American Airlines
Reviews and Complaints

So I get why you over book flights, but it's absurd to overlook the last flight 1030pm with no other flight til morning.
And if you're going to do that, how about texting or calling the customer earlier in the day and advising them of the problem and giving time to make a decision, ie another airline, volunteer to give up seat, etc.
But to have a customer come to the airport at 7pm to be at the airport early, then tell them at 1020 pm that they may not have a ticket? Is very agrevating and just bad customer service.

On June 21st, 2021, I received an e-mail from AA of a flight change. Flight AA 1195 from STT to CLT was now leaving at 2:22 PM and the aircraft was changed to an Airbus A319 which only had 8 First-Class seats. We were assigned the same seats, 2F for my wife and 2E for me. Problem is, there was/is no such seat 2E, only 2A, 2C, 2D, and 2F on an a Airbus A319. I logged in to my record VLTRIA and there were no First-Class Seats available, so I called customer service.

I took a flight to Columbus Ohio for my grandmothers funeral and I was removed from my return flight for respectfully asking a rude stewardesses name. Literally thats ALL I did User's recommendation: Do Not Fly American Airlines if you are black!

Checked in 3 hrs before a flight to the UK. Had all my documents check, when the First Lady told us to exit the line to complete and online app. We returned to the line to be helped by the ideas, most uncaring, pompous, person. After now check the app/QR code, vaccine cards, passports, I had to use a facial recognition to obtain my negative Covid test results (which had been previously excepted) now we're not, because my name wasn't on the top. Told to leave the line, asked for a supervisor, was told no. Left the line and found my name, but she refused to see it. would not attend to us. Was sent to the line again and missed our flights. Couldn't rebook us. This cost me $1500 more! No help! We were headed to a memorial! This is how you treat people? This is how you do business? I've traveled all over the world, worst treatment ever!

Reference: Record Locator: Me - VLTRIA and Wife - VLMSIN

I purchased round trip First-Class tickets for my wife and myself on May 26, 2021, from IAD to STT and ultimately going to St John USVI with a layover in CLT on both departure and return flights. We were meeting up with 8 family members flying out of Buffalo, NY (coach) at the CLT airport to go on to STT and then from STT to CLT on the return flight. The initial return flight AA 1195 from STT to CLT in September was on a 737-800 aircraft having 16 First-Class Seats and we had seats 2E and 2F leaving at 3:01 PM
On June 21st, 2021, I received an e-mail from AA of a flight change. Flight AA 1195 from STT to CLT was now leaving at 2:22 PM and the aircraft was changed to an Airbus A319 which only had 8 First-Class seats. We were assigned the same seats, 2F for my wife and 2E for me. Problem is, there was/is no such seat 2E, only 2A, 2C, 2D, and 2F on an a Airbus A319. I logged in to my record VLTRIA and there were no First-Class Seats available, so I called customer service.
I was informed that your computers automatically made the change, and it was out of their control. Furthermore, the flight was overbooked in First Class and no seats were available. I logged in to my account and called several times over the next few months to see if someone may have cancelled and a seat was available. I was told once that if I wanted to be on that flight with everyone else, they could reseat me in cabin.
I searched for alternative flights to come back as I was told not to wait until the last minute. I only found flights with 2 layovers. On September 6, 2021, the flights I was mainly interested in were filling up fast, so I needed to act immediately to fly back First-Class. I called customer service again and explained the problem. Verified that I could not get a confirmed First-Class ticket on AA 1195 so I asked to change flights; STT to MIA AA 2578, MIA to CLT AA 2358, and CLT to IAD AA 5316. The person verified that two First-Class seats were available on all three flights and said he had to speak to a supervisor to make the change. It was approved and he said I could log back in and see the changes were done.
Fast forward to September 20, 2021, unfortunately, my wife fell and broke 4 ribs. I called customer service on September 21, 2021, to see if there were any First-Class seats available on any return flights so I could come back early but there were none.
I requested wheelchair assistance for all 3 flight Airports and received confirmation e-mails on September 21, 2021 and an updated one on September 26, 02021. Everything went fine at STT and MIA. Upon arrival at CLT we exited the plane and there was no one there to assist, no wheelchair around. I asked a flight attendant and he said they will not bring down a chair until the whole plane had emptied. My wife, with 4 broken ribs had to wait standing for over 25 minutes while the plane emptied (440 passengers plus crew). Then the pilots and flight attendants started leaving and cleaning crew entered the plane. No one came with a wheelchair. One flight attendant said she would get someone to help, and another waited with us. Waited about 5 minutes and the one attendant asked if she could walk up. My wife tried but only got about 5steps before almost collapsing. The first flight attendant finally came back with a plane wheelchair, not a regular wheelchair. She said it was the only thing she could find. She pushed my wife up the breezeway. At the top there were about 8 people in wheelchairs waiting for a cart to take them to baggage claim and one other couple that had a connecting flight. We now only had about 30 minutes to get to the next flight at Gate E32. We were at gate D12 I believe. Someone came over and said there were no handicap carts available. I told him we only had about 30 minutes to make our flight, so he pushed my wife for about 20 minutes or so to the gate. I neglected to say earlier I have Asthma and COPD. The other couple followed as their connection was gate E35. By the time we got to the plane it was almost fully boarded, but we made the flight.
The same thing happened at IAD, but a flight attendant called for someone to come and help. A woman showed up in about 5 minutes and helped us to baggage claim and to our car. She was very helpful.
Bottom line the Flight change should not have happened the way it did. No one we talked to seemed to care. I had to make the decisions. The wheelchair service was deplorable at CLT even after I notified all gate personnel and flight attendance of the need for wheelchair service at the gates on all stops. I am extremely unhappy with American Airlines.

September 25, 2021 Flight 1768 Dallas/Fort Worth to New Orleans/MSY.

My 19-year-old son is in the Air Force. He was leaving AIT in Wichita Falls, TX to surprise his family en route to Korea. This is a young Airman traveling on his own for the first time. Thinking he was doing the right thing, he paced all of his things, including an empty duffel bag in one big bag. When he reached the ticket agent to check his bag, he was told his bag was overweight and that he was being charged $200. He showed his military ID but since he is own what is considered personal leave, no luck. Why wouldn't the agent advise him to shift some of his contents to the empty duffel? Why wouldn't she give him some advice? I had this happen once on a flight from New York and the United agent told me to shift the added weight to another bag and I avoided the extra charge.

First off, $200 for an overweight charge is ludicrous. Our service men and women do not make that much money. Second, this is how American Airlines wants to treat its customers, treat our military.

In addition, the only complaint resolution AA has is to send an email and wait 10 to 15 days for a response. There is nobody that you can actually call. The customer service number given by AA does not handle these kind of complaints and directs you to send an email.
I have told my son to never fly American again. This is just completely disrespectful to our young and our young military members.

I USED to fly American Airlines. Born raised blocks from LGA. Giving flight attendants power roles to put down and embarrass a parent trying to deal with her two year old suffering an asthma attack is terrifying. Then giving the attendant the authority to shame the mom and turn the plane around because an asthmatic two year old could not wear a mask! I will NEVER fly American Airlines again. My entire study club, mother's groups and hospital board members are getting this info. I hope AA will think twice when creating draconian measures to hurt Their passengers. We are not a communist country yet and your company is not who We answer to. Hope you suffer significant losses where the government stops bailing you out.

My husband and I are traveling to Texas for bereavement. Flight 1828 on 9/12/21. We checked two bags for $60 when we arrived at the SEA American Airlines bag drop. We are now at the gate where they are offering to check bags complementary-and they keep announcing it. We would like a refund as we would have kept our bags and brought them to be checked for free at the gate if we had known. Please consider. Thanks!

Had a flight that I booked in March of 2021 for June 30 2021 the time of the flight was pushed back twice prior to June. On June 30 the incoming plane was delayed for nearly 3 hours. We made it to Charlotte in time for connection but had to wait on the tarmac over 30 before getting to gate so we missed the connection. We were dismissed repeatedly as we were trying to reschedule our flight. Dismissed and had boarding passes tossed at me when a young man came up and the agent was tripping over herself trying to help him instead of me when I was already there and she was looking at my passes. We were told we would have to wait 2 Days for another flight anywhere close to our destination which was home to see my dying mother. We were encouraged by the agent who finally did help to seek another airline so we did $800 later we got a flight for the next morning. No one could tell us how to retrieve our luggage they finally told us to go downstairs and get it but they were closing and even though we could see them putting it in their office they refused to give it to us. I had my medications and nebulizer in there but still they refused. Not one person could tell us where the luggage would end up they told us to come back at 8 am the next day but our flight with Delta was at 6am. The flight we had to rebook took us to another state so at midnight we had to make arrangements for my 70 year old father to come to Michigan to pick us up. TSA was closed so we couldn't get back upstairs, we sat in the basement all night, nothing to eat or drink as they have no vending machines in charlotte yet everything closes at 10 pm. The next day I spent 4 hours on hold with American to find out about my luggage, then I got hung up on when the person stated she was putting me on hold and I sat on hold another hour with no response. I was able to track my luggage later that day and had to drive an hour and half to our original location to pick it up because for delivery it would be 2 days. I made a complaint when I was in Ohio in July and got no response. I inquired about a refund because we didn't get our second flight but paid for it, I was told they would get back to me, no response. I filed a formal complaint online in August I got an automated response saying it would be 7-10 days for a response still no response. I have called and tried to speak to someone and still get no responses. I filed another formal complaint on 9/11/21, I am not holding my breath that I will get a response from this one either. I'm beyond frustrated.

I had $1900 out-of-pocket expenses American is refusing to reimburse me for. I have been a customer of American Airlines (AA) for many years; I hold a Premium AAdvantage Card (with over 110K points) and I also hold an Admiral's Club Card as well. On 8/14/21 I was on vacation with my family (wife and two children) returning home (Flight 5167). (Note: Flight Attendants were very nice in-flight) It started off with the flight from Savannah to Charlotte. We were supposed to depart at 12:43pm, with a connecting flight to Boston at 3:02pm. The flight kept getting delayed (and terminals moved) and we did not take off until almost 2:45pm (Already missing connecting flight). On top of that, the aircraft had a poorly working ground Air Conditioner (87 degrees outside; did not work well in the air as well). We were then diverted to Willington NC due to a ‘pop-up' storm. We sat on the tarmac for over 2 HOURS with no ground A/C. Finally, they moved us to a terminal; where we sat for another 3hrs. We then attempted to get a secondary flight home (since we missed our connecting flight) and we were given the "OPTION" of flying back to Boston 2 ½ days later, which would be the ‘earliest flight' for four people. To make it home on-time for work, we booked with another airline (4 tickets). We finally took-off and got back to Charlotte at 10pm. American Airlines gave us no information when we landed, nor was there anyone to give us direction after landing so late. We rented a hotel room and paid for an uber to/from the hotel. (We also had to pay for additional day of parking and a day of kennel for my dog after finally making home). This mistake of American Airlines cost me in total $1, 900.00 because of the original delay of flight (weather was fine up until our LATE landing point). I filed paperwork online with AA Customer Relations. I was THEN contacted by AA customer relations (after two weeks after putting in a ‘complaint' and request for reimbursement) and they informed me that "Only the hotel would be reimbursed; we do not cover other ‘out-of-pocket' expenses, since they offered me a flight home 2 ½ days later…SERIOUSLY? I went as far as speaking to a Supervisor at AA who also reiterated the same information.

We have a home in Cancun Mexico for 25 yrs and travel from Phoenix multi times a year with a small dog. Today, we were told we could not bring a carryon with our 9 lbs dog but we could bring a personal item….but no carryon.

After paying $125 each way we should be allowed a carryon or a personal item with our dog. If our pet carrier was empty we could use that as our personal item and would be allowed a carryon.

I don't follow the logic of this rule and neither did the American Airline employee trying to enforce it.

Thanks and we have been a happy customer for 45 years.

I writing to inform you of wing damage on the plane we took last night. My husband took these pictures from our window sear last night! The flap on the left wing has a hole in it.

Flight #4379 from Dallas to Monterey, CA/ Aug 19.2021

PLease see pictures below. It is vital for the safety of your passengers to address this damage ASAP.

Sincerely,

Katie Faber
[protected]

American Airline it is the worst air company in the world. Period!
Worst customer service, worst flight service, worst flight attendants and at last worst CEO. This stupid guy does not care a damn about its customers. The only thing that matters is MONEY. He does not have time to read what passengers have to say about AA. Whoever is the AA CEO I want to say: SHAME ON YOU.

This is twice on the same flight that American has changed my flight on me. The first time I waited on my cell over two hours only to be told I had to contact Expedia. They moved my PHL to LHR flight over an hour earlier, so that now I have 55 minutes to get from my original gate to the one for LHR, and they still close the gates at least 15 minutes early, so I am still cutting it extremely close since they will be boarding the overseas flight before I get off my flight into Philadelphia. Expedia would once again help me out with a change but I would again have to fight with American Airlines for my flight upgrade seat that I have paid for. Last time they said only Expedia could do it and Expedia went through hoops to get my seat again for me, so I will either lose all that money from the seat if I don't make the flight and they will have to put me on a later flight at their convenience, not mine. I called AA early this morning when I got an email saying my flight over seas has been changed. I just checked and I have been on hold on my landline for 228 minutes with American, with the same recording.

My American Airlines flight AA2382 August 3rd from NYC to Dallas and onward to Alb. New Mexico was cancelled 3 hours or so before departure. The reason given was that the crew was not available. No compensation was offered. The flight cancellation means that I will miss my onward transportation and have to book a hotel in Albuquerque overnight. I will also lose 2 days of my vacation. Confirmation #FHNFXG. Booking ID 11DEFY.

Requested wheelchair assist never happened on all flights. When checked on assist status today I was told it is in computer it will happen. Joke on me. Ended up carrying luggage up 47 steps in DFW. Elevator broken, moving walkway under construction
Waiting to board and people started getting in line at counter. Flight canceled and was not told. Poor poor way to do business.
Times are tough enough
First vacation since 2012 will not use American Airlines again.

They trash talked me today told me to put a label on my suitcase now or get in another line you did not put sticker on then told me if I dont like it catch another airline co. Black woman And Im white

Her name is Chandra Wilson woman
People like this should b in a mental ward not work at an airport people work for AA. Id never fly w them again. It happ at DCA July 29 620 am
Abusive and uncalled for

Incoming flight already changed 3 times.
Original incoming flight from Tampa was changed to Salt Lake City.
Tampa flight was on time. Change to incoming flight Salt Lake City delayed the departure of AA886 to 1:50 pm—> 2 hour delay.
Now the incoming flight is changed again to a flight coming from Las Vegas.
This pushed the departure of AA886 further back to 2:14pm.
This is not acceptable!

Hi am flying today and when boarded some one is in my seat. Stewardess did not make person move. I paid for a first class/ business seat by the window. . Im highly irritated. This person knew they were in the wrong seat, stewardess gave him the option to move or stay. I paid extra for that seat…. . Im now in an isle seat . I would like to be refunded the amount i paid fir that seat…..….

Had a trip planned for the 4th of July holiday. We were scheduled to fly American airlines out of Austin Bergstrom with a connection to Bozeman Montana out of Dallas.

Our flight was scheduled to board at 5:55 AM on July 1st . We checked the TSA wait times via the TSA app and arrived at the airport 1 hour and 45 minutes hours early to ensure enough time to check bags and get thru the TSA security process.

The line to check bags at American was out the door. No other airline had similarly long lines that morning. There were only four American employees working the check in counters. We were in line for almost 2 hours and ended up missing our flight.

Once we got to the check in desk, we were told that the best they could do was put us on a 5:30PM flight to catch a connection in Dallas to our final destination. The only problem was that we would be on standby for the connecting flight and that the connecting flight was fully booked. Thanks so much American. Stranding us in Dallas did not seem to be a reasonable solution.

I have two problems with American airlines after this less than pleasant experience.

1. At no time did an American employee appear to ask people in the check in line when their boarding times were.

I travel frequently and when traveling with other airlines I have never missed a flight due to check in delays. Invariably all other airline companies I have ever dealt with always seem to have employee(s) working long check in lines making sure no one misses a flight. Apparently, this does not occur to anyone working at American.

2. After missing our flight we requested ticket refund. They denied the refund request and insisted on a credit

Based on the inconvenience of missing the flight and the incompetence of how American handled the problem I think a refund would be reasonable.

Americans recent proclivity to cancel flights seemingly on a whim combined with a total disregard for customers in my mind makes a future travel credit all but worthless.

Epic fail American airlines. After reading some of these reviews it's clear that customer feedback is meaningless to you.