Joke is on me.. won’t be booking with American Airlines anymore

[DuckDogDr]

Trying to coordinate moving my redheaded step kid back from 12 hours away. The past 8 hours has been a fiasco.
I had to work all last week to get this week off to drive them back and help unpack. Luckily His mom has been able to work remote and has been with him packing in the evenings in preparation for today.

About a month ago I had initially tried to book a flight with Delta who I usually book.. and had trouble with the internet glitching.. went back and within 5 minutes the price had increased $300 dollars for the exact same ticket .. called delta c/s they refused to honor the original ticket price even though it was literally 5 minutes previous.. refused to book with them and I’m usually pretty loyal to Delta (about $7k a year in flights)


American Airlines had a similar flight and was about $100 cheaper so grabbed it.
Well this morning at 3 am my phone started dinging flight delayed .
Flight canceled.
Flight re-booked.
Rebooking delayed .. I was supposed to fly out at 5:44 then 7, then 9 now 1230 then ultimately canceled ..

Almost the exact same thing happened the last time I booked with American. Trying to get to a fill in shift for work… ultimately had to drive that one to get there … but then they wouldn’t issue a refund because they “delayed” the flight 18 hours not canceled it and I chose not to board .. it was only a 7.5 hour drive

Customer service was nice this time in issuing the refund however .

The irony is the Delta flight left on time this morning

So we’re scrambling at the moment as I am sitting on the “thinking throne”

 

[maxx075]

Delta has always been more expensive, but I have never had a problem with any of my flights with them in 10 years.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I use to really like flying. Not anymore. Too much hassle, too many Aholes.

 

[DuckDogDr]

Delta has always been more expensive, but I have never had a problem with any of my flights with them in 10 years.

I’ve only had 4 problems with delta over the past 12 years that I can remember that really stand out.

One was an anti-hunter individual at initial check in that gave me grief over my caribou… her manager however was as cool as could be . Waived me through with no problems

Second was one of my flights was one of the first ones to have a cargo door or plug or whatever it’s called fall off while taxiing to the runway (had that happen about a month before it became commonly reported)

Third was dealing with an anti-hunter at check in here locally

4th was this last March trying to get back home from a scuba diving trip. Bad weather was partially to blame on that .. but also the airline could have handled things differently than they did

 

[mike.adams.467]

My wife purchased a new rolling suitcase which she checked on an American filght a couple winters ag9. When it arrived, one of the rollers was damaged and a corner was crushed. It was ruined. We filed a claim with them (an agonizing process), but we were reimbursed for the case. She then bought an identical one, which we took on an American flight last summer. When we arrived at the destination, the new case was also destroyed. American refused to replace the second case, claiming we were trying to file a second claim on the originally-damaged luggage. We had to eat the cost of a third case just to get home. The customer service rep was rude and condescending; I am done with them.

 

[hoot504]

One was an anti-hunter individual at initial check in that gave me grief over my caribou… her manager however was as cool as could be . Waived me through with no problems

Want to hear more about this.

 

[rideold]

I don't fly that much but last summer we used American for a family trip and it was fine. Not great, not terrible, just fine. In today's airline world I'm pretty happy with fine because it seems like that's as good as it gets. It sure seems that the more you fly the more you play the "crappy flight experience" lottery! We won that one on Frontier a number of years ago when we sat in the Phoenix airport for 10 hours while they brought in two different planes before they found one that wasn't broken.

 

[mtnrunner260]

I've flown AA with connections in DFW twice and both times have resulted in significant delays.

 

[DuckDogDr]

I've flown AA with connections in DFW twice and both times have resulted in significant delays.

DFW is probably the worst airport I have connected through. A/C barely works. Everything is delayed. Airport built too small and is way too crowded and the connections are always a tram away

Domestically… Atlanta isn’t bad with the caveat you learn how to navigate it.. but first time or limited traveler can be very overwhelming

Minneapolis isn’t bad the times I’ve been

Norfolk easy to navigate

Portland Maine a good airport

Don’t mind Spokane but could let Washington have the Seattle airport

Dallas …. Well I avoid there at all costs

 

[Macintosh]

There is no airline that is good in the US. Some of the foreign airlines are better, but you cant count on it. They are all prone to problems and they all have insufficient resources to fix them, and outside of individual people that can be good, they all will do as little as they can get away with to help. I feel fortunate I dont have to fly much anymore, up until covid I flew over 100k miles a year for a couple decades, and can say pretty definitively that if you havent had a crappy experience with one airline yet, its just a matter of time. Just pick the best rate with the policies that are easiest for you, lube up and put your steel undershorts on before you head to the airport, do your best impression of a farm animal while there, and relax into the suck. If it doesnt suck yet, buckle up, it will soon.
I drive if its less than a 12hr 1-way drive. Sometimes more.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

I have news for you…they all have cancellations and delays.

 

[DuckDogDr]

I have news for you…they all have cancellations and delays.

You’re not wrong . But American by far seems to be the worst

 

[Sevens]

You’re not wrong . But American by far seems to be the worst

Would agree. Wish someone else would hub at DFW.

 

[Joseph2186]

Alaskan Air lost my rifle, for 2 days in August coming back from sheep hunt. Only offered me 50.00 off a flight with them that had to be used in 2023.

 

[DuckDogDr]

Alaskan Air lost my rifle, for 2 days in August coming back from sheep hunt. Only offered me 50.00 off a flight with them that had to be used in 2023.

At least it was coming back and not going. They did find it though ?

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

You’re not wrong . But American by far seems to be the worst

Southwest has been the worst for me. They are all terrible now, there isn’t a good option.

 

[Oregon]

Alaska Air lost a cooler of mine flying into Kodiak. Thee most essential gear ever in that cooler. Island air flew me out that same day to Larsen Bay. 10 day trip. No way the hunt would have been successful without gear in that cooler. 2 days go by, I satellite phone into the airport, my cooler finally showed up. They can't get it to me for 2 more days.
Make another phone call to a great friend who is a hh-60 jayhawk pilot for the CG in Kodiak. Cooler there the next morning.
Whiskey and Copenhagen in cooler. Life saver.

 

[NMJM]

They all have delays and horrible customer service. I can't figure out why anyone is loyal to any of them. It is always a gamble.

 

[mtnrunner260]

DFW is probably the worst airport I have connected through. A/C barely works. Everything is delayed. Airport built too small and is way too crowded and the connections are always a tram away

Domestically… Atlanta isn’t bad with the caveat you learn how to navigate it.. but first time or limited traveler can be very overwhelming

Minneapolis isn’t bad the times I’ve been

Norfolk easy to navigate

Portland Maine a good airport

Don’t mind Spokane but could let Washington have the Seattle airport

Dallas …. Well I avoid there at all costs

I'm a hick and only been to a few but they all seem to hot, loud and crowded to me.
My co workers were all very entertained that I'd never taken a cab until the last trip.

 

[Joseph2186]

Yea they found it in Seattle and delivered it to my house. Scary though my rifle, ELs and what not was all in that case.