I have a feeling that I am not the first nor the last to comment on this but flying yesterday from London to Chicago I felt like the cabin crew were really very much like they couldn’t be bothered to be there.

I wanted to stand just outside the door as the plane was warm and I was told if I got off the plane I would have to remove my bags - I didn’t want to leave the plane I just wanted to get some air before they closed the door; I then asked if I could stand by the door and was told no as people are boarding so I ended up standing next to the crew member who didn’t look at all happy. Even excepting the fact that they have stupid high security level on American Airlines (which I didn’t experience in January between LAX and SFO on American Eagle) I felt like they really didn’t want me there.

During the flight I would ask questions of them perfectly normal questions and they would say they didn’t know or couldn’t help. No I will come back to you - no attempt to give me good service just a brush off.

I don’t expect them to be Qatar Airways but when they have lower levels of service than BA who themselves are average in general that’s shocking.

On the positive side I was presently surprised by how comfortable the 787 was in Economy. But I looked at business class at $7,000 and compared it with the Q-Suites I flew from Doha to Tokyo for less than half that and I felt genuinely sad for the people travelling in business... (although I did myself try to upgrade).

I am not saying they were terrible - I am saying they seemed like they didn’t want to be there and didn’t want to help. The actual flight itself based overall was very comfortable for economy.

And it may have been jetlag? It could have been a morning flight. Who knows but it wasn’t something that would make me speak well of AA crews. The crews I had on my Eagle flights in Jan/Feb were much nicer, friendlier and Helpful.

In thousands of flights, I've never seen anyone step outside the plane "to get some air" during boarding. So I have this straight... after the crew told you that you could not stand by the door during boarding, you instead stood directly next to the crew member who "didn't look happy." If that happened exactly as you stated, frankly you're lucky they didn't inform the pilots and have you offloaded right there. Sounds like very patient flight crew to me.

Given that you felt it was reasonable to interrupt boarding because you were feeling a bit warm, I'm kinda curious what you felt were "reasonable questions." In my head, I'm imagining things like...
"Where are we flying over right now?"
"How much time is left in the flight?"
"Can you turn the cabin temperature to x degrees? The plane is warm and they wouldn't let me cool down outside earlier."

And then we have this. The entire time I was reading your post, I assumed you were sitting at the front of the plane, near the door, and in J, since you desired such close interactions with the flight crew. Instead, it turns out that you exhibited DYKWIA behavior during boarding (and likely throughout the flight also based on my interpretation of your descriptions), and you now reveal that you consciously made a decision not to pony up the cash/points/miles to get the more personalized service. However, even in J, it would be unusual to get the level of service you were expecting.

Better try three class F next time (not on AA, of course), but if the $7,000 price tag for J gave you sticker shock, it may be time to reconsider your expectations, and not just on AA.

There are some grumpy people on this forum.

First of all I woke up with a cough and wanted to just get some air to feel better although that shouldn’t matter. I thought I’d be considerate and not cough all over every other person in economy until I had to sit down. I’m sorry I tried to be considerate to others lol

I have done this before on BA, Qatar and Finnair and had not one grumpy crew member. BA first they were very helpful. Qatar Business was amazing. Even as a lowly economy on AE flights I had better service.

Secondly I wasn’t asking questions during boarding. It was during the flight. I asked for Ice to be told no ice for example. I wasn’t told they would get me some ice. Or sorry we are out of ice. I was just told no ice.

Clearly my mistake here is assuming AA can handle simple requests when clearly they can’t. You guys shouldn’t be defending them. You should (and some of you do) realise they can have and on this flight did have some attitude problems. I was always polite and friendly. They were not.

Clearly AA business is not worth $7,000 - you can’t even start to compare it to Qatar which I guess is the point here. It doesn’t compare. They don’t compare.

(I wanted to upgrade before I got the flight. I offered to pay to upgrade. I offered to use points. There was no availability).

I would add that I boarded in the last group of maybe 10 people. There were literally 4 people who boarded after me. They had obviously gotten lost or something and didn’t turn up for a good 15 minutes. I did not go stand by the door and block anyone at any point.

I was always considerate. Maybe they did decide I was a trouble maker but I didn’t ask them for anything else at any point. It was only when being served that I had questions.

My experience of international v domestic seems to back that up.