Overall Great year.
Bad trip was AA #111 from FCO-ORD on Oct 11. There was a mech delay at FCO for about 1.5hrs then a medical EM for a guy having a heart attack. He lived and was left at SNN. Then the crew timed out and we landed at BOS to change crew, run customs and get back on the same plane. Everyone was surprisingly mellow about the whole thing.We should have been in ORD at 2:35PM instead we arrived around midnight. That's about 20hr (in Y) for FCO-ORD. AA did give us a voucher to stay at the ORD Westin and $5 each for breakfast, upgraded us to 1st for the ORD-DFW the next day and 9K miles. It was handled well.
Also, I ws caught in the LAS snow storm a few weeks ago and cancelled. That was a strange sight!
On a recent flight I was very thirsty and pressed the call button to ask the
FA for a drink but she was in her jump seat talking with the other FAs,
eating leftover fruit salads from breakfast. So I went to the galley and got
a club soda out of that plastic box that they are kept in (the drawer was
open so I didn't actually open any part of the galley to get the can). Then
I went back to my seat and poured the club soda into the glass cup which
already had ice.
About 5 min later the FA comes up to me and says "Did you just help yourself
to something from my galley?" I'm like yeah, I got this club soda so that
you wouldn't have to make the trip. She's like "Well only FAs are allowed to
serve drinks and it was rude of you to take it." To which I responded "Well
maybe if you answered my call button instead of fussing around then
passengers wouldn't have to get drinks for themselves." So then she says
that I'm not supposed to be in the galley for "security" reasons. And I'm
reaching for my pen to write down a name when my gf intervenes and is like
"Edwin, this isn't the airline lounge...he's very sorry!"
__________________
"When you have nothing intelligent to say, call the other guy an idiot and hope nobody notices your deficiency." - Sun Tzu
Also, I ws caught in the LAS snow storm a few weeks ago and cancelled. That was a strange sight!
I was also caught at LAS that day, though not flying AA (didn't have it in me to do the normal LAS-LAX-JFK redeye bounce - wish AA had an afternoon LAS-JFK!). It was absolute mayhem (never seen a longer taxi line). Called hotel and they snagged me a car.
Learned two things on that trip - Delta never again (they didn't handle the situation particularly well), and always stay at the Four Seasons when in Vegas.
Good, but not really!---I flew to Oregon to visit my father who had been suffering through cancer. While there, he died. Then AA's M-80's were all pulled from flight and I was able to change my return flight without penalty. Gave me a much needed couple more days to deal with lawyers and get estate stuff started.
Same time period, my daughter and son in law were flying out to the funeral and because of my Gold status, I was able to get through to AA and change their flights and even got them on better itineraries.
That MD-80 thing happened just for us! Sorry about that for the rest of you who were inconvenienced! Although, that's pretty sad that that is the best experience I had with flying this year!
Good, every time the AA staff smiled, genuinely, helped, said good morning, good day. Excellent, every time the AA staff understood, went out of their way to help. Super excellent, the ORD check in lady who made sure I got home transatlantic connecting BA codeshare EI. This is 85% of my AA flying experience.
Bad, no dreadful, every other time. (And every time I fly EZY if you really want to know).
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, OW Emerald, QF Bronze, Marriott Silver, Starwood Gold; National Emerald
Posts: 2,358
Coming back LGW-RDU on my second LON08 MR, I was paged while in line for Immigration, held up my hand and an AA rep came to me to inform me that the plane for my next flight (to MIA) is late coming in and won't get down to MIA before the last flight MIA-IAD (it was an MR, so I was going for miles; went via DFW and RDU ), so they were re-booking me on a direct flight home, just see the AC agent after I'm through Immigration.
Last MR from YVR, sat next to an older couple who got reseated into my exit row. They had no status, but were starting on their 40th anniversary vacation around South America. I told them about MRing and FT, OW awards and Explorer tix) and she seemed intrigued, as they were really enjoying the extra leg room of the exit row (they are both very tall). Very nice chat with them for about 2 hours (this was their third big international trip in a year, and another two planned for 2009), then when we were done and I was plugging into my DVD player, I picked a romantic comedy and invited her to watch and listen too (first time used both earphone plugs in it). He had headphones but she didn't, so I gave her a set of ear buds I picked up from FC and kept in my DVD case to give out.
Also, SEA has the most friendly and genuinely happy TAs and GAs I've seen, who are also very helpful as a natural extension.
One experience was a consequence of bad GAs at SFO who repeatedly failed to enforce boarding order, letting in regular pax during First and EXP/Plat only boarding (no call for special needs pax), as well as during any group number they pleased. One that came in during Group 1 boarding didn't understand where she sat, and went along with the herd all the way to the back, discussed with FA in rear galley, then started back to her seat in 8A! (she was almost certainly Group 6). She was lugging two carry-ons that were both larger than allowed dimensions, trying to travel upstream against the flow, and slow enough that she didn't get past filled rows so she wasn't able to get herself nor her bags out of the way of pax working to squeeze past her to get to their seats. Held up boarding, and inconvenienced literally more than half the pax at least by slowing the boarding down so much, creating a jam. FA maybe should have collared her and took her and her bags to the back to let boarding proceed quickly then get her to her seat easily when aisle was clear.
Looking forward to wallowing in domestic first as a newly minted ExPlat. Most of my upgrades are clearing days before the flights (I picked flights with mostly empty FCs).
Steve
__________________
AA Miles 1/30/06 = 61k => 5/24/07 = 1MM => 5/6/09 = 2MM
No Work Miles ooFlyerTalk oooMy Flight Memory
Programs: Marriott Plat, AA Lifetime Gold, United Premier Exec, Hilton Diamond, Delta
Posts: 131
Funniest:
DFW_BOS....first to board as my upgrade cleared....as I am stepping on the plane the FA is trying to stash a nice bottle of wine in her luggage (with her back to me). I said jokingly, "Can I get one to go also?"
She turns around totally stunned that someone is already on board.
"OMG I can't believe it you saw me.....here...you take the bottle...I can't possibly do this" She then puts the bottle in my carryon....(no one else has boarded yet).
Greatest first service I have had in a long time....I even gave her an AA Applause cert at the end of the flight.
Best: flying RDU-LHR-WAW on challenge, got delayed in RDU due to MX... loong one at that (~5 hrs) + That was the last BA LHR-WAW available that day (the one remaining LO had only C space), so convinced AA to rebook me on LHR-HAM-WAW with an o/n in HAM as I haven't seen my gf for quite a bit, and she lives in BRE. The GA hearing my explanation was like... "oh.. so maybe you would like to stay in HAM a day or two longer?' Couldn't take him on his offer (had to get to WAW), but still
Funny: FCO-ORD back in Jan 08. When plane was almost at the gate, many passengers started to get up to collect their luggages. FA came on the intercom and told everyone "SIT DOWN" in a harsh tone. That scared the passengers back into their seats.
Best: FRA-ORD on one of my many Germany MRs in 08, chatted with a FA about what i was doing. She was surprised and intrigued about MR. Later she offered me free alcohol with dinner service. Later on the same flight, a couple other FAs came up and ask me about the details of my Germany MRs. awesome Frankfurt crew.. I missed them
Worst: Did a short DFW-TUL MR on Christmas day because i was missing EXP EQM by 23 miles
Worst Day: December 26th ORD-CLT. Early flight cancelled due to weather so as we are driving home and I hit a pothole and take out both passenger side tires. Almost impossible to get a taxi to take family home. About 18 hours and 3 more cancelled flights we finally make it to RDU.
Most unusual: In April I sort of needed to get home early to ORD from LAS. I went to the airport to standby. I didn't ask for special treatment. The GA calls for volunteers to be bumped so I asuumed that I was out-of-luck. I gathered my carry-on and was heading back to the taxi line when I heard my name called and was handed a ticket with a requested upgrade.
Programs: CO Plat, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, AA ExPlat
Posts: 154
Most memorable AA (employee-associated) moments of 2008:
Best - EXP desk agent who got wife and I upgraded to F from ORD to LHR after a series of mechanical delays in ORD. We were flying cheap biz seats.
Weirdest - the MD80 flight attendants whose in-cabin intercom gossip session was overheard by the entire plane when the audio system malfunctioned on a trip from LGA to DFW. Wow--the cats were fighting that day!
Funniest - the FA who split his pants bending over in the FC cabin on an MD80 from IAH to DFW and repaired them temporarily with a mini-stapler from a passenger's brief case. I can't imagine what pain the guy would have been in the jump seat if the landing had been rough. OUCH.
Best: I was in DC in the middle of an F Saaver ticket when my Aunt who had cancer took a turn for the worse. I called AA and for only a $100 change fee they re-routed me to Houston for 3 days and then home to STX all in F. Because of this I was able to have a few words with my Aunt before she passed on.
Worse: Finding I was $3,000+ over on my AAirpass last week for my Holiday travel because of the way they billed me. Fortunately they were able to correct it!
Programs: AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat Prem, Avis First, National Exec
Posts: 127
The Good: My weekly DFW-MCO flight leaving out of the D terminal so often. Better food choices, nicer TSA agents, and the Admirals club is much nicer.
The Bad: As a Plat, I was about 85% successful for upgrades. My first flight as an EXP.....no upgrade. Go figure.
The Ugly: The DFW blizzard and getting disconnected from the Elite line so many times before finally getting through. A frustrating experience while sitting in traffic from downtown and trying to drive to DFW...although others had the horrible experience of turning in their rental cars and having to turn around and try to re-rent another car. I hear the rental car buses were a nightmare during this time.
), so they were re-booking me on a direct flight home, just see the AC agent after I'm through Immigration.
=> 5/6/09 = 2MM 
