American Airlines Reviews

While I understand that maintenance issues can be unpredictable and you can’t hold them against the airline. In fact you should probably be grateful for the catch and the safety it could have provided. However, the “assistance “ from the gate that they sent onto the plane provided no answers and became more confusing and combative as the options were given. Then when the passengers were forced to deplane we were told to go to a specific gate and speak to the customer service personnel. The counter was CLOSED!

We had to find our way to an even further Customer Service counter where I can at least say that they were the first American Airlines employees to show any compassion or offer an apology. They were able to reduce my rebooked itinerary from 3 additional flights to two. Only adding an additional 4 hours to our 17 hour travel day. However, we were booked in center coach seats in separate rows. We were not given priority boarding status (even though it would have cost them nothing to go the extra step to make this right). We were not offered meal or beverage vouchers in lieu of our missed first class experience. We incurred a $40 airport meal of a pre packed sandwich, bag of chips, a bottled water, and 2 additional luxury bakery items for dessert.

On the final leg of the trip, I asked for a gin & tonic and was charged $12 for a very subpar beverage and a package of Biscoff cookies. Customer service has acknowledged my complaint with an auto generated response and I have yet to be made aware on how my downgrade will be refunded. These are all “first world” problems that I know I should be grateful for. It’s not the fact that the plane was grounded or that I was inconvenienced, but the fact that nobody took the time to really apologize or attempt to make any part of my voyage correct. I will never get the experience of my first visit to Hawaii back. I will never get the joy of splurging for my 50th birthday back again!

The lack of understanding or empathy is the biggest issue of all. If I didn’t already have my 4th trip of the year booked with this airline, I would say that they would never get my business again. I am a creature of habit and loyal to a fault and will probably not want to relearn another airline. But I will never recommend or encourage anybody else to use this airline in the future.

Return flight, get here by 6:30 for a 7:50 flight, (got up at 5:00 to do so) Uber to the airport, as we are arriving the dreaded ping on the phone, "flight has been delayed 3 hours." 3 hours later flight has been delayed 2 hours, go to the gate. Very nice guy looks and says, "you didn't hear it from me but that flight is going to be cancelled, they're waiting on a part to be flown in." Finds us a flight 150 miles from our home, at this point just get us back to Florida, we'll rent a car and drive it to our car in Ft. Myers, got us a ticket to Miami. By the way we purchased 1st class tickets, every delay and required flight after that was coach, and separated. We taxi out on the runway, my wife hears a really strange noise that won't stop, goes to the flight attendant, tells her she should hear the noise, against attendants desire talks her in to coming back and hearing it for herself.

Flight attendant goes talks on the phone and minutes later, "sorry folks we have a hydraulic problem, we'll need to go back. We try to depart the plane, told, we can't I say we've had enough, I'm not flying on this airlines. After 40 minutes we're allowed to leave, but now need to go through customs all over again, don't care it was worth it just to get away from American Airlines. Find a hotel, get a room book a flight with Delta, get there in the morning, flight on time, look at board American already has 2 cancellations, leave 5 minutes early, arrive early, connecting flight is on time, leave 10 min. early, arrive at our destination. American Airlines is a night mare and there is a reason they have over 1,000 1 star reviews, they absolutely don't care. I just retired, my wife and I plan on doing a lot of travelling, God willing, but I will NEVER fly American Airlines, even if it is free!

Fast forward to 2026 and they canceled our flight from PHX to Naples, Italy due to weather. A quick check of the weather showed favorable flying conditions and when this was brought up, the customer service representative tried to claim turbulence was the reason why it was cancelled. However, another flight left exactly 1 hour later for the same destination. When I asked how the company would remedy this, I was told there’s nothing we can do. On our return from Naples, Italy to Chicago, the plane was delayed multiple times, causing an extended travel day. Then, after we boarded the plane from Chicago to Phoenix, the flight crew said a screen isn’t working, but don’t worry, we don’t need it to fly; however, we need a mechanic to come clear it, causing another delay. If the majority of the world functioned like AA, we would be fired from our jobs. After this trip, I will NEVER FLY AMERICAN AIRLINES AGAIN.

I sent the email in order to make a complaint for getting the refund for the UBER services, that must be covered by AA, like the agent told me because the flight was canceled by the airlines. Guess what?, American Airlines didn't refund me the payments that I had to do because of the flight cancellation that they did... That behavior and action show how untrustful, untrustworthy, disregarded, disrespectful and irresponsible American Airlines is.

Our return trip was met with a 2-hour delay because the plane had mechanical issues and they had to track down a replacement. Arrived in Phoenix on time, but had to wait 25 minutes for the plane in our gate entry to be pushed out of the gate area. Our return flight was on time, but we had another 45-minute delay because another plane took our gate A5. This was the original gate we were supposed to leave from on the 23rd. It was a horrible experience with no accountability from AA. Their response was that we should have gotten insurance. Sad part is that we lost 2 days of resort time, and nothing we did caused the situation. The only positive thing was that we decided to make a day of it in Dallas and experienced Terry Black’s BBQ.

I understand that English is not everyone’s first language, but it was significantly difficult for them to understand our situation and even to communicate with us. Throughout the entire process, no one was showing any remorse for the situation besides an insincere “I’m sorry.” without a single effort to remedy the situation. After close to 10 phone calls and numerous hours on the phone, we finally received a refund for the mistake that they made. There was no sort of compensation or remedy for the insane oversight by the airline that caused stress and financial burden for our family.

The icing on the cake for this whole experience is that when we finally flew home, our flight was canceled after sitting on the runway for three hours. When we finally got off the plane, we were rebooked onto another flight that was immediately canceled. On top of that, our gate check stroller was lost. We had to navigate to a 13 month old around the airport, screaming and crying as we tried to figure out a way to get home. Again, we were told “I’m sorry” many times, but no one did anything to remedy in the situation.

If I learned anything from this experience, fly American Airlines if you want to be told “I’m sorry” dozens of times for the Airlines to not remedy situations that are 100% within their control. I feel sorry for every single customer service agent that works in American Airlines because they are apparently not empowered to make a single decision to remedy the customer. They continuously choose people over profits and we were a prime example of this. I will never be flying with this airline again.

I was traveling home from Madrid and connecting through Philadelphia. I had already paid for my baggage earlier that same morning. Because Madrid is seven hours ahead and my travel crossed different time zones, there was confusion surrounding the timing of my baggage payment and connecting flight. Instead of someone simply taking the time to look at the situation and understand what had happened, I was charged approximately $185 AGAIN to recheck my bags. I tried to explain this to the American Airlines employees at the gate.

What happened next was honestly one of the worst customer-service experiences I have ever had. A male gate agent was incredibly rude and dismissive toward me. When I attempted to get assistance from a female supervisor, thinking surely a supervisor would listen and help resolve the situation, she looked directly at me and said: “I’m not talking to you.” I was stunned.

This wasn't another frustrated passenger saying this to me. This was an AMERICAN AIRLINES SUPERVISOR speaking to a paying customer who was simply trying to get help. The way I was spoken to and treated was so humiliating that I ended up crying in front of a group of people. I cannot understand how American Airlines considers that acceptable. As if that wasn't enough, my flight was delayed FOUR TIMES Friday evening. At one point, I genuinely didn't know whether I was going to make it home.

What happened next makes the entire experience even more disappointing. Delta employees saw what was happening, treated me with kindness and compassion, and even offered to help get me onto one of their flights. Employees from ANOTHER AIRLINE were trying harder to help me than the airline I had actually paid to fly. I ultimately stayed with American. After this experience, I seriously question whether I made the right decision.

@AmericanAir, I am not posting this because I expect special treatment. I am posting it because I expect American Airlines to take responsibility when something goes wrong.

I am asking American Airlines to:

• Contact me directly so this can be resolved.

I understand that flights get delayed. I understand that travel can be complicated. I understand that employees have difficult days. What I don't understand — and will not accept — is being charged money I believe I should not have been charged and then being humiliated when I tried to get someone to help me. American Airlines, you have an opportunity to make this right. Please do so. I want my $185 refunded, and I want someone from American Airlines to contact me regarding what happened in Philadelphia.

The next morning, we boarded the aircraft only to be deboarded because the same maintenance issue had still not been resolved. We eventually arrived in Richmond almost 10 hours late. To make matters worse, our checked suitcase was damaged during our trip, requiring us to purchase a replacement. After submitting a detailed complaint, American responded with nothing more than a generic apology and offered no meaningful resolution. Safety should always come first, and I appreciate that the crew would not fly an unsafe aircraft. However, communication, customer service, and support during this disruption fell far below what I expected, especially after paying for First Class. Unfortunately, this experience has made me seriously reconsider flying American Airlines in the future.

Upon returning to CLT we were initially told that our flight would be attempted again later that evening--but eventually, the flight was canceled. There were no more flights that evening from CLT to BDL and no seats were available for the following day. We contacted AA both by phone and at the AA service desk at CLT and were told that we had no real option other than to return to Charleston that night. Our baggage, which we were told would be on board our return flight was instead forwarded to Hartford the following day and remained there for 2 days before being brought back to CHS.

The following day I contacted AA by phone and, after a rather involved discussion, was informed that my trip represented a "flight in vain"--an unfamiliar term for me, but essentially meaning that the airline took you nowhere near your purchased ticket destination (despite being in the air over CLT for a total of almost 2 hours, we never reached more than a short distance north of the airport while making multiple loops). I don't fault AA for failing to take us to Hartford--the weather and airspace limits forced them to cancel the trip.

My sole argument with them is that, separate from any matter of fault, AA failed to complete their half of a contract. I had, in essence, contracted with them to take my family to Hartford in exchange for payment of a sum that was quite near to $900. They failed to hold up their end of that contract. The AA representative, with whom I first spoke, explained a bit about "flight in vain" and noted that he would arrange for a refund of our tickets to the original payment source. The refund that appeared on my credit card a few days later was almost exactly 40% of the entire ticket price. I checked the air miles between CHS and CLT and also between CLT and BDL and found that, even if they intended to still charge me for the round trip from CHS to Charlotte, I would be paying 60% of my original fare to have flown 20% of the actual air mileage--and have never gotten anywhere near the contractual destination.

Multiple attempts to explain and remedy this imbalance included phone calls to AA (there is no one you can talk to about this kind of matter according to the telephone representative--you HAVE TO CONTACT THEM IN WRITTEN FORM ONLINE), written requests for an explanation (AA customer service replies are really pathetically standardized and clearly sent out without any actual assessment of the consumer's concerns), written requests to AA customer relations for a phone call in order to get some understanding of this bizarre AA policy (they never called), and, ultimately, having failed to receive any satisfactory response from AA, a consumer complaint filed with the US Department of Transportation. If this is how they treat someone who has reached platinum AAdvantage status, I can't imagine how poorly the occasional flier gets treated.

Imagine for a moment that I purchased, for example, a table composed of four legs and a top and then received one leg along with a letter explaining that (through no fault of their own) the seller could not arrange to provide the other three legs and top but would be returning 40% of my purchase price--my first thought would be that this represented fraud. I am at a complete loss to come up with a reason why airlines should not be held to the same standards of behavior as any other business when they fail to fully deliver purchased goods for which they have been previously compensated. Perhaps none of the other major carriers would have behaved any better in similar circumstances, but since AA always ends its flight with an attendant announcing that "we know you have a choice when it comes to travel....", I intend to keep this experience in mind the next time I decide with whom to fly.

8/2 Received 13 delayed flight emails - (even at midnight didn’t receive a cancelled - only delayed.) Original flight: supposed to leave GSP at 12:19pm. 10:39am - flight delayed 1hr. 11:11am - flight delayed until 1:30 for maintenance. 11:46am - flight delayed until 1:45. 5 minutes before boarding, they announced they are waiting g for a maintenance update. 2:00pm - 4:37 departure. 3:15 pm - 4:53 pm departure. 3:57 pm - 5:11 departure (delay due to weather). 5:48pm - still sitting at gate. No updates, no plane at the gate. 5:52 pm - 5:51 departure (wtf???). 5:58 pm - all flights on hold due to weather. 6:23 pm - 6:51 departure (lies - hadn’t even started boarded because the plane just pulled up at the gate and was still full of the arrival passengers who apparently had been on the plane for 7 hours.) 7:06 pm - boarded plane. 7:19 pm - told that DCA not accepting aircraft. 7:31 pm - still on plane; informed that ground stop in effect at DCA until 8:45.

7:39 pm - message on app: “your flight from GSP to Washington is now delayed due to air traffic control management in Greenville-Spartanburg. 8:04 pm - still not accepting aircraft at DCA , still on plane. 8:08pm - app states 8:01 departure. 8:17 - deplaning. Update in 30m. 9:27 - back on plane. 10:29 - turned on engine, taxid out. Told we were 3rd in line. 11:12 - turning around and going back to the terminal.There was a mechanical issue with the plane that limited the plane to only be in use for 3 days without fixing the issue, and midnight pushed it over the 3 day limit so they won’t let us fly. 11:14 - told no flight tonight. 11:20 - still sitting on tarmac - can’t move until all others move.

8/3 Found out the first flight out at 6:30 am. However this one was already delayed to 9:30am even before we got to the morning. Was auto booked into the 7:30 am flight. 7:22am - delayed until 11:30am Boarded first time around. Sat in plane for a while then had to deplane after waiting 45 then 30. The more waiting. Boarded again - waited for someone to start the engine then got to runway and were third in line then a mechanical part timed out so we had to go back. Flight delayed until 7:30 am. Flight delayed multiple times through the morning. The solution that was offered to me was to continue to wait and hope I’d make it to Albany by midnight. I bailed and paid for a flight on Southwest.

What a joke this airline is at this point. To totally disregard your own mistakes and allow us to be stuck and offer us no other flights, allow the same flight that left yesterday to go on time, while we remained there is insane. Taking care of your customers who were nothing but kind and calm the entire time. Thank god Southwest Airlines had another flight to get me out. It’s absolute madness that I had to drop another 500 dollars to get out of there, as well as miss work, delayed picking up my daughter and dog and missing appointments. American Airlines Center.

I also do want to mention in all of this, I made a new friend. Without Virginia, I would’ve lost my mind. She laughed with me through much of this, we had amazing conversations. She not only watched my things for me when I had to run around, we kept an eye on each other while we rested and tried to make the absolute best of a bad situation. I will be forever thankful for her and our new friendship. ❤️

To make matters even worse, I was traveling with my elderly aunts, who should never have been subjected to the amount of confusion, unnecessary walking, waiting, uncertainty, and lack of accommodations that your airline forced upon us. At no point did anyone appear concerned about the well-being of elderly passengers who had already spent countless hours stranded because of circumstances compounded by your inability to properly manage the situation. After our flight was diverted to Fort Myers, we were eventually able to secure transportation back toward Miami, but the problems did not end there. Upon arrival, we encountered another major issue involving our checked baggage.

Every employee we spoke with gave us different information. No one seemed to know where our bags were, what the process was, or who was actually responsible for helping us. We were continuously redirected from one employee to another, each providing conflicting answers and no real solutions. The most disappointing aspect of this experience was the complete lack of leadership. The managers we encountered were ineffective, dismissive, and unable—or unwilling—to provide meaningful assistance. A manager’s role is to resolve problems, communicate clearly, and lead during difficult situations. Instead, we were met with confusion, indifference, and excuses. It honestly appeared that no one was in control.

What is equally insulting is that after forcing passengers to endure nearly an entire day of delays, diversions, uncertainty, and exhaustion, the only compensation offered was a meal voucher. A meal voucher does not compensate for the physical exhaustion, emotional stress, disrupted travel plans, additional transportation complications, inconvenience to elderly family members, or the countless hours we lost because of American Airlines’ operational failures.

This experience demonstrated significant shortcomings in your staffing, communication, crisis management, and customer service procedures. Employees should be trained to provide consistent information, managers should be empowered to make decisions and assist customers effectively, and vulnerable passengers—including elderly travelers—should receive appropriate accommodations and priority assistance during major disruptions. My family placed our trust in American Airlines to transport us home safely and professionally.

Instead, we experienced disorganization, poor communication, inadequate leadership, and an overall lack of accountability. This level of service is unacceptable for a company of your size and reputation. I respectfully request that American Airlines conduct a thorough review of this incident and provide compensation that appropriately reflects the hardship my family endured. We believe this situation warrants far more than a meal voucher. We also expect an explanation of how the baggage mishandling occurred and what steps will be taken to prevent other families from experiencing the same treatment. No customer—especially those traveling with elderly family members—should have to endure what we experienced. I look forward to your prompt response and a resolution that reflects the seriousness.

I called back this morning and only had a 5-10 minute wait, but once I got a person, she transferred me to someone else. I explained what happened to him and then he – CLEARLY NOT LISTENING – asked me for my booking reservation after I told him that it was cancelled. I told him to look up my account – I could see it in the overview so he should be able to as well. He didn’t say anything but the line went silent – and I have been sitting here on hold or something for a long time now. I am call-recording waiting for another human to get back to me. This is SO unacceptable. Still on hold - 47 minutes and counting and that man still has me on a line no one is answering. IF POSSIBLE, DO NOT USE THIS AIRLINE. They will hold you hostage in silence, steal your miles and ignore you as a customer. This NEVER happens with Delta.

On top of that they said it would take up to 7 business days to issue our refund. Total crap. No other way to put it. The entire experience is pathetic. They delayed this trip out of Charlotte coming down here 5 times that Saturday. Need to plan better and run your business better. Years of this is unacceptable. And I am not the only one feeling this. Your bad reviews say it all. This is what puts companies into Bankruptcy. Poor management. Need to do better. Too late for me but there still may be hope. Got to do better.

I did not know how much my refund would be, but I booked the American flight on my own assuming they would make it right. My cancelled flight was direct EYW-PHL. My new flight was one stop in CLT. It cost me $226 MORE than the refund for my direct flight. American has repeatedly refused to refund the difference, saying I voluntary accepted the refund. I only did so because I was told there were no other options, which was clearly false. Feels like a bait and switch to get more $$$ from me. They have admitted no fault, just keep telling me I voluntarily chose not to rebook through the agent.

David Seymour, Chief Operating Officer

This refund request was also denied by an obviously incompetent, low level "Customer Relations" representative Tiana ** that we suspect was being discriminatory. I followed up by sending a THIRD 14 page refund request with medical documentation and documentation of Tiana Brown's incompetence and seeming discriminatory practices to the same FIVE top UnAmerican Airlines executives. Finally, a refund was approved. It is despicable how a veteran and a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother was treated by UnAmerican Airlines. It is no surprise that UnAmerican Airlines has a well-earned TWO STAR rating. We urge all veterans to NEVER fly with UnAmerican Airlines.

On that following day we arrived at the airport 2 hours early. We dropped off our checked bag as soon as the bag drop was opened 15 minutes later. After we started to go through security the American Airlines agent called us back and said that our checked bag was flagged for secondary screening. The indicator that we were flagged for secondary screening wasn’t on our boarding pass, but only on the checked bag tag which caused confusion for the American Airlines employee. They weren’t sure what to do exactly so they had us stand by the TSA office for about 20 minutes while they figured it out.

The TSA agent screened the checked bag thoroughly. Then they took us back to security and had us stand there waiting for another 20 minutes while the TSA agent was trying to figure out what to do. After that they started a very thorough screening process going through all of our luggage one item at a time, running various tests on several items in our luggage, etc. The security process that we would have expected to take the usual 5 minutes took us 1 hour 30 minutes which caused us to miss our flight. If the ticket had the special screening code then the special screening would have taken 20 minutes and not an hour extra and we would have made our flight.

To rebook another flight, we went to an American Airlines agent beyond the security checkpoint and they told us to go a couple of gates away where someone would help us. However no employee was at the location they directed us to. We eventually realized we needed to scan the QR code at the empty customer service area and figure out how to rebook our flight on our own.

After we got our flight rebooked on our own, we went to an American Airlines employee at our gate and asked them to print our new boarding pass. They said “You’re in the right place.” Then they walked off without helping us. About 10 minutes later a different American Airlines employee came and actually did print our boarding pass for us. We would definitely pay extra to avoid American Airlines in the future so we don’t miss our future flights. You have made it more expensive for us. We expect some sort of professional compensation for every flight in and out of DFW to have problems.