American Airlines Review: Worst Carrier in the United States
Written By Nathan Zarcaro
Last Updated: October 28, 2024
American Airlines
Hidden Fees:
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Customer Service:
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Flight Experience:
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On-Time Performance:
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Route Network:
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Baggage Policies:
3
1
3
4
Total Score:
American Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world, operating nearly 6,700 flights per day and flying passengers to 350 different destinations across the world.
But for whatever reason, everytime we fly American, something goes wrong. Here's a fair American Airlines flight review, along with why we're so upset with them these days.
American Airlines review
Though we seemingly always run into issues when we fly American, it is neither consistently the same issue, nor is it always American's fault. Sometimes we're just unlucky. Regardless, we won't let this impact our review here.
There is not much to differentiate the American Airlines in-flight experience. In fact, to us, the whole process feels needlessly inpersonal and standoffish. There are multiple examples of this too.
For instance:
1. Prior to a couple of AA flights, we've never experienced a boarding process where we weren't greeted by flight attendents. In one instance, we never heard from the pilot before departure. This would bother us less if the flight attendents were friendly upon boarding.
2. Lavatories onboard are routinely out of service when we fly, and we're unsure why. AA seems to be the only airline impacted to this magnitude.
Again, some of tihs is nitpicking, and while none of this would stop us from flying AA, it is still something worth mentioning. The whole process just feels disingenuous. And with the airline leading the way in add-on fees, outside of the no-frills carriers, the experience tends to piss us off.
Improve your American Airlines flight
Flying American Airlines: pros and cons
Unsurprisingly, there are also many drawbacks to the American Airlines experience. Among them are:
1. Poor customer service
There is nothing we dislike more about the American Airlines experience than the incompetent customer service they routinely offer. The good(?) news about poor customer service is that, on most flight legs, you won't need assistance. But when you do, watch out.
We've been hung up on, "thanked" for feedback, and spun in circles without resolution more times than we can count.
In fact, if we're being honest, an embarrassing American customer service experience in February 2024 was the catalyst to start MyAirAdvocate in the first place.
2. Changes to the AAdvantage loyalty program
Over the past few years, AA has made a number of changes to its AAdvantage loyalty program, nearly all of them bad for frequent fliers. From lowering miles earned on basic economy tickets, to cutting (and subsequently reinstating) the accrual of points for tickets booked through third parties, AA has time and time again shown that they don't prioritize the customer experience.
Is American a good airline?
We cannot in good conscience call American a good airline. And while we don't think that there is truly a good airline anywhere in the United States in 2024, AA represents a lowest of the lows in terms of dysfunction.
Customer service, onboard service, the ticket counter, it doesn't matter. We pass when we can.
In fact, we'd rather fly United, Delta, Southwest, Frontier, JetBlue, and Spirit, even if it costs a little more.