I'm a Delta person - being in SLC kind of requires that. I just returned last night from a vacation to Kenya with a group. The TA for the trip had booked us on AA for our various flights to get us to LHR (we then all used the same KQ flights to Nairobi). I looked at my flights and the metal used on seatguru to be sure that I could get the best seats I could. I had "confirmation" of those seat assignments before I left, including hardcopy.

The SLC-DFW leg was OK. Nothing to praise/complain about. The DFW-LHR flight was, in my opinion, subpar (AA 50). The seats were pretty darn uncomfortable and seemed more crammed together than on DL. The FAs did the bare minimum of service - no passing through the aisles during the flight with water as I've seen on many other TA flights, basically just serving one round of beverages, dinner, breakfast. The dinner was really bad. The FA called it "pasta with mushrooms" - it was actually mac and extremely salty cheese with TWO pieces of mushroom on the top. I ate two bites and just left it.

My biggest issue was with the LHR-LAX return flight (AA 137). I had explicitly booked seats that were either B or G. I had an accident just before my vacation and injured my right ankle. I wanted those seats to be sure that I could occasionally stretch out my leg and move my ankle around. My e-ticket, receipts, and itinerary all showed that I had seat 35G for the flight. Now, I was out in the boondocks for 2 weeks with NO internet access, so I could not check on any changes - I had to go by faith that things didn't change. I get to LHR after a 9 hour flight NBO-LHR and go to the OneWorld connections counter. I was given a boarding pass with seat 20H. I told the agent that I was supposed to have 35G. She said "nope, you have 20H." I told her that I needed that G or B seat due to an injury. I even told her I was willing to pay up to $1000 to get a better seat. She said that, with my group fare, there was absolutely no way to buy up. She said she couldn't change my seat, but there were seats available and to see the GA to change.

So, away I went. As soon as the gate was announced, I went straight there to the GA. I told him my tale and that the agent at the connections desk told me to get him to change the seat. He was curt and rather rude in tone when he said "no change, take that seat." I cringed at the thought of 11 hours in that seat. I spent the next hour doing what I could to loosen up that ankle.

When I got on the flight and saw the seat, I almost lost it. There was a huge metal box under the J window seat, taking up a good 18 inches of underseat space for the 2 seats. THEN, my aislemate showed up. She was a young woman, yet the two of us could not get our legs in that confined space. I started to cry.

I found a FA and asked her if there were any seats I could switch to. As soon as I told her which row I had, she gave me this look of compassion (I think she might have seen this scenario in the past). She told me that a few of the bulkhead seats were unoccupied. She had me take my choice, put my jacket on it to "claim it", and, if no one checked in with the seat, I could have it. I was SOOO grateful!!! I was able to put my inflatable footrest down and stretch out my leg and ankle as much as I wanted.

Except for the older, short male FA who insisted on "accidentally" bumping my ankle with every cart he took past or hitting it with his leg - no other FA even came close - and never apologizing for it... The female FA who helped me even came by once in awhile to see if I was OK, despite her working in a different section of the plane. These FAs in Y on this flight did make an extra pass with water. I can't comment on the lunch offered since I fell asleep literally right after we took off and slept for 3 hours.

While the assistance of the one female FA was welcome, I really didn't enjoy my experience with AA. If I had the choice of taking AA or DL or AF for my Trans-Atlantic flights, AA will run a distant third for me. This would even hold true if AA had the least expensive ticket price. There was just enough mediocre service and bad seats to keep me from being able to say I would recommend AA.