During a recent trip to Manchester, England, we flew American Airlines from Philadelphia. We had a rolling delay that lasted three hours, but the worst part was how they handled it. Why can’t American Airlines get out of their own way?
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Initial Delay
Our flight, AA 734, was scheduled to depart Philadelphia at 9:30 pm, landing in Manchester, England at 9 am following the six and a half hour flight, five-hour time change, and some ground movements.
“Technical staff are going through some checks for ETOPs. We will update you again soon.”
ETOPs Checks? That’s a new one on me. The gate staff pushed the departure out 20 minutes initially, the app didn’t update but we continued to stay close to the front. Our assumption was that if this were something more intense, they would have delayed it longer. That act would have cleared the boarding area and stopped the constant stream of people walking up to the counter stating that they have very important meetings in Manchester, and the 20-minute delay would ruin their lives.
It Gets Worse
The 20-minute delay becomes 40, then an hour and before we know it, they have decided that our particular aircraft won’t be leaving Philly for the evening and they will bring us a new one.
This was a little relief when they reached the conclusion to scrap using that particular aircraft and switch to a new one. It felt like the delay should have been more predictable at that time, given that there were two other gates we could see with A330s parked and uncommitted (all other long-haul flights had gone out for the night). Moving catering from one gate to another next door should have been quick and easy, the same for the bags, crew, and everything else.
No. They chose to bring one from the hangar that had not yet been cleaned. This is where management has me utterly confused.
- Why were ETOPs checks not conducted with more time prior to the flight?
- Why would management decide to bring a plane from the hangar that was less prepared than parked aircraft at gates?
Good Service Surprise in the Admiral’s Club
With a little more knowledge about the amount of time it would take to get the aircraft ready, we (and some others from our flight) headed to the Admirals Club – all others were closed for the night. The staff had nearly all gone home but they re-opened the club for business class passengers and elites. There were about a dozen of us in the club as we received further (mis)information regarding the departure of our flight.
Where American really shined was their commitment to offering the club for their guests when it was clearly otherwise closed. Snacks were put away, lights were off, they opened it from scratch for us and that’s appreciated. This included calling the food and beverage manager back in (he was in his car on the way home) who returned to pour cocktails for guests.
That’s commitment.
Technical Errors and Misinformation
American is bad at getting delay information to guests. Sometimes I would hear about a delay before it was updated on the phone, and other times it worked in reverse. The most egregious issue is the unwillingness to further delay a flight until after the previous departure time has already passed. We would get a text that stated departure was pushed back another 20 minutes (at 9:50 pm) only to not receive the next notification of a delay until 10:00 pm. Clearly, if we are not boarded and sitting on the plane by 9:50, there is no way we will depart at 10, so the numbers are wrong from the start, but that also affects the next departure window as it will be unachievable as soon as it posts.
This creates doubt and mistrust of everyone from the carrier. Why? Because I don’t know when the plane will go. I had a friend who received a delay notification from American for another flight, pushing his departure back 30 minutes. He took his time, ordered lunch, walked up to the gate before the new departure time and the aircraft had already boarded and pushed back. We all know that if the aircraft can go, airlines will want to depart right away and accept that leaving the boarding area can cause us to miss our flights. However, sitting in front of a gate for hours for a plane that clearly is not ready to go is a disservice to customers and frustrates staff.
Gary Leff writes about this often but I hadn’t experienced the technical issues with American’s delays myself. I’m not sure if it is the decision of management in when to post delay times or if it is a technical issue that prevents a timely update, but regardless the result is useless for the customer. At one point in our delay, our flight switched to departed while we were in the lounge and disappeared from the departures board. A member of staff had to call down to ensure the aircraft hadn’t left. It hadn’t, the app changed a half hour later, but this is just one example of how terrible their technology fails everyone.
(Partly) Surly, (Mostly) Elderly Staff
Once we boarded we had a… mature staff. I don’t care what the age, gender, or preference is of the crew – good service is the only thing that matters to me. However, this crew was all near, at or past retirement age and service levels varied depending on the aisle in which they served.
My FA (Sandra) was surly at best. She offered the normal drinks (orange juice, champagne, or sparkling water).
“Would you like a drink?” – Sandra
“Yes, please. Can I just have a glass of ice water when you’re through with the cabin?” (I was in the last row of business class) – me.
“No. Catering hasn’t finished loading the plane.” – Sandra
Except they had. None of the doors were open, at least at the front of the plane and due to our weird delay information issues we had been (oddly) informed that we could enter only once catering had left, which they had.
Staff on my wife’s aisle was much friendlier, though not entirely helpful. She was actively pitching a chocolate mousse that they had run out of – though she knew that the passengers couldn’t have any. Other minor annoyances include not collecting the coats to hang and other very pedantic service issues.
I will compliment the pilot who came out and took the blame for the issue, not him personally, but for the airline.
“We failed tonight, there’s no excuse.” Admirable of him, I appreciate that. But then he said, “Let management know how you feel about it.”
What he fails to realize is that, to the passengers and crew, he is management. He sees a separation that passengers do not.
American Can’t Get Out Of Their Own Way
Every single issue we encountered was an easily solved or preventable concern. Here are the problems we encountered and how they could have been handled better.
- Once there is clearly going to be a delay, push the departure time back a sufficient amount.
- If boarding has not commenced with enough time to hit the next departure point, push it back again, a sufficient amount.
- The app and staff should be as up to date as the back-end systems. Fix that.
- If you have two other planes already at unoccupied gates, solve the customer’s problem first and use those aircraft to get a flight out. The staff has all night to troubleshoot the other issues or pull a replacement aircraft from the hanger.
- Be proactive with your passengers. In addition to a full business class cabin (just two gate upgrades out of four requested) and elites in the back, other passengers deserve something for their three-hour delay. It could be miles, vouchers, or just an apology, but the silence from the carrier sends its own message.
What do you think? Are American’s problems solvable? Why can’t they get out of their own way? Do other carriers have similar issues?
You really harp on them for not using the idle aircraft at nearby gates, but as a blogger you should understand aircraft routing and everything that goes with it. There’s a very prescribed routing that each plane has planned out so that it can have mandatory maintenance checks every few days. They certainly would have used those planes if they could but id bet quite a bit that they were waiting to tow them into the hangar for the night shift crew to perform maintenance on.
This doesn’t excuse AA for not being able to manage a rolling delay though. That is something i don’t see them fixing for quite a while,
PS- ETOPS checks take about 90 min and are usually performed the entire time the plane is at the gate between flights
Your comments are fair enough, but I’ll clarify that this aircraft arrived much earlier in the day. They were stating ETOPs checks but it seemed unlikely, not impossible.
Wow, Kyle as a writer I’m surprised you didn’t get your facts straight before writing anything.
Any specifics or just everything?
Dude….you should do homework. Just because aircraft similar to the aircraft you were scheduled to fly on
was sitting at a gate doesn’t mean it’s not committed. Unlike rental car agencies, there are not spare airplanes just sitting around.
ETOPS clearance involve safety….I doubt you would want to fly w/o the clearance.
Aircraft housed in the hanger are usually not flight ready with
catering and housekeeping.
Let’s pretend for a minute that every year I fly 20-30 flight segments that require ETOPs. Let’s assume that I’ve done this for the last 10 years. In 200-300 flights I have never heard of this as a cause for a delay. I have never read about it either on any other travel blogs. I am surprised it seems to be such common knowledge when it has evaded me (and other bloggers I know) for decades. Also, we never want to fly unsafe, but how they handle the delay and aircraft swap is really the focus of the post.
I think you need some training as a pilot, not just in single engine, but get about 700 hours PIC of aircraft with souls on board and the FAA breathing down your neck.
Your articles match that of what most people on the Internet want to do… complain. It’s sad you make a living doing it, American did what they could, all airlines experience these problems, it’s the luck of the draw. Get some real stick time and you’ll come back with a different perspective.
… on the subject of not assuming things… I don’t do this for a living. Can no one comment unless they are a pilot? Was American doing all they could in their delivery of information?
Have shared your experience many times. The solutions seem easy enough to implement. Question is there the will to do it?
I’m sure that you’r you’ve read the book, “Dear American Airlines”
No, but I will cart it on Amazon.
Cart is a verb now?
If you used Amazon the way I do, it would be. It’s nearly a sport.
Mr. Parten I happen to have several thousand hours of Part 121 Airline time flying domestic and international and that number is still growing. So I can say with some authority that you need to get off your high horse. Kyle’s article was eminently fair and clearly comes from his perspective. That of a paying customer. Its perfectly fair for him to ask the questions he did and illustrative of the level of customer service failure that he’s asking them. For example had an announcement been made that those two aircraft were unavailable for the flight because both needed overnight maintenance Kyle would not be complaining about it. Lord knows there have been times I’ve asked about the aircraft sitting empty at the next gate over when we have needed a tail swap. Its a perfectly legitimate question to ask. Had AA managed the situation properly (timely and accurate announcements and the like) Kyle would not be complaining about it. Kyle isn’t just complaining for the sake of complaining he is highlighting very real and unacceptable customer service failures. Things go wrong that happens. But how you manage them makes a huge difference. You might also note his praise of the Admirals Club staff for going well above and beyond the call of duty here.
Kyle: To your questions American’s problems are certainly solvable. Every airline fails at this sometimes but AA seems to have taken it to a new level. But if Delta can run a tight ship so can the others if they really want to. AA’s problems seem in the end to stem from a total lack of leadership. The company has no clear vision and no clear direction. I suspect that change at the top is going to be required to right the ship at AA. I will note one thing however. Your right that to customers the Captain is management. The problem at most carriers is that they don’t listen well to their front line people. I can complain about issues like this internally but it rarely seems to make a dent. But when a plane load of people write angry letters that tends to actually get attention. So while I can certainly understand your point the Captain was in fact giving good advice. If AA’s customers want change they need to start letting the airline know how they feel directly and perhaps indirectly (by booking away from them).
True, AAmerican sucks.
But you are so grossly IGNORANT!
-Former FA (that’s flight attendant).
Always happy to meet a fan.
Ignorant? Why? Be specific.
@Mark is absolutely correct. You have no idea if those other 2 planes were available for use.
Other than that, I agree with your bullet points.
It’s true that I’m unsure if they were unavailable for some logical reason. However, if they were unavailable due to maintenance, why were they parked at the gate and not the hangar from which our replacement plane came? There were no other flights that night following our and these aircraft are primarily used out of PHL for trans-Atlantic flights and a couple of Puerto Rico flights but again, that one would not depart until morning.
I’m with you Kyle. Last year my husband and I (both age 68) had the vacation from HELL. We planned on going on a cruise from Magala, Spain, for 12 days. We started from SanAntoio TX to Dallas, TX. Our flight was delayed to Dallas. It was supposed to be nonstop to Madrid. In the 15 days we were gone we NEVER made one connecting flight the whole time, they lost my luggage for 9 days, we missed a night’s stay in a beautiful hotel in Magala, Spain. I’m still working on insurance papers!! It was HORRIBLE.
Let’s asum you have 20 of the same type aircraft…… Out of that 20 , I’d bet 9 or 10 of those are certified for water routes…… Why you may ask, Because it cost millions per aircraft for that certification……
Hang on Randy, as a former AA crew chief are you suggesting that of the 25 (the last number I could find online for A330-200/300s) in the fleet, that there are less than half certified for ETOPs?
I’m not buying it. For the A319/20/21s, sure, some 737s, probably, MD-80s – you bet. But not A330s, nor 777s. They don’t even fly the A330 domestically with the exception of a once-daily San Juan route (though they would have added ETOPs for that). They were flirting with a once-daily LAX route as well which they may or may not have started, but that was an afterthought once the aircraft were already integrated into the fleet.
What would be the point of buying A330 aircraft at $100-200MM per (depending on what they actually paid) but not spending the extra few million to get half the fleet certified when they are flown almost exclusively over water?
Please correct your grammer in the title of your story. American Airlines is singular, not plural. The title should be “can’t get out if it’s own way.”
Please correct your spelling…it’s grammar, not grammar…
“of its”
No apostrophe, just “its”.
There is an apostrophe. It’s = it is.
That’s “grammar”.
Lenny, if you feel entitled to point out a writer’s error, then make sure you don’t embarrass yourself. You made a monumental grammatical error in your comment . You do not know the difference between a possessive and a a contraction of ‘it’ and ‘is’. The correct version of your reply should read: “can’t get out of its own way”.
By the way, I am not an American, I am French. English is not my native language.
Not in the UK.
You should realize there is more than just “American English”
In fairness, I’m in Manchester currently.
“Once we boarded we had a… mature staff. I don’t care what the age, gender, or preference is of the crew – good service is the only thing that matters to me. However, this crew was all near, at or past retirement age and service levels varied depending on the aisle in which they served.”
If good service is, in fact, the only thing that matters to you, why do you mention the “maturity” of the crew…twice in one paragraph?
There were a couple of younger staff and the service was good from those two. The mostly older FAs were surly and it seemed to inconvenience them more than it did the paying passengers.
What exactly is this “retirement age” that you somehow seem to feel you get to decide for others? The tone of your article is filled with a measure of contempt towards those who work as flight attendants past a certain age. I would encourage you not to stereotype and perhaps you should examine your reasons for doing so. Finally , you sound silly as you imply that an experienced captain “fails to understand that to passengers and crews he is management “? Why are you speaking for crews have you ever been an airline crewmember? You and your little assessment are more than a bit patronizing.
Dee, I think some of what you have written is fair. First, I consider retirement age to be 59.5 years old or older as does the United States government. I think that’s a fair assumption and the majority of the staff on my flight were that age or older. I didn’t ask them so I can’t be 100% sure, but I’d bet money I am right.
There is a little contempt in there but that matched the service I received when I entered the airplane. I was treated as though I was an impediment to some of their trips as opposed to a guest. As I stated in the post and will re-emphasize again here, some of the staff were very polite and friendly, but for the most part, that was not my experience. I have found that on the longest haul routes, the most senior staff seem to hold those lines and going above and beyond (or even just providing the standard service) is no longer of interest.
But I too am the subject of agism due to my young age. I am directed to coach cabins when I board a plane, told to wait for my group to be called as an Executive Platinum and premium cabin passenger simply because I’m younger.
Another age slam. Doesn’t that get old? (pun intended)
I fly enough to know these issues aren’t unique to American Airlines. There is an over-arching problem which has nothing to do with the preparation of a plane and everything to do with making stock holders, not customers (yes, sometimes they’re the same but not often–especially for those in the cattle car section) happy. Traveling by air is just a miserable experience from start to finish. Hunting for a parking space in a ten-floor dimly-lit parking ramp, dragging bags to a shuttle bus that is sometimes there and sometimes doesn’t arrive for 15 minutes, waiting in line(s) to check in (it’s worth doing this step on your computer before you leave home), get through TSA’s enormously tedious and contentious “clearance” procedures, hauling your bag and yourself a mile or two to reach the gate, waiting in boarding lines, waiting inside the loading ramps as passengers in front of you search for seats and load their bags into overhead bins, finding your seat and then squeezing into it (even a “normal” person such as myself–5’11”, 170 pounds–has no room, especially when the passenger in front puts their seat back to maximum), waiting for the plane to actually depart the gate and then waiting again in a takeoff cue that can stretch all the way back to the terminal), waiting to use the potty (Continental once ran out of TP on a 13-hour flight from Narita to Houston–imagine that!), getting a small bag of peanuts and a small little soda can (no ice unless you ask) as pacifiers for those of us who can’t afford business and first class, which is most of us, then, repeating many of the same steps in reverse once back on the ground. You, the passenger, are paying much more than the actual ticket price in the form of non-stop emotional stress for the sake of a fatter profit for the carrier and its stockholders. No. Flying is a miserable experience. Even Amtrak is more enjoyable if you’ve got the time and if you’re in Europe, Japan, and some parts of China trains are far, far better than flying.
Too bad they didn’t have bidets on board like the ANA 777-300ERs, then you wouldn’t need as much TP.
Your description is so accurate you just depressed me making me think how many times I’ve done that.
Well said.
Chip, I FAIL to see how airline profits enter into most of your complaints. They don’t build airports, parking garages or TSA. As far as seat spacing and boarding issues, I suppose that you want fewer seats and free drinks for your insanely cheap fares you pay in the back of the plane. You want your travel cheap, comfortable and at the time you want. It can’t happen. Get in your car and drive.
Airline executive spotted. Go and continue embrace your Scott Kirbys and Doug Parkers while the rest of us sane beings continue to morn the demise of airtravel
I disagree that people see a captain /fo as “management”. I like when you see that candor from the staff. That’s very refreshing
I do credit the pilot for taking on the responsibility and apologizing.
The truth is the executive management at American Airline Group Inc. has removed the authority of the Captain except for the direct operation of the aircraft it self. The pilots no longer have control over the execution of the departure and arrival logistics. They also lack authority over the FA’s outside of their designated safety duties.
Bean counters and layers are now in control of the airline and the corporate culture sadly is evolving to match.
Airlines in the current day are built and operated to turn profit above all. They are keenly aware of the fact that the majority of their passengers fly once every two years at best. Therefore the incentive to address the individual needs of Pax is overwritten by the need to maintain operational efficiency ($$).
I am a Platinum flyer for AA and have experienced delays and minimal/NO/Wrong information about the changes to my flights status almost every time. They are ALWAYS delaying departure due to “ maintenance” issues. GET NEW PLANES !! Anyway..,,I agree and support EVERY problem you highlighted…because I have experienced them too…and anticipate these problems in the near future (I gave 4 more AA flights before Dec. 2018). I hope someone is listening !!!
Wow you’re really whiny. I thought you travel a lot. You sound like a newb with your clueless speculation. Gee what’s this etops thing ? sounds made up. Nope every plane flying over the ocean needs one. They’re pretty involved and focus on keeping you safe when you’re over the north Atlantic 700 miles away from the nearest airport. And gee why don’t we just take that one sitting right next to us? Do you have a clue the amount of logistics that goes into planning every flight? Sorry you were a couple hours late.
I know what ETOPs are but after flying these routes regularly (I lived in England for three years and still fly back and forth often) I’ve never before been delayed for an “ETOPs check.”
Let’s assume for a second that those flights were parked for the night. There would be at least 12 hours until they were needed again but had otherwise had their ETOPs check completed (it can’t be after every flight because turn times in Europe are two hours). Why not use an idle aircraft for our flight and then put the aircraft that needs a check completed overnight back to the hangar or completed at the gate?
I thought the article was right on point and clearly from an experienced flier who has experienced the clear drop in service over the past few years at AA. I have experienced everything in the article multiple times. “If” there are valid reasons why you can’t use the plane on the next gate, wouldn’t it be a good idea to communicate that to all your customers that are wondering why you aren’t, instead of acting like it’s not your problem. And the continual 20 minute delays make it impossible to leave the gate for a meal in what ends up being a 3-4 hour delay.
My worst customer experience was landing in front of an incoming storm. As we pulled up to the gate they said they monitored lightening within 5 miles of the airport and could not have the ground crew come out. We sat on the plane for 2 hours with no end in sight until it came to the end of the shift and they decided it was now ok to work in the now much worse storm. And AA was the only airline who brought their ground crews in. It’s the poor customer service mindset that seems to be spreading throughout AA and is getting worse instead of better. Yes, overall, air travel sucks, but just some basic common courtesy, putting themselves in the shoes of their customers and acting like you care like Southwest, Alaska and Delta goes a very long way! Great post Kyle!!
I agree with Alex. To me, a pilot who is an employee. He takes his orders just like a stewardess. Management are the idiots who work for Doug Parker and resent their customers.
Fair enough.
“Stewardess” ? How old are you people?
No! No ageism!
You can’t ask how old we are.
Yes Kyle other airlines do have similar issues. Alaska airlines! Their corporate ship is run so tight there is no room for flexability. Nov.22 2 days before Thanksgiving my flight from SeaTac (Seattle int’l) was due to depart at 12:40 pm for Dallas, Texas. Yes we had intense fog in the morning that made for a huge back up for flights coming in from the East Coast et al. It was cleared by noon. The entire airport was a sea of people. I had no where to sit but the floor for 3 hrs while they fidlled with updates that were fairy tales.Gates were changed. Ultimately we did board a plane for 1 hour before we were asked to get off. So i had been there since 10 AM. Had to wait ubtil 6:30 p m for tem to report to us that all pilots were timed out. We had no pilot so this flight was cancelled. After our luggage was deplaned, it took 2 hours to locate my luggage. The Alaska Baggage Cust Service folks could not tell us where are baggage was. . i arrived home at 10 pm that evening. Frustrated, disappointed,my whole body aching from standing so long. I’m 77 yrs old
To address the technical points –
Aircraft at other gates aren’t always available. They may have maintenance going on, so they’re on the gate but out of service. They may have technical restrictions, such as an inoperative APU. Again, this may make the aircraft unusable for the intended sector.
They may have maintenance items on deferral, which are time-limiting, thereby prohibiting the aircraft from operating transatlantic sectors.
Basically, there’s a myriad of reasons why.
What I do know is that they’ll normally use the first available, serviceable aircraft.
ETOPS checks take around 90 minutes or so and can cause a delay if the inbound aircraft didn’t have sufficient ground time. They also have a time limit; they can’t be started more than 4 hours prior to departure.
American does need to better manage a rolling delay. Look at how United is now giving customers lots of information on rolling delays – keeping the customer informed is key.
Based on being the last trans-Atlantic flight out of the night from PHL, the aircraft type (A332), it seemed unlikely that those other aircraft would have been completed for something else.
So they could have just been out of service. On the gate doesn’t equal serviceable aircraft.
You do realize airlines don’t go out of their way to inconvenience you right? Their job is to fly people and cargo. That’s their purpose. On that basis, I’m pretty sure they brought you a hangar plane as it was the first available.
Would you have preferred a cancellation instead?
Oh, just because you’ve “never heard” of an ETOPS check causing a delay, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
The ETOPS check may have uncovered an additional maintenance need. Also, yes, ETOPS checks are definitely carried out in Europe. They’re not US-specific.
I fully realize they don’t go out of their way to inconvenience passengers, but these are all solvable problems. The solutions were in their management of the issue, not in a random technical fault.
Kyle,
Having spent several years as an Aircraft Route for one of the legacy airlines I offer you this possible explanation:
There are various levels of maintenane checks on each fleet ranging from the walk-around inspection to a letter check. Letter checks, depending on the sequence could take at least 6 hours and for wide-body ETOPS airplanes up to 10 or 12 hours for completion.
Letter checks are specialized inspections that can only be completed in certain stations where the manpower and equipment are available and certified for said letter check.
ETOPS rules are very restrictive as well. For example, you can “crack” one engine and need only a single “non-ETOPS” flight before going over the water. If you “crack” both engines it requires a Test Flight conducted by an Engineering Crew….which becuase it’s AA are likely only on staff at TUL.
It is likely that the two airplanes sitting at the gates were in PHL for overnight checks and quite possibly a letter check.
Add to it that it is also possible that the airplane once it got to its overseas airport it may “turn” for an airport that cannot provide the letter check nor can it provide the maintenance required for the airplane beyond the turn inspection.
I do understand your frustration. While I do not condone the way you were treated by AA, I’m going out on a limb to say that I suspect that neither airplane sitting at the gate was available for a mission. Those airplanes were, most likely, left at the gate to get the interior cleaned while awaiting the manpower to take the airplanes to the hangar.
While I do not know the actual reason, I believe it is plausible and reasonable based on my experience as a customer service rep and an aircraft router.
This is why I fly Delta now… from AA exec plat (for the past five years, including this one) to Delta diamond (past two years now)… will never turn back. Yeah, they all have their issues, but Delta seems to be more prepared, motivated, and competent to fix theirs in my observations.
Delta’s rewards program isn’t as good, but at this point with the degradation of FF programs across the board, there are more important things for me…
Bill, you’ve got a point regarding the programs degradation.
Yeah this is a serious AA issue. I had a flight delayed then cancelled. Then put on another flight that day. Called while waiting at security and was told it was still departing in 25 mins (despite incoming flight cancelled, because they had “found another plane”). The app said boarding. I rushed to the gate, the angry GA told me that it was delayed 30 minutes. After another 10 minutes the app updated to delayed, and another 10 minutes later the app said boarding. Within 5 minutes the announcement came through airport PA system that the flight was cancelled. App still said delayed for another 10-15 minutes. Just terrible overall and then they offer no money because incoming flight was delayed due to weather… couldn’t you have subbed in another plane for the last flight of the day?
“… pull a replacement aircraft from the hangar…” Hahahaha. Like you just hop in your replacement car if it doesn’t work for some reason?
Not only are these aircraft expensive to purchase, just to have on hand, they also require hull insurance. And then there are personnel requirements by the FAA of both mechanics and flight crew for every aircraft, flying or not.
As a former maintenance scheduler, a mechanic, and a pilot, I can tell you there’s A LOT going on in the background to make every flight happen. It’s not just inconvenience to you, it’s lost revenue to the airline.
But Tim… that’s exactly what they did. They pulled one from the hangar and I watched it being towed into place at A21 at PHL from the Admirals Club.
Most of the mentioned problems could be solved with ticket prices for each passenger reflecting the true cost of flying. If only the public could know what running an airline involves. Weather,governments,maintenance,unions rules,fuel costs,technology,security, too many things to list here.
What I keep hearing here is an apology of excuses for why the flight was delayed. Enough of the excuses! You either make a serious attempt to get your planes in the air on time and inform your passengers when things go sideways in a timely and appropriate fashion or you fail. United was just as guilty of this a few years ago but has made an attempt to make things better real weather-related problems notwithstanding.
Kyle, your lack of aircraft and airline operations is shown by your post and further replies.
I won’t waste my time telling you how and aircraft route works, why an airplane needs an ETOPs check, why catering does not take minutes but possibly an hour or more etc etc etc.
Id suggest you get informed a bit more before making a dumb blog post.
According to most commenters, none of those planes could have been used (which I should have known apparently) because they were all down for maintenance or the next day’s flights. Frankly, I am a little surprised that so many of our readers have such specific knowledge of the aircraft restrictions and availability on our exact night of travel (especially since I didn’t mention when we flew). Yes, catering takes more than 10 minutes to switch, that’s fine. But it doesn’t take three hours either.
So I have to ask a smarta** question, since as you know, I love being a smarta** when it comes to loyalty. Considering how much time you spent last week justifying your decision to remain loyal to American, even though they suck, is this incident giving you second thoughts?
And I guess to your question of whether or not American’s problems are solvable, what incentive do they actually have to do so? After all, you (and many others) have already made the decision to remain loyal for [insert reasons here]. So far, I’m not seeing a tipping point like UA had several years ago where a material number of customers actively started changing behavior because of their problems. Until that happens, no, the problems won’t be solved, because AA knows they don’t have to.
I love smarta** questions, you’re in good company. It doesn’t necessarily entirely dissuade me from moving back to them simply because I think they are correctable problems. I don’t think they are deep cultural issues that have caused me complete distrust with Delta despite running a very good operation. I cited my reasons with United in a previous post.
Wow, sounds like you hit a nerve with these AA apologists. I’ve had mixed experiences with AA. CLT gate agents seem so bored with their jobs. Flight to London was great with good service onboard. What do people expect when the management from AmericaWest/USAirways are the ones in charge? They did nothing but make an already bad airline (UsAir) even worse. Compare Delta in Atlanta to AA in Charlotte, not even close. Charlotte is like a stockyard, no room to move.
Interesting that an A330 would ever need to OTS for an ETOPS check in the 1st place. I worked flight ops for AA for a time and ETOPS or “over water” a/c was merely a matter of having sufficient life rafts on board. Usually this was an issue for 738 /S80 a/c. If you were traveling on a Friday during football season, the parked A330s may have been NFL charters.
ETOPS check can only be done a maximum of 3 hours prior to departure. it takes about 45 min to do it. With 1 hour +/- for boarding. so the window of opportunity is only 2 or 3 hours prior.
Then if they find something, they only have an hour to fix it.
Airlines are in the business of flying passengers. They don’t have a lot of lanes just sitting around. The fact that they did was rare, and since it was not scheduled to fly no wonder it was not cleaned. Maybe it just arrived.
The gate staff do not decide or post the delays, that all comes from the control center, where ever it happens to be. ATL, DFW, ORD, depends on the airline.
D Smith has conflicting info.
I did this exact same flight in December 2015. We blew an engine just after takeoff and had to land back at PHL. It took around two hours, maybe three, but they put us on a replacement A330 that was at an adjacent gate. Just one reference point but in that case AA did replace the plane.
All credit to the bar staff at the terminal who stayed late and kept the bar open so all us Brits could keep drinking.
Agreed.
Just curious, but is everyone who is complaining about safety and maintenance delays comfortable flying when they aren’t performed? I’d bet if you speak to any person, they’d be more than willing to board and fly without those checks, right? I mean you are just putting your life into the hands of every maintenance tech, pilot, and crew member of that airplane, so who really needs to check and see if the tires are in good shape or if all the engine sensors are functional. Honestly, I’m grateful for the attention to detail that each airline has for service to the aircraft. I get delayed all the time. I fly between 2-6 times a month and I could give two f**** about an upgrade, champagne, or a linen napkin. I want to get to my destination safely. If that means it takes me a few more hours, then I have some extra reading time. Life is what you make of it. Try to consider the bigger picture.
I never want to fly unsafe and it’s not the delay that I am upset about – it’s the handling of the delay. If it’s a plane that holds 200+ pax and the departure time shows 9:50, boarding hasn’t started by 10 pm and they adjust the departure time to 10 those are the main cause of concern.
Some issues can be argued but the overall lack of communication and crazy rolling delays can be fixed by the airlines. This is a customer service issue that is related to the culture from the very top.
I experienced a delay on American’s regional carrier Envoy. This delay kept getting extended. But a few things made it more tolerable. First the captain apologized and was honest about why we were delayed. He relayed the information he had regularly. I didn’t feel I was being lied to.
Delays happen but how the airline communicates can make all the difference.
Finally! Someone who gets the point. I miss when people used to read, contemplate the INTENT of what they were reading, and provide feedback or opinion based on the purpose of what they’d just read.
The idea that someone is “complaining” about safety checks misses the entire point and is laughable. No one wants to fly unsafe (unless suicidal or a psychopath). What passengers want is better service, that includes communication. Which, surprise surprise, requires thinking.
An airline ticket is a contract between passenger and airline (if you don’t believe that, I highly recommend you acquaint yourself with what are called the airline’s Terms and Conditions). They have agreed on several things, not the least of which is date and time of departure.
Stuff happens, sometimes outside of everyone’s control (like weather). Well, like in any contract each party is entitled to “fair” notice (translate that to reasonable). Is it the passenger’s responsibility to give the airline notice when a flight is delayed. Of course not; passenger has no control over the flight.
The one controlling the flight has the obligation to give notice that the terms of the contract aren’t going to be met. If there’s a new time, an alternative means, whatever it is, the airline is responsible for making sure it’s giving the passengers reasonable notice. Note reasonable isn’t limited to timing of notice; it also includes the substance of the notice (i.e., clear and understandable information).
Delayed information, misinformation, conflicting information, are the result of process issues. Plain and simple. AA (all airlines) needs to fix its communication process period.
Clearly, sometimes the plane sitting at a gate IS available. Sometimes it’s not. Failing to communicate properly leaves AA with passengers that are frustrated or angry, AND trying to find solutions to their problems because the airline doesn’t appear to be solving it.
[Side note: I often wonder how many “behind the scenes employees are just sitting at a desk playing Solitaire or Mine Sweeper on their PCs while waiting on “some guy” to call them back. ‘Cause, you know, if it’s not in my job description or the 10 steps I was told I needed to complete in order to do my job, then it’s not my responsibility.]
What I really suspect drives a lot of this poor communication process is a stalling policy from corporate. Make passengers wait as long as the airline possibly can to avoid having to shell out money through accommodations (hotel, booking on another AA flight or airline (the latter of which, for AA, has become a big no-no, and requires explicit criteria be met before Agents can do so; learned this from a CS Mgr. at O’Hare 3 weeks ago), travel vouchers, etc.).
The Customer wants Airline to tell them upfront to expect X time of delay, but it may take more time. Rarely, if ever, happens. Airlines know once there’s knowledge of a more than likely possibility that the terms of the agreement won’t be met, they likely will be on the hook for accommodations. I call it the “stall, don’t tell too many customer facing people, and cross your fingers” approach.
Me: if it’s critical I be somewhere, and this happens, I’m online and on the phone looking at my options. I am an elite traveler on AA; if I’m not traveling for work I call AAdvantage and work out my options with them. I’ve had to change airlines, and add layovers to get to my destination in a timely manner (and every time, and I do mean EVERY TIME, I’ve arrived substantially earlier than what AA’s or another airline’s new delayed or rebooked itinerary showed). Not everyone can do that, and airlines know it.
Broken processes lead to $#!%ty experiences. I’m done—
I completely agree with your assessment of Scott’s post and your additional points, smokey. Kudos to your logical and detailed writing style as well. I achieved AA elite status a few years ago and strive to keep it because it comes in handy when traveling a couple of times a year with my family. But there has been a noticeable decline in the entire operation every year, accelerated by the CEO change and U-Scare buyout, and the issues I’ve experienced over the years could’ve all been substantially mitigated by better communication. Sometimes they make up for it, often they don’t, as others have pointed out among these 90+ comments to date. I have occasionally flown United and Delta out of my flyover city, but haven’t liked what I’ve seen enough to jump. Maybe I will be pushed to that, as others have described.
The bottom line for me is that excellent communication is a reasonable expectation and it doesn’t take the CEO to instill it with mottos or slogans but does take leadership and careful hiring to grow and reward the employees who do it.
I was recently on a short DFW-LIT flight (not quite the PHL-BWI length mentioned elsewhere but short enough to give driving a second thought) that seemed to be destined for a quick up and out but was delayed. The plane had arrived on time to DFW and been at the gate a couple of hours, empty. Rolling delays started, gate agents kept leaving to go down the jet bridge and emerge later knowing little more, etc. The point of the story is that at the end, the gate agent resorted to hand signals from inside the terminal to the cockpit (think thumbs up, waving, OKs..) to know when to start boarding. 2018. Hand signals. I haven’t bothered messaging CS at AA as I have before because I don’t know that it would matter. I do give props when deserved so I’m not just a complainer. I do wish things would improve but it’s not looking good.
As a Maint Tech who perfoms ETOPS checks for a living, I have a unique perspective. My job is to find safety problems that may occur over the next flight, regardless of airline schedules. If our crew finds an issue we cant solve in a timely manner, we absoloutly pull the plane. This ALWAYS results in chaos.
Another point, the airline techs at AA are in union contract negoiations, going on 3 years. Maybe they just dont care about communicating with management, the same management who cash big bonus checks.
I forgot their were contract negotiations right now, but I hope it wasn’t the cause of the miscommunication.
After how many bankruptcies, horrible management, terrible customer service we would all be happy if they just go away. I try very hard not to fly American; however living in Dallas it can be a challenge. My last 7 flights have either been delayed more than 4 hours or cancelled. No compensation or even an apology. The flight attendant s are the worst in the industry as well. Keeping employees for 25 years does nothing more than keep bad employees around. Please American just go away. There is no hope
In my experience airlines almost always lie regarding delays. I have twice salvaged trans -Atlantic trips by firmly, but politely, insisting on being rebooked onto another airline before the inevitable cancellation in one case and blown connection in the other. I had the agents setup the changes and the second they could press “go” they did. Don’t be a sheep, take action and a lot of grief can be avoided.
And it’s all because people want something for nothing, and demand perfection…
I categorically disagree with this. My trip certainly wasn’t free, and I don’t demand perfection, but better communication would have solved the issues at hand. Regardless of class of service, all customers were entitled to reasonably accurate information as the airline knew it. Not publishing a new departure time until after the previous one has passed (not to mention the time to board the aircraft) is just lazy or bad tech – take your pick.
There’s owt for nowt and Kyle lad put up more ‘an few quid for this AA lot. But the plane hadn’t been fettled. Piss poor, init?
If we had EU261-style rules (of course, the EU’s rules didn’t apply to a US carrier departing the US), I suspect AA would have sorted this flight much more quickly, because they’d be fearing tens- or hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in compensation.
They abuse us because they can.
I agree – I checked my flight (because I wasn’t sure of the officially filed times) as flights from EEA countries are still subject to the rule even though they are not necessarily from EU countries. However, it’s not applicable inbound.
30 years flying AA, permanent platinum and 4 million miles. Former Airpass holder. Amazing service failures on flight over past 2 years. Business Class, paid fare each time. PHL ground staff-especially management-argumentative, threatening and unwilling to provide any information on similar equipment failures, plane substitution and adjusted departure time .Assured we wiuld make all connection even with a 10 hour delay. Sure!
Complaint to customer service results in “sorry-please try us again so that you can experience AA.” Also gave me 10,000 miles as compensation.
I don’t bother to complain anymore-I fly Delta.
I also flew AA out of Philadelphia on 11/24/18 heading to BWI. At the original departure time I approached the gate to find no plane and no stated delay anywhere. The gate agent even began making boarding announcements while I knew from Google updates that the incoming flight had not left its origin. The plane, coming from State College, was more than an hour late for the 2:50pm departure and like the author experienced, text updates were few and far between.
We finally were able to board the small 20 or so row aircraft, took off into a rain storm, flew 45 minutes to Baltimore only to be turned back to Philadelphia due to wind. The captain made the announcement and the flight attendant went row by row asking passengers if they’d heard it, then she passed out cookies. 45 minutes later we land back in Philadelphia, deboarded onto the rainy tarmac and had gate checked luggage put off the plane, onto the wet ground. Agents let us know that they had zero information and we’d need to wait at least 45 minutes for an update, until around 6:45pm. I approached the customer service desk and inquired about a refund so I could ride into the city and take Amtrak instead. I wish I could describe how incredulous the CS agent looked while telling me she couldn’t help me in any way. “Can I get a refund if the flight is cancelled?” Wide eyed she replied “I wouldn’t know that.” “Can you look at my reservation?” I asked. “There’s no way for me to do that.” She handed me a flier and told me to call the 800 number. Saddened, I left and headed to 30th Street Station to catch the 7;35pm to Baltimore. At 6:50 I learned that the flight was cancelled and called the 800 number to ask about my options or a refund and was told I could be flown to Washington DC through Norfolk on 11/25, directly to Baltimore on 11/26 or I could have a discount on a Hertz car. As for a refund, I’d have to wait a day and check back on the refunds website. 24 hours later, nothing has been updated on my reservation. It’s like I didn’t show up for the segment so I’m just out of luck. Eventually I arrived In Baltimore at 9pm on the Amtrak, $137 poorer, to no rain and no wind.
Not to make excuses for AA here, but why on earth would you even bother to fly PHL to BWI??
By the time you factor in TSA time and all the airport gymnastics, you’d be half way to BWI in a car. On Amtrak, you’d be almost there.
It’s a crappy way to learn the lesson of “don’t bother with that flight”, but hey, you learned it.
Per the article, what day was this?? I know that on Thanksgiving, flight AA4983 had a 5 hour delay from Watertown, NY to Philly due to mechanical issues.
I was anticipating seeing my son, being that he’s stationed at From Drum and has another deployment in a few months, this holiday season would have been the last time seeing him before his deployment.
I don’t know if the mechanical issues was due to it being 1° that morning in NY, but shouldn’t the airline have known that ahead of time (I’m just assuming weather).
Perhaps I’m a little upset with AA. Back in March while visiting my son in NY, the worst experience EVER with AA. After the long delay from Charlotte NC to Florence SC just to find out the flight was cancelled that night and I had to report to work the following morning. Hummmm, one of the airport employees mentioned, oh yeah, it’s the weekend and they ALWAYS cancel flights going into Florence from Charlotte. Now I know what you’re thinking, why I didn’t just drive…. Well I would have if it was not for my driving anxiety.
Sooooo I had to stay in Charlotte for over 24 hours just to catch the next flight into Florence.
Let’s do better. Sometimes we cannot advoid AA because some airports do not take in larger planes.
AA’s performance has definitely been in steady decline the past few years. A few examples of their stupidity:
1. Flying SJC-PHL, changing at LAX. They view 30 minute connections with a terminal change (from that terminal with all the smaller aircraft with the bus to transfer to the main terminal) as valid. Somehow, they thought I’d be able to make it off 1 plane, get to the bus waiting area, wait for the bus, drive over, get to my next gate and board, all in a 30 minute span. Yeah right. I declined, took the next (ie sane!) option and made my flight, rather than attempt what could be described as an Olympic event.
2. Flying LAS-PHL recently. It seems AA doesn’t like to fly overnights back to PHL during the week any more. So, I stayed an extra night, opting for a 6:45a departure the next morning. Boarded, then the maintenance issues started. “Folks, we need to reboot the plane.” When that failed to work, it was “We’re being advised to reinstall the software on this particular component in the cockpit.” That 6:45a turned to 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 9, 10, and finally 6:30p, when they decicded they couldn’t fix it. We got deplaned around 8a, so they could avoid their FAA fines, naturally. Rebooked – only option offered was 4:30p flight to PHX, hang out there for 5 hours, for an overnight flight to PHL. In the end, it took me 20 hours to get home from Vegas.
3. Another time on SJC-PHL, my connecting flight cancelled. Rather than reroute me via ORD or PHX, they changed my routing to SFO-PHL. How was I supposed to get from SJC to SFO? On my own, of course. Naturally, it took them a full 90 minutes to get my bag pulled as well. SJC staff gave me vouchers they swore would be honored at SFO. Yeah right. They about laughed at me over that. AA replaced the vouchers, but only 1 spot in the entire terminal would accept the vouchers. I suggested they comp admission to the Admiral’s Club and keep the vouchers, but no chance, couldn’t possibly. They’d rather give out $50 in useless vouchers than comp a $50 club admission.
Well, so much for Parker’s D0 idea.
Here’s your entire problem: you flew on a Legacy US Air aircraft with a Legacy US Air crew.
This has happened to me several times where the “updated” ETD is only minutes away but not even aircraft at the gate for it to be possible. Then the 30 minute wait until it happens again (& again!)
What crosses my mind every time is that this doesn’t give parents with kids (or any of the passengers) time to grab a bite to eat or get to the restroom without stressing out.
I understand trying to keep passengers in the gate area just in case they can move things up, but a 15-30 minute window to run to get something to eat because they hadn’t eaten already (since they were expecting to upon their timely arrival); that would help tremendously to de-stress the delay.
A Boeing employee once told me ETOPS is Engines Turn Or People Swim.
Everytime we fly AA it is delayed. The last time was Santa fe to DFW, 6hr delay. No help to rebook, I was charged twice when I finally rebooked online. When I approached the representative and told her I rebooked online she said “you just went ariund the system didn’t you. You are making it hard for us to do our job.” My reply was “I am making it easy on me, you know as your paying customer.” A manager came after 30 minutes of people trying to ask questions. It was a full plane and the line went down the hallway, and she announced “my representatives have been here since 3 am and are going to leave for a break. Then they all left leaving eveyone in line and nobody left to answer questions or to update. We have been doubting AA for some time, even been flying with another airlines lately. Which I have to say has it so much more together. FA more professional, club is nicer, planes are better. Our plane was suppose to leave at 6am and by noon, only 1 of their flights actually left. All the others were canceled or delayed. I noticed on the screen that AA had 3 flight keaving at the same gate within 16 minutes. It was B1. We were leaving out of B2, so we got out at 11:50 am but we did notice that had b3 and b4 that they were not even using. Another note, this was the weekend before Thanksgiving. People were missing connections, cruises, having to seperate to catch flights to make it out and the respresentatives could only say that they could not help and were handing out cards that had a phone number to call. Can you imagine hiw long the wait was. I received a call back 15 minutes before we were to board our next flight. That is why I went around their system and booked online and made it easier on us and not them. After this nightmare, we will not fly AA anymore!!
It would have been better to have written to the chairman of AA about this. I hope you did. It’s pretty easy to find the right e-mail addresses these days. Telling every and hoping someone at AA will see is a little optimistic.
“What he fails to realize is that, to the passengers and crew, he is management. He sees a separation that passengers do not.”
I do.
Well, leaving aside specific technical detail regarding ETOPs and/or other repair/maintenance/ inspection topics for which there are others far more qualified than myself to comment about; but certainly agreeing with those whom have called out Kyle for his disparaging comments that suggest more than a whiff of ageism towards the dedicated professionals who make up the flight attendants (just call out those who were unprofessional or surly for the specific things said or done that were unprofessional or surly without referring to their age, gender, race, ethnicity or perceived sexual orientations – if one hasn’t realized that “good” and “bad” people are pretty much uniformly distributed among all of us from whatever socioeconmic, educational, religion, ethnicity, race, gender, age or perceived sexual orientations of those who may be different than ourselves by adulthood, then they might be better off NOT putting their own ignorance on display and making utter fools of themselves! 😉 ), yet again, I offer the following explanation regarding what no one will deny was a terrrible experience for Kyle’s much delayed flight on “Always Awful” Airways:
THE LACK OF COMPETITION IN TODAY’S AIRLINE INDUSTRY – domestically for sure, and anywhere those (stupid) government sanctioned, anti-competitive, consumer hostile, immunized joint venture cartels exist, such as the trans-Atlantic, where until only recently, with the agressive expansion by Norwegian Air (which the OLIGOPOLISTS on both sides of the Atlantic in the Cartel’s Club – you know, “oneworld” [BA, AA, AY, EI, IB]; SkyTeam” [DL, VS, AF, KL, AZ, SU]; and “Star” [UA, LH, AC, LX, OS, SK, SN, TP] – and especially the predominant ones among these alliances such as BA/AA, DL/VS/AF/KL, or UA/AC/LH (with LH also owning OS, SN, LX anyway) – is the problem now, as consumers have too few choices.
Or at least they do in markets where Norwegian hasn’t begun taking on the Goliaths yet.
Of course, Willie Walsh, CEO of International Airlines Group (IAG), parent company of BA, IB, EI, and his toady at BA, CEO Alex Cruz, are doing their best to kill off… er BUY… Norwegian Air to follow in BA’s storied history of killing off its competitors (British Caledonian, British Midland International, Laker SkyTrain, plus the infamous, but failed attempt to kill off Virgin Atlantic better known as the “Dirty Tricks” scandal) so they can return to the good old days of pretend/faux “competition” for itself, and the other predominant airlines in this otherwise exceptionally anti-competitive, government sanctioned, Cartel and its three oligopolist “alliances”.
For the fact remains this:
In the past, when the industry was COMPETITIVE, and flyers/consumers actually had CHOICES on where to spend their money, airlines as horrible as American Airlines now is – or even BA, now that it, too, has returned to its 1970s/80s era where flyers referred to that airline as “Bloody Awful”, failed and went out of business.
You know, big name airlines like Eastern, Pan Am, TWA, Braniff International – GONE, GONE, GONE and GONE!
Because they were poorly managed, didn’t adapt to deregulation, had awful labor relations and/or just were known for offering service that as bad as it was in their eras, was still MUCH BETTER than what we see now at airlines like American, which many now view as “Always Awful”/“Avoid Always”/“Awful Airways”, etc., United, BA, and the even worse ones best avoided always that lure gullible, inexperienced flyers/consumers with low ball fares that are anything but for most once their endless array of al la carte “options” are tallied up.
Unfortunately, when we lack meaningful competition, the AA, United’s and others with crappy service and a wholesale contempt for their fare paying customers of today, just like this example, are what we’re stuck with.
And greedy airlines like AA know they can get away with it since, of course, what are ones’ other than AA options for a Philadelphia-Manchester, UK flight?
Let’s see:
A connection via LHR on BA
A connection via JFK on DL/VS
A connection via EWR on UA
A connection via FRA on LH
Maybe a few other connections via other airlines’ hubs, virtually ALL of which are within the Cartel Club’s anti-trust immunized (as in: collusion on frequencies/scheduling, landing/take-off slots & fare inventory/price fixing allowed) “joint ventures” controlled by the oneworld, SkyTeam and Star “alliances”.
Some choice.
Amazingly, when these toxic, poisonous to consumers, but great for shareholders/ monopolists/oligopolists “alliances” were first proposed they were touted as going to be offering a new paradigm of lower fares, more competition, and of course, better service.
Now ask yourself if that’s the reality commonly encountered now?
Or is the awful one described by Kyle here the more familiar outcome commonly experienced in an era of fortress hubs on both sides of the Atlantic, and in markets where Norwegian has yet to begin service, is service more often than not, pretty bad and sub-par like this incident at AA was?
If we truly want better service, and a modicum of dignity and respect from our mostly greedy and obnxious universe of Cartelized airlines, then we have to dismantle this awful, abusive, anti-consumer, price fixing, competition eliminating Cartel, and replace it with good old fashioned COMPETITION.
Price fixing, “capacity disciplining”/controlling/eliminating, anti-consumer cartels result in “lower fares”, “more choices” and “better service” SAID NO ONE!
FYI – let this be a bright red flag the next time anyone sees a headline where BA is angling to takeover Norwegian Air to kill off the only airline that has emerged in recent years to offer more options for flyers and give the greedy, soulless, monsters in our abusive Cartel a run for their money!
Just sayin’
**MAKE COMPETITION (not price fixing & collusion) GREAT AGAIN!!**
Sure is a lot of bellyaching going on in this blog. I am an exec plat flyer with american and am relatively happy with their service. Not saying everything is perfect but when I do complain to management as I did recently when arriving late to a transfer to Reno in Phoenix and 5 persons missed the connection because of the distance between gates, they did apologize and give me 7500 miles credit. I understand the issues with leaving gates on time , air controllers etc. so often the issues are not the airlines themselves. I had a similar experience recently in Phili travelling to Lisbon , a one flight a day destination. We arrived late because our esteemed leader came to Charlotte to campaign, held our pilot up on the runway so got to Phili just as the Lisbon flight was departing. Told we had a day wait, couldn’t get our business class seats and no local hotel rooms were available. Fortunately for us the plane returned to the gate with mechanical issues, and though we waited 3 hours got another plane, and our business class seats back. By treating the service desk with respect, giving them ataboy tickets for their efforts, I think was the difference. Can’t blame the workers for problems not of their making. Fly mellow its easier and less stressful. Now United? I’ll never fly with them again from past experiences and British Airways isn’t what it use to be by a long shot.
I feel that Retirement age of ALL AIRLINE employees directly those in the Physical Airplane NEED to go through the Physical Life training skills that Delta requires for their new and upcoming FA’s. If they can’t perform the physical aspects then they shouldn’t be able to work and put passengers lives in danger. Let them keep their “Perks” and retire already.