American Airlines

[prepress]

I used AA for years to make the trip to Nashville for the Christmas holidays, as I'd had the best experiences with them and they had more direct, non-stop flights there. Then, last year, I found AA had switched to the smaller American Eagle planes for the Nashville run; that must have been a result of AA's problems. I was concerned because I thought a smaller plane might be more vulnerable to turbulence and I am prone to motion sickness, a bad combo. Those flights were not too bad as it turned out.

Now, I need to assess what I will be doing for this Christmas because the place I used to stay is no more and I'd have nowhere to stay if I went to Nashville, and I'm wary of AA's troubles on top of that. I could go through Nashville on the way to the Houston area where my sister is, and I could go direct via Southwest which is what I've been doing.

[Formerly YB-2]

No problem with AA thus far. Flew mostly AA before retirement and have a few million miles on same, so still get priority treatment and periodic upgrades. Like 1st class on all three legs of my return trip this last week. May be in bankruptcy, but don't think they are any more anxious to have a plane go down then any other airline.

Folks have mentioned Virgin. Delta just bought a big chunk of same (40%?) to get better entry into the northern European market.

[digitalzed]

All large U.S. airlines can really stink if you are not one of the elite level flyers. And once you get into a program, it's hard to leave once you start getting preferential treatment. I fly United because they are the most convenient carrier going where I need to go from where I live. I fly extensively and I'm in the top level of preferred customers. What that's taught me is how lucky I am. I see people who fly infrequently get beaten down like rented donkeys. My work takes me to Asia often and the airlines out of Asia are tremendous. Too bad AA, UA, Delta and the other big U.S. airlines won't take a lead from them. Here's an article I found that might be of interest to those looking at this thread.
America's 11 Worst Airlines: AQR

[Whart]

Originally Posted by digitalzed

All large U.S. airlines can really stink if you are not one of the elite level flyers. And once you get into a program, it's hard to leave once you start getting preferential treatment. I fly United because they are the most convenient carrier going where I need to go from where I live. I fly extensively and I'm in the top level of preferred customers. What that's taught me is how lucky I am. I see people who fly infrequently get beaten down like rented donkeys. My work takes me to Asia often and the airlines out of Asia are tremendous. Too bad AA, UA, Delta and the other big U.S. airlines won't take a lead from them. Here's an article I found that might be of interest to those looking at this thread.
America's 11 Worst Airlines: AQR

Entirely true, but even when I was flying AA extensively, first class, JFK to LAX (which is regarded as the 'premium route' domestically) or San Fran, figure 3 round trips a month, minimum, for 5 years, AA's quality diminished considerably. They have old equipment, even older flight attendants and the price for first is not commensurate with the experience, dirty, smelly heads, surly attendants, lousy food. For 1/2 the price, Virgin America NY-LA is far nicer in every respect.

[digitalzed]

Originally Posted by Whart

Entirely true, but even when I was flying AA extensively, first class, JFK to LAX (which is regarded as the 'premium route' domestically) or San Fran, figure 3 round trips a month, minimum, for 5 years, AA's quality diminished considerably. They have old equipment, even older flight attendants and the price for first is not commensurate with the experience, dirty, smelly heads, surly attendants, lousy food. For 1/2 the price, Virgin America NY-LA is far nicer in every respect.

Sad comment on AA. I do run into similar experiences with UA also. Even though their fleet is better overall they still run 757's on the similar "premier route" of SFO-EWR. I remember being wowed by the 757...in 1984...and some have never been updated in the passenger cabin. They still have the CRT monitors for in flight movies. You'd think that for a 4+ hour trip AA and UA would have more modern planes running their most valuable routes.

[Whart]

I used to dig the DC-10. 757 is narrow, but i gather it is more responsive to fly than the wide-bodied planes. I think one of the reasons why EU carriers are better is that a lot of the airlines are 'national' and effectively subsidized. Also, since Airbus is a consortium of EU countries, there's gotta be a price break for equipment, but I'm speculating. For some reason, the Asian carriers seem to be among the best.

[trek737]

Originally Posted by digitalzed

Sad comment on AA. I do run into similar experiences with UA also. Even though their fleet is better overall they still run 757's on the similar "premier route" of SFO-EWR. I remember being wowed by the 757...in 1984...and some have never been updated in the passenger cabin. They still have the CRT monitors for in flight movies. You'd think that for a 4+ hour trip AA and UA would have more modern planes running their most valuable routes.

For what ever it is worth replacing old aircraft takes time but it is happening at the new UA. L-UAL, (Legacy United), was bankrupt not to long ago and it was a long haul for them to get back on their feet. Now that they have combined with Continental you should see newer and more updated aircraft. L-UAL old 757's that are out dated are on their way out with new 737-900ER aircraft taking their place that CA had on order. This order was placed a few years ago before the merger. One of the big aircraft to come out of this CA order besides plenty of the 737-900ER's is the Dream-liner 787. It is having a few small set backs but has already changed the way we fly...

I flew back on a L-UAL 767 aircraft from Istanbul Turkey and it had already been modified with winglets and on board entertainment screens on every seat back. It was very nice to have this for this long flight. Boeing can only make so many jets a year and most of these are already spoken for. I believe that there is a waiting list for new aircraft as most planes are ordered years in advance.

Just going to have to give it some time...

Cheers,

[digitalzed]

Originally Posted by trek737

For what ever it is worth replacing old aircraft takes time but it is happening at the new UA. L-UAL, (Legacy United), was bankrupt not to long ago and it was a long haul for them to get back on their feet. Now that they have combined with Continental you should see newer and more updated aircraft. L-UAL old 757's that are out dated are on their way out with new 737-900ER aircraft taking their place that CA had on order. This order was placed a few years ago before the merger. One of the big aircraft to come out of this CA order besides plenty of the 737-900ER's is the Dream-liner 787. It is having a few small set backs but has already changed the way we fly...

I flew back on a L-UAL 767 aircraft from Istanbul Turkey and it had already been modified with winglets and on board entertainment screens on every seat back. It was very nice to have this for this long flight. Boeing can only make so many jets a year and most of these are already spoken for. I believe that there is a waiting list for new aircraft as most planes are ordered years in advance.

Just going to have to give it some time...

Cheers,

Thanks. I didn't know UA was phasing out the 757's. That's good news. I'm very familiar with the International flight upgrades to the planes as I usually fly overseas.

[trek737]

Originally Posted by digitalzed

Thanks. I didn't know UA was phasing out the 757's. That's good news. I'm very familiar with the International flight upgrades to the planes as I usually fly overseas.

As far as I know it is just the ones that are out dated on the L-UAL side.

[custodian]

I regularly fly LHR to BOS on AA. Most flights now 757 and service is also deteriorating. I've got a few million miles on AA so locked in to some degree although the BA links give me some carrier options.