I usually fly Delta but didn't expect my recent experience on AA to be as bad as it ended up being with the details. Everything from the greasy seat back monitor (that also lacked the variety of free options that I'm used to), to the biscoff crumbs on my seat when I sat down, to the fact that nobody came to collect trash at the end of the flight and everyone around me was stuck holding their cups and garbage after we had to put our tray tables back upright. Never mind the fact that pm-US crews are still wearing worn out uniforms bearing the logo of an airline that hasn't existed for months, and pm-AA crews are also still wearing the old AA logo. But what struck me the most was that when we spent an hour waiting for a gate, causing most connecting passengers to have to overnight, they didn't even bother acknowledging the fact that many of us would miss our connections, and that they were at least sorry about it. While the delay may be uncontrollable, how they handle it definitely is.
In this irrops situation, the biggest difference that I felt while flying AA was a lack of control over my own situation. The announcements updating us on when we'd get to the gate were sparse, the app was useless for rebooking, hold times were over an hour, which even for kettles are rare on Delta. During a delay the departure times shown on the airport FIDS, AA gate screens, AA app can all differ - I didn't know whether to attempt to run to my next gate because I couldn't even tell if my connecting flight had actually left or if it was delayed enough that I could still make it, and it's not like any agents really knew either. I definitely had heard good things about AA (and United) improving lately, but my recent experience doesn't support that.