I very rarely fly American Airlines - as they have ruined or misplaced my luggage multiple times. I used to think that I had bad airport karma, until I realized that I never had any problems with other airlines. This past weekend I was reminded again why I should never fly American.
We actually departed from Austin close to on time. But we circled Dallas for close to an hour due to "weather". A quick 30 minute flight turned into close to 2 hours. Once we got to Dallas we went to our gate - only to find out that our flight had been cancelled. I called Customer Service and they couldn't get me on another flight until Saturday night - which would defeat the purpose in even going. So I asked if they could get me back to Austin - they could not. They also couldn't guarantee me any money back if I didn't make it to Orlando. WHAT??!??
They soon announced that there was another flight going to Orlando, so Gilbert took off running to that gate to put us on the stand-by list. We were the last two passengers to board the flight, which left super late. We were just happy to be on. We got into our hotel room close to 4AM. It took us 12 hours to fly from Austin to Orlando. I think we could have driven there in 18!!!
Our return flight was supposed to leave Sunday evening. Sunny skies in Orlando and weather was okay in Dallas. But our flight got cancelled once again. I called Customer Service and they put us on an early morning flight for Monday. So we paid for a hotel room and kept our fingers crossed that the weather behaved.
Our flight from Orlando to Dallas was perfect on Monday morning - we were so surprised that it left on time. We were also surprised when we got to Dallas and saw that our connection was on time. And that is where our luck ended. We boarded the plane and once everyone was on, they announced that the crew was not on the plane and we were just going to sit at the gate and wait for them. We waited for close to 45 minutes for them. Then a part needed to be replaced. It was replaced - but then had to be tested. The mechanic brought the wrong item to test with, and it took him another 30 minutes to get the right tool. All the while, dark clouds began to roll into Dallas. By the time they got the plane fixed, it was raining - and we all knew what would happen next. The ramp was shut down due to lightening - or so they said. Other aircraft were taking off behind us. Interesting. Then the pilot came on and said that the other pilots were taking their chances by flying. Last time I heard, the pilots could only take off once air traffic control told them to. So that meant that they were lying to us - and just didn't want to take off. We sat for another 2 and a half hours. I really thought I was going crazy.
We finally got into Austin after 3PM on Monday - after we were supposed to arrive at 8:15PM Sunday night. Gilbert missed most of the day at work (of which he will not get paid for), we had to pay for a hotel, had to pay extra for parking and another visit from the pet sitter. I plan on writing a letter to American, but don't expect a response from them. They made it very obvious that they do not care about the customer.
I don't care if American is $100 cheaper - I will never fly them again!!
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