Stranded at ORD -- You'd think they would be prepared for this
Of course weather can cause delays. But AA knew days ago about the expected heavy snow. You'd at least think Mr. Parker and team would add some staff at the Admirals Club, at the call centers and at the airport generally. Nope. Platinum call center recorded message said wait time to speak to an agent would be one hour and four minutes "would you like us to call you back?" Admirals Club had only four people at the desks and a line of at least 20 at any given time. Knowing that there would be weather problems, wouldn't it have made sense to beef up the call centers, airport staff and Admirals Club staff? That said, the staff who are here are fantastic. That's what makes a great airline, not cutting corners.
On top of everything else, two hours ago the App started proposing alternative flights that would put me on routes with one or more stops and that made no sense at all (ten hours and up versus my 4-1/2 hour nonstop) and in Economy versus my paid First Class fare. The App has another bad feature. When it offered alternative flights, one said First Class, versus all the others that said Economy, but when I tentatively clicked on it, the system suddenly said Main Cabin instead. Had I clicked "confirm," lord only knows what I was going to get. So I waited in line and finally was able to ask the Admirals Club staff what to do. They called both dispatch and the tower and told me to ignore the proposals on the App. My original but now seven hour delayed nonstop was going to leave before any of the alternative flights, I was going to keep my First Class seat, and I was going to get home five or more hours earlier than what the App was offering.
Mayor Jane Byrne got voted out as Chicago's mayor long ago because she didn't handle snow very well. I hope AA's board keeps that in mind for current management.