TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin A long hot summer for AA

Link
to an interesting article here. There are some good tips at the end of the article, as far as dealing with cancellations and delays.

Not good. We're booked on AA in September for a trip to Italy and we've already had one schedule change.

When your cancellations are 4 times your competition, you have a major problem.

On my return flight, two of the three legs were delayed due to maintenance issues. In CLT, I already had about a four-hour layover for a 10:15 p.m. departure to DFW. I heard the deboarding pilot tell the boarding pilot about some maintenance issues so the fact of the delay wasn't surprising. The length was: about two hours. I was on the verge of seeing if they could book me CLT direct to PDX when they announced the problem was fixed and we would be boarding shortly. So I arrived at my DFW hotel about 2 a.m. They had already charged me for a no-show room, which they did reverse. Then in the morning, the flight from CLT to PDX, in addition to having SIX gate changes prior to boarding, was delayed about an hour.

There's no way I can get nonstop flights from the West Coast so these delays are just a fact of life.

Wow, that's crazy! 6 gate changes! That had to get kind of comical after a while..

I wasn't laughing.

Well that made one of my decisions for me. I was gonna take a chance and use up some FF miles on AA for our January trip DESPITE our last experience being less than stellar. I decided to use United miles even though United is not my favorite airline BUT they have to mess up a LOT to equal AA....just did the trip down...will wait to book the trip back. (BOS-EWR-SXM)

17.5k + $5.60 + extra room fees (each)

We are booked on AA for our May 2020 SXM trip and am waiting for AA to come out with July 2020. We usually buy one way and miles one way. We have close to 200,000 AA miles yet to use. Flying FC eats them up pretty fast.

But if you're going to spend miles as opposed to dollars, IMO, those big seats up front are so worth it. FF miles aren't good for much else but $$ can be used on so many things....... Not having that many miles left these days, I hate looking at the price tags on those big seats.

Yup...I've got 186k + miles but won't risk getting messed up. I did use 3000 miles to get a year subscription to the Wall Street Journal delivered and online . I thought that was a bargain worth a couple-few hundred bucks

Yep. Been flying FC for the SXM trips for as long as I can remember. It's a long haul from the Seattle area and FC takes the edge off.

Amen!

And I know Portland is no better.

So I’m flying down on Delta and not worried, two days later my husband is flying down on AA changing in Charlotte. Are most of the issues with AA returning from SXM or getting there! Starting to worry a little!!

Recently, the troubles regarding SXM flights seem to be involving other airlines. Jet Blue had two serious issues in June, as well as our Delta flight was delayed several hours inbound.

.. meantime, I just discovered that our flights that we are scheduled on in October this year on AA from Miami, which previously were on a regular 737, are now scheduled on a Max 8... This is a change from about two weeks ago, when we were still scheduled on the original plane..

This has brewing since last year where I had lots of BS maintenance and paperwork issues. The last airline to have such a poor relationship that mechanics squawked every issue and took their time fixing it was Eastern Airlines. But Eastern has poor economics, lots of competition, old jets, and other issues. In this case the mechanics see the airline doing well with pilots and cabin crew benefitting and they want their cut before the airline economy takes a downturn. American has oodles of other new jets so they shouldn't be in a backlogged maintenance hole with old jets ala Eastern days.

The 737 Max is a real impact but that has to be solved structurally by canceling flights until the jets return to the fleet. Im hearing October for a real large scale return of Max’s to the skies.

Presently in Dallas, 4 gate changes and an hour delay on AA to PDX.

https://onemileatatime.com/american-mechanics-delaying-flights/

Good example of deliberate action by mechanics against the company.

Id think twice about booking AA for awhile.

While I agree with your assessment of thinking twice before booking AA, and I was significantly impacted for a Nov. trip with a major schedule change, don't lose sight of the fact that most of the country has 1 or perhaps 2 choices when it comes to air for SXM. My options are Delta or AA unless I want to drive 4+ hours, pay for parking and likely 1-2 nights in a hotel to get Jet Blue. And, by the time I would make that drive and all associated with it, I am no $$ ahead of just flying Delta or AA from my closest airport.

Yes, AA has some serious problems but unless one is near the major NYC area airports, there are not a lot of choices for the majority of the travelers.

BTW, Jet Blue has had their share of issues of late and they are not at all the darling they were once perceived to be.

I do not think all the consolidation in the airline industry has been positive for the traveler and it does not appear to be working all that well for some of the carriers.

Agreed, most people have very little choice when flying to SXM. And regarding Jet Blue, they had two separate instances in June, where in one case, the plane was on the ground for two days in SXM, and the other case, I think the flight was delayed for several hours. I never did hear the outcome of those delays, as it had to have been something regarding the plane itself..

It's not just the Mechanics but also the Baggage Handlers that are holding up flights as witnessed on a recent AA flight.

Correct and then it becomes a mute point BUT if you DO have a choice keep the ongoing AA issues in mind. No airline is perfect and most are far from that BUT I will take my chance with a Delta, a JB, a United (gulp) rather than roll the dice with AA.

For January 2020 we ended up with United extra room down (miles) and Delta Comfort+ on the return (cash)....nice return layover of 3 hours in ATL....JB was way out of range on cost compared to everyone else....yes my location has a choice and I chose

Kinda related:



United 737 Max extension link

This is bad, but in reality it's nothing new for American Airlines. They've been jacking around the public for many, many years and it never really seems to get better. If they treat their paying customers in this manner, just imagine how they must treat their employees and especially their mechanics. Every airline has their share of problems, but AA just doesn't seem to get the message. Only when a greater number of people choose other airlines over them will they reorganize and begin to handle things differently. You simply can't treat people like cargo if they intend to turn things around any time soon.

We used to fly AA, but to many cancellations, flight changes and the tip of the iceberg. Those OLD beat up planes that smelled like dead mold with carpet that was rotted. NO thank you. Now with the new planes came the jacked up prices!! They could offer to fly me free to SXM and I still wouldn't take the flight. God knows where they would take me first and where my luggage would end up. We have been flying Delta and JB! The Delta Comfort class went up a lot. It was really cool when the first introduced it!

This will be first time flying out of Westchester on Delta via Atlanta and 2nd time returning on JB via FLL to Westchester. My husband is flying down a few days later on AA stopping in CLT. We find JFk easy. Just the return traffic has been awful as of late. So trying this. Much longer than those JB direct flights. But we shall see!!!

I have found good fare on Delta down (used them in June) for October, but am not finding return flights on a weekday in November. No JB, No Delta, only American?! Wtf? For the past two years I am avoiding American at ALL COSTS! Worst seat comfort, worst cancellation or delay schedule and flight changes.

Since the takeover by USAirways, they have successfully brought AA down to USAirways level. Worst airline

I have found that Jet Blue's website is often kind of funky. The other day I was looking for Jet Blue from Ft Lauderdale in October and it said there weren't any flights. Went back to the website a few minutes later and they were there.

It's so interesting how our airline experiences differ. We always loved US Airways; never had one problem with them. Since they were taken over by AA, we have had multiple delayed and canceled flights.

American has gotten us on/off island without any issues every time as has Delta.

All the airlines can s%&# on any given day for many reasons in/outside their control.

But with AA right now, I would avoid tight connections and having only “one way to succeed” itineraries.

Luckily, the cheap frequent flier itineraries are often making us overnight in philly, Miami, Charlotte. In the winter, i’d Rather do that than to miss SXM flight getting de-iced or something and blow the connection.

Hopefully the company isn’t putting up with any BS on overwater overseas flights.

Jacking people around in Dallas and Chicago is half normal x 2.

Actually, we haven't had any issues with AA nonstop from Miami either. But I guess that's the operative word--nonstop.

AA has now extended cancellation of 737-Max flights until November 2.

http://news.aa.com/news/news-detail...on-About-737-MAX-Operations/default.aspx

The good news is the 737 Max will come out with a full scouring of its airworthiness.

I suspect every Boeing/vendor worker who wishes the design of some part had gone this way instead of that way has drafted a memo to look into this issue and the team has no choice but to adjudicate each risk/issue.

Looking back the 727 had 13 crashes between 1965-69. United had two at Chicago ohare alone. How anybody got on a plane is amazing and i’m pilot.

May the victims RIP. Their loss is driving safety changes that should have been caught and will now drive a complacent industry/Govt culture to ask “what if” making us all safer.

Correct Carol. Non-Stop. Never had a problem.. touch wood.

every once in a while you'll get hosed by an airline. Currently AA is getting squeezed from both ends. Mechanic's union messing with AA to get a new contract and the grounding of their 737s until the FAA approves the fixes -- so less planes as spares if a plane breaks down. On the plus side the mechanics are finding anything and everything to fix -- equals safer flight, but the bad side of it is delayed & cancelled flights.

Might last till 2020.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...be-grounded-n1029681?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma