AA's atrocious mobile app
Apr 13, 2016, 9:17 am
#31
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Seoul, Tokyo
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Posts: 101
Apr 13, 2016, 9:40 am
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Wesley Chapel, FL
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 30,028
As a recent new AA flyer (horribly unsatisfied 1K) I was amazed how crappy the AA app is. I am no UA apologist but one thing they did get right was their app.
No award search? No search by non stop? No seat maps? No SDC?
No award search? No search by non stop? No seat maps? No SDC?
Apr 13, 2016, 10:02 am
#33
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: South Central US
Programs: UA Lifetime GS, AA EXP 1 MM, Delta Diamond, Hilton Diamond, SPG Plat, Hyatt Gold, Hertz 5Star PC
Posts: 181
I wish I could use the app and electronic boarding pass.
Our accounting department, still living in the 19th century, requires us to turn in boarding passes, so I have to print all of mine. Major pain.
I don't use the app that often except to check in, but I haven't had any problem. Then again, I have to admit that I used my iPad Mini once when the printers were down, and it worked like a charm. Awkward, but it worked.
Our accounting department, still living in the 19th century, requires us to turn in boarding passes, so I have to print all of mine. Major pain.
I don't use the app that often except to check in, but I haven't had any problem. Then again, I have to admit that I used my iPad Mini once when the printers were down, and it worked like a charm. Awkward, but it worked.
Apr 13, 2016, 10:03 am
#34
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Programs: AAdvantage Exec Platinum, Hertz #1 Club Gold Five Star, IHG Platinum, Marriott Gold, HHonors Silver
Posts: 2,039
While I agree that the AA app is pretty bad, one thing that has been mentioned in a few posts here is that you can't change seats within the app. With the latest release, you now can change seats within the native app. (at least on Android)
Apr 13, 2016, 10:31 am
#35
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: DTW/MBS
Programs: UA 1K, HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Formerly Starbucks Gold
Posts: 3,525
I wish I could use the app and electronic boarding pass.
Our accounting department, still living in the 19th century, requires us to turn in boarding passes, so I have to print all of mine. Major pain.
I don't use the app that often except to check in, but I haven't had any problem. Then again, I have to admit that I used my iPad Mini once when the printers were down, and it worked like a charm. Awkward, but it worked.
Our accounting department, still living in the 19th century, requires us to turn in boarding passes, so I have to print all of mine. Major pain.
I don't use the app that often except to check in, but I haven't had any problem. Then again, I have to admit that I used my iPad Mini once when the printers were down, and it worked like a charm. Awkward, but it worked.
Apr 13, 2016, 10:44 am
#37
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: BWI
Programs: AA Gold, HH Diamond, National Emerald Executive, TSA Disparager Gold
Posts: 15,180
I'll take Sabre over SHARES any day of the week.
That said, AA's app is lacking compared to UA's, but it is improving. I'm sure some of this has to do with the fact that this probably wasn't a high priority while the major IT systems were being merged. US's app improved a good bit and I'd hope that they'd take the best of both of those apps to improve AA's.
Also keep in mind that UA's systems have been merged for 4 years now, so they've had more time to focus on the mobile app. UA's website is also more usable than it was back in the day too (though many still refer to it as .bomb).
I get annoyed as well that I get booted out to the web version to do things like book tickets and stuff. However, the app's also come a long way since then, and app updates (at least on Android) have been happening about once a month.
To the OP's other comments:
The US A319s are being refitted. That takes time. Also remember that it was quite awhile before E+ showed up on the PMCO planes.
I can't say I've ever had formatting problems. This may the platform you're using, and can be affected by how the phone scales the resolution. Some phones are better than others.
As others have mentioned, this can be affected by the screen's brightness, and isn't necessarily a fault of the app itself. I haven't had any problems with AA BPs on my phone. However, I often have problems with scanning a local convenience store chain's coupon barcodes on my phone at least 50% of the time at normal brightness. Cranking up the brightness temporarily has always resolved the issue for me.
While I don't doubt she said that, AA agents aren't always the most knowledgeable, with varying degrees of knowledge and truth depending on who you get (this is true at UA as well). Unless that actually came from someone at the web department, I'd take it with a grain of salt.
The good news on Android anyway, most of the time I can accomplish what I need thru the widget so I don't have to go all the way in to the app a lot of times.
That said, AA's app is lacking compared to UA's, but it is improving. I'm sure some of this has to do with the fact that this probably wasn't a high priority while the major IT systems were being merged. US's app improved a good bit and I'd hope that they'd take the best of both of those apps to improve AA's.
Also keep in mind that UA's systems have been merged for 4 years now, so they've had more time to focus on the mobile app. UA's website is also more usable than it was back in the day too (though many still refer to it as .bomb).
I get annoyed as well that I get booted out to the web version to do things like book tickets and stuff. However, the app's also come a long way since then, and app updates (at least on Android) have been happening about once a month.
To the OP's other comments:
Of the many inferior things about AA compared to UA (like the lack of Main Extra seats on all the old US Scare Airbuses), the absolute worst is the atrocious moble app. The United app is so good, I can almost instantly tell seat loading, status of incoming flights, you name it. The AA app is so bad, the formatting doesn't even work, the info is almost always wrong, it is slow to load, you cannot tell anything about upgrade situation, etc. How can two competing companies have such a gap? The AA website is also pretty bad too, but not as horrible as the mobile app.
I can't say I've ever had formatting problems. This may the platform you're using, and can be affected by how the phone scales the resolution. Some phones are better than others.
However, the worst is the problem I have seen twice in the last week. Get all the way up to the TSA Precheck desk, and the TSA scanner wont read the bar code. I get the three beeps, so it recognizes me as eligible for Precheck, but won't recognize the bar code. I have to then go back and get a paper ticket. (for grins, I boarded that flight with the mobile app, so the problem seems to be between AA and the TSA, not the barcode itself)
So today I call the AA help desk, the nice lady says this is a widespread problem and they are working on it. She advise me to NOT use the mobile app for now, to print all tickets for now. She also said they have a huge number of complaints with the sorry state of both the mobile app and the website, and are trying their hardest to catch up to United.
The good news on Android anyway, most of the time I can accomplish what I need thru the widget so I don't have to go all the way in to the app a lot of times.
Last edited by Superguy; Apr 13, 2016 at 11:18 am
Apr 13, 2016, 10:50 am
#38
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Diamond
Posts: 1,203
"We are unable to process your request. Please see the message below for details.
We’re sorry, but united.com was unable to complete your request. Please try later or contact united.com Support in the U.S. and Canada at 1-888-491-6573; the U.K., phone 0800 028 5003; elsewhere use the local phone number."
I'll take AA.com over United.com any day and don't really have issues with either mobile app though I generally agree the United one is better.
Apr 13, 2016, 10:56 am
#39
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: BWI
Programs: AA Gold, HH Diamond, National Emerald Executive, TSA Disparager Gold
Posts: 15,180
I don't know about that. Perhaps 4 months ago I would have agreed but they had a major outage last week and even today errors are occurring such as
"We are unable to process your request. Please see the message below for details.
We’re sorry, but united.com was unable to complete your request. Please try later or contact united.com Support in the U.S. and Canada at 1-888-491-6573; the U.K., phone 0800 028 5003; elsewhere use the local phone number."
I'll take AA.com over United.com any day and don't really have issues with either mobile app though I generally agree the United one is better.
"We are unable to process your request. Please see the message below for details.
We’re sorry, but united.com was unable to complete your request. Please try later or contact united.com Support in the U.S. and Canada at 1-888-491-6573; the U.K., phone 0800 028 5003; elsewhere use the local phone number."
I'll take AA.com over United.com any day and don't really have issues with either mobile app though I generally agree the United one is better.
The biggest issue I have is selecting a refundable business/first fare only to have the website reprice it as a non-refundable fare without actually telling you that's what it did (had to look in the fare rules to confirm that). They make it look like "hey look! we saved you a few hundred bucks! aren't we nice?"
And calling into AA and actually getting them to understand and ticket it is another story all together. Usually, AA can't find the price and buckets the website originally offered (even if I have all the fare bases
). It's taken a good travel agent to get those fares to ticket.With that all said, I still think AA has the better underlying infrastructure. UA's site and apps look prettier, but it's largely lipstick on a pig as the underlying tech (SHARES) is complete crap.
Apr 13, 2016, 11:37 am
#42
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, Hilton HHonors Diamond
Posts: 1,203
AA's site has its issues - they're just different issues.
The biggest issue I have is selecting a refundable business/first fare only to have the website reprice it as a non-refundable fare without actually telling you that's what it did (had to look in the fare rules to confirm that). They make it look like "hey look! we saved you a few hundred bucks! aren't we nice?"
And calling into AA and actually getting them to understand and ticket it is another story all together. Usually, AA can't find the price and buckets the website originally offered (even if I have all the fare bases). It's taken a good travel agent to get those fares to ticket.
With that all said, I still think AA has the better underlying infrastructure. UA's site and apps look prettier, but it's largely lipstick on a pig as the underlying tech (SHARES) is complete crap.
The biggest issue I have is selecting a refundable business/first fare only to have the website reprice it as a non-refundable fare without actually telling you that's what it did (had to look in the fare rules to confirm that). They make it look like "hey look! we saved you a few hundred bucks! aren't we nice?"
And calling into AA and actually getting them to understand and ticket it is another story all together. Usually, AA can't find the price and buckets the website originally offered (even if I have all the fare bases
). It's taken a good travel agent to get those fares to ticket.With that all said, I still think AA has the better underlying infrastructure. UA's site and apps look prettier, but it's largely lipstick on a pig as the underlying tech (SHARES) is complete crap.
Lol touche. They're all slow in Philadelphia as I switch between the big two when one slows down too much.
Sprint shockingly does have good coverage even in rural areas around here though compared to T-Mobile!
Apr 13, 2016, 11:59 am
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: BWI
Programs: AA Gold, HH Diamond, National Emerald Executive, TSA Disparager Gold
Posts: 15,180
It's hard to beat a good, unlocked GSM phone for international travel. That and pretty good coverage all around keep me on AT&T.
Of course, SoftBank's ownership of Sprint makes it a viable alternative for folks that go to Japan a lot.
But back on topic, I can't say I've experienced much slow down either over WiFi or over cell networks with the AA app. Even recently in Korea, I found AA's app to be responsive. I hope we continue to see improvements added over time. It at least makes it easier to put up with the shortcomings if some are addressed each update.
Of course, SoftBank's ownership of Sprint makes it a viable alternative for folks that go to Japan a lot.
But back on topic, I can't say I've experienced much slow down either over WiFi or over cell networks with the AA app. Even recently in Korea, I found AA's app to be responsive. I hope we continue to see improvements added over time. It at least makes it easier to put up with the shortcomings if some are addressed each update.
Apr 13, 2016, 12:09 pm
#44
formerly known as daveland
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: NY, NY, USA
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LTP, Delta Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Wyndham Diamond
Posts: 2,969
Of the 3 major US legacy carriers, AA's is by far the worst. It's my preferred airline, but the app is inferior. The main thing (for me) is you can't book award tickets on the app. You can on UA and you can on DL. Beyond that, many functions in the app actually open the mobile site rather than working natively.
It has a ways to go to catch up. I keep assuming it's "in progress" ... hope so!
It has a ways to go to catch up. I keep assuming it's "in progress" ... hope so!
Apr 14, 2016, 5:05 am
#45
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Tampa, FL
Programs: UA 1.5mm, *gold, AA - P, Marriot Titanium
Posts: 71
Saw it today
Just went thru security, saw this problem happen to a guy right in front of me. Yes, it was a AA BP.
It's not a brightness issue to those that asked. And this is on a Samsung G6 on Verizon, fairly new and powerful on the best network.
It's not a brightness issue to those that asked. And this is on a Samsung G6 on Verizon, fairly new and powerful on the best network.