess that is some consolations. Oh well.

Original Review: Sept. 29, 2018

Just had the worst experience. We booked our flight through American Airlines for Los Cabos. Our flight was at 5 am in the morning from Portland to Phoenix Airport. So we woke up at 3 am and left home around 3.20 am for the Airport. We reached economy parking lot around 4.00 am and waited for the red economy lot bus to arrive. After few minutes bus came and dropped us off at the airport terminal around 4.12 am. We reel towards American Airlines counter to Check in our 1 luggage for which we paid extra $25 and lady at the counter denied us check in because we were 5 minutes late. We requested her to check in our luggage and asked her to allow us to board the flight because we don’t have any other luggage. But she was so rude. She denied on our face and her name was L. **.

She put us on a next flight which was from Portland to Dallas and Dallas to Cabos. We were put on a waiting list. We were terrified what will happen if we didn’t get to board a flight now because this was the last flight for today. But finally we got to board the flight from PDX to Dallas. But after reaching Dallas we came to know that we are again on a waiting list which was expected. But strange thing happened we were on a waiting list after 2 person. We were on 3rd and 4th number. But they gave our seat to another person who was with his girlfriend and claimed to be a crew member. But he was travelled there as a passenger. How could they do that with us?

And then they told us, "He is not taking your seat. He is a pilot". Pilot without uniform? And what about his girlfriend? Now we are stuck at Dallas airport again on a waiting list with no certainties. Is this how they deal with their customer? They have spoiled our vacation, our time and our hard earned money. We will never travel with American Airlines again if this is how they treat their customers and travelers. Disappointed and hurt.

She sat next to me and began telling me what happened when a second first class attendant approached and said rudely if we had anything to say to dry it to him. My sister and I replied that we wanted to speak to the captain not him. He would not budge or leave. A few other passengers intervened and he walked away. We emailed corporate and got the worst apology ever not even a phone call to apologize with gratitude. These people just sent an email and now we're trying to call corporate and every time we called corporate and saying that it's closed. Mind you it's 12 our time San Diego and three hours ahead for Texas which makes it about 3 something and still no response. I've tried calling other numbers and no response. I would like a response from American Airlines regarding this issue and other people should never have to go through something like this nor shut should we ever something like this nor should we.

We would have been stuck in Dallas until Sunday (again having to pay our own hotels) or AA would fly us CLOSER to our final destination, then it was up to us to get the remaining 2 hours home... again, at our own expense. I'm sorry, your lack of ability and contingency planning in these situations (bigger plane to get everyone stranded from the 2 cancelled flights the follow day maybe) shouldn't create an additional financial burden of HUNDREDS of dollars, that you are now not responsible for. I'd heard about AA poor customer service ratings, however until this year, I hadn't personally experienced myself. Now, I see what the fuss was about.

Our second flight on the itinerary into Cozumel was thank goodness the one uneventful leg of the journey. Fast forward through a few days in Cozumel to our return flight 1256. You allowed us to leave Cozumel without begin able to land in DFW. Flight cancellation after cancellation lead to us being left on the tarmac in San Antonio for hours. We were then taken off the plane to clear customs and abandoned in San Antonio. No communication attempts were made except emails saying I had been rescheduled on flights, moved to a lower class of service and then those were canceled as well.

I was willing to take my chances that Houston would be a better bet given weather and we had to rent a car to get us to Houston to attempt to get home to SFO in a reasonable amount of time. I am unsure why we left Cozumel when you could not get us to the destination city. I find it irresponsible to have taken all of these passengers when the pilot told us from the get go we would need to circle around Dallas - ie we couldn’t land there. As a result of this experience, I canceled my upcoming reservation on American as the cancellation penalty could not be as painful as another flight with American Airlines. And last but not least their app is terrible and most planes don't have the Wifi to support it. So expect no entertainment on their flights.

She would not connect me to the agent that I had previously, and when I gave her the confirmation #, she quoted me an entirely different price (increase of $100 per ticket). I argued with her and she put her supervisor on the line but she would not change the price to what I was quoted. Said she had no record of that price. At this point, I don't know if the credit card was charged and I am so angry that they have such poor customer service. Has this happened to anyone else. I just wasted several hours of my time tonight.

My son ran to the ticket counter and when he got there they could not find the package and I spoke to the agent at the gate and told them that he was on his way back. I begged and I pleaded with them to not lock the gate. There were two standby passengers and they gave them our seats. We were treated like criminals and my son got back exhausted 1 min after the closed the door to the walkway to the plane. The agents were still in the walkway and the plane didn't leave until 10-15 mins later. We had to wait 16 hours in Las Vegas and 5 hours in Charlotte before getting to our final destination.

The emotional and physical stress were unbearable. We had to buy sweaters and blankets because they checked in our hand luggage. This is worst we have ever been treated by an airline and we will be sharing this on social media etc because this could have been avoided. No compassion was given to us. Whilst seating in the airport for 16 hours we experienced agents assisting passengers when they were late by opening the door so they could catch their flight. My family deserves compensation for this distress and we will be pursuing this further as my son Joseph is narcolepsy patient with cataplexy and this whole ordeal has aggravated his condition. My contacts details are **.

No refund and no way to reopen the ALREADY paid for ticket. I explained the EXTENUATING circumstance and was not given even the slightest bit of empathy. I asked for help. For understanding. What I received was a cold rehearsed and repetitive explanation of what I’d done wrong. I just bought my original seat to go home AGAIN for $535. Total trip for a two hour, coach, domestic flight? $1300.00. My mom is getting better if YOU were wondering.