csb

As a former multi-year EXP who started flying a lot for the first time in a few years this year, I can't tell you what an utter and complete s#$%show AA has become. My Friday flight home to Chicago was canceled, which is understandable. My rebook on Saturday was canceled. Now, my second rebook on Sunday has been canceled. I call AA, and I'm told I have a 1 hour wait to talk to an agent. And this isn't my first horror show. I spent 13 hours in CMH last month because AA kept canceling flights for "mechanical" reasons.

I'm done. I sign up for a BA account tomorrow, and they'll get every cent of my paid J travel to Europe. As for domestic, I'm just going to start going with whomever is cheaper. If I have it my way, I'll never step foot onto AA metal again. I'm done.

akarneboge

Now that your rant is over, welcome to the nation's second busiest airport when local ATC is out of commission. Enjoy your non-status travel on "whomever is cheaper".

kmzandrew

Did you call the EXP desk? I've seen the AA ground staff become pretty bad, but EXP customer service sorts things out asap.

csb

Actually, ATC was out of commission for about six hours on Friday. O'Hare was back up and running that afternoon. AA is still canceling flights on SUNDAY. Do you see the difference?

As for plebe status on domestic flights, I won't necessarily enjoy it. From what I've found out about "The New AA" these past few months, it will, however, be no different than being a million mile lifer on AA.

I know how easy it is to get "protective" of one's preferred airline. I used to be there; it's kind of like Stockholm Syndrome. Perhaps taking a couple of years off and then coming back has allowed me a a certain clarity and perspective to see how truly horrible things have become. This is not your father's AA. This is a truly horrible, screwed up, rude, uncaring and incompetent corporation, and I walk away from it with no second thoughts.

fotoflyer88

Dude a guy DESTROYED ATC FOR ALL OF CHICAGO. That means very few flights in. What do you expect?

sbrower

You will definitely be happier on UA. They have a big hub in Chicago and I haven't seen a single complaint on the UA board about flight cancellations or rude agents or long wait times on hold in over a year.

FWAAA

You had a lousy Friday, which has turned into a lousy weekend. My sympathies.

As to giving BA all of your paid J TATL travel: that won't harm AA, as AA and BA (plus IB and AY) are combined in an immunized joint venture. Those airlines cooperate and share revenues/profits across the Atlantic. If you're set on "punishing" AA, you'll need to fly Star Alliance or Skyteam across the Atlantic instead.

As for domestic, you must be buying discounted first class, as otherwise you'll be a complete nobody without status. Every weather or mechanical or ATC disruption will subject you to the same lousy treatment you've experienced this weekend if you're a status-less nobody.

LETTERBOY

O'Hare was up and running, but at a reduced rate. It takes time for backups like that to clear up. Do you expect AA to magically make the backup go away?

Dr. HFH

ATC was out, as noted. It's just like a blizzard. It can take several days for normal ops to work their way back through the system. If you think that any other carrier will be better, I wish you the best of luck.

AA-Flyer-SAN

Now, if you said their new savory food, or their decision making regarding the AADVANTAGE program, or the squeezing of re seats into coach, or devaluing their premium product, and slowly eroding down to another "Spirit" airline model was utter garbage, then I'd agree.......

tom911

Interesting looking at AA mainline against UA mainline at ORD for Saturday so far (midnight on the east coast).

AA mainline cancelled zero flights. UA mainline cancelled 10% of their schedule (34 flights).

AA mainline had 143 delays (55% of schedule). UA mainline had 137 delays (43% of schedule).

Based on just these numbers, it doesn't really look I'd make a jump from one carrier to the other if flying mainline from ORD. You'd be more likely to actually depart on an AA flight but also more likely to be delayed.
http://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/yesterday/kord

Now, if you look at mainline nationwide, AA didn't cancel a single flight Saturday (0% of schedule). UA cancelled 45 flights (2% of schedule).

Where it gets a little confusing is tracking regionals who may fly for multiple carriers, as the stats don't break down "who" they are doing the flying for (though Envoy would clearly be AA--is Republic primarily UA?). I recognize a few of these as UA partners I've flown with before. From Saturday for ORD:

Republic cancelled 103 flights (68%).
Envoy Air cancelled 188 flights (62%).
Express Jet cancelled 136 flights (47%).
Skywest cancelled 102 flights (46%).
TransStates cancelled 29 flights (39%).
Go Jet cancelled 25 flights (33%).
Shuttle America cancelled 22 flights (32%).

kettle1

Relax. All airlines were affected.

If you are now looking for the lowest cost flt. I recommend Spirit, Sun Country, Allengiant and Frontier.

Happy travels!

Mwenenzi

The airline you fly with and the airline you credit miles to do not need to be the same. @:-)

Am 100% sure you will enjoy paying for seat selection with BA, even on paid business class tickets (until you get status) ^
And all those BA award surcharge's will be great ^
Free upgrade with BA: what are they

As you are a person of integrity we expect you never to step foot in AA metal again.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html

tom911

All on regionals? They seem to be taking a much bigger hit at ORD, be they UA or AA partners. The numbers clearly prove that. Maybe you'd be better off on Southwest if regionals are biting you, though they did cancel 29% of their schedule at Midway Saturday, so you might not have been immune there, either. Numbers certainly look better than ORD, but quite a bit less activity, too, and you won't be able to connect to BA at Midway. How would you get to ORD if you leave AA? Solely the lowest cost carrier? Would they all be regionals on that route? Do you normally start at CMH?

Even at SFO, when the airport goes to single runway and meters flights, UA regionals take the brunt of cancellations. AA only has 3 regionals a day to LAX so not impacted anything like UA would be there. They must have well over 100 regionals a day going out.

Often1

OP - Report back in 6 months and tell us what you really did do.

Basically two options:

1. Suck it up and realize that massive IRROPS is just that, massive.

2. Switch to UA for your domestic travel (DL less of an option x.ORD, but perhaps on some routes). Switch from OW to *A for TATL. I use the alliances rather than carrier names because AA & BA operate a JV and UA & LH do as well. Fly BA, and AA gets its share of the revenue just as if you had flown AA.

So, going forward: every time some lunatic decides to burn down an FAA facility affecting ORD, you're going to have to threaten to fly Allegiant.