Smooth flight, on time, got to DFW early, crew was great, I was on row 11 so lots of room. Snacks were OK. We were pleased.
Flying on this airline is nothing short of a full blown circus clown show. It is so mismanaged it should not be in business as there is no way it can be safe as badly as it is managed. It is 100% about money and customers be damned. On a recent return from my mother’s funeral, my only available choice from IND to PWM was American, which I hesitantly booked as I rarely fly them for many of the following reasons and never will again. I was booked IND-PHL-PWM totaling about six hours. The flight was cancelled due to NE weather. They rebooked me on a two stop flight IND-DFW (Yes DALLAS)-PHL-PWM, still all on the same day. After arriving in DFW, they continually delayed the DFW-PHL flight due to maintenance issues on the arriving flight. Finally it was delayed to the point that my PHL-PWM connection was no longer possible. They then rebooked me thru LGA with the short flight the NEXT DAY to PWM and offered to put me up for the night in NYC (or so I assumed). The flight DFW-LGA was then delayed so much that I asked to be put in an earlier flight with a lessor delay. Throughout this day chats with their AI assistant were useless as were subsequent chats supposedly with a real person(?). Only one customer service agent in DFW was actually helpful and appeared to care. Upon arrival at LGA post midnight, they issued me car and hotel vouchers in Trenton NEW JERSEY at a very old Howard Johnsons ONE HALF HOUR from LGA. The hotel was an $85, 1.5 rated hotel in a very sketchy area of NJ that I would have never voluntarily booked. As I prepared to catch the car back to LGA the next morning I received a text that my flight was cancelled. TWICE IN TWO DAYS. I went to LGA hoping to have AA book me on an earlier Delta flight. The full service line was at least 200 people deep, so I tried to reach a real person agent by phone. After 1/2 hours on hold I gave up and waited for my later LGA-PWM flight. It actually started boarding on-time, but only shortly after announced a maintenance hold. We were told it was nothing serious, just an adjustment to the Captains seat. Only one update was given while we waited 1.5+ hours for a “SEAT ADJUSTMENT”. During that time at least three others flights in my area announced that they were overbooked and were taking volunteers before bumping people. Another flight to ORD announced a gate change and less than five minutes after announced that they were really not changing and announced for everyone to return to that gate. Can’t forget to mention that on all of these planes the WiFi only worked on two.🤡🤡
The seats we paid a lot extra for so we could sit together were horrible. The flight attendant even mentioned this to my wife after she was hit multiple times by the cart. She said something like this, “this is the worst seat on the plane and I know you paid extra for it. Sorry.” The entertainment screen needed to be held while using, the food tray was not useful for the meals they served, and constantly being bumped into by passengers and crew. I offered to switch with my wife multiple times, but since I am so much taller, my knee would have been a much easier target.
American notified via app that the flight was delayed. However, when I went to the gate, they were already boarding and had not updated communications that they had pulled the flight time back. They made the entire flight re-check in which by this time I had lost my exit row seat and ended up in a middle seat. As a 4 decade flyer of American and Exec Plat, my expectations for the company are that the customer service would be better. This unfortunately is no longer a strong point for any of the major airlines including American. They are basically city buses flying at 30 thousand feet.
The power outlets were not working for my row. Also felt like the seats have gotten smaller. I was in the window seat and felt like suffocated, as the two passengers next to me were tall and wide.
No AC, no beverage service and no explanation from the captain. 4 flight legs in 2 days with no internet service.
No service on New Orleans to DFW or DFW to San Antonio. Also no explanation from the captain why we had no AC. Unacceptable!
They lost my bag on both the going and return flight of my round-trip.
Nothing...a plane ride to where I needed to go.
The Overall Experience was great. No issues with the flight.