AA.....Where vacation joy goes to die.

[Mr. Smooth]

It's never easy heading back home from a trip. Great times, chicas, board members etc. What you hope for going home is too have as few problems and hassles as possible as you return to reality.

I just returned home from the DR last night on American Airlines. The Miami leg was a little late but no biggie. My problems began with the connection to SF. I originally was to have left Miami at 7:55pm. On the departure board, the flight was delayed until 8:45pm. When we finally boarded, it was around 8:30 so I knew the takeoff would be late. As I am entering the plane, the cockpit door is open and the pilot is going through his pre-flight checks in a rather loud and irritating voice. I hear him say as I am turning right to make my way down the aisle, "This doesn't look right." I feel a sense of dread.

After a full flight of passengers are all seated, he comes on the intercom and says this plane is being grounded and we will have to get off to board another plane as soon as they can find one. WTF!!

After being told to go to D-50 (Hmmmm......the Islander Bar is right there at D-49......alas, it is closed) we get a 10pm departure on a new plane. After loading up, we sit there for another hour as the baggage people take forever to unload the other plane and load up the new one. Finally, at 11:15pm, 3 hours and 20 minutes late, we go wheels up for the 5 hour and 35 minute flight to SF.

We get in at nearly 2am. It's 5am in my head Sosua time. I happen to share a shuttle van ride to the Hilton just south of the airport where I parked my truck with one of the flight attendants on my flight. I ask her if this has been common with AA lately, planes being delayed for maintence problems. What she told me was remarkable in candor, as well as honesty.

She said that due to AA going through bankruptsy, the pilots union is fighting for their pay as well as retirement benefits. But also, the pilots are fighting for better maintained planes as they are absolutely pissed at management with all the write ups they have made with poorly maintained aircraft causing so many delays and irate passengers. She specifically mentioned the 757 aircraft, which is the type that serves POP as well as the other DR airports I'm sure. She said this is amongst the oldest aircraft of any type for any US carrier as they always are having maintenence issues and the pilots have had it with the higher ups not responding to their concerns.

She looked me straight in the eye and said the problems will only get worse in the next couple of months and passenger discontent will only increase. She flat out told me not to fly AA in the near future if I could avoid it. She said that she shouldn't even be telling me this. I told her I don't work for 60 Minutes so don't worry. I can't help it if people feel the need to tell me things. Must be a combination of my handsome face and easy going nature!

I'm not putting this out there to scare anyone, just thought I would pass along what I thought was a very frank discussion with a long time AA employee who is no happy camper at the moment with her employer. I thanked her for her honesty as we departed and was glad to know that I won't flying AA anytime soon.

For all of you who will be in the near future, I wish you luck.

[Drjetman]

I stopped flying AA a few years ago. They let me down too many times with delayed luggage and late and cancelled flights. Jet Blue is my Airline now.

[gulfmariner]

Great , I fly AA to work , Mia to New Orleans and back and to my fun destinations DR , CR , and Nicaragua . I really appreciate the intel , maybe i should start mixing in a few new options for travel.

[Dick Dawson]

I remember getting on an AA flight and immediately being overwhelmed by the smell of piss. Never again.

[dquick]

The good new of this story is that the pilot followed the correct pre-flight procedures, saw something that he did not like, and grounded the aircraft. I work in the industry and you will be surprised at the number of accidents that could be avoided if the pilot follows proper procedures.

Now this AA employee was somewhat bashing the 757, but there are plenty of 757 that are less than 10 years old. It was not that long ago, when Boeing discontinued the 757. The majority were built in the 80s, but there are plenty of aircraft flying around that are older than the 757. With good maintenance, this is still a very good aircraft. (I never worked directly for Boeing, so I don't have a horse in the race. But I have worked with Boeing quite a bit, over the years.)

What does concern me is that the AA employee is questioning how well some of the aircraft are maintained. I fly American quite a bit. If they are cutting corners on maintenance, then there is an accident waiting to happen. But this is a US carrier, so I question how AA could get away with this. If anything, the industry is over regulated. I don't see how an airline could get away with this. BUT I could be wrong.

But Hey. We have many members who fly on those small airlines, between third world countries. These airlines do not follow FAA or EASA rules. NOW THAT IS SCARY!

[Irie]

American is the only feasible way for me to travel to the Caribbean, or at least I haven't found anything comparable yet. I won't start worrying until they begin issuing parachutes while boarding.


(at least they've started the process for upgrades)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88405R20120905

[Dave Diaz]

I flew aa yesterday and got upgraded to business class. No problems at all and I actually wanted to meet the pilot, that was a very smooth flight and on time.

That said I had a terrible flight with jetblue last time on my return from santiago.

One thing that is constant is that the way they handle things at the dominican airports is kind of crazy, I didn't. Enjoy my trip back home until the moment I was upgraded to business.

Anyway sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Me personally I don't fuck with jetblue anymore. Aa and united all day everyday for me.

[Mr. Smooth]

American is the only feasible way for me to travel to the Caribbean, or at least I haven't found anything comparable yet. I won't start worrying until they begin issuing parachutes while boarding.


(at least they've started the process for upgrades)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88405R20120905

I am somewhat in the same boat. I had previously flown with Delta out of Sacramento through Atlanta then on to POP, but that route was discontinued. In March I flew with JetBlue on the overnight flight into JFK to SDQ and returned through POP. But the scheduling was changed later in the year as the flight from Sac arrived too late for the connection to POP. I loved the room in coach on JB and wished I could make that my primo choice. Unfortunately, AA is the best choice for me regarding scheduling and price. I'm hoping that will change in 2013 but I'm not going to hold my breath.

[Dave Diaz]

I noticed that the pilots have a tag on their name tag that says union pilot on it. I found that weird since no one else on the flight crew had anything on their tags stating they were union.

Just a thought. Reread your experience just now. I haven't had any problems with them yet though.

[SeaWeed]

AA has priced themselves out of the Florida market for the last couple of years........
Jet Blue, Air Tran and Spirit are blowing their doors off when it comes to price.........
and the internaries with AA really stink.......
can't imagine anyone wanting to make that 7:30AM departure flight out of Montego Bay, Jamaica....
nor arriving at 7:30PM at night....that's like getting to your hotel at 10PM at night.......ugh
though probably great for the Jamaican business travelers that need to do business in Miami for the day

[rahsta]

Dammit, my flight to Rio is at 9:30pm today.

[Orange]

What does concern me is that the AA employee is questioning how well some of the aircraft are maintained. I fly American quite a bit. If they are cutting corners on maintenance, then there is an accident waiting to happen. But this is a US carrier, so I question how AA could get away with this. If anything, the industry is over regulated. I don't see how an airline could get away with this. BUT I could be wrong.

I share your concern.

As for AA cutting corners, I believe that it's very possible. Here's why. The FAA is more reactionary than they are proactive. Yes, they do random maintenance and log book checks, but the major changes are after accidents. I'm a private pilot, so I have some experience dealing with the FAA. Airlines in trouble are willing to take the risk. If they get busted, they will be slapped with a small fine. And what's worse is that bad maintenance leads to increase plane aging, so those already old-ass planes are getting older with each flight hour.

But Hey. We have many members who fly on those small airlines, between third world countries. These airlines do not follow FAA or EASA rules. NOW THAT IS SCARY!

Yes, I agree with you there. I'm going on a 2 month work assignment to Asia next month. I will make my first Thailand trip, but I'm flying on Thai Air because since it flies into the US, it has to abide by FAA regulations. I'm not saying that accidents don't happen with FAA-regulated airlines. There's incompetent pilots everywhere. But I just don't know how some guys just get on a plane by Bumfuck air (a 737 built in 1975 that they bought from Delta which abused it for 20,000 hours) just because it's dirt cheap. Enjoy your flight!

[knotty]

I share your concern.

As for AA cutting corners, I believe that it's very possible. Here's why. The FAA is more reactionary than they are proactive. Yes, they do random maintenance and log book checks, but the major changes are after accidents. I'm a private pilot, so I have some experience dealing with the FAA. Airlines in trouble are willing to take the risk. If they get busted, they will be slapped with a small fine. And what's worse is that bad maintenance leads to increase plane aging, so those already old-ass planes are getting older with each flight hour.

Yes, I agree with you there. I'm going on a 2 month work assignment to Asia next month. I will make my first Thailand trip, but I'm flying on Thai Air because since it flies into the US, it has to abide by FAA regulations. I'm not saying that accidents don't happen with FAA-regulated airlines. There's incompetent pilots everywhere. But I just don't know how some guys just get on a plane by Bumfuck air (a 737 built in 1975 that they bought from Delta which abused it for 20,000 hours) just because it's dirt cheap. Enjoy your flight!

Only flown Thai airways before, but within Asia, mnl-bkk. I believe it was a 380, looked brand spanking new, smelled it too.

[ebl1702399]

Yeah I had a similar incident with American Airlines at MIA last year. They couldn't close the luggage door on the 757. They actually rebooted the plane with everyone on board. We then changed planes only to find out they closed the door and cant get it open with our luggage. Eventually they did and 6.5 hours later I was home. I could have driven home in half that time.

Unless you live in the northeastern U.S., I think American Airlines is your only hope to fly into POP.

[Kevy]

Only flown Thai airways before, but within Asia, mnl-bkk. I believe it was a 380, looked brand spanking new, smelled it too.

The double decker 380? they flew it to MNL?

I only that was going going to be used for long haul flights, I don't believe MNL is setup to handle them.

[questner]

My last three trips to POP were on AA. Competitive pricing on a regular airline. I have done this July holidays with posted prices of $430 with taxes from YYZ which is unheard of.

[MrHappy]

My last three trips to POP were on AA. Competitive pricing on a regular airline. I have done this July holidays with posted prices of $430 with taxes from YYZ which is unheard of.

Cool! I wonder how they filmed that?????

[greydread]

American Airlines has the newest, bestest fleet of new aircraft in the industry.

http://www.fodors.com/news/story_5786.html

The "bankruptcy" is a reorganization and an opportunity to renegotiate union deals to keep them competitive in the near future. I get to choose my seat for free and check a 50lb. bag for free coming and going. That accounts for a $100 price break over Spirit, Airtran, etc. on Caribbean flights so in order to even consider another airline their base price would need to be at least $100 less for a round trip than AA.

American has modernized their fleet and put in place the measures necessary to keep customer costs minimized. That's worth my business. My last trip to SDQ I upgraded to 1st class for $90 going and coming. Jetblue lost my bag on a non-stop flight. Airtran lost my bag on a non-stop flight. How in the fuck do you lose a bag on a non-stop flight? It got on the plane when I did. Where the fuck did it go?

USAirways will cut flights just because they didn't sell enough seats and try to blame it on the weather to fuck their passengers without reimbursement or consideration. I was once diverted to SJU on a flight from Aruba to Charlotte because their "weather radar" went out on a clear and sunny day. They have no parts or crew at SJU and it took an entire day to get underway again without experiencing so much as a single drop of rain. Only a near riot got them to concede lodging, meals and incidental expenses, including vouchers.

I am a fan of AA.

[Mr. Smooth]

I won't quibble with your choice, greydread. Obviously you are a preferred customer and they don't want to lose your business, so the waived fees for bags and low cost upgrades are perks that keep you coming back. I totally understand that. Having never flown any class above premium economy on a few Asian airlines, I would probably feel the same.


This was just one example that I and hundreds of others experienced and that a flight attendant warned me about that would become more frequent in the near future.


I do remember checking the departure board in front of the gate that we eventually left from and saw at least one fourth of the departures were highlighted in yellow, denoting late takeoffs, a few as much as 4-5 hours, and in a couple of instances, cancellations of flights all together.


AA had a lot of angry customers in Miami last Saturday night.

[greydread]

I won't quibble with your choice, greydread. Obviously you are a preferred customer and they don't want to lose your business, so the waived fees for bags and low cost upgrades are perks that keep you coming back.

That's the thing. I am not a "preferred customer" but just a regular shmuck. They didn't 'waive baggage fees' on my Caribbean flights. There are none....for anybody. Any international flyergets a 50lb. checked bag free of charge.