Former EXP member here (more than 20 consecutive years). I finally gave up on AA about 24 months ago and now fly almost exclusively on DL. Had the opportunity to fly AA again 10 days ago on an IAH-DFW-LAS trip. A few things stood out to me when comparing AA to DL where AA does it better:

* Warm nuts before lunch were nice. DL does not do this.
* A side salad is served with the entree on AA. Delta cut the side salad 6-12 months ago. However, DL does offer warm bread with the meal which AA does not.
* AA puts a tray-cloth on the food tray and the food tray is then placed on the tray-table. DL puts the food dishes directly on the food tray with no cloth underneath but they do put a tablecloth on the tray-table. To me, Delta's method seems less sanitary. I prefer AA's approach.

Irrops options. Was heading home Aus-phx thru DFW. Storms caused a meltdown at DFW. Sat on tarmac in Austin for 2 hours before heading back to different gate. Said 'screw it' to myself, booked an airport hotel and called the EXP line. Rebooked on tomorrow mornings nonstop in about 10 mins. The only reason it took that long is it had to be 'pushed through'. This is what hit DFW today - Airport is in the center of the pic.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...36a8bd67bc.png

AA staff at ATL including Admirals club...
irrops.. AA are very good
Award travel tickets good value\
Lounges and access around the world

The entire aadvantage program including the range of methods to earn status and the relative low cost of doing so, as well as the redemption options and cost, make the entire program better than mileage plus or sky miles.

if you were really well optimized, you could be become executive platinum for well under $6000. It would take many times that on Delta or United.

has others have said you can get to Europe or Asia for less than 60,000 miles in business class. You would also take many times that on Delta or united.

unlike United, they haven’t introduced un bundled business class yet.

System wide upgrades don’t have inventory requirements. Other than that you can’t use them on basic economy. If I remember correctly, United has an inventory requirements.

American Airlines is the only domestic carrier that I am aware of that made an attempt at doing a beef Wellington in flight. Irrespective of the actual quality of the beef, Wellington, you have to respect them for trying.

They serve pretty good champagne.

They actually have a pretty decent international business class product. Train cones from New York to JFK and San Francisco are actually relatively competitive.

They actually have marginally edible food in their admirals club now. Food at the Dallas flagship lounge is actually pretty good.

They have Woodford reserve in flight.

Agree on this one. ATL AC also has complimentary Sweetwater 420 which I love.

Many good opportunities for miles redemptions.
Except for CLT, clubs are not ridiculously overcrowded. (Anxiously waiting for new AUS club.)
Warm nuts during meals on mainline flights.
Free inflight Wi-Fi.
Rebooking process via the app during irrops ("golden ticket").
Reasonably transparent about delay reasons via comments on ExpertFlyer and (now) via messages in the app and on the website.

AA does plenty to offset these positives (sloppy operations, uncomfortable seats, indifferent onboard service, poor IFE, useless SDC process) but they do some things right.

The ability to book an award ticket in advance to secure your seat, and then change it closer to the flight date when the "price" inevitably drops. The miles are redeposited instantly with no fee.
The companion upgrade process (on different PNR) reliability has improved over the years
The "twitter team"

I think AA has the best (surely the largest portions) food in domestic F and premium transcon routes. And as a foreign OWE, having FL/Soho lounge access is a true value add and is probably the biggest reason I still book AA flights.

I'm not aware of this - you get MCE on international flights but I'm Plat Pro and never seen complimentary upgrades to PE

I'm not positive, but I believe OWE are automatically requested upgrades into PE in the event there are open seats available. I.e., not during seat selection.

I think that applies only if you have a waitlisted SWU that doesn’t clear.

Wow that's a huge plus actually! Especially for us in OKC, nearly all of our flights are on E75s and CR7s. Damn, that is actually massive.

Preach! Everytime I say I'm ready to break up with AA I find some wild deal that keeps me hooked. 12K miles for a $400+ ticket will do that nowadays (ever since CX awards dried up lol)

Also DL and UA kiosks don't print paper boarding passes? Is that for real? What the heck - I ALWAYS have paper boarding passes with me, way quicker, much less fumbling, zero chance that my phone freezes up (or most likely one of my kids snatched it from me or something) - DL and UA kiosks don't even give the option to print BPs? Insane.

Totally agree with your top 3. AA is the largest legacy out of OKC so that definitely helps, and yup it's so easy to maintain at least AA PLT even though we fly a lot less than we used to. So as crappy as Isom has made this airline, it's still our best option ... for now.

Depending on inventory, EXP are sometimes offered complimentary upgrades to PE at check-in (even with no SWU requested and no need for cabin rolls). It's been an unpublished benefit for years, but not one you can count on as it is only offered when they're many open seats in PE.

cant speak for DL, as my recent flights have been last minute and and I used my phone, but UA's kiosks and staff can and will print boarding passes.

They are on thin receipt paper vs cardstock, however.

Safety
EXP support line
Occasional note from FA to EXPs