FlyerBeek

AA's operational meltdown started years ago. COVID - until recently - has merely provided an intermission. I remember in June 2019 being stuck for 36hrs due to a relatively minor thunderstorm that lasted 30 mins overhead DFW. AA had absolutely no excess capacity or spares at their largest hub that day and the resulting delays took two days for the system to finally recover. Happened multiple times in 2019. Nothing new.

-FlyerBeek

cmd320

I'd say more specifically it started around December 9, 2013.

355F1

i am one of those lucky ones that NEVER has to fly through DFW! I’ve only been to that airport twice in my life!

PHX/LAX all day for me!

enviroian

AA's meltdown may just as be a meltdown to us Flyertalkers. NK made the news today. Thousands stranded and can't afford to fly another airline to get them where they want to go.

AAway

Definitely nothing new ... I've been flying regularly for business for 20 years and AA's decisions have largely not been customer-centric in all those years. Also, DFW's "Doesn't Function Wet" acronym has been around for at least the last two decades. As long as I've been flying regularly storms at DFW have thrown the system into chaos. Oh ... then there was the actual "CHAOS" and the S80 wiring issue ... etc.
Hot mess but overall they've treated me well and the positive experiences have largely outweighed the negative for me.

AAway

No .... I don't so, The other airlines can recover quicker (as can WN @ DAL) just because they have smaller operations that take less time to unravel compared to AA's massive operation at DFW.

enviroian

Okay I was just trying to *gulp* defend AA for once. You're right, back to regularly scheduled programming.

DLmedalliongold

I was at DFW on Monday. Got a notificAAtion at 6:30 am that my 10:15 departure was moved to 1:50. There were no updates from the gate except "We don't know where our FAs are, but we hope to depart soon". After rolling delays by 15 to 30 min all afternoon they finally cancelled at 7:00pm because they couldn't find any flight attendants. I was rebooked for Wednesday morning with an ORD connection. I cancelled and bought a one way on Delta Tuesday morning which left 10 min early and got me to my destination 15 min ahead of schedule.

My partner's 8:30 Monday Morning flight cAAnceled at 35 min until departure time. Was rebooked for 10pm that evening. Got on standby for the 10:15 am and was #43 on the list. 10:00pm departure was moved to 2:00 am the next day. He cancelled and flew Southwest out of Love Field that afternoon.

Although the rain cleared up at 9am, AA's operation at DFW was a total mess. The line in Terminal C for assistance went from A27 to A16. The line at the Admirals club was 10-12 people deep at all times and there was nothing they could do and they had no information. Why oh why did we pick 2021 to start giving our business to AA?

enviroian

This is the worst part. Let's be honest--when you hear the first initial ding ding text message go off when you're sitting at the gate you hope to god it's your Aunt Mildred or Herb and as you slowly pick up your phone you see it's from AA and you know what that means. You'll be getting text updates every 30 minutes now being pushed back and you're not going anywhere.

Herb687

You're absolutely correct. I was giving AA too much credit for not moving from bad to spiraling out of control bad until this June. Thinking back, the operational meltdown indeed started much earlier.

This should matter to AA. I just had to book a trip to go to Northern Wisconsin. My options:
1) AA nonstop into MKE or MSN, rent car there, drive rest of way
2) AA/Eagle connection via ORD right into my destination airport
3) DL connection via ATL right into my destination, mainline on both segments, AND choice of departure airport (DAL or DFW)

Anyone care to guess which option I chose?

And, just for good measure, the carrier receiving the business also received the incremental spend from my upfaring to paid F.

This illustrates two things:
1) You are NOT hub captive unless you allow yourself to be.
2) Operational suckage will eventually lead to loss of revenue for AA


But it only Doesn't Function Wet when you're talking about AA.

As long as its just rain (liquid, not frozen) and not associated with thunderstorms, DL and UA have no problem running on time operations at DFW when it's wet.

enviroian

My guess is you chose the option that would allow you to bring back a cooler of Walleye on board.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Let's face it "meltdowns" are the new normal because:
1. Even more packed planes
2. More flights concentrated into fewer banks to save money
3. Less resources (TAs, GAs, etc.) because $49 fares don't support adequate resources
4. Infrequent flyers that haven't a clue what to do but stand in line with the other 500 passengers trying to get rebooked into seats that do not exist.

Since our government decided to bail out the industry there was no rationalization of the industry. Just airlines executives offering more cheap flights, cutting costs and when that doesn't work going to Uncle Sam and demanding a bailout.

Stripe

So either the lines in terminal C were really, really long, or you mean the lines in terminal A.

Hate to defend AA but it's always easier for another airline to operate in and out of another's hub when things are bad. The number of flights and complexity at the hub is huge compared to when that airport is just the end of a spoke. No need to worry about crews moving from one flight to another, no shortage of gates when everything slows down, etc. I've been on AA out of ATL during a DL meltdown and was very glad I was.

Concerto

Apparently Spirit Airlines management told airport staff to change out of uniform into normal clothes and split, literally run away from the airport as fast as possible. Passengers were getting very aggressive and threatening to riot. I hope AA doesn't ever stoop to that level.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Naturally meltdowns will happen at hubs because that's more problematic. Pre COVID AA at least brought out food for passengers as a gesture of yes we know this is frustrating but please bear with us. That's gone now. Also now are even fuller planes, more flights into a bank and probably fewer resources to be available for misplaced paxs. Even pre COVID the ACs would stay open if several flights were delayed but no more.

This isn't an AA problem per se, it's an industry problem but AA seems to handle it even worse than it's competitors-maybe for the exception of Spirit.