Yet another terrible trip with AA

r u sure it was AA?

same thing happened to my grandma this last week AA service has deteriorated badly, i decided to toss the mils to the garbage their latest prices suck!

MIA could be the main problem

The MIA airport was recently chosen as one of the 5 worst airports in the USA. I can concur as I've had more "incidents" there than at any other airport along my usual travel routes. It truly sucks.

I've actually had pretty good luck with AA at other airports.

Swede

Hmmmm

I have always taken AA, however I have never flown into Miami or out of there on any flights I have taken. I used to take AA shuttle flights to and from NY or Boston to Washington DC, my flights always left early and arrived early.

The only problems I ever had, was in February coming from Santo Domingo to Washington DC. I connected at JFK and by the time we got throught customs and stuff... our connecting flight from JFK to DCA had already left (without us). AA said that it was not our fault, as it was an "illegal booking" by an AA representative, who did not allow us enough time to board the connecting flight. They immediately got us tickets on the next flight out of new york (leaving LGA of course), stuck us in a lincoln town car, shuttled us to LGA, where we boarded promptly and arrived home, just about an hour late...

It seems that AA is very accomodating, however like I said... MIA might just be the black hole for flights.

I have flown AA 100 times and NEVER have had a problem of any sort. I once had a problem on the phone regarding freq. flier miles and the woman was rude to me. I got a call back from a supervisor who said the woman was chastised and I got a bonus of 5000 miles for having to endure the idiot. They monitored the call

I love AMERICAN AIRLINES!!!!!!!

don't think ia a Miami thing my grandmawas flying to NYC and my mom flew to Miami ame crap hopefully they realize their fault soon.

ERICKXSON said:

don't think ia a Miami thing my grandmawas flying to NYC and my mom flew to Miami ame crap hopefully they realize their fault soon.

Click to expand...

Huh?

Dude, get a spell checker!

AA

I always fly AA from JFK to POP. NEVER a problem of any kind.Never late, nothing. One time I was on a 6 or 7 am flight (they dont fly that early anymore from JFK to POP) and I was sitting next to this guy who looked like he just came from a bar. He was bombed! As soon as the plane took off he pulled out the food tray and laid his head on it and went to sleep, drooling all over the place. The Stewardess came up to me and asked if we were flying together and I said "no". She then told me she had another seat for me and took me up to first class where there was a vacant seat. I thought that was very nice of her. I agree with Escott. I LOVE AA!
Larry

I love AA as well

In 3 trips from DTW-Mia-SDQ using AA I never had any problems except once had a 1 hour delay. I can handle one hour and they have a great ff mile program. I have always traveled internationally with AA and the only thing I have ever experienced was the one-time, one hour delay. Not too shabby in my opinion. Some people must have bad luck and when I fly in a week or so with US airways,DTW-PHL-SDQ, I will post on what I think between the two airlines.
dale7(Howard)

Let's play monopoly!

Who are we kidding? AA runs the table as far as the US-DR routes are concerned, so what's the alternative? US Scare out of PHL, or Continental out of Newark? No, I don't think so.

As far as the MIA vs JFK controversy is concerned, it's not the "airport" at question, but rather the quality and quantity of AA personnel working at one vs the other at any given time, along with a host of other factors such as: maintenance set up and equipment, idle plane/ parts inventory and proximity to the AA hub in Texas.

All things considered, I think that I'd rather be delayed (and I have) in MIA for a couple of hours, looking at the talent, vs leaving on time from JFK and making an unscheduled stop somewhere in Far Rockaway...

I don't think it's AA. We have always been extremely pleased with their service and their on-time departures.

HOWEVER, we are forced to go thru MIA when going to and from DR. What a nightmare! When leaving DR, we ALWAYS have a delay when landing. We either have to wait out on the tarmac because there are no slots open for the plane, or we are like 100 in line to get to the portals. By the time we get off, we usually have no time to get a bite to eat or smoke a cigarette.

Everyone keeps hearing Delta is beginning a route to DR, which for us, would be Atlanta to DR. December is suppose to be the target date.

It is not all that bad

I fly AA via MIA 6 or 7 trips a year to SDQ. The worst time is only when you have to go to the E20-35 gates to connect since you have to leave and re-enter security.

I have found the 2 immigration areas to be fast and courteous, I rarely spend more than 10 or 15 minutes going through both INS and Customs, and even the TSA is quite businesslike and efficient.

AA is pretty much powerless to deal with the MIA weather when there are lightning bolts hitting the airfield the ground crew understandably won't work and when there are cells in the area the pilots won't fly.

Arrival gate delays have been common but we are are talking in the 5 to 10 minute range and hey, it is a BIG place to taxi around to begin with.

Sure I have been delayed but it hasn't been the end of the world and the alternatives are horrible connections in BOS or worse flying to LGA and then taking a cab to JFK to connect.

When you are delayed they give you hot cashews and nuts and drinks so you can read or whatever , I do my e-mail on my Blackberry and wait it out.

I have NEVER been delayed such that I have missed a connection, or arrived unduly late in either direction.

Compare with Air Transat who on our mutual last flight (December 2000) went from a promised
1 p.m departure/ 5 p.m. arrival to ultimately a 11:45 p.m. departure, an unannounced stop in Punta Cana at 3 a.m. for 2 hours and an arrival at SDQ at 5: 30 a.m the next day (only 12 1/2 hours late for a 3 1/2 hour non-stop flight) .

It was interesting to arrive at SDQ with 351 total passengers when I bolted ahead, cleared passport control then told the ONE guy there were 350 more people behind me arriving. Customs was easy to clear since there were no people actually IN customs.

Also it was the only time that I flew their "Club Class" faux Business Class seating from SDQ to YYZ by bribing the Dominican gate agent with $50 CDN vs. paying the other Canadian AT employee the CAD$170 fee they actually officially charge for that seat.

Rick - ours didn't have anything to do with weather - i understand that. I'm talking about 20-40 minutes sitting on the tarmac waiting to get to the gate. I can see 10 but not 20.

We just figure when they get the construction finished and have more gates, we won't get the delays. We've flown to POP 3 times this year and it has happened twice. Last year, there were no problems.

Customs isn't much of a problem for us either. Goes pretty smooth. And yeah, I'll take MIA over JFK any day.

Very common...

Waiting on the tarmac for a gate to clear is a common occurrence the airline industry, but is more prevalent amongst the larger carriers doing volume out of the nations busier airports. Waiting in the que to land is also a very common occurrence. Doesn't anybody fly to/thru Ohare any more?

Btw, you can forget Delta as being a convenient, cost effective alternative to AA...

Re: Very common...

Premier said:

Waiting on the tarmac for a gate to clear is a common occurrence the airline industry, but is more prevalent amongst the larger carriers doing volume out of the nations busier airports. Waiting in the que to land is also a very common occurrence. Doesn't anybody fly to/thru Ohare any more?

Btw, you can forget Delta as being a convenient, cost effective alternative to AA...

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Not only is Delta an inferior airline to AA but they don't fly to the DR. Sheesh!

Don't Shoot!

Escott, The Delta reference was in response to rumours (on this site) that Delta was planning on commencing service to the DR. Yes, I know that they don't currently fly there...