Re:American Airlines earned an enemy
by jrockway on Sunday November 17, 2013 @07:28AM
(#6748617)
There's the good and the bad. I've gotten more free upgrades than I can count, and flying first class domestically is at least affordable. (JFK-SFO is half the cost of Virgin, but with a fully-flat bed, for example.) I also miss flights with frightening regularity, it's never cost me anything but time.
The incident I refer above was a ridiculous delay. The 762 they had for my SFO-JFK flight was broken in some way that made the plane flyable, but only fixable in LAX. They didn't tell us this, and loaded us on and taxied us out to the runway. There they told us we would be going to LAX, where there may be a new plane. Two hours later, we're in LAX, and waiting for a new plane. 6 hours after the scheduled arrival time, we're finally in JFK. Just fucking incompetent. Fly the good plane to SFO and board us there.
(Incidentally, I flew this route today, and sure enough, mechanical problem! We had to downgrade from a 763 to a 762, which was not appreciated, but at least we didn't have to fly all over the country looking for a better plane. And since I hadn't actually flown first class on a 762 before, it was nice to check it off my list. The seat was fine. Looking forward to the A321 on this route, though.)
As for flying to Japan, AA is a lot cheaper than JAL or Cathay. You get what you pay for. (AA is about $3000-$5000, Cathay is always $10,000+. JAL floats between the two extremes.)
The incident I refer above was a ridiculous delay. The 762 they had for my SFO-JFK flight was broken in some way that made the plane flyable, but only fixable in LAX. They didn't tell us this, and loaded us on and taxied us out to the runway. There they told us we would be going to LAX, where there may be a new plane. Two hours later, we're in LAX, and waiting for a new plane. 6 hours after the scheduled arrival time, we're finally in JFK. Just fucking incompetent. Fly the good plane to SFO and board us there.
(Incidentally, I flew this route today, and sure enough, mechanical problem! We had to downgrade from a 763 to a 762, which was not appreciated, but at least we didn't have to fly all over the country looking for a better plane. And since I hadn't actually flown first class on a 762 before, it was nice to check it off my list. The seat was fine. Looking forward to the A321 on this route, though.)
As for flying to Japan, AA is a lot cheaper than JAL or Cathay. You get what you pay for. (AA is about $3000-$5000, Cathay is always $10,000+. JAL floats between the two extremes.)