American Airlines Sucks

I know it's been awhile since I posted anything to this. It seems I get interested in other things and forget I have this account.

Anyway, I recently took a business trip to Boston, and flew American Airlines. I was really excited because I hadn't been to Boston in many years. Now keep in mind that I didn't pay for this flight so I had to book the cheapest route possible.

My flight originated in Oklahoma City, where I flew to Chigaco O'Hare, New York LaGuardia and then to Boston Logan.

The first flight OKC to Chicago started out bad. We were delayed on take off by 45 minutes because they couldn't get the head count right. What a suprise there! We arrived in Chicago with 5 minutes for me to catch my connector to NY. I reached the gate in time and was the last person on the plane.

The flight to Chicago seems to be going smoothly, and I thought, ok plenty of time for me to catch my flight to Boston as I had about a two hour layover in NY. About the middle of the trip we were informed of storms in the NY area and were not allowed to continue on until the storm let up, so we turned south to try and buy some time. After about an hour we were diverted to Washington D.C. Dulles airport so that we could refuel. Once we landed we were not allowed to pull up to a terminal. We sat on the tarmac while the plane was refueled. No big deal we were only going to be on the ground long enough to refuel and take back off, right.

Not right. Not at all. Turns out that all flights going into NY were delayed until the storms let up so we sat there for four more hours. Not able to get up and walk around, not able to leave the plane, not able to eat anything. Now keep in mind that the last meal I had was at 10 am that morning, it was now 11 pm eastern time. So some people asked about getting off the plane to make arrangements for another flight to their destinations. When I asked, I was told that there were no flights into Boston from D.C. and that I would have to wait. Some people did get off the plane but not many. It was in the third hour that I really started to get upset as most of us would. We were trapped on a metal tube with no food. I asked one of the flight attendants what they planned on doing about the situation and informed her that I was hungry, tired and getting really pissed. She told me that was tough, and she was in the same boat. I said great, your getting paid to be a bitch while we all suffer. She then asked me if I was challenging her authority. I said whatever and turned back in my seat. I know that she had just threatened me with expulsion from the plane if I didn't comply, and be a good little sheep.

Finally we were allowed to take off and fly into NY. Great. We got into LaGuardia about 45 minutes later at about 1 am. It was here that I learned that the airport was closed for the night and there were no additional flights out of the city. I asked if they would comp a room and a meal, and was told that there were no rooms available and would have to sleep in the airport. As for the meal, they said sorry, there is nothing open. Holy Cow, what great service I received. I went to the ticket counter and made arrangements for the first flight out to Boston. The flight left at 6:35 am and arrived at 7:15. I took it and went looking for something to eat and a place to smoke a cigarette. Remember no food or cigarettes since 10 am the previous morning. I stepped out throught the doors and found a smoking area. One goal down. Back in the airport there was one little store open and they had yogurt, bagels and some pastries for sale. I bought some yogurt and went to find a place to sit and try and sleep. No sleep, all of the chairs were taken and the floor was cold and very hard. At 4:30 am we were allowed back into the terminal area. I found the gate and sat down in a chair where I caught an hour cat nap.

I finally arrived in Boston, with no sleep, and headed to my first meeting of the day. I was half an hour late and had a hell of a time trying to stay awake. Hard to do in a dark room with no light but the projector. I didn't get to sleep until close to 6 pm that night, but I slept good and hard.

Never again will I fly American. Their customer service lacks in the service area. They were rude and unable to compromise with any requests asked of them.