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“Am I the only one that hates to fly anymore?”
Review of American Airlines


Reviewed 11 December 2024

In order for you to understand this review, I’m just going to attach the letter that I wrote to the president of American Airlines, after many many futile attempts to get my problem solved through the customer service portal on AA.com. It’s been about five days, and I’ve received no response from him. But that doesn’t surprise me one iota.

5 December 2024

Dear Mr. Isom,

I realize that this is an investor relations email address, however, I have exhausted all resources through your customer service portal to get my situation resolved. I actually had to go through the customer complaint process on your website three (or four?) different times before I even got anyone to acknowledge my situation. I am going to provide you with all of the emails that I had with your American Airlines customer service department so you can see why I am so frustrated. I still don’t have the check that I was promised for the cost of the hotel for $233 and some change, and I was told that was sent nearly a month ago.

To recap, I paid for my daughter and my son to come to their grandmother‘s funeral in California. The morning that my daughter was supposed to go home, her flight was delayed to the point that she was going to miss her connecting flight in Dallas to get home to Rochester, New York. Fortunately, we caught it in time in the morning before I dropped her off at the airport, and she didn’t end up at the airport in Dallas with a seven month old baby trying to figure out how to get accommodations for the night and how to get a new ticket for the next day. She had to call in sick to work, and I had extra cost for lodging, transportation, and food for the extra day that she and my grandson had to spend in California. This was not weather related, and we were able to get her a ticket the next day over the phone, at least. However, it was very disrupting and caused a lot of of extra cost and stress for both of us.

I will tell you that this is not the first time that this has happened to me, not just from American Airlines (But mostly from you because I usually always fly with you.), but all airlines in general. Flight delays, flight cancellations, lost luggage, delayed luggage, last-minute gate changes, sitting on the tarmac for up to an hour or longer, no internet, flight bookings where I have only 30 minutes to get from one terminal to the next, and I’ve actually fallen twice in airports, running to make my gate in time. It’s absolutely insane (This is why I choose to drive as much as possible.). And of course, when I ask what the reason is, the people behind the desk will never tell me directly, but usually it has to do with not enough staff to operate the plane, or a malfunction that has to be addressed, or the plane has to be cleaned, or the prior flight arrived late, or paperwork has to be filed. I swear, it’s like being held hostage!

Anyway, I think you get the gist of my complaint, so I’m just going to close by leaving you with all the emails I had back-and-forth with the customer service department about the cost that my daughter and I incurred for the extra day that we had to stay after my mom‘s funeral. It’s stressful enough traveling across the country to deal with something like a huge death in the family, or to just visit family or friends, and the transportation aspect of traveling should not add to your patrons’ stress. These are not all of the emails that were sent back-and-forth because there have been too many, and they’re probably out of order but hopefully you’ll see that the reason people really hate flying is because of situations like this, and the fact that airlines will do nothing about them, but make excuses, even though the government has passed recent laws stating that airlines ARE responsible to some degree for ALL of this nonsense!

Cordially yours,

Denise Trone (Deanna Ash’s mother)

P. S. The cost of my daughter’s ticket, and the cost of the hotel and the transportation and the food and the loss of pay she took was well over $1000. All I was offered was $233 and some change for the reimbursement of my hotel. It’s been a month as I said above, and I still have not received the check, nor have I received any response about why I haven’t gotten it in the mail.

Date of travel: September 2024
Thank deeskee
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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376 - 380 of 81,565 reviews

Reviewed 10 December 2024

Horrible extremely worse experience I’ve ever had in my life still haven’t left!!!!deplaned three times now I still don’t know when I’m gonna get home. We’re supposed to leave last night. Haven’t slept all night long all they want to do is make jokes about it and now they’re saying the only reason we’re not flying out and had to deplane This time is because the pilot didn’t show up. Extreme horrible, horrible horrible customer service worst experience of my life. I am miserable. I just want to go home now.!!!!!!

Date of travel: December 2024
    • Seat comfort
    • Customer service
    • Cleanliness
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    • Legroom
    • In-flight Entertainment
    • Value for money
    • Check-in and boarding
1  Thank Charlyn S
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 10 December 2024

Our daughter Srirupa and son-in-law Anupam were following up with us for visiting them in their USA den for a long time. Finally we agreed this year to make the trip. On 25th June we emberked for a trip to New York from Hyderabad. We planned for a 45 days trip and return by 12 th August to avoid the 15 August VIP movements. Both of them complained for a short trip and alerted us that post jet lag moving to places will be tough challenge which we accepted. ( A wise tip for others who will be planning - it's true better stretch the period for at least 2 months).
We were booked by American Airlines late evening flight for The trip. The initial one is by Vistara Hyderabad - Delhi and then after a break of 3 hours Delhi - JFK by American Airlines. The return is through same route only a stopover at Delhi for the night and then Vistara flight back to Hyderabad. A postmortem after return reveals that from our Home and back to Home sweet home the journey time was 72 hours which means 3 full days. Fortunately we were booked in Premium Economy which is value for money for senior citizens. The seats are quite spacious and the inclination is comfortable. May not be comparable with Business class but definitely far better than standard Economy. They provided a kit of Pillow, Blanket, Socks & Blinds, Head phone which smoothened the journey. Best thing is the food served were fresh, hot and tasty and put our doubts to rest. Though we were nonveg guys but for safety reasons ordered for Veg only - no regret ( Full value for money - Kudos AA). We were booked in Emergency Exit seats on bothways which provides extra leg room. The Flight Attendent lady guided us to do's and don'ts in very simple terms. They had their seat infront of us, so actually it is super safe. The only hitch on the journey is that the officials didn't allow us to travel in the same seat during our return and alloted seats in the middle row at the back which is also good but lacks the extra leg room. ( A tip for others who will venture for a similar trip - go for the middle row front side which has similar leg room and avoid the last minute tesion of a changed seat especially for senior citizens like us). Full marks to American Airlines as the price was good, the hospitality was good, the food was great, the punctuality was excellent... It's value for money. Good luck guys who want to take a trip. Ooh missed out another tip. The exit seat doesn't permit wheel chair support pre-booking. I needed one for my wife but could not get it. Choosing the middle row option as stated above will overcome this problem.

Date of travel: June 2024
    • Seat comfort
    • Customer service
    • Cleanliness
    • Food and Beverage
    • Legroom
    • In-flight Entertainment
    • Value for money
    • Check-in and boarding
Thank Pradip G
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 10 December 2024

We traveled from PVD to CHL had a 6 hrs layover. We went to customer service asked if there was an earlier flights because we had a tight connection and there was a major storm coming into to WA. We were told there was an 11:00 am flight with available seats. Then the rep looked up our tickets and we were told sorry you used miles to book. There is nothing we can do for you. He did contact his supervisor but informed us he could not help us. Of course our flight to PHX was late and we missed your connection. After going to customer service again we were told we could spend the night flying from PHX to DAL to SEA to GEG and arrive in GEG around 1:45 pm. This would of course mean we would be flying into the major storm. Our other choice was a hotel for the night then arrive GEG at 2:00 pm. We choose to spend the night. We were given a hotel voucher, 2 $12 food vouchers and sent on our way. Not sure where you can eat for $12. The hotel was under construction and a mess (see pics). On both the way to and from the airport the cab drivers informed us that AA has this happen several times a DAY. We arrived in GEG contacted customer service and was told to call back when traveled was complete. On the return flights both connection gates were moved. We did and were offered 15000 miles back. We lost a day of our vacation. Had to pay for several extra meals and lost a night on our rental car. I did receive a phone call today from AA customer service asked soon as they came on the phone and I said hello they hung up. The really disappointing part is that all of this could have been avoided by putting us on the earlier flight that had availability.

Date of travel: November 2024
Thank Tami M
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 10 December 2024

First time flying American Airlines and it will be the last. Had a connecting flight from Miami to Jacksonville then to DC. Sitting on the runway the smell of exhaust fumes were in the cabin area. The odor went away before take off, however the smell returned after landing while waiting for the walkway to be connected.

Started a movie on the first flight and intended to finish it on the second flight, however the movie was not offered when I signed back in on the second flight, so weird. Flight attendants weren’t very pleasant; while I was drinking water I was asked if I was finished when they came around to collect trash.

After landing in DC I got my bags and hopped on the Metro only to realize one of my bags was damaged…there were holes that looked to be drilled into my bag!!!? For what I paid to fly my luggage home I expected much better. Upon calling American Airlines, the customer service was HORRIBLE!! The first person just didn’t listen as to why I was calling. I requested a supervisor who transferred me to the correct department. The gentleman I spoke to there understood why I was calling and quickly assisted, however it should not have taken over 30 mins and explaining a situation 4x to get to the right person and start a resolution.

I’ve never had more than scratches on my bags in the past when I’ve flown, that’s to be expected, but holes the size of a pea drilled into my bags!!? I’ve never had more than uncontrollable delays occur when flying Southwest, United and JetBlue.

Date of travel: December 2024
Thank Leigh C
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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