For a long time, I was a loyal patron of the Northwest, Continental, America West family of airlines. I started flying with them for my old job (Columbus to Houston maybe 8 times), flew to Japan in 1999, various trips to the east cost on Continental and generally managed to accumulate frequent flyer miles. It was good. I was happy.
I have enough miles now to go anywhere in the US, round-trip. Twice. I should really use them one of these days. But for the last 2 years, all I've flown is American Airlines. Let me tell you why.
American (and American Eagle) flies where I want to go. Most of my flying now is from San Jose to either San Diego (OSCON for 2 years) and Toledo, Ohio (family visits a few times a year). When I used to fly Continental out of San Jose, I had to fly into either Detroit (via Northwest) or Columbus on Continental. That sucks. It means a 1 or 2 hour trek to Toledo from there. By flying into Toledo, my parents can fetch me at the airport in about 10 minutes.
More room in coach. It's not just a gimmick. There really is more room in the coach seats. It makes a difference, especially when you're using a laptop. When you're sitting in the same little seat for more than 3 or 4 hours, it's really nice to be able to stretch your legs a bit.
Laptop power at the seats. Every American flight I've been on has laptop power available (via a standard automotive-style cigarette jack) in most rows. In the front of the plane, nearly every row has them. As you go back they're a bit less frequent. But I never seem to have much trouble getting into a row with power. It has been a problem only once.
With power at the seat, I can work on my book or magazine articles, code, blog, listen to CDs or MP3s, and so on. I could tolerate an 8 hour flight with a decent power supply. I can't imagine why the other airlines haven't caught on yet. This is the only way for a geek to travel.
On a related note, it's supposed to hit 75 degrees today in Santa Clara. I have a feeling it'll be in the 30s or 40s when I land in Chicago and again in Toledo.
Posted by jzawodn at November 26, 2002 05:56 PM
don't forget the snow that goes with that 30 to 40 degrees there Z! we got a nice blanket of it about 90 miles east of your current location...
My flight to California in January is on AA.. I'll have to remember to bring my laptop charger..
ohhh well that's your experience.... last night on a flight from Miami to Panama City we had not only a delay of 2 hours but also almost 20 people from the flight did not get their luggage including me. Here I'm at the hotel canceling all my appointments because i have nothing to wear or even worst nothing to present to my clients.
Unaceptable!!!! Next time you book a fligh on American think twice. By the way American Airlines will pay you $20 dollars for every 24 hours of having your luggage missing in other words only only you don't get your stuff but also you have to pay the consecuences.
Good luck.
My message to American: If you know why I have fly you should know how to make a customer happy and not lose his/her business.
AA is garbage. I don't know what you are talking about. I have flow with them twice, and never will again. The seats are cramped and there is no leg room. Well, maybe on an empty flight there may be some. And the seats suck. They litterally felt like I was sitting on wood. They had maybe 1/4 of cushioning. The TVs were still those big boxes, 1 installed ever 10 rows. And half of them weren't working. 1 of them even looked like it was about to fall out, it wobbled so much you could see the insides of the damn tv. The service was garbage, they seem to hire no one but grumpy stewards/stewardesses, and the food was garbage too. And both flights were late. So what if they fly to more cities, thats not a good reason to fly with them. For what your paying, even though they aren't very expensive, it's overpriced and stupid. I would rather pay more to fly with some one else and take in the ass from the credit card companies and their 15-25% interest rates becuase that would be more enjoyable than flying with AA again!
AA imo is just another terrible old-style airline trying to creep out bankruptcy without ever really fixing their business model.
The result is misery for employees, passengers, and everybody else that has to deal with them.
NEVER buy a nonrefundable ticket from AA because all they really care about is your money in their wallet and their claim to listen to "extenuating circumstances" is totally bogus. Even if you weren't the one who cancelled you'll never get a dime. Wish AA would leave Minneapolis-St. Paul so a real airline could come in here and use those gates.
AA is the worst airline today. Our company has banned all employees from booking filghts on AA due to their erratic schedule, 80% cancellation rate and complete lack of customer service. We refer to them as AmeraCan’t Airlines.
AA stinks. AA is arrogant and stuffy. I have read numerous sites on AA and there are many complaints. I refer to them as Arrogance Airlines. I flew a couple of years ago and the crew stalked and physically assaulted me. There is a 5"11" stew by the name of Julie who is a true hermaphadite (nothing against hermaphadites) she has pubescent male organs and a vagina with no breasts. These people have access to Voice to Skull communication and have used it to terrorize me for some time. They refer to themselves as gang stalkers under some guy claiming he is Tony Accardo, Jr. (the son of the deceased mobster). These people have accessed my apartment repeatedly and Julie has left behind feces and keeps claiming she is going to take over my life and belongings. These people are nuts. They constantly steal things from my apartment such as cat food, litter, bird food, toilet paper, etc. I am sure AA has normal people working for them, but as far as I am concerned there is no way I would ever fly this line again.
American Airlines worker is Racist on Flight 267 August 12, 2008
267 Los Angeles, CA (LAX) 08/12/2008 08:20 pm Honolulu, HI (HNL)
I was on this flight, it was pretty packed, and had six kids with me going to Honolulu for our holiday.
A passenger sitting in front of me was not feeling well and complained that I was moving the seat and/or tray too much which may her feel “sick.”
There was nothing I could’ve done about this, as I was not using my tray anymore then anyone else. I was also playing card games with me kids and occasionally they had to go out to use the restroom. It is tight, but it is economy class after all.
Half way into our flight, the passenger in front of me (a white female) went and asked for a seat change and/or complained about me.
Heidi, a flight attendant working in business class came over, and instead of talking with me in a civil manner, already assumed I was guilty of my accusations charged against me.
I tried to tell her that I did nothing wrong and that’s there was nothing I could do. This lady in front of me is super sensitive. Maybe she has motion sickness, but there’s nothing I could do.
Heidi, then shock my seat and show me what it must feel like for the lady in front of me and I got really upset, as I NEVER did anything like that.
The discussion went around in circle where I tried to say: 1. the tray was not working well… as it would get stuck when I tried to close it. 2. this is economy class seats. 3. I have rights to as well to enjoy my flight with my family. 4. I did not like being accsue of something I did not do… which is to purposefully disrupt the lady in front of me.
In the end, Heidi, the American Airline employee yelled and me and moved the lady to the front in business class.
As I disembarked the plane, I went over to tell her how I thought she was out of line accusing me of doing things to the lady that I did not do.
She said, well, “that lady was really upset.”
I replied, “well, now I’m really upset.”
She never apologized, and did not want to listen to my side of the story.
This has been the worst flying experience I have ever had as I fly all the time.
I said, “I’m going to write a strong letter to American Airlines. I think you think your job is secure, so your customer service goes down.”
Heidi’s reply, “yes it is. and I do a good job.”
My reply to her, “not today, not with me.”
I wonder if Heidi knows that maybe that white-lady played her and got an upgrade.
My friend said, “its interesting how a white blond lady, just sided with another white blond lady right away” which makes me think that Heidi may have a racial biases. If she does, American Airlines should not have her flying the most multicultural flight in America: the one to Hawai’i, America’s most diverse State.
If you are a lawyer, and have some information and/or advice for me on how to follow up on this, I would appreciate it. In this day and age, this kind of treatment is uncalled me.
If you have expereinced something similar by Heidi on American Airlines flight 267 or other flights to Hawai’i please write and comment as well.
Key words: American Airline, American Airlines, Heidi, flight 267, LAX to Honolulu, Heidi is a racist.
American Airlines is, in my opinion, one of the best major airlines in the United States. However, that being said, American will not survive unless they merge with another US carrier within the near future. Customers are losing their patience with American's constant adding of taxes and fees, and the only way to win customer satisfaction back is with a merger. There are too many airlines in the United States right now, and mergers/bankruptcies are inevitable, and the only way for the industry to survive.
AA sucks. their matching low price is bs. i found the same flight for $70 less but they failed to match because they said the website was in canada even though i was in the US and fly out of and back into the US. this will be my last flight with the airlines.
