scottsam66

I just recently updated to the latest version of the AA app. I was very pleased with the added functionality. I don't ever recall being able to change flights, when yours is delayed from within the app.
I actually received a notification that flight was delayed. When I went to the app, I was immediately asked if I wanted to change my flight, and given several choices. I clicked the one I wanted, and that was it!.
The had to check in, again, etc. but was very pleased.
Also, fresh strawberries in the Admirals Club was new and appreciated.
Good changes AA.

(I hadn't flown for a couple months, so these may be old changes)

lds89

I've also noticed that you can do the searching for flights to purchase in-app now which is a big step up from the very amateurish link to the mobile website on safari

arlflyer

I've not flown nor used the AA app in a few months either, so this is great to hear. My travel over my past few projects was entirely with UA, and I got really spoiled by the functionality of their website and app, especially with regards to rebooking/changing flights. Good to see that AA is following.

pdac1975

That's great news. That was one of my main issues when I switched from DL who have had this functionality for years.

jacobguo

I really enjoy how the AA app fits perfectly into the OLED screen of my brand new iPhone X

(People who were recently on the SPG forum would understand. And yes, this is a joke if anyone’s wondering.)

1StRanger

For me, there are two problems with the newer versions of the AA app (on Android).
1. At first, they introduced "run on startup" permission.
I don't want every app for every airline to run at startup: I am not flying every day, or even every week. And on 4.x Android, you cannot disallow any permission.

2. Most recently they've upped the requirement for the minimum Android version: 4.4 and my good reliable phone which I don't feel like replacing right away cannot have that one. The cell phone companies (as well as the manufacturers) refuse to provide OS updates beyond the first 1-2 years of phone, thus pushing their customers to spend more money on the new phones.
And the older version that is still installed on my phone complains about invalid security certificate.
("The security certificate presented cannot be validated as belonging to American. Please attempt to connect to another network and restart the application.")

So, no more AA app for me in the near future.

MarkOK

I don't use a lot of apps (I didn't even have a modern version of a smart-phone until three months ago), but the AA app has really impressed me all around too.

PHL

Not trying to start an iPhone vs. Android discussion, but the only reason I can think of that Android doesn't let you refuse that is so that the app can provide notifications to you. iPhone manages the starting and stopping of apps and it's use of memory differently so that you may have apps running in the background, but it's designed to kill them to preserve resources.

That being said, your issue with not being able to run new apps on a device that's a few years old is not uncommon (iPhone or Android).

It's not so much pushing you to buy a new phone (because you are under no obligation to do so), but in any software development cycle, they don't want to keep putting development resources into old versions. New versions of software (and apps) are built to take advantage of new hardware features. So the resources to support old versions are limited.

Not sure about Android, but iPhone lets you access the web site via the mobile browser where you can get access to other features available as if you were on the desktop browser. Maybe that's an option for you?

Antarius

I am impressed you still have a 4.4 phone running.

For anyone wondering, Android 4.4 came out on October 31, 2013

1StRanger

No quite so. It is the fact that Google started Android with very loose policies for the 3rd party apps, essentially allowing the apps to do almost everything as soon as you installed them, and giving very limited tools to the owner to limit that behavior (unless you root the phone).
And when you were installing an app you were automatically giving it all the permissions it was requesting.
As a result, many apps had frivolous permissions not really needed for their nominal functionality. Consequently, some were/are doing some shady things (snooping around your phone, etc.).

Also, the apps were running as they felt like, without any regard to the battery consumption or mobile data consumption. To compensate for that many 3rd-party "battery optimizer" apps popped up, with the main function to kill and prevent from running selected 3rd party apps when the phone is off. Then, some OEM manufacturers (most notably Samsung, from late 5.* versions or so), and soon Google (from 6.*+) started implementing similar battery optimization at the lower (system) level. At about the same time (6.*), Google gave the owner ability to revoke any app permissions.

So, if you are running a phone with pre-Marshmallow (6.*) Android, and your phone is not rooted, you cannot revoke any app permissions.


It is the market sector-driven cycle. Compare it say, to desktops/laptops. A typical software development cycle there is much longer. Look at the life cycle of major Windows versions: they are supported well beyond 3-years (and the extended support lasts for 10-12 year). Windows XP was supported for 12 years; Windows 7 extended support is promised for 11 years since the launch (2009-2020).
Apple has a similar situation, maybe with somewhat shorter length of the support period.

If it were not the case, the industry would freak out, because certain applications that rely on a particular OS cannot change every 2 years, and you need considerable time to transition from one version to another, not to mention the cost associated with that.
In contrast, the phone market is trained to jump on a new phone every two years "just because we can".
Responsible developers for good productivity software still support JB.
But, unfortunately, the driving force in this short life cycle is Google. The oldest version officially supported by Google is 4.4 (KitKat), And that means no security fixes from Google. When they did it, the estimate was that it affected about 60% (!) of Android devices. (The same article explains the difference in the upgrade process, - how it doesn't come to the end-users directly from Google but through the mercy of cell-network operators. And those have all the incentives to shorten the life cycle and to push you onto a new phone.)

But of course!
You can do things using the browser of your liking. But this thread is about the AA app. The point of the app is that it is optimized for phones (and, hopefully for the mobile data consumption).


I still have a phone running 4.1.2. The latest update for my phone was 4.4, but since 4.4 removes useful app access to the external SD card, I never updated. And no updates to 5.x were made available.

But it didn't reach devices right away. E.g. Verizon phones that received the upgrade to 4.4 got it only in mid-2014. And brand-new Verizon devices with 4.1.2 (JB) were still sold in mid-2014, and possibly later.

In general, there is no real need to abandon a 3-y.o. cell phone if it is working. Or, rather, there shouldn't have been. -- If Google and the "Big-4" did not leave you stuck without security updates for your phone.

In any case, - AA rushed to cut off pre-4.4-Android users. In contrast, UA app still supports that everything from 4.1.

Antarius

No disagreement - your position is just counter the party-line on cell phone replacements

I am similar. I keep my phone until it stops working. Sadly, my 2.5 year old one now has a battery that barely lasts 4 hours... so might be replacement time.

Stripe

DL had this feature in their app years ago, but I still appreciate that AA finally figured it out. It was extremely useful a few weeks ago when my daughter was scheduled on a SFO-CLT-BOS trip and SFO-CLT posted a significant delay. Pulling her trip up on the app, I was able to rebook her to SFO-DFW-BOS in seconds, with upgrades preserved. She got the last F seat on one of the flights.

I still have my doubts about the AA app team however. I upgraded to the latest version last night and the function to refresh an itinerary by pulling down on the screen is a mess now on my iPhone. Seems like a pretty basic thing that shouldn't have broken with an update.

1StRanger

I don't know about the AA app developers team, but over the years and multiple generations of AA.com website, I've encountered numerous bugs (some very serious and annoying).
And I heard from and about developers working on the websites for several major US airlines.
Someone even said along the lines that if the software running that website were responsible for the physical action of airplanes flying, they wouldn't brave flying that airline.
I suspect the situation is very similar for the entire industry. (And then some airlines are even worse.)

My personal impression/guess is that originally aa.com was an afterthought. Then AA realized the importance and the potential of it, but decided to built on top of the legacy code. And the newer generations of the websites were forced to deal with that "inheritance". I suspect that in a somewhat similar way, AA mobile app was originally an afterthought, and "add-on" that is a toy, but somewhat useful. And once they realized the importance of this resource, they again had to deal with the legacy code.

Freqflyer1234

The app allows you to now pick/select seats (prior versions pointed you to aa.com)

Antarius

Not for several years.

Although - if you book thru a travel agent or make changes (like an AAgent replaces a segment for you/rebooks) then it still forces you back to aa.com sometimes.