10 reasons to avoid American Airlines
American Airlines: the pride of America, according to many company officials. However, the service that American Airlines gives is varied, from being satisfactory on many levels to being bad on others. Sure, American Airlines has flights going all around the place, but the headaches that come with American Airlines make your head spin in unwanted directions also. In this article I would like to tell you 10 reasons I am going to avoid flying on American Airlines in the future.
Brief summary of my flights
To summarize a basic intro to this entire article: I had to travel to 2 different directions in 2 weeks. First, I had to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles and then back. Second, 2 days after I got back from the first trip, I had to fly to Texas and then see if I could travel to Missouri, and then to Alabama. If I could not find a connecting flight to Missouri, I was to fly straight to Alabama from Texas. The 1st and the 2nd trip were to last around 5 to 6 days each.
I am hoping I do not miss any important details, and that I remember the exact number of hours and details so that there is not any confusion below. If something doesn’t make sense, please let me know and I will have to eat a lot of chocolate and try to remember some more details.
10 reasons to avoid flying with American Airlines
Following are 10 reasons for which you can avoid American Airlines, as of 2007. I am going to avoid American airlines for these very reasons, and a few more. The list below is not supposed to be in a chronological order: I will go back and forth in my trip to show you different aspects of how American Airlines operates, and how their operations affected me. This is also a way to tell you of my trip: you will find out where I was going and some brief details as to why I was traveling, among maybe a few other things.
- Their in-flight food service is bad
There used to be a day when you could eat all you want on a plane. “It’s ok, I will eat on the plane“, I used to think. Now, while the top executives reap in millions, customers are not served food so that the airline can save money. American Airlines only gives out a few soft drinks on most flights.
American Airlines does allow you to bring your own food, but nowhere is this policy about bringing your own food printed on tickets or mentioned on their website. Only when you are in the terminal or sitting inside the plane do you slowly find out that people can bring their own food. The hunger at that time can drive you into thinking “If I take one or two of her Oreo cookies while she is sleeping, will she notice when she wakes up?” Wondering about that question enabled me to survive the journey while being extremely hungry.
- Their baggage care and service is bad
American Airlines lost my luggage when I was flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Then, after more than a day when the luggage was found, I found out that my luggage was missing items that were inside it. I had around $1000 worth of 3 items and a gift from someone that went missing. Not only that, my luggage had a few things and garments that belonged to some other passenger: noticeable, a man and a woman.
After 3 weeks of phone tags and giving me an investigation numbers, American Airlines sent me papers to fill out to tell them the exact same story. Hopefully they can find my things. Here is the funny thing: American Airlines did not take the items from me that did not belong to me, telling me to hold on to them and someone will get them from me. It has been 4 weeks and I have someone else’s trousers, bra and a few other things. I keep forgetting everyday to drive to the airport and throwing them in front of the American Airlines baggage counter. Throwing them into the trash seems like a bad thing to do.
- Their prices are bad
American Airlines supposedly has the largest fleet, and still they charge more than others. Their planes are usually full. One good thing though: they have deals with different airlines, so you can probably find a good time to fly, most of the time, if you are willing to pay the price. Even with all the money coming in, they still complain of losses and other things. Where is all the money going?
All of the money is definitely not going back into the service they provide, that is for sure. Nowadays they do not offer anything extra, serving only some soft drinks and water. Even when you ask for water 3 times on a 6 hour flight they make a weird face as if you were a kidnapped refugee who was not supposed to ever ask for water.
- Their in-flight entertainment service is bad
No TV, no audio jack, nothing. They do not even carry magazines or newspapers on both short or mid-long flights anymore. I remember the early 90’s, flying on several Asian, European, Middle East and a probably-then-Russian airline, and they all had TV’s, audio jacks with local radio, and lots of newspapers and magazines.
Yet, American Airlines does not offer any of those. You just sit there, bored to death. I guess American Airlines can say “We are in the transportation business, not in the entertainment business.” If you want to avoid boredom, bring your own laptop and see if you can use it while in the air, or fly any of the several other airlines in America, like jetBlue or Virgin America. I tried to play text tags with Valerie while on the plane.
- In my experience, majority of their staff’s attitude is bad
Was it just my experience, or does the American Airline staff going from Texas to Alabama not greet or say bye to anyone who is not “white” or “black“? Was it just my experience, or does the American Airline staff going from Alabama to Texas not greet or say bye to anyone who is not “white” or “black“?
Similarly, at the baggage claim counter in San Francisco, the staff acts as if they were kidnapped and forced to work there, and that they are letting out their frustration on the customers. Sure, when you work long hours you may probably be the person who bites others, but that is probably one of the exact reasons why American Airlines has staff with bad attitude: they do not hire more people to replace the already moody people. Again, where is all the money going?
How about the attitude of the minority of their staff? I can say that ranged from no moodiness to being very happy to help. This is a very small minority from my experience. There was this very serious old guy who was working near the counter when I was checking in to fly from San Francisco. He was very serious and kept yelling at me to “not go to that counter” or “go to that counter.” Even though he was serious, he started asking me about my flight and started yelling at the top of his voice “You young person, you gonna miss your flight, hurry and don’t be lazy! Run to the gate. Don’t walk, RUN RUN or you cry!” It was like me being scolded in front of everyone at the airport as I was the youngest and everyone thought I had upset him or something. A young girl started asking her mother “Mommy, did this guy do something wrong? Why is he [the guy] yelling at him [me]?” Well, since I was younger than most people at that time the old guy sincerely wanted to help, thinking I was not aware of how serious it was for me to hurry. If I had not listened to him and had not run to the security check point and then to the gate, I would have missed my flight as within minutes of me passing through the security check point, dozens and dozens of people passengers started pouring in, and very long lines started forming.
I prefer this old guys’ attitude and willingness to sincerely care and help instead of all the fake and forced smiles and serious faces that I saw on majority of the faces of American Airlines staff, who did not even care whether or not I am going to get my lost baggage or items back, let alone caring about me missing my flight. If that young girl ever finds this site, she is probably going to grow up to tell all her future kids “I saw Bes getting yelled at, hahaha! Hurry up or you will get yelled at too by someone!“
- Their “shortage of staff” reason causes massive delays for customers after landing
When I landed at San Francisco, Los Angeles, then San Francisco, Dallas, Birmingham, Dallas, and finally San Francisco again, the plane had to wait a long time before being able to connect or get near any terminal, each and every time at every airport. Sometimes the wait was as long as 40 minutes. We just sat there, on the runway, waiting for the American Airline or any other staff to prepare a gate for our arrival.
The pilot gave this as the reason: “Due to shortage of staff in the entire airline industry, we have no one to work on our terminal gate, just like other airlines, and thus we have to wait for a while. Sorry about that.” Sure, it is not the pilot’s fault as he probably has to read the lines that American Airlines tells him to read, but I have rarely experienced such delays, after landing and being stuck sitting inside the plane, on 4 other airlines that I have flown at least 50 times last year alone within and outside California.
- The probability of accommodations for missed or possible flights is very bad, even though American Airlines promises otherwise
I wanted to meet Valerie going on my 2nd trip. When I was booking my flight, I called American Airlines over the phone and after hours of negotiation, I was told to fly to Dallas in Texas early in the morning, and to try to see if there was an available seat ona ny flight going to Missouri. I was told that there were usually no full flights going from Texas to Missouri, and that if I asked all the that went from Texas to Missouri, I would surely find something to take me to Missouri as part of a connecting flight that stayed for several hours in Missouri, and then onto Alabama.
Well, I arrived in Dallas and realized that American Airlines staff there had a thing for beggars. They wanted me to beg. I reasoned, I pleaded. They kept telling me all flights are full and that even if they were not full they could not change my flight to have an extra connection. I told them I was “guaranteed” over the phone that if there was any seat availability I would be able to get it, specially I had paid extra to find a later flight to Alabama just in case I could not find any connecting flight to Missouri. “You would have to talk to the person who told you that over the phone.” Such answers seemed typical of American Airlines. After spending about 7 hours trying to get a connecting flight, I gave up, and flew to Alabama on the last flight for the day. Sorry Valerie for making you drive and keeping you waiting!
- If you get your luggage but are missing items that were inside your luggage, American Airlines’ solution tactics are bad
When my luggage was missing, I told the baggage claim counter at San Francisco International airport [SFO] about it. They filed down everything in the computer. Then, a day later, early morning, they called and asked the same information again. I told them the information and they said they have completely different information from what I was telling them. So I had to retell them the whole information. I kept asking them how they could mess up the information, and the lady on the phone kept repeating “You would have to ask those people you told about it.” Great answer, American Airlines. That answer is one of the worst examples of customer service.
When my bag arrived after more a day, after midnight, I found that it was missing stuff and it had some guy and a girls’ stuff in it, mixed with whatever of my stuff had survived the journey, as I told you earlier. I filed a report about it on the spot, and called and filed another report about it over the phone within 4 hours.
After 4 days, while I was on my trip in Alabama, I called to ask about my missing stuff from my baggage that had already been found. I was told that American Airlines had no information about me filing such a claim. I was told to contact the baggage service counter at the airport where I had landed, at the time the baggage went missing. That meant I had to talk in person to the people working at the American Airlines baggage counter in San Francisco. I could not fix the problem from Alabama. That was not a bad thing, as hanging out with Ronald in Alabama turned out to be more than a great experience.
After I got back from my trip and immediately when I landed at the airport, I filed the report again by talking to the American Airlines baggage counter in San Francisco, who also said they had no information about me filing such a claim, and that the people who were present on the day I had originally filed a claim were not working that day. I was told that American Airlines would send me a single paper in the mail that I only needed to sign and send back. When I got the papers after 2 weeks, I found out that they were claim papers, where I had to fill out everything from scratch. I even had to report what items I was missing. Why was I told to file my claim in all those other steps and departments then?
- The communication between different departments of American Airlines is bad
The American Airlines phone support did not know that I had filed a claim for lost luggage in person at the American Airlines baggage claim counter at San Francisco Airport. The lost and found baggage warehouse of American Airlines, about 4 miles from the San Francisco airport, did not know about my claim of missing items even though the baggage claim department over the phone did later on. The American Airlines phone support was not aware of me filing a claim for missing items from my lost luggage that had been found, and about some other passengers’ items in my bag. The American Airlines baggage claim department at San Francisco airport was not aware of me filing a claim for missing items from my luggage, which was previously lost, which I had previously filed at the American Airlines lost and found baggage warehouse and also over the phone with the American Airlines lost and found baggage.
Confused? Imagine what I was going through, running around for almost 2 days from my first flight so that I could recover my lost stuff and baggage before my 2nd flight to Texas only 2 days later.
I contacted the American Airlines phone support, phone baggage claim, headquarters over the phone, San Francisco American Airlines baggage counter on the phone, San Francisco American Airlines baggage counter in person, the American Airlines lost and found baggage warehouse over the phone, and the American Airlines lost and found baggage warehouse in person. I did not contact these departments on my own. I was told in each case by American Airlines staff to contact these departments to file the claims for the different headaches that American Airlines had brought to me and my traumatized luggage.
Thus, I followed the proper procedure that I was told, and even after contact them on all those levels, I was sent through all the loops where different parts of the loop did not know I was doing things the loop itself had told me. Now, I have been sent papers to file my claim and start all over again.
- If you believe American Airlines advertisements, your expectations may be destroyed because of reality, which is not that good
There is probably no doubt that if all you want is to fly and you do not run into any issues and you do not want any extra service and you do not run into any issues and you fly from less popular airports, American Airlines may do a better job that many other airlines because of the number of flights they have and the number of cities they operate. However, anything more than the most basic, and you can run into issues.
You know those ads they show on TV, which show the American Airlines staff remembering all the customer names and talking to them like friends? Well, I met and talked with at least 6 people at least 7 times, and every time each of them would treat me as if they saw me for the first time. No one remembered anyone’s name, even the names of passengers at San Francisco terminal who were yelling at American Airlines baggage staff that they had been “waiting for 6 hours to find my luggage, as I have no clothes and nothing to go to my hotel with, and you keep asking me the same information!” Where are all the smiling and caring people they show on American Airlines ads?
Well, that is it for now. These are the 10 reasons I will try to avoid American Airlines in the future unless I book at the last minute and/or American Airlines is the only airline to fly to the city I want to go to. Can you think of more points?
What do you think? Have you ever experienced anything similar?
Thank you for reading
I really, really appreciate you reading all of this. I hope some of this information can be helpful in some manner to you, should you run into any issues with American Airlines.
Thank you. 
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( October 14th, 2007 at 6:12 am )
Wow, great article. You hit the nail right on the head. Especially the part of employees acting like they were kidnapped and forced to work. I used to work in the airline industry and at the time it was one of the hardest jobs to get. I loved it ! For those who feel like the job sucks should leave and open a spot for those who just might enjoy it and make a difference. My wife works as a flight attendant for Jetblue and she sees the same behavior as you did. But like some others, she loves her job and the industry. Lets hope that in some way we can bring back the excitement and customer appreciation back to flying. Jetblue and Virgin America are headed in the right direction. At least they keep us entertained while we fly.
( October 14th, 2007 at 11:05 pm )
Ha, ha! I could name a couple of European airlines which are very much like yours. Unbelievably, the best flight I’ve ever had was with Egyptian Airlines (during a trip in Egypt, which was one of the worst vacation experiences of my life). I’m sorry about this happening to you. Luckily, you are saved by your sense of humour
( October 16th, 2007 at 6:54 pm )
wow. They are totally incompetent! I’ll have to keep this in mind, should I ever get to fly, I’ll use someone else
( October 17th, 2007 at 4:01 pm )
Being from Cincinnati i have mostly flown Delta (i’m not implying they are a great airline), but i have flown American for one trip and 9 out of the 10 complaints you mentioned were absolutley true (i don’t remember a single AA commercial). The points about baggage care, attitude of employees and inability to effectively communicate between departments rang most true for me. Long story short: thier system crashed, told customers to “go away, we can’t help you”, missed flights and in turn two days of cruise, didn’t have luggage for three days. I say down with AA.
( October 24th, 2007 at 8:40 am )
#11 - First through the towers
( October 27th, 2007 at 2:44 pm )
At least for me flying from JFK to Dominican Republic american is the best choice and have a great service.
Bye
( October 29th, 2007 at 1:51 pm )
Thank you so much everyone for the comments. I still have not found my missing items. I apologize for responding to this after about 2 weeks; I am catching up to a lot of things now, so I hope you were not bored while waiting for my response.
Love2Fly, thanks for the comment, and thank you for finding it interesting!
Wow, yes, I can imagine it being an extremely competitive job many years ago, when the focus was on experience, personality and sometimes on character instead of only on security clearance, which is what the main focus is today.
Does your wife still work for JetBlue? I was wondering if JetBlue was better than others, or if it is turning into or always was like another typical airline that has too many customers and thus doesn’t need to focus on niceness anymore.
I have yet to fly Virgin America, and even though I know their current low prices exist simply to get more customers and later on they will increase prices more, the prices right now and the internet and tech features on their flights do justify flying with them.
Imagine me getting used to DirecTV and satellite radio on JetBlue for a 54 minute flight, which does lose reception from time to time, to no tv, no radio and no magazine on a 6 hour flight on American Airline. Isn’t being comfortable while flying part of the flying experience?
Simonne, thanks, heh. What airlines are they?
These days, if you fly, which airline which you prefer?
Valerie, yes, and because of them unfortunately our world-famous history-changing meeting never happened. =\
Gorilla Trades, thanks for sharing. Is Delta much better than American Airlines in comparison?
I agree again: not having luggage for three days can be very horrible on a cruise trip. I forgot to ask in the other comment on the other post: were you compensated or offered any solutions or alternatives ever?
tallfreak, thanks for commenting.
That is, umm, err, funny and weird in different perspectives? Should I laugh at such a hilarious point or be sad because it involves dying people? An interesting observation. I completely forgot the name of the airline. I do wonder what American Airlines did or said afterwards to or for the families of those that died. It probably told them to file a claim also and check back in a day or two.
What airlines do you usually like flying?
Prestamos, thanks for the comment. That is a good example, as it shows that not all flights result in 100% chaos. Do you usually fly American Airlines? I wonder if on some routes American Airlines pays more attention or hires staff from a different staffing pool.
( October 30th, 2007 at 9:04 am )
I wouldn’t say Delta is much better than AA in terms of ticket price, in flight meals/snacks/etc. However, as a i said previously i have flown Delta many times because of my location, and through the 12 some odd years i have been flying out of the same airport i can only think of one time that delta lost one of our bags. The first time i go on American and three bags are missing and two plus days of our cruise are gone.
We did get compensated. The cruise line (royal carribbean, in my opinion the best one, for families at least) actually reimbursed us for the days we missed which was completley unexpected, seeing as it wasn’t their fault we missed the days. Also, that reimbursement came that week while we were on the cruise.
With AA, however, we had to write a letter, respectfully but sternly, describing all of our dissatisfaction with our experience, like the incompetency of the agents at the gate not being able to offer any type of solution, losing bags, etc. After several weeks they did send us a $1000 voucher. so on our next vacation we used it, and i am dead serious when i say this, they lost another one of our bags. luckily that was the only hiccup on this go around with them; the plane was on time (as in it made it to the destination on the given day, who cares about the actual time, right?).
( October 31st, 2007 at 1:32 am )
Thanks for the further explanation Gorilla Trades, and I am surprised [more on that below]. That is indeed a horrible experience, specially when you are trying something for the first time and are on an important trip where losing luggage can mean the entire trip being affected tremendously, or completely.
Wow, that is very nice of Royal Caribbean. That is good service example right there; regardless of them being good or bad, big or small, they took care of customers while earning a business themselves too. That is how businesses should be.
Also, regarding American Airlines losing the luggage the 2nd time after you had filed a complaint and gotten a $1000 voucher for American Airlines losing the luggage the first time, I must say: What the heck?! Did you complain about it again? They should be embarrassed and apologizing for making the same traditional mistake twice on the same customer after supposedly trying to fix it from their first mistake! “You have a problem? Doesn’t matter, here’s the money, go away“; that kind of mentality results in the problem always being there, while the narrow-minded solution takes care of the problem for a day or two.
Give me 2 years as the head of AA with full power and I will turn it around. Heh, what are the chances of AA considering that because of this comment. Their loss anyhow, I guess, since they are already losing everything in the long run.
Sorry you had to go through that: I hope you are always able to find alternatives to American Airlines in the future! Thanks again for sharing.
( October 31st, 2007 at 8:59 am )
That’s one reason why, in my mind, Royal Carribbean is a great company. Other cruise lines probably would have done the same, becuase it is an industry whose main feature is providing the best service to their customers. But if more companies conducted business like RC and other cruiese lines, instead of trying to take advantage of their customers or tossing service by the wayside after the initial sale, everybody would be a little happier.
Haha, i’d support your bid to be the head AA. Least they can do is take a look at your post, and probably countless others like it, and try fixing all the flaws they have.
( November 4th, 2007 at 12:57 pm )
Thanks again Gorilla Trades. I am sure that is one of the very reasons it must have very loyal customers. If a customer is in trouble, helping them as much as possible, 100% selflessly, without wondering about the bottom line and how to make profit off customers’ miseries can help. It is a mentality that needs to change in the entire business world.
Thanks about your support, heh! Hopefully they’ll notice.
Yes, American Airlines can simply look at the public issues, or even the complaint letters they may be getting and address those problems. Of course, at the moment, the way to run business is to be very narrow-minded and do things to get immediate results that last only for a short while. Imagine focusing on reducing inflight entertainment while not focusing on customer complaints; amazingly stupid.
( November 5th, 2007 at 9:00 am )
amazingly stupid, yet coming from AA (or many other large corporations), not surprising.
( November 5th, 2007 at 9:55 pm )
Thanks for the comment GT. I think it has to do what what you pointed out: large corporations. The bigger you are, the more, many times, you can get away with dissatisfied customers and people.
( November 8th, 2007 at 1:44 am )
I think stuff like that rarely happens, if at all it happens, out here in India.
Today, when most corporates consider customer care and support to be the top priority, I wonder how AA can let things like this happen. Surprising. Never heard anything like this in India.
( November 12th, 2007 at 7:18 pm )
Sawai, thanks for the comment. How is the service over there? Do you have many regional airlines to choose from?
Well, many companies act similarly, and not just AA. It is usually only in the ads on TV or print that you see examples of good customer support. In real life, real experience varies and usually if you have a problem and the company you are having a problem with is huge, your problem will not be the priority.
( November 13th, 2007 at 11:26 am )
From what I understand from your blog, service is much much better out here…
There are five or six to be precise…
To be Honest, when all airlines were fighting for the all economy class planes to cut costs, one airline brought the concept of all business class and serve at a good price. Beat that? Do you have any such airline in US?
( November 13th, 2007 at 12:31 pm )
Interestingly, I have just posted on the same topic. And there are comments on both sides of the issues of value and customer service with this particular airline. http://genplus.blogspot.com/2007/11/is-ladders-crossing-line-in-taking-on.html
( December 27th, 2007 at 11:10 am )
American Airlines is a wonderful company. They do lots of good things.
( February 8th, 2008 at 6:11 pm )
We lost a total of 6 out of 7 bags on a flight from Indianapolis to the Philippines (American Airlines). Three of the bags have shown up in cities we did not go through by airlines that we did not fly. With their record for lost luggage, why isn’t Homeland Security taking a hard look at them? What is being passed around the United States and foreign countries in our luggage? Our bags were out of our possession for over 6 weeks. A lot can happen in that period of time. Makes you think.
( February 18th, 2008 at 10:34 am )
Sawai, how are you? Long time no talk.
My instant messaging program [pidgin] is having some communication/connection issues lately, so I’ll be e-mailing you soon. Thanks for waiting!
Hmmm, all business class and service at a good price? I do not know of any such airline here. You must be lucky. Have you used that company so far?
A lot of things are being phased out here in the name of cost-saving-strategies. Are certain thins on planes over there a standard?
Wendy, thanks for the comment, and thanks for sharing that link also. It is interesting how Marc, TheLadder.com CEO, addresses the issue. Do you think what the American Airline employee did was wrong?
Kid, thanks for the comment too. Do you fly with them a lot? When you say a lot of good things, do you mean things in the community or in their service, or something else?
Susan Ross, thanks for the comment and for sharing your story. Wow, 6 out of 7 bags is a lot. You bring up a good point about security. Imagine either things being put in there that belong to you [the way my luggage had other people's clothes] or things being stolen [happened once to me on another airline].
Did your bags have everything in them when you got them back? What did American Airlines say or do in the meantime?
Thanks again everyone for waiting.
( February 21st, 2008 at 4:48 pm )
hi,,
i traveled on Dec,28 2007 from DFW to IND..
and my baggage is still missing
i sent them all the questionaire form,ticket receipt and everything they needed
but there is no respond from them..
i emailed them and called them several time
but all they are saying is ‘we are still looking for it’
god, i am so sick of it!!! hate AA.
( March 12th, 2008 at 3:51 am )
I can name 99 reasons why not flying on airplanes in general. But American Airlines seem to annex there
( April 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pm )
First, I would like to say I love the post. I am an employee of American Airlines and have been for nearly 21 years. Trust me when I say this ” I hate the airlines too”. Lost bags happen and 9 out of 10 times they are not lost they are just delayed. Flights will have delays but we really do try to keep a schedule, trust me there is always a supervisor knee deep in our ass when things are not going well. The main reason American SUCKS so bad right now and why the employees have such a bad attitude is because our top management is screwing us. Ever since Robert Crandall left American as our CEO we have fallen down hill and fast. Carty was a crook and a dumbass for buying TWA. Arpey is just a greedy no caring for (public or employee) SOB. Top management takes bounses and tells rank and file to suck it up through these lean times. Yes do be mad at American, but remember the employees are not mad at you, we are mad just like you. As one employee, I am sorry for the trouble we have caused and I do hope things get turned around.
( June 18th, 2008 at 7:22 am )
ya i totally agree with you! i wish i had seen your post earlier!
I’ve just missed my flight, or more precisely, the flight missed me. I’m flying (or was supposed to fly) the 630am flight from sfo to chicago. I got to sfo at 5:30, which I admit, is not that early but definitely not late at all. Then there were like 500 people lining and I couldn’t even see where the end of the line is! So i lined up and waited, and waited, then it was about to reach 6am and I still didn’t see anyone calling for passengers for the chicago flight. There was someone calling for a 610am flight when I just started lining.
I tried to speak to the ladies in the counter but they just asked me to hold on and then they walked away. So I went up to one of the staff and asked are you calling for chicago at all? Then i was told ‘they are calling for you, run!’ So I hurried to the counter and looked for someone to speak to (again) and failed, so i decided to just try to figure out how to use that self check-in machine. By the time I’ve done that it was 603am and the machine wouldn’t allow me to check-in anymore and would just put me on standby on a flight at 935am. I was very pissed off and a bunch of other people were too. A lady came over and asked what was going on. She demanded me to ‘understand’ them so I said ‘yes i understand you are busy and there are lots of people, but you just didn’t call me. i was way up there and you only called the passengers standing near the counters!’ She still insisted that it is not their fault, which is the main reason why I’m pissed off.
How can it not be their fault?? It’s not my fault (even though I regret not asking earlier), but if it is not the airlines fault either, whose fault it is?? Natual disaster??? The airline knows exactly how many people are taking their flight and how crowded the check-in area will be. They could have done better arrangements in the lines according to flights and at least, use a loudspeaker to call for passengers that need to shortcut because their flights are like leaving!
And now i’m sitting in the airport waiting for the 935am flight, and I’m still worried about whether I can get on it or not. I’m a foreign student and I’m a girl and I’m traveling alone. This doesn’t feel good to be feeling so insecure! The worst thing is, I have already booked another flight with AA. Well, I guess I’ll just get to the airport REALLY early (3 hrs according to the AA staff) and print the boarding pass ahead of time (I didnt do it this time because I’ve moved out and don’t have a printer anymore) and all. Wish me luck!
( August 15th, 2008 at 12:40 am )
never traveled by air, thanks for the tips