Fly American Airlines for an Unforgettable Experience
American Airlines deserves to die. Their equipment is old, their people are old, their attitude is old.
The only reason AA hasn’t died is that some corporate travel agents, high award miles travelers, and the brain dead are still willing to put up with their crap. That has to be the reason. We had a chance to choose a different airline when we took our vacation, but I went brain dead.
We love Southwest Airlines, and fortunately they fly most places we want to go. Except outside the U.S. Belize is outside the U.S.
On four short legs here is our American experience:
- Aborted takeoff because of cargo bay door open indicator light.
- Smaller seats than Southwest. AA = 31″or 32″; Southwest 32″ or 33″ wide. Yes, I can tell the difference! If Nancy wasn’t sitting beside me so we could put up the armrest I would have ended up disabled and need of a hip replacement.
- Videotaped emergency instructions. Yeah, it’s a big deal. I want to look at the people who are on the plane to ensure my safety. I want them standing in the aisle with a smile on their face reassuring me that if I need an “emergency flotation device” (not life vest because the opposite of life is death) when “outside” the aircraft (not bobbing like a cork in the ocean, which is outside the aircraft in the “unlikely event of a water landing.” Water LANDING?)
- Early arrival in Dallas – only to sit on the tarmac for 20 mintues waiting for a gate to open
- Waiting at the gate for another 20 minutes for somebody to bring the jetway to the plane
- An hour delay waiting for a plane to come from Nashville to Dallas to take us to Nashville. WTF?
- A really old dude crew member acting like a flight attendant. Older than Me! By five years! And he’s checking with people in the emergency row to make sure THEY can assist him in case of an emergency. Did anybody check him?
“If low-cost carriers have the capital to survive high fuel prices, they will find considerable new opportunities. In the U.S., legacy carriers are not only increasing fares but also adding a lot of fees. There is a bigger cost differential between Southwest and legacy carriers than there has been in a long time.”
American Airlines deserves to die. The sooner the better.
A big thank you for your blog article.Really thank you! Much obliged.
i guess i’ll have to try Gold or Platinum Challege.. haha and surely, i after buying wedding rings for my fiance, then perhaps we could tour after the wedding! 😀
Good Layout and Design. I like your blog. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. .
@Dave: Glad your AA investment paid off. How would anyone EVER know about your insider information regarding the AA Challenge? Especially if a person flies just a couple times a year? 5000 miles is a lot to most travelers.
What you are saying is you have to “game” AA to get treated like a real customer?
And how does that effect the cargo door, delay on tarmac, and delay at gate?
I know Legacy fliers hate Southwest, but WN is eating every air carriers breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I get 2 free trips a year from WN just by charging stuff on my Southwest credit card!
I dont think AA should die, sure they suck. I worked for them in 2000 and 2001 and they took advantage of me big time. You forget that they are from Texas and they move the US Mail, courtsey of Brain Dead President Bush, who takes care of his friends. When I got laid off after 9/11 and AA stock was down to $1.25 a share, I knew it was time to buy 10,000 shares. There was no way that this shitty airline would die, and they never are going to. Well I walked away from AA a couple of years later when the stock was back up to $20 dollars a share. For those of you who don’t know, if you fly at least 5000 or 10000 miles a year, you can call AA up and ask for a Gold or Platinum Challege. Normally you need to fly 25000 or 500000 miles a year to get this with their frequent flyer program, but you can ask for the challenge….round trip to LA from Miami is 5000 miles, once you get Gold Status, you upgrade all of your flights to first class, and you don’t have to complain about bad seats or bad food, your in first class. If you don’t know, you will never know, you can keep southwest,, I prefer fly first class for the price of coach everyday. !!!
@Incurable Insomniac: Isn’t it amazing that they are still around! Go figure!
I’ve always hated AA (no, not THAT AA). Even back in the day their food was crap and their cabins were filthy.
Incurable Insomniacs last blog post..Saturday Story Time: The Folkie Never Dies