Originally Posted by
Dread Pirate Jeff
So here's an item by item breakdown where I happen to think US flights are better, based on my admittedly limited experience of 60K miles domestic and international each year, OH EXP Gods...
1: Seating. All Y seating sucks, yes. But every US flight I've been on in the last four years internationally has been on a 773 or A330 and the seats are still more comfortable than on the 772 and 763 I flew on AA.
1.a: AA's MCE IS the best thing for Y right now but it's sad that you have to view legroom that used to be NORMAL in economy as some sort of Industry Leading benefit.
Well... now, why do I fly AA? Because they offer the best balance of product and price for the routes I fly to and within North America. And becasue their FF program provides a real value to me, something that cannot be said for LH's program (which I defected from) any more.
My one and only US experience (leaving out the USAir days in the '90s) ever was ZRH-PHL on a 762 a few years ago, followed by a domestic flight to LAX via PHX.
Compared to that ride, the AA 763s as I have gotten to experience them are heaven. Now THAT was a rickety and dirty old plane - and US flew these until last month when the route was suspended for the winter. The worst was the seats: dismal pitch and very cramped.
I had LH status at the time which did not allow me to select an exit row seat in advance. Managed to get one at the airport, but my initial joy was quickly replaced by disappointment about the lack of any significant extra legroom. What an unpleasant surprise. That's what I got for not checking on the 'net beforehand... It was bitter cold as well, and NO BLANKETS available. Grumpy FAs with generally nonexistent service. They would not even try and locate a blanket for me.
And then the nickel-and-diming. You want wine to wash down that 'meal' - that'll be $$. I forgot to take a two-prong adapter for my headphones, and they charged $$ for a set of the cheapest earplugs imaginable that quit working on the connecting flight when I tried to use them again. And on the domestic legs that followed, they charged extra for anything, even water and coffee!
Needless to say, I stayed away from US ever since.
When my AA ZRH-JFK flight was delayed a few hours one time this summer I was offered the choice to be rebooked on the US flight. As I was in business on the refurbished 763 (Did you check out the business cabin on that 763 flight? brand new lie-flat seats!), continuing to LAX on the new A321 with equally nice lie flat seats, I happily declined and rather waited three hours. I might reconsider this when they restart the route next May using an A332, should that plane have MCE.
I don't care about anything as much as I do about space, especially legroom. And as far as that goes, the MCE mini-cabin on AAs 767-300 is as good as coach travel gets in my opinion. Having space is paramount for me - everything else is icing on the cake. I happily trade IFE and new-plane smell for an extra few inches of space. AAs MCE (and the equivalent over at DL and UA) saves me from having to pay significantly more money for a true premium economy seat on other carriers, and getting it for free with FFP status is the biggest incentive to stay loyal to AA for me.
2: Food. Y food sucks all the way around. I'll grant that. the ONLY food served on my AA flights that was palatable was on the return ZRH - JFK, and that's because the food was from a .EU company that actually makes tasty meals. Ever had the food on BA, LH or Swiss? Even the Economy passengers get good food.
Well, I wouldn't say BA, LX or LH Y food is 'good'. On average, it's a tad better than what AA provides and edible, but no more.
You have a point with the catering ex-EU being better, though. But that's the case on all carriers. I flew LH/LX/UA for 15 years before switching to AA/BA/oneworld, and on all of them the food going westbound was better than the meals going eastbound.
3: Customer Service outside the FAs and Counter agents. Any time I've had issues on a US flight, US Customer Service has been attentive and responded quickly. So far, my experience iwth AA has been: Platitudes "Oh we're sorry, we are great and just hate that you had a bad experience." Hoops: "Oh, yes, our contact form sucks, we know, so just send us several referencing this number and they'll all just get threaded together so we can get a good picture of what's going on" So I filed no less than 8 to explain everything I experienced as their modern web form only seems to have space for twitter length posts. And finally, Silence. No response. No follow-up. No response to MY followups.
Well, I definitely do have a better experience there. The few instances where I did complain (for things like flying my dog to NY without me on my second-ever AA itinerary when I had no status etc. That DFW GA will remember this one for a long time to come) CS did take care of those complaints in a timely and satisfactory manner. And the EXP desk is truly wonderful. Old-timers say there have been cuts and it isn't what it used to be, but I can't complain about the service at all.
Originally Posted by
carlosdca
Because there are no GREAT reasons to fly AA/OW.
It is just an airline. Some people prefer it for number of reasons. And it's their reasons. They probably don't apply to you. It is pointless to let you know. Because for every person that comes here to post their reasons of why they prefer AA, you will come back and refute them and rationalize your preference for Star Alliance. You are just whining that you are not part of *A due to US joining OW.
What I know is that really, the "best" alliance does not exist.
One chooses what is best for his particular scenario, travel patterns, priorities, etc.
If you ask ME, as an EXP I enjoyed the very efficient EXP desk, and the 8 SWUs, which always cleared for me.
Wholeheartedly second that.