jAAck

I have read so many complaints about declining or disappearing customer service levels at AA that I wanted to share my experience from my last trip, traveling JFK-LAS via LAX on a discounted Y fare.

On the outbound, I was pleasantly greeted at the elite line, had my bag tagged and boarding passes printed, was politely asked if I wouldn't prefer a non-bulkhead seat in J (thanks, but I'm one of the few who actually prefers the bulkhead), and advised that connecting flight boarding passes no longer have gate assignments printed. My flight boarded and departed on-time, and I smiled at the pilot's obvious excitement when he advised us to watch for the BA Concorde's liftoff as we taxied. I received excellent service from a great crew. The FA serving my aisle voluntarily went out of his way to locate my meal choice, even when I told him I'd gladly take something else. My connection at LAX was so much more convenient now that AA is operating all flights from Terminal 4; I won't miss that schlep through the parking lot to Terminal 3! My LAS upgrade hadn't cleared when I left JFK, but when I inquired at the AC the agent checked and said I was still on the list - but wait, there was a seat just opening and she could grab it for me right now. She gave her apologies that it was Seat 3A, but offered a big smile when I said it must be my lucky day because that's my favorite S80 seat. In LAS, my bag was delivered within five minutes of arriving at baggage claim. For a long day of travel, this is as easy as it gets.

For the return, my upgrades were confirmed on my late morning departure at 72 hours out. I discovered the night before leaving that I needed to be back a bit earlier if possible. I checked Galileo for earlier flights and the loads didn't look bad, but I knew I'd not only be giving up my favorite seat assignments but probably end up in Y the whole way home. Yuck! The next morning, I arrived at the F counter and asked about standing by for an earlier flight. The agent tapped some keys, said he could put me on the next flight out, and handed me boarding passes for the LAX and JFK flights, both upgraded. No change fee, no waiting at the gate to be confirmed on the flight, and I still had upgrades! I thanked him repeatedly and he replied he was happy to help. The crews on my flights home were friendly and professional and offered excellent service with a smile.

So for all those naysayers out there who think AA has lost focus, that the employees no longer care, that we're all suffering from the perpetual decline of a once-impressive airline, I have to say that my experiences remain positive. Given the challenges that AA and its employees are dealing with every day, I continue to be impressed with the service I receive. There have always been bad apples out there, on AA and every other airline, but over the years no airline has consistently served me better than this one.

Sorry for the love-fest here, but I wanted to share some positive experiences on AA. Hope everyone else out there has some equally good travel times.

TexAAs

jAAck,

Thanks for the upbeat report! People so often do not relate positive experiences, which would make you believe that the majority of flights are a bad experience. I like to believe the opposite, and the positive or non-eventful experiences far outweigh the unpleasant, you just rarely hear about them!

[This message has been edited by TexAAs (edited 06-11-2003).]

JIMBOLIGUY

I will add my two cents on this one; however, I am going to leave the cities out of this post to protect the innocent but I can say that all flights were domestic flights.

I was flying from somewhere in the Southwest to NY. The first leg of my trip put me on another airline connecting to AA. My connection time was 53 minutes.

Not having been through this airport in ages, I did not know if I would have to re-clear secutiry in order to get to my AA flight. I called the EXP desk, explained the situation (lamented that I could not fly from the city I was in to the connecting AA flight on AA -- she agreed with me) and asked if the agent could connect me to the AC in this city to see if I could gather some more information.

The agent spoke with the AC and relayed to me that I did not have to re-clear security. However, in order to ensure my upgrade, she would check me into the flight and I could pick up my boarding pass at the AC.

Flight on airline xx went fine and made it to the AC at about 50 minutes before flight time. Agent handed me my boarding pass, told me she was glad to do it for me and that she really appreacited me flying AA (even though this was a totally backward route to get home).

So I agree -- everyone is happy we are flying and I think they are making the best of it.

--Jim

AAPlatinum

jAAck, JIMBOLIGUY,

Thanks for your positive postings. It's nice to see that I'm not the only one that thinks AA is still great and goes out of their way to take good care of me. It seems like we flyertalk "old-timers" have better luck than some of the newbies...

SkyMike

I have been flying coast to coast twice a month now.

As a result of LGB,SNA activity , I have had the luxury of buying one way tickets , depending on times and where in CA I needed to be.

All of these flights have been terrific, and I email AA Execs all the time about positive experiences.

I thnk the problem is , if someone doesnt get an op upgrade or if an agent doesnt do completely out of his/her way for him , then people call that a bad experince and start looking up the the guide to compensation.

AA is a great airline , trust me. I have 200,000 miles with UA.I have done alot of mileage with them and still prefer AA any day.!

freeupgrade

for the most part I agree - AA is still great. Yes, some perks have definitley gone for good.

However, for the most part, i agree - AA ROCKS.

Unfortunately, I had a real bad weekend of about 5 difefrent flights in a row (in various cities) with AA. (When one thing goes wrong - well, Murphys Law weekend for me).

The bottom line of it: I don't (and didn't) expect any compensation from AA when I called - other than a sincere apology for the inconveniences I had to deal with . If I can get that from anyone, then I am sincerely O.K. with the situation. Having said that - did I call AA with some comments - yes. Beacuse in one particular instance (among other issues this weekend), the FA graphically demonstrtaed she was still not over 9/11 whatsoever and she took her actions to an extreme (which indirectly impacted me).

Anyone who is expecting compensation from AA these days with this bad economy is just not being reasonable. When I called, the lady at Exec. Offices was very polite and seemed to understand where I was coming from with everything.

that's my .02 on this.

PresRDC

Well you gotta tell us what happened.

fredmartens

With 999,686 lifetime (waiting for the 7 figures / lifetime Gold to post, probably tonight) and 100K behind me already this year, I am among the lovemongers here for AA. Rarely have I had a marginal experience; with so many good ones under my belt, the few less than perfect ones are soon forgotten.

That said, can we PLEASE go back to putting the marinated artichoke hearts on the salads?

Jace

I also had a very similar experience this past weekend on DFW-SEA flight... an awesome #1 FA servicing first.

Its too bad this was a TWA crew who will no longer be with AA at the end of this month.

It was emotional to hear the crew talk about the raw deal they are getting from AA.

I'm very impressed that with all the bad things going on with their future state in AA they still are able to provide us with such great service.

I will miss some of the TWA crew.

LLZ

I second that....third???

LLZ

Yes it is sad. I've had the same experiences with crews I used to take to Europe now relegated to/from STL domestically!

What really distinguishes them is their class. They could just slack-off the rest of what's left, providing medicore service and hiding in the galleys once the mandatory stuff is done, reading books, chatting with others, etc., while the clock ticks.

They haven't. These ladies are going out in style just as they came into the industry way back when.

I'm going to miss them too.