dll

I flew last night on AA904 from GIG-MIA. This is the earlier of the two scheduled GIG flights, this one operated by a 772.

Arrived at airport and all seemed in order. Standard boarding call was made in the shabby GIG lounge and we went to the gate to learn that the aircraft had an aircon problem and boarding would be delayed. We boarded about 30 minutes late and everyone quickly settled in to their seat.

Captain came on with the standard welcome then gave us the news: the air con problem was more complex than he originally thought. Said he'd update in 20-30 minute increments. That went on for a couple of hours, with regular updates, until the mechanics determined they needed to power down the aircraft completely which required passengers to deplane. At this point it was almost 1AM and the GIG airport was starting to wind down, but we were let back into the terminal and lounge. We got an update shortly after that the flight had been rescheduled to 2PM on 02Jan, then revised backwards when they were able to locate and secure the proper fix. We were instructed to head back to the gate about 2:30AM, but were warned ominously that there were would be no dinner service due to concerns about food spoilage.

Food options in GIG, if you haven't been, consist primarily of the duty free store, a coffee stand and a souvenir shop with candy. Not exactly dinner provisions. We reboarded and departed about 3AM.

There were so many failures with this flight it's not even funny. My seat (in business) was only semi-functional. The flight map and much of the AVOD in my seat was not working. I never saw Bose headsets distributed (might have been asleep). They never even attempted to serve anything at all after takeoff, like granola bars from the tarmac delay kits. Nothing. It was if they used the excuse of no meals to provide exactly no service.

I slept most of the journey and woke for breakfast which they did fully complete. No hot towels or beverage runs were ever attempted from my vantage point. They sort of snuck in the major news that there would not be meals available after the door had already closed, at which point there wasn't much in the way of options.

I always travel with some small snacks (I prefer Kind bars, good nut-based treat), so I at least had a small snack for myself.

I have to hand it to the captain - I really did feel he was doing his very best to get the flight out and into Miami, and he was thorough with his updates. The cabin crew were completely absent which was absurd.

All in all, the captain summarized it best: a complete debacle. This is 2 of 2 777-200 flights I had with AA over the holidays that were delayed for MX. Cannot say if that's a trend, but it's concerning, especially when they handle it the way they did in GIG.

tkelvin69

MEchanical problems happen and create problems but service should still be at reasonable levels. Have you sent a copy of this to AA customer service?

bdemaria

Sounds pretty bad, you will likely automatically recieve some miles in your account as compensation. Whenever there is an MX delay at outstation - its going to be harder to fix - which is no excuse for the lack of in-flight amenities. I would definitely contact AA and list the issues in flight: broken seat, no IFE, no food etc...

ESpen36

Wirelessly posted (Apple iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 8_1_2 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/600.1.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/8.0 Mobile/12B440 Safari/600.1.4)

The FAs were probably having a rough night too. I think these routes are still "rockets," meaning that the same crew brought the bird down the night before, then had a ~14-hour break on the ground in GIG before taking the same aircraft home that night. So by the time the flight actually departed, the crew was probably pretty miserable. I would cut them some slack. It sounds like the captain did an incredible job trying to get the flight off the ground.

As far as drinks, BOSE, etc...I am guessing the FAs were trying to avoid unnecessary movements through the cabin at 2:30am to allow the pax to sleep. The same happens on red eye transcons. Usually they make one or two passes through the cabin after takeoff to see if anyone actually wants anything. My guess is that the overwhelming majority of pax were unconscious immediately upon takeoff.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Did the AC stay open, generally it does when a flight is delayed like this. The OP's profile says PLT so at least he could have gotten food at the AC, if open, albeit the food is limited to snack food. Sounds like a tough situation and as noted when mechanical issues occur at out stations it always more of a hassle.

lotrbfme

Back in 2011 I had to go to my sister's wedding which was a 3h flight. I originally departed at 6am and I ended up departing at 10PM after switching at least 4 different planes, It was my worst experience ever in AA, at least the employees tried to get me to my destination... At the end I did not see my sister get married but I was able to take some pictures with the family on the party place... I never received any kind of compensation but to be honest I was so worried about getting in time to my sister's that I did not cared for those thing at the moment.

GB

You have to be kidding me. It takes little effort to quietly approach each passenger and ask if they would like the headphones. You don't have to roll the cart through the aisle to do this. And regarding the OP's comment about no drink service, this too is inexcusable, regardless even if the FA's may also be tired. If they are too tired to do this, they surely would also be too tired to "be there for our safety". Bottom line is, especially in IRROPS, this is where the great service focused employees and brands can shine--or not.

boss315

If you want MX, try UA! This was nothing compared to the
Total bedlam that ensues with UA MX's!

skylady

I don't understand the reasoning behind serving breakfast, but not dinner?? It's the same catering, catered at the same time!

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Unless things have changed, "breakfast" in Y is a stale, crumbling croissant and maybe yogurt. Of course, J is a full breakfast so I would agree. Wouldn't the carts keep the food fresh for a few hours. How long was the total delay?

keitherson

Yeah it's called a business, and you can take it elsewhere if they can't deliver basic customer service.

This recently happened to me on a TPAC Delta flight where they rushed dinner service as quickly as possible so they can just leave. It was difficult even tracking down a FA after service ended.

I've also seen this service gap on a United flight where there was some minor turbulence for part of it, and the crew only served first class for drinks and just completely ignored economy class. Safety is of course everyone's top priority, but the FA's literally did nothing but sit for a 2 hour flight and ignore the entire main cabin. No offers for water or anything, even if you can't bring out the cart.

I was also hugely skeptical that the captain disallowed service for the entire ride, given how smooth most of it was.

It's just another customer service issue with mostly American carriers.

HMPS

<redacted>

( ) What about kids ?
This was a total breakdown. I went thru poor, obnoxius service in J PEK ORD and yes voted with my wallet^

tkelvin69

This was a suggestion of a different perspective. I'd much rather have a post like that then a few of the snarky responses toward someone's (experienced) thoughts.

dll

Wondered the same! Can't explain why it would matter. But I trust their judgement if the limit for meals is 5 hours. Not worth the risk. Was very surprised they did not have any contingency plan, like granola bars. I have seen those stocked even on ERJ for extended tarmac delays.

I grabbed as much as I could from the lounge but the GIG lounge is pretty meager to start, and it was thoroughly picked clean. They did happily stay late for us, a gesture they must be repeating tonight as the GIG-DFW flight has gone mech and is estimated out a couple of hours late.

Ahem. MX delays abound!

clr4t8koff

My guess is that you didn't coin the term "rockets," but since you used it I'll pose this question to you: How can a flight that still provides ~14 hours of downtime/rest be termed this and looked at as miserable? Even after leaving the plane, traveling to crew hotel, and checking in they'd still have ~11 hours rest. That's more than most people who work M-F 8-5 get. Plus GIG-MIA is AA's shortest GIG flight (vs DFW & JFK) no? I sure wish my corporate job allowed for this "rocket" type schedule