samthemanct

OK, I have been an AA AAdvantage member since 1986, been a Gold, Platinum, Exec Platinum and was Concierge Key until March this year for 10 year's as I retired in 2022 not as much travel as before. So now I travel for fun. RDU to LAX, Flight 416 today October 7, 2023, was scheduled to depart at 3:00PM. No GA at Boarding time (2:25PM). Then only one GA shows up for a sold out flight. I am #5 on Upgrade list (with only 1 seat available) so I didn't expect to be cleared (I am Plat Pro now). Wheelchairs not boarded till 2:50, but flight still says on time. I Tweet (I Know X) AA saying what gives, CK's not called, its 10 mins till scheduled departure. Get canned, response, I should talk to the gate agent, who is alone and trying to board over 200 people. I finally get on, take my coach seat as ticketed at 3:10, but app says still on time, 2 FA's at front of plane were queried, say they don't know, Captain hasn't told them anything.

So people keep boarding, Group 9 gets on at 3:30, I finally get a text from AA saying flight is delayed to 3:10PM At 3:30!!!!!!!!!!. Doors closed at3:35PM, then get another text saying revised revised takeoff is 3:40PM. We finally pull away from gate at 3:45PM (app says flight departed at 3:26PM, which is untrue, but I have low expectations of AA).

While we are taxiing, on of the FA's comes to me and says after we reach cruising altitude, I can take the one open FC seat and move my bags. I guess an 80% upgrade is better than a 0%. This was a first for me in almost 40 years of flying, getting upgraded after doors close, during taxi. I know its better than not getting an upgrade, but I just feel the whole situation and lack of any contrite behavior or apology is what gets me.

Captain never acknowledged delay, AA at never said sorry, so I had to scramble to realign my ride due to flight delay.

I am not looking for any response, just thought I would share typical AA behavior and lack of customer care.

All I wanted was an acknowledgement that AA caused the delay as an unforced error (clear weather in RDU and LAX), lack of adequate people at the gate, but no sorry for the delay. Typical AA. If UA and Delta weren't so awful (and I have status on both), I would use another carrier, and 'Ive tired B6, but I find them lacking as well.

END OF RANT

IADCAflyer

Departure time according to Flightaware and AA.com was 3:00. The reported departure time is 3:26. 26 minutes is not a huge delay. The departure time is based on when the doors closed and the plane is set for pushback.

You're going to need to have thicker skin if you want to travel commercial these days. Expecting an apology for a flight that departed a bit late but arrived basically on time seems a bit much.

Why did you need to realign your ride? It basically arrived LAX on time.

born sleepy

<insert crybaby emoji here>

LovePrunes

if you're no longer CK, why do you care if CK's were called? They're boarding wheelchairs, so things are starting to happen. IMHO It seems unrealistic to think that you're going to get a satisfactory answer from your tweet faster than asking the solo gate agent who was standing (but busy working the flight I realize) just a few feet away from you what's going on. Sorry but this just seems impatient, and as much as you apparently travel, you know this situation is common among all airlines sometimes.


So was your upgrade position #5 for 1 seat incorrect? Or did they skip 4 people ahead of you on the upgrade standby list? Did the other 4 get upgraded before pushback?
Sorry this part is confusing to me. You got pulled up front after a delayed boarding, and are complaining anyway? This seems exceptionally kind of them to do and plenty crew would just shrug it off that "the gate agent handles upgrades, we don't" and keep you back in coach with the empty seat in first.

What kind of wording from AA would have made you satisfied when you say all you wanted was "an acknowledgement that AA caused the delay" ? This is just random to me. If there's a delay leaving a lot of times the captain will announce "hey we're going to make up some time in flight" or whatever.

I know you said this was a rant, but all these complaints together, respectfully, seem a little over the top/high maintenance

TWA884

On the rare occasions that someone is picking me up at an airport, I give them the flight information so that they can check if it arrives on time.

Your flight, AA416, arrived at the gate three minutes late; per the DOT a flight is considered to be on time when it arrives within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival.

YonL87

can you give props to the one GA for trying their best to get everyone onboard. I’m sure they would also want to rant about doing that solo..

BearX220

You know you're in for it when a rant leads off with a multi-sentence recitation of elite credentials. No surprise that the actual complainable event is a nothingburger. Three minutes late? Jeez.

enviroian

No offense but for someone who has more creds than King Chuck I would think you would be pretty accustomed to delays. What you described is pretty much a typical AA day (and really any US airline for that matter). Someone said you need thicker skin. I agree. If you want to always leave on time I would fly private.

757FO

I hope this "inconvenience" is the worst one you have whilst traveling. And for the record, no one, including the airline cares about your past frequent flyer credentials, so no need to list them here.

sadiqhassan

So AA went above and beyond to let you move to First after the flight had closed and their schedule was padded to account for delays such as what happened resulting in the flight arriving 3 minutes late. Sounds like an overall great experience to me!

I agree that the AA app is not always accurate with the pushback time but has never been off by more than a few minutes tops. Flightaware says that the plane took off at 339pm.

yakel

So yet another DYKWIA rant.

Agent69

And nowt is heard from op ever again

IADCAflyer

I think we need a set of ribbon bars like what you have for awards in the military.

Grand Order of the Delta Gold Medallion with two stars
Marriott 30 night award with three pillows

etc

hxhbk

Good reading for Sunday...
From my personal experiences, most of us have seen worst issues with AA these days, and most of us would just bite the bullet and take it as part of the pleasure of travelling these days.

hotturnip

To me, the most annoying thing is the refusal of crew and staff to acknowledge the flight was late. I've had AA do this several times: run a flight late and gaslight the passengers, acting as if all was normal. All it takes is an announcement (like most airlines do): "Sorry about the delay, folks. We've had X problem, but we're doing our best to get going as soon as possible." But the gaslighting drives me insane.