They don’t really care about customer relations. I have seen several times that they overbook the flights when seriously, with advent of technology, it can clearly be avoided. They don’t even have enough staff at airports to run things smoothly. Let me tell you what I went through: 1) First my flight from Cedar Rapids to Chicago was delayed by 3 hours. You know how far Chicago is from Cedar Rapids? Just 30 minutes if we go by air. This has happened to me twice. You know airlines from other countries are carrying passengers on their transatlantic flights without delays, cancellations and excellent customer service. Its about time they visit those countries and take a lesson on how to provide a valuable customer service. 2) Then, they let everyone board the plane but somehow manage to find an excuse to not take off. We had to wait for take-off on tarmac for 2 hours and on top of that, the pilot doesn’t even announce periodically what is going on. This was agonizing for so many passengers. I purposely selected this flight because I had a 3 hour layover in Chicago and I was going to meet my friend, but because of delays caused by American Airlines, I will have to wait for another couple of months. Don’t even tell me it was a weather related delay as it was sunny! They clearly either didn’t have pilots or planes to provide the service and yet, booked us knowing very well that their services were not adequate in any way. I reached Chicago Airport at 5.30 pm when I was supposed to arrive there around 2.30 pm. But this was just the beginning. 3) Then while waiting for my next plane out of Chicago to Newark, they very cleverly increased the delay by 15-20 minutes at one time so that customers don’t cancel with them and fly with any other airlines because when you incrementally delay flights by 15 minutes, customers are more likely to stay with that particular airline in order to reach their destination. Whereas, if you had displayed from the beginning that it was 2-3 hours delay, customers were more likely to look for other options to reach their destination. 4) Then we boarded the plane at 8.30 pm, 2.5 hours after scheduled time and the same thing happened. We were on the runway for the next 2.5 hours. 2.5 hours! For what? No one knows. Crew failed to provide any update. There was no weather delays again. After 2.5 hours, the pilot turned the plane back to gate telling that he has completed his hours and couldn’t fly. Tell me about commitment levels displayed by American Airlines. Clearly, there is nothing American about your airlines anymore. 5) Then, I was told bags will arrive at carousel 6 and they arrived at carousel 7 instead. Ground staff in baggage claim area didn’t even have a clue that my flight was cancelled. When I asked about where was my bag, I gave him my bag ticket and he was said “what was texture of your bag, what color was your bag”? What sort of ridiculous questions were they? 7) Now, I had to skip my whole day at work. Horrible!

Normally we travel with Delta, but American Airlines had a great deal on the flight we needed during our trip to Barcelona. Our flight from JFK to Barcelona was great, however the regional flight was less so. We were two adults traveling with a toddler with her own seat.

On our regional flight, family boarding was not offered even though we were obviously sitting at the gate with a large carseat. When our boarding group was announced, the gate agent automatically assumed we wanted to gate check the carseat (which we did not) and I had to struggle to get it installed quickly on a small aircraft while other people were trying to file into their seats. On our return regional flight we opted to check the carseat as it had proven too cumbersome. When my toddler was seated the attendent came and asked if my daughter had her own ticket (which she did). This seemed odd since I'd think it would be noted there were no infant in arms onboard, and even so the flight was not full.

Our transatlantic flight went much better (aside from my daughter not sleeping in her carseat as planned. Not the airline's fault...). We were given at least 2 meals on each flight which were relatively yummy and healthy and even my daughter ate some of them. Wine and beer were also included on these flights. When my daughter was having trouble falling asleep the attendents were more than helpful, offering their galley floor for diaper changes, offering warm milk for her, and being very supportive when I was worried about her disturbing the other passengers (and them when she kept pushing the attendent call button).

Overall our experience was positive, although they could stand to be a little more family friendly. We were 2 on 1 with my daughter so not having family boarding wasn't as much of an issue as it would be if we were outmanned.

I recently had a nightmare experience with American. I arrived from a connecting flight with a few hours before my next flight. I settled down across from my gate to read and wait for boarding (no headphones). I looked up every 15 minutes or so, and when I saw the “10 minutes until boarding” on the screen, I prepared my stuff and started listening for the boarding call. Next time I looked up, thinking it had been a while with no intercom updates, my destination was no longer on the screen. I panicked and hurried to a gate attendant, who told me the flight had just shut the door. I was furious. I’d heard absolutely nothing from the intercom, not even a last missing passenger call, which is supposed to be broadcast throughout the terminal. I had missed the connection and there were no flights to my destination for the rest of the night. Thankfully, some nearby gate attendants were kind to me and helped me connect to a rebooker on the phone. This person was so gracious to me, as I tried to hold together my emotions, that I added back a star to what would’ve been a three star review (they did not help me get a hotel room). I was rebooked for 5 am at no extra cost.

The only reason I give these guys a 1 star is I had a 6am flight leaving from Sioux City to Chicago to Green Bay. Little back story, Thursday I was in North Dakota for a show, drove overnight, Friday I was in Minnesota for a show, and had to drive overnight and my flight was 6am from Sioux City, IA and I was suppose to land in Green Bay at 930am that Saturday morning. So it’s been a few busy days. They called me at midnight (6 hours before my flight) with an automated message and said my flight had been cancelled and gave me two options. Either to cancel my trip all together or select a new flight which departed at noon instead (6 hours behind schedule now). Since I needed to get there, I had to select departing at noon. I get to the airport in Sioux City and start talking to the gate attendants (very small airport) and told them what happened and they said oh yeah, the 6am flight went out this morning and it was hardly full. I was super shocked! So I guess my Chicago flight to Green Bay flight was cancelled but my Sioux City to Chicago still departed, but never told me that. So we board the plane at noon, and end up waiting longer than normal only to find out that our flight is delayed 2 hours. That only gives me a 20 minute window to catch my connection flight now. So I wait and finally board again. Land in Chicago, run to my new gate which is in concourse H, just a few gates down. They tell me that the gate changed to concourse G. (O’hare is massive if you didn’t know, so I sprinted). I get to G and find my gate and the plane is gone already. I missed my flight. So, the time is around 4pm now. The next available flight is 830pm. I didn’t get to Green Bay until 930pm when I was suppose to be there at 930am. So much for that day of spending time with family that I haven’t seen in a very long time, since I had been on the road traveling. I know this was only one bad experience, but I think the situation could have been avoided in many ways. I wouldn’t fly with American Airlines again.

Phoenix to Houston to Orlando. My experience with United was superior! They went above and beyond to assist me. I missed my flight because of a traffic issue on the way to the airport. I was rebooked and arrived just 3 hours late, my seats were upgraded. I asked for nothing. After collecting my luggage for a 10 day vacation I went to the auto rental to pick up my car. It was there that I realized I had lost my wallet. A first for me and quite problematic. No license, no money, no credit cards , no atm. No ID at all. The car rental bluntly said, no license,no car! And so abruptly ended my vacation plans because I was to drive nearly 3 hrs to my destination. I was traveling solo. After filing a lost wallet report, I headed back to the United counter to see what I could do. By this time it was 8pm. The agents got very busy on their computers for reasons I did not know. Ultimately, they handed me a voucher for a hotel room, a thermos filled with toiletries , 2 meal vouchers and a return ticket to Phoenix in the morning at 8:30am. While it was a crisis situation for me, their concern and consideration went well beyond anything I expected. I was so very grateful for their assistance and to United Airlines.

This company has the worst customer service! I paid and booked a flight for round trip flight for my kids, husband and both my parents. They were already one of the most expensive flights going out of LAX but chose them as it was non-stop flight. Not only did they double charge me... OVER $8,000 was taken out of my account and right before the trip mind you but they also denied double charging me. They were absolutely rude and acted as if I was trying to get a free flight. On top of that they wouldn’t refund me unless I cancelled my flight and paid the cancellation fees which I didn’t want to do because our hotels were also already booked and paid for. After fighting them for over a MONTH my bank finally had to step in fax them over proof of double charging and it still took them 2 weeks after that to refund me the money. They ended up sending me an apology letter along with $100 on board credit for each passenger but I will never be using this airline ever again.

Had a 18 hour delay due to weather. I understand how this can happen and of course didn’t mind waiting til the end of the storm, but the storm was an hour, not 18. American Airlines was not being accommodating at all, I was young and traveling alone, I had a cell phone with a dead battery, no money, no food and I was running low on my medication, (that I needed to take multiple times a day.) I was forced to sleep on the floor of the airport in Washington D.C. and the customer service rep said “there’s nothing I can do, sorry” when I asked for a cup for some water, I was told “no” I had to drink water from the sink in the bathroom and starve, because I literally had no money and left my wallet in my luggage, which I wasn’t allowed to get. I was sick and felt as if I’d pass out and not one person from the airline helped me, luckily another traveler bought me a donut and bottle of water to hold me over. Will never fly American Airlines again. I’ll stick to JetBlue.

I’ve never been blown away by my experience using this airline. The service from the flight attendants is okay at best. For a more expensive airline, I’ve been on several outdated planes. One flight was even delayed because the upper compartment couldn’t fit your standard roller board bag, because, and I’m quoting the captain here, “this plane was built before the invention of roller board bags.” That flight was in 2016. I was born in 1989 and remember rolling bags being around my entire life... so you’re telling me this plane is older than I am? Cool. Also had issues with being told I was on a WiFi enabled flight and then all of the sudden, we’re on a 30 year old plane that doesn’t have it, nor does it have the screens in the back of the seat. I can live without it, but when I’m paying more than a budget airline, there does need to be some consistency with the fleet of planes you own. Not my first choice for an airline.

I have had one bad experience with American, but I don't know that it was the airline's fault. I was travelling from Dallas to OKC, and my flight to OKC was delayed (by hours) AND the gate was changed, but I was not informed. I went to the gate that was printed on my ticket (and it was on my phone app), and the screen said it was boarding a flight to LAX! So I talked to the lady at the check in counter, who informed me that my gate was changed. I went to the new gate, and the plane wasn't there. They kept telling me that the plane would be here in 30 minutes (multiple times), and it turned out that the flight was 2 hours delayed.  I could have driven to OKC in that period of time. The flight to OKC from Dallas is only like 30 minutes, so I waited in the airport WAY longer than it even took to fly there. 
I have flown American many times and this is my only complaint. 

Not a great airline. I used them last year for my honeymoon. We booked a flight from Miami back home but it was during hurricane Irma. We tried to evacuate and cancel our flight because of the rude customer service and use another airline to reroute our trip to salvage our honeymoon. They did not give us a full refund because we cancelled the day before they closed all the airports. If we did not cancel the day before we would have been stuck in Florida during the hurricane. They only gave us a partial refund and a small credit that expires a year from the original date so we would have to spend even more. Poor service during a weather disaster. Ruined our honeymoon.