I used to fly on AA to the Caribbean monthly. This is not only very typical of AA, it's very typical of Caribbean out-stations as well. Customer service, urgency, and communication are not strong components of the AA product in general, but when you're dealing with a ground staff running on "island time" it really makes things twice as bad.
The other issue is that when equipment goes tech at these out-stations, it can be a loooooong time before it starts working again (if it ever does). Anyone remember the A300s towards the end of their service at AA? Those things would go tech 60% of the time or more. In the last 5 years I knew an A300 meant book an extra hotel night.
OP, welcome to AA. They'll throw a few miles your way and continue on with these same practices which have been in place for 30 years. Nothing anyone can do about it.
