Centurion

I have flow enough AA operated flights to now know I should avoid American as a US Chairman elite member. They could have done a status match to solve the issues but I am going to another airline. Great job at loosing goodwill Doug. I am sure we will make a lot of exec plates concierge happy we are gone.

ubernostrum

My experiences on AA metal/with pmAA staff have been terrible, but I've also done my best to articulate what went wrong in hopes of it getting better.

Specific details of what's driving you away might be useful (not that pmAA elites would care, since to them we're "freeloaders", but pmUS folk probably do care).

sdix

I would agree.

I (CP) My wife (CP) and my son (Silver) have had issues with every flight we have taken on AA metal.

I will say that the problems manifest when ticketed on US stock even though the AA flight has an AA PNR.

Latest trouble is AA charging my son a baggage fee for 1st bag at ORD. His BP clearly stated OW Ruby but the agent wouldn't accept it.

I have since called AA who basically say submit a complaint on line.....

So, until things really do align I'll stay on US metal as a CP or use my AA plat status since I have requalified CP

ubernostrum

I had an AA agent try to charge me for a bag a while back. Thankfully she accepted the status on my BP + literally whipping out the now-AA-logo'd status card from my wallet as proof that I shouldn't be paying for a bag.

But given what I've seen of pmAA staff, I count myself lucky. They barely seem to have understood their own program; asking them to understand anything else just overtaxes them to punitive frustration.

Michael El

I've taken three one-way AA operated flights since August and have been lucky. Reserved main cabin extra seats at time of booking. I received complimentary upgrades twice. Had IRROPS twice and was automatically booked on the next flight and got to my destination.

SFO777

Yeah, this merger has been a cluster schtupe. I've had a similar miserable experience as an EXP on US. Can't get a OLCI BP on a US flight when booked on AA.com. Have to check-in at T-24 to get a chance at an upgrade. Miserable inflight USX service including a recent USX CR9 that showed up with no F cabin. And don't even get me started on the disgusting, inedible post 9/1 US meals on AA mainline. I'm re-qualifying for EXP only to improve my status match position on DL and have already bought 6 tickets on other airlines that would have been on AA. I'm not sticking around for the Doug and Hector horror show.

Insiderdude

I've been on the better end of the experience: Flown about 16 segments on AA so far this year. Out of those, 8 of those were in purchased F-class (A/P bucket) at ticketing (some type of UP fare), and 2 of those flights were inbound to ORD during the FAA-extended-mess of September-mid October, and when I was about to miss my connection, the AA EXP desk (through the CP desk) offered to confirm me on a later flight, in F ... while everything was sold out (as in F0 A0 P0 Y0!). Thankfully I didn't have to do it but to me, that meant she was willing to IDB someone in F. I'm not sure where that would've came from, either a paid F pax, EXP complimentary pax, or a Plat/Gold sticker upgrade pax. Either way, great service.

The other 8 segments I've flown, I'm at 75% upgrade success. The 2 flights I didn't clear I had the green seat on their handheld, got a free drink and snack, and was personally thanked for flying AA by the FA, all in an nice MCE seat. In fact, one of those flights, the FA came back and gave me the pre-arrival mint on the service tray while thanking me.

phlwookie

Thus far, I'm mainly avoiding AA metal where possible due to the upgrade issues and inefficiencies with checking in and the like. However, my experience with AA personnel has been pretty dismal both on the ground and in the air - it's as though I was flying US back in 2008 when everyone was angry and operations were pretty poor. Hopefully things will improve with time.

A lot of AA FFs seem to think legacy AA was some kind of paradise that DP will destroy. He may destroy it for everyone, but my experiences certainly haven't been paradise-like, particularly with about 20 flights with JFK-based crews this year on the transcon A321s to LAX/SFO and to LHR, both in business.

I have had one very good AA experience on JFK-LHR, and 19 mediocre to extremely poor ones. That certainly doesn't make me want to throw my clients' money at AA flights.

Centurion

Oh yes I almost forgot even though I presented my us Chairmans card the last AA check in CSR told me she was doing me a favor by letting me check my bags for free on another person I was traveling with booked in F

jfinsocal

My experience is PHX based US staff offer by far the best service and CLT/PHL and AA staff are about the same. There's obviously exceptions both ways.

US employees (correctly) view this as a merger while AA employees largely view this as US employees joining their airline.

Overall I think the merger is going pretty smoothly and is mostly well managed and implemented.

Biggie Fries

Well, as I have posted in one place or another, I have been pretty well served by US and have not been looking forward to its passing. Mostly due to that, plus not really understanding AA, I have taken OP's advice and avoided AA where possible.

This said, my actual AA experience turned out to be pretty darned good, and the one place where you really want to choose AA over US is to/from Hawai`i, since MCE+free upgrades (HNL-DFW ... yes!) on AA trump the sad-sack US flights.

Speedracer2

The vast majority of the AA emplyees I have dealt with have been polite, friendly and professional, but with zero flexibility. US employees are more flexible, but the other attributes are all over the place. Sometimes you get fantastic service and attitude, other times not so much. I think Doug put it correctly when he said American is more formal with its processes and even office clothing, whereas US is more relaxed.

kudzu

I agree.

All my revenue flights this year have been US, sometimes paying more to do so. Remainder of booked flights this year are also all US.

Heck, North Carolina is US country . Last year I tried AA F DFW-MIA and liked it (pre-order meal, good service, etc). Maybe the best is yet to be, but I'm comfortable with what I have now ...

IADCAflyer

I am going to say that of my 45 segments this year, close to half of them have been on AA. I've never really had any problem with AA. While the ticketing and checkin can be wonky, I've never seen an integration that hasn't had issues.

I've gotten MCE on every flight where MCE has been offered and the IFE and service has been on par if not better than US service in Y. Hard to compare that to US when US has neither.

Hate to say it, but the US product simply feels cheaper in Coach.

I've upgraded on two AA segments - DCA-ORD on one and then (by luck) LAX-BOS on a second. AA's F product has been significantly better - again what IMHO seems like better meals and a more polished look.

As a Gold (probably going to make Plat), I don't hesitate to book on AA.

BeBrilliant

So as a CP, you get on the upgrade list for HNL-DFW on AA-metal?
If so, that's cool. and What is your priority on this route?