GTITAN

It is funny because I was at one time or another a pre-merger AA EP and a US CP (not at same time), so I have experiences with both. Pre-merger AA was not as fantastic as some may choose to remember it to be on the operational side (AAdvantage was excellent ) nor its breadth and depth of coverage, and pre merger US was not the drizzling ........ others make it out to be. It was no frills, but got you where you needed to go and had great *A availability with DM miles. Historical reflection tends to wear rose colored glasses. YMMV

Safe Travels

AAExPlat

To those who think the grass is greener elsewhere...I cannot speak to DL because I have only flown them once in the last couple of years But I have been flying UA full-time since 2013 and this year has been as bad for me as any year I have ever had in my almost 20 years of travel. Delays galore, poor employee morale among the GAs and FAs and very spotty service onboard ranging from fantastic to downright abysmal. I just switched back to AA and while things are not perfect, I find AA to be the more customer service oriented airline, especially when dealing with agents over the phone and the FAs in the air.

Next year, I am flying a mix of AA and UA depending on price and convenience/route. The days of picking and sticking with one airline are over AFAIAC.

C17PSGR

I agree that onboard service ranges from poor to excellent, and FA's are free to work anywhere in that range. I also agree that if I was a high seniority FA who could hold JFK-EZE, LAX-HKG, etc., where I basically worked 3-4 roundtrips a month, had the rest of the month off, made a decent salary with health insurance and pension, and had flight benefits, I would think that was a pretty cool job. It might even be particularly cool if you worked in J or F and could wander through the cabin, talking to people (many of whom are pretty interesting), giving them free drinks etc.

That being said, if I was in OP's shoes, I would have taken advantage of a post-merger initiative and wandered over to the Flagship Lounge where service ranges from very good to excellent and where people seem readily available to fix problems. Alternatively, I have the EXP line on speed dial where its almost always picked up the same way it was before the merger and people fix my flight problems. The last time I called EXP with an IRROPS problem, it was fixed before I got from gate 38 to gate 40 and I was rebooked in F.

JDiver

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

Sorry you had those experiences. In my experience, though they can occur they’re not the norm.

“american service after us airways merger so bad, even employees want to quit” Oh, yeah, they’re just flying out the door. (Anecdotes do not comprise data.)

Austin787

The problem is the merger basically combined the worst parts of both pmAA and pmUS, while simultaneously gutting away both pre-merger airlines strengths.

GTITAN

Quoted for truth.

Safe Travels

AAExPlat

To some extent, that was the intent of the merger...increase pricing power and get rid of anything that costs more money than we have to spend (which is what the strengths stem from). And from that POV, the merger has been a rousing success up until now. But AA and US or the entire aviation sector are not alone in this. Practically every publicly traded company is having to play by the same exact rules and the outcome is virtually identical every single time.

lobo411

I agree. I only have experience with PM AA, but the FA service is about the same as ever. Some good, some bad, most middling. Post-merger AA is awful when it comes to AAdvantage, but it's hard to pin that exclusively on AA since devaluations are an industrywide trend.

Also, I think it's fairly ridiculous to blame the employees for picking one Great Satan instead of another Great Satan. Hate Wall Street, hate the stupid moron frat boy types who become executives, hate the stupid, idiotic system that lets stupid moronic frat boy types become executives (this applies to every industry in America since 1980), etc... I see no reason to hate the victims instead of the perps, though.

ryan182

Clearly a copy/paste from somewhere (note the reference to the picture of the FAs back thats not here) and a post and run. Not sure why people get satisfaction by such things but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Overall I've noticed nothing hugely different. What I have noticed is that PMAA FA are embarrassed with the AVOD being ripped out of 737s and 321s. When those a/c were introduced it was with considerable fanfare and FAs felt proud to be working new a/c with state of the art complimentary entertainment. On the other hand some FA proudly point out to MCE customers they now can have a free alcoholic beverage on the house.

OTD

Fixed, in case an FA comes in here and gets the wrong idea.

genotonda

Lol. Unfortunately, there are still several FAs who are telling MCE pax that they indeed are not entitled to any free drinks.

Mickidon

As noted above, the onboard service really covers a range. I don't fly AA frequently, but I just did a RT FC between LAX and JFK in a 24 hour period. The flight
to LA had maybe the least engaged FAs I have seen in a very long time. Once service was done (and very perfunctory service at that), they sat and chatted,
read magazines and had a long, drawn out talk about nail polish colors. My empty coffee cup sat on my tray for nearly 3 hours and no service at all was offered
other than a run of cookies. But, eager to finish the tasks, the headphones were collected nearly an hour before landing.

Then today, a really delightful crew provided service appropriate to this Flagship offering, both charming and attentive. If the first flight was my only data point, I would
be reluctant to do this route with them again. I'd prefer not to roll the dice....

mountain flyer

I left the cesspool of the UA/CO merger and went to US due to my flight patterns. From my point of view, the service is worse than pre-merger United, and about the same as US and AA service since I've flown regularly. I would guess it is worse than the AA service of 5 or so years ago as well. That said, it's not bad. Benefits are definitely much more stingy, meal service is generally good but variable, and award availability sucks...but I'd say I get treated pretty well day to day. When flying domestically I almost always get upgraded and was recently treated to a wonderful DFW to KOA lie-flat suite for my wife and I on an economy award ticket. When flying internationally I love the lounges, PremEcon is better then Econ, and the service is definitely a step up from BA. First class checkin is also nice (especially on BA at LHR),

Most importantly I feel like I'm generally treated as a valued customer, which is by far the reason I left UA after their merger. This was true before the AA/US merger, during it, and since.

I fly sometimes on Delta as it is my company's preferred airline. I'd say they make a better use of space and offer a more consistent and refined set of benefits and service, especially in Economy. Compare their premium economy to MCE, and it seems alot nicer but probably is very similar in function. Internationally, I'm surprised that AA still has suites in Flagship Business versus the more compact business class of United and Delta.

I almost never fly out of MIA, so maybe the grass is greener in PHL. In general, though, I'd be wary of running unless your travel patterns make it a compelling choice.

Antarius

I agree. Lots of issues with LUS and their planes but MIA sucks independent of this. The problems reported by the OP are LAA issues and LAA issues alone and existed long before the merger.

DL is an operationally superior airline, although their hubs are inconveniently placed for me and therefore I don't fly them. As for UA... shoot me now.