American Airlines
Complaint 118727 Details

About 25 years ago, I was a survivor of a commercial jet crash landing.  Save for that singular experience, American Airlines has assumed the solid second place for the most unpleasant flight of my life.

If there is a direct flight to hell out of Miami, I was on the connecting flight from Reagan International.  

My wife and I arrived at Reagan three hours before our scheduled departure for our eventual destination of San Jose, Costa Rica.  We are residents of Costa Rica and fly frequently, but this was my first time paying American Airlines for the privilege of abuse.

With no line of passengers, we walked up to the ticketing agent and were immediately treated as if we were an inconvenience and an intrusion on her free time.  I am a native born New Yorker and am accustommed to brash treatment.  However, I am not willing to be the subject of cold and rude behavior when I am paying top dollar to go from here to there.  “Uncaring boredom and cool treatment” would barely describe the attitude we met at the counter.

At the boarding gate, we stood with all the other passengers trying our best to interpret the orders of the heavily accented boarding agent, speaking too quickly to be understood without the accent, over a PA system that had all the qualities of a broken Burger King drive-thru, telling us which group was next to climb into the aircraft. This, predictably, resulted in utter confusion.  I counted at least a dozen passengers carrying on three and four carry-ons, many dramatically oversized, with nary a squeak from the AA employees.

By the time they got to “Group Four,”  which included my wife and I in Row 28 at the rear of the aircraft, (which is like filling up a glas of water and expecting the last drops to magically fall to the bottom of the glass) we were informed that there was no more room in the overhead bins.  

My wife, an educated and demure woman of the South, gently explained to the gate agent that our (only one for the two of us) carry-on contained our medications, computers, and a few clothes should we miss our connection (which was painfully short and your flight was already running late) and that it would be very burdensome for us to check the bag.

We were summarily informed, and I quote accurately, save without the surly attitude, that we “could either check the bag or take another flight.”  

We boarded after tugging our forelocks and relenting to the threat.

There were only four people behind us boarding the aircraft, all of whom had also been forced to check their carry-ons, and as we all walked up the aisle we saw DOZENS of open spaces in the overhead bins.  There was, in fact, sufficient room for two adult passengers to sleep up there.  One of the few profit centers you seem to have overlooked.

Simply put, the announcement of no overhead bin space was either a lie or a reflection of the lax training your agents receive, or both.  I can overlook mistreatment, but do encounter a harder edge when it comes to dishonesty.

About twenty minutes into the flight the seat belt sign went off and 10 or 12 people, including me, got up to use the rest rooms.  As it turns out, both of the rest rooms at the rear of the aircraft were not properly functioning, much like the AA employees we had encountered up to that point.

There was an announcement that neither of the aft toilets were in service and the folks in “nuts and pretzel class” would need to use the facility at the front of the plane, but that we would need to line up behind the first class separating curtain as if we were awaiting an audience with the Wizard of Oz.

Upon returning to my seat, I waited for the beverage cart to wend its way to the back of the aisle and asked for a ginger ale.  All out!  But I could get a glass of water and feel lucky that you still had some ice.

At every turn, the trip became more and more of a punishment and less and less of a pleasure.  

After a career as a State and Federal mediator, accustomed to exercising patience at every turn, I must tell you that the treatment my wife and I received on the 24th of May taxed all of my professional training.

Have you no shame as to the way you treat your passengers?

Every single aspect of the flight, save for the skill of the flight crew, was miserable.  Except for arriving in one piece, the experience was one of the rudest and most unpleasant of my (very extensive) traveling life.

If you are paying consultants to make all this happen, you might as well shove the money into your broken toilets and drop blue ice over the sea.

Are you paying any attention to the miserable experience you are offering travelers?  Do your execs actually fly (incognito and in coach) on your planes?  

You have sucked all the pleasure out of air travel and replaced it with disgust and dreariness.  

Treat me better.  I will be a better customer and you will be a better airline.

Don’t they teach something about customer satisfaction in the business schools anymore?  If they do, somebody at AA was skipping class.

God help you,

A one time AA flyer,