ImAllEars

I booked the lie flat seats and, as what seems to be the norm, didn't get them. I had the 2-2-2 going from DFW to HNL. The flight left 2 hours late and I missed my Hawaiian connection. I did have a wonderful seat mate and the crew and food were very good. The seats were even relatively comfortable. This flight was on 4/28/17.

For my return flight, I was on flight 102 on 5/16/17. It was also the 2-2-2 configuration, but the interior appeared to be in better shape. However, the plane itself wasn't. We left about 15 minutes late and flew approximately an hour before the pilot announced an "indicator light" problem and turned around to returned to HNL. The flight was met on the runway by several fire trucks. We were advised that the breaks and tires were overheated and needed to be cooled down before we could go to the gate. After about 20 minutes, the plane was towed to the gate. Eventually, they ended up cancelling the flight and taking everyone to the Hilton Hawaiian Village by shuttle. We ended up spending 2 nights there until they could get us home in domestic 1st class, which was extremely uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep on the red eye and my back and shoulders ached the entire trip. My legs got very swollen because there was no way to elevate them. I have genetic blood problem that causes me to get blood clots and spent several days with a DVT and multiple PE's in ICU this past January. I had to try to get up and walk around several times to help alleviate this problem. I also found out from another disrupted passenger that this same plane was cancelled the previous night.for engine problems, which I feel was the real problem on our flight. I'm fairly certain this plane was taken out of service after this happened. I added up the cost for our 2 nights and it is right at $1000.00. This certainly cost AA a lot of $.

If you think you are getting lie flat seats, it is a very remote chance. I did talk to 2 people who advised they came to Hawaii on the 1-2-1 configuration, so you might get lucky...or you might have our nightmare ride home! The extra 2 nights might seem great to some, but we'd been gone over 2 1/2 weeks and just wanted to go home. AA did arrange excellent accommodations, transport and gave us a decent food voucher. However, they tried to send me and my husband home on separate flights and putting me in coach. I refused and then they tried sending us home on Saturday night to arrive on Sunday, arriving home 4 days late. I had to make several calls before we finally got on our Thursday flights, arriving home on Friday night.

They gave everyone 15,000 AA miles for our inconvience. I'm thinking that is far too low for everything they put us through. Buyer beware if you are booking this route. It is a bait and switch at best. Or in our case, a total uncomfortable nightmare!