American Airlines Review

Overall 2.62 of 5 view all 99 reviews

Jolie
Chicago, IL

The economy is hitting American Airlines hard (and us too!).

family traveler, mom of 2, parent of toddlers

Pros

airline schedules

Cons

No free snacks...not even peanuts

MAY

2008

American Airlines —

On my two most recent trips I have flown American Airlines. During that time I observed a few changes. At first I didnt think they were a big deal, but when you add them all up, they seem pretty significant.

The bottom line is that American Airlines has made a bunch of service changes to help improve their bottom line results. Some seem reasonable, and, as a business person, I understand the need for the changes. But, as a consumer, the changes are really starting to hit you significantly in the pocketbook-- especially when you need to buy 4 plane tickets like me!

Last year (07), the airlines seemed to make the first round of cutbacks.

Then, back in January '08, more changes came. Sounds stupid, but I remember it in terms of food. If I remember correctly, in January, American Airlines still provided a very small bag of pretzels on flights over 2.5 hours, but if you wanted anything additional, you had to pay. No huge biggie, I could understand that they needed to make financial cutbacks. And, honestly, I was pleased that for $3, I could get a healthy fruit and nut snack that could get me through the whole trip. I didnt really mind paying a little something for a better food option to get me through a long trip. Also, I should note, that the cost of the flight was pretty reasonable. So, it didnt hit me very hard.

During my travels last week, American's prices definitely went up. What was originally a $200 or so flight on American Airlines was now $250 to $300. Ouch. (I know, gas prices!) But, more importantly, the food was gone! (well not really more important, but it felt like it!) Gone are the days of pretzels on American Airlines. No more small snack to even get you by. The good news is that they still offer food for a price. But, this time, the food options were terrible in my opinion- chips, a cookie and something else that looked inedible. I guess my diet habits dont match the rest of the travelers.

And, to make matters worse, American Airlines announced (while I was on vacation) that if you want to check more than 1 bag, you need to pay an additional $15 each way per bag. That really stinks when you are traveling with car seats! With 4 people, 4 bags and 2 car seats that means an extra $60 on top of the increased airfare.

Now, another week later, American Airlines has announced that starting soon, they will charge for ALL BAGS on the airplanes. And, I think it was something like $25. So, tack on another $100. Oh, and they mentioned airfare hikes too. So, what is typically a $800-$1000 airfare bill is now going to be at least 25% more.

Seems that my family will be vacationing locally this summer.... But, I guess it isnt so cheap to drive either. Maybe we will just have a pool party in the backyard. We can get a blow-up pool from Target. hehehehehehe.

Note: During my January visit, American lost my sons car seat and it took 4 days for them to find it. I was definitely annoyed since I had to rent one for $100. Seems they should have paid me.

Note 2: While American Airlines is expensive and offers no basic services anymore, they do typically offer on-time flights, good airline schedules and the planes have more leg room.

My bottom line rating is a 2.5.

Last edited on Jun 01, 2008

American Airlines is recommended by Jolie

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Comments about Jolie’s Review

In one weeks time, my tickets went up $100. So for the six of us it went up $600.00. I have 4 children and car seat!! We are going to Arizona in March and I may have to ship UPS to my sister before we fly just to save on baggage fees! Maybe I will just have her buy a car seat ahead of time to save, from the trouble of losing one at the airport. Thanks for the heads up.

I know apart from cutting down the weight for each bag they added on a price per bag fee this is rediculous I had 2 kids and a husband so when we travel we usually have more than 8 bags so imagine what our baggage price tag will be

I know this is silly but they also took pillows off the planes last year and this year blankets left the smaller planes.

In response to steve9631's comment from Jun 5, 2008 at 5:05PM:

I know. Sometimes I am overly sensitive. I dont want anyone to take offense to my silly humor. :) Hmmm... havent heard that about carryons...

In response to CrystaBush's comment from Jun 4, 2008 at 7:35AM:

No kidding. But when you are in an airport with no car seat and you need to drive, what else do you do? You are hostage!

You changed the review. I was just teasing you ya know. By the way, I just heard that American is going to start charging for carry ons as well, know anything about it? I'm flying into Spain later this year on American, and I'm kinda curious.

It is the "ALL bags" fee that I find absurd. How can any airline expect people to travel without luggage? True that they may be getting a decent amount of business travelers that can go for a few days with a carry-on, but for the most part I think they are making on family vacations all summer long. So they are mere.ly guaranteeing that they can squeeze more out of families. Yep, vacationing locally has quickly become the new trend, and the airlines only have themselves to blame. If they wanted more out of the people that fly, they should just hike the airfare instead of pissing people off with all the hidden charges that add up!

Gee..Whiz ! really outrageous

They lose your car seat and YOU have to pay $100 to rent one? You could have bought one for that price and donated it to a shelter or something when you were done. Sheesh. Seriously, AA should have paid your rental fee.

I agree with you Jolie. I would add that most of the airlines now are horrible. We made the mistake of flying USAirways in March. No only didn't we get any food, my daughter's seat broke and she ended up in the lap of the passenger behind us. A pin sheered off that held the seat back up. Since we were flying through bad weather at the time, the steward said he couldn't help until the seatbelt sign went off. Meanwhile, my daughter tried to sit upright in a broken seat, that the passenger behind us held up. We finally got help with the seat after the storm was over and we were almost to Dayton, OH. We were not even told "sorry" by anyone. Next time we go on vacation, we're driving! I wonder what they don't fix "under the hood" of the plane?

hi jolie good blog its only going to get worse im afraid

Yes! I was fortunate to purchase 3 tickets to GA over a month ago when the fares were really low ($204, tax included). We are traveling next week. I've never traveled there for that price! Yeah! Now, they'll get me for bringing luggage. What a shame. I ended up shipping a box of my children's clothes (UPS) so they won't have to worry about carrying luggage. Thanks for all of the great tips in your review. We'll bring our own food on board!

I took American Airlines last month and it was alright. On the plus side, they had those head rests that could move! We never carry more than one bag, so didn't get the charges, but that realllllly stinks if they start charging for 1 piece of luggage! If that trend kicks in across airlines, that's almost like abuse because they know most people can't travel via carry-on.

Seems to me airline official are taking the backwards approach. Let's see, you are losing money and hurting for business, so, you charge MORE and give LESS. They seem to think we all need to fly so we will just do it. Not me. I'll not fly another time unless it's an emergency.

I can't believe they lost the car seat!

Airlines in order to remain competitive havent raised their ticket price all that much so to compensate, charging for baggage, no food ect are a way to make $$
In the late 70s i paid $188 to fly for spring break to ft lauderdale from NYC, under $200 tickets were to be had for a good 30 years or more after that that to me is insane so whining about ticket prices when we've all had it good and cheap for so many years, when everything else has gone up is senseless to me. So pack a lunch and attempt to travel with carry ons or we have to pay up

I think it was very nice trip she went on.

I've never flown American Airlines, and nothing I've heard about them has given me any incentive to, either.

Helpful review:)

Interesting review, the question is do you rate American with a 5 being your expectations or a 5 being the best airline in the industry?

My wife and I drive when we go somewhere. The ticket prices are just too high. i don't know how our son would do on a flight.

Fruits and nuts indeed! There are native Californians who are on this site who read m'dear. With or without the help of a guru. Flatlanders! Shhhhhheeeessssssssh.

In response to LadyMagic's comment from May 29, 2008 at 9:39PM:

Yes, thank goodness. Traveling with little ones requires LOTS of snacks. So, I brought an entire carryon of snacks for the kids. I rec that you assume you need snacks for an extra 3 hours-- to adjust for delays, time sitting on the runway, etc. I also now carry empty water bottles and fill them up before we get on the plane at the water fountain so that I have drinks on hand too....

In response to joyjoy's comment from May 29, 2008 at 7:12PM:

Good point. I modified my rating to a 2.5. I also highlighted some of the good qualities that they possess.

Yikes! That's way too much! What ashame you went through that. Those extra charges are ridiculous. You should definitely get reimbursed for the car seat. Are you allowed to bring your own snacks. Bet they lose a lot of business. Trains are looking better and better. : )

They also make a lot of money carrying cargo, seems like they would up those prices and not STICK the traveler so hard with all these EXTRA charges!

Why were you so generous in your rating? It doesn't sound like the airline deserved it.

I saw the news about the charge for ONE bag under. Come on. That is tacky. Airlines already get too many people trying to carry on too much. Add this. Those overheads are going to be really crammed.

I'm so sorry about those bad experiences, Jolie! You know, I may stick close to home for the summer months at least because I know I made it sound like my flight went great but some of it was a real ordeal. Got to O'Hare at 4 A.M. day of departure and there must have been a million people already and the curbside computers were down. Then the line was held up by all these people arguing with the clerk about the charge for the extra bag checked. Then everyone tried to take everything in the cabin to avoid paying the charge. Every single seat was packed. I tell you, air travel is getting very frustrating even if everything goes okay. I can't imagine what it is like to travel with little ones.