I received two AA Awards as a retirement gift last July. Knowing they expired in 12 months, I put together a vacation itinerary for my wife and me by mid-June; called Business ExtraAA to ticket the trip and I was pleased. Later I received an e-mail that the award had expired 7 days earlier and should call AA. I did -they said "Sorry"!

I had been a Platinum & Gold Elite customer for a number of years. (They used to have GOOD customer service- some years ago) - This inflexibility is a huge disappointment!

I do not recommend AA as a preferred airline --maybe last in line!

After 8 years since I had seen my family, I chose AA to take me home from Boston, MA for a quick two-week vacation to Brazil.
The first flight at 7:30pm was delayed due to bad weather(perhaps in Indonesia because it was beautiful in Boston and eastern US) and I begged the AA employee not to board because I didn't want to spend the night in an airport. She ordered me to board as my luggage was already in the aircraft(they called that an aircraft) or I would have the ticket cancelled and she guaranteed me I was good. I boarded frustrated expecting things would be better. The connection in NY's JFK took off 10 mins earlier and I could see from my plane the gate from where the plane to Sao Paulo was leaving. I was devastated and asked the flight attendant(or "fight" attendant) if he could do something to help me. His answer was: " Good Luck ".
I spent the night at NY's JFK outside the security area where the homeless usually spend their nights, lots of them. Not a place to seat was available and the AA employee showed me the way to a bench that could barely fit half of a small butt. It was like I was talking to a 6'x6' refrigerator with no signs of willing to understand me and my frustration. I stood all night.
At 3:30 am another AA employee told me she was going to try to book me to Miami and then Sao Paulo. She did it and guaranteed me my luggage was going with me(where to?) The flight to Miami was full, stinky and hot because the A/C was very low. I arrived in Sao Paulo at 10:30pm after 4 hours of laying over in Miami. My luggage didn't arrive, even after being guaranteed, again, in Miami that they were on the plane. My medication for the next 24 hours was not in my carry-on because my trip was supposed to last 12 hours and it lasted 30 hours.
I got my luggage on the next day at 9 pm, 52 hours after leaving my home in Boston. To my surprise, my luggage was all messed up and many items were missing, including electronics. NO ONE knows what could have happened and I am still fighting to get my belongings back.
OH! I almost forgot! AA credited my account with 2500 bonus miles.
I couldn't be happier. And I don't want to write about the flight back to US. What a failure.
Please AA, get lost!

My sister left her pocketbook on the plane at Logan airport in Boston. She discovered what she had done at the airport car rental and went straight back to AA. No one there spoke English but she tried to convey what happened. We both spent the morning trying to reach a human being and got nothing. They just kept giving us the Lost and Found number, which no one answered. The Lost and Found answering machine said that if they didn't find the item you were looking for, they would not return the call. AA is completely unhelpful. I kept wondering what would happen if something beyond losing all of your IDS and $400 in cash happened. What if something life threatening took place. Would you get an answering machine for that, too? I spoke to several employees, all of whom were robotic and surly at best. From now on, I will avoid taking AA airlines when I fly.

We arrived at Miami International Airport for our flight # 1344 on March 8, 2010, and boarded on time. The crew reported mechanical problems and we were asked to de-plane. After de-planeing the attendant announced over the PA system that our flight was cancelled and that there were no other flights available to New York on American since they were “all over-sold”. She said “ you are on your own; there is nothing we can do; this is no joke”. We were given no information regarding alternate flights, other routes, overnight stay, meals; nothing! My wife and I each own our own business and had important business to attend to on the following day, Tuesday.

Needless to say, this seeming lack of concern for our situation left us feeling frustrated and angry.
We then got on our cell phones to the various airlines that have New York routes. Jet Blue was able to provide us with 2 tickets to New York JFK leaving from Ft. Lauderdale at a price of $379.70 per ticket (receipt attached) at 4:35 on Monday. Additionally we incurred additional expenses of the taxicab to Ft. Lauderdale and lunch for the two of us.

Since the American Airlines personnel announced we were ”on our own’’, we naturally assumed that reasonable costs would be covered for our alternate plans.

In several correspondences with AA they have stonewalled us stating "We wish we had it in our power to guarantee that planes would always arrive on time and that delays and cancellations just wouldn't happen. Unhappily, we don't"...this simply doesn't answer the point: First, it was AA's mechanical error; not weather related or 'act of God' and secondly, even it was weather related, to say "you are on your own" is unacceptable. And then once AA has taken zero responsibility, customer service gives some ridiculous answer to the situation.

We have asked for our flight costs on Jet Blue and Taxi expenses be reimbursed by AA: they countered with 10, 000 FF miles! Unbelievable!

I look forward to hearing responses/ advice...

Very disappointed AA customer (did I mention I am also a Frequent Flyer?!!)

I recently changed positions with my company that requires me to now travel across country instead of within the Western US. I have always been a loyal Southwest customer, however with my changing needs, decided to fly with American Airlines. I now know that was a mistake.
My trip began with American Airlines (AA) in Omaha, Nebraska, Tuesday December 8 headed to Chicago. This was an American Eagle flight. My travel partner and I changed our flight to an earlier flight due to the coming snow storm. After a relatively smooth boarding process in Omaha, we began to push back from the gate and stopped….we were told that because of we sat at the gate for so long, and because of some changes in contingency plans, we did not have enough fuel. We returned back to the gate and put additional fuel in the plane and then pushed back from the gate and to the de-icing staging area. A de-icing truck arrived, and promptly broke down while beginning the de-icing process. It took a mechanic over 2 hours to get the truck moving again (it appeared to be an issue with the brakes). Meanwhile, airplane after airplane was being de-iced and released for takeoff. Once the truck was repaired, we were de-iced and took off. These delays caused us to take sit on the aircraft for an additional 3 hours. Why was there not another de-icing truck sent to complete the job? Why wasn’t your de-icing equipment better maintained with the coming winter? Poor maintenance and poor contingency planning caused this flight to be significantly delayed, causing us to miss our connection in Chicago…which is another paragraph filled with issues.
Once arriving in Chicago, we were scheduled to leave Chicago headed to Rochester, Minnesota departing at 5:40 pm on another American Eagle flight (Flight 4049). We boarded the plane and sat at the gate. Again, the first de-icing plane that arrived broke down and was unable to de-ice the aircraft. We waited approximately 1 hour for a second de-icing truck to arrive. We were successfully de-iced and ready to depart; however, the AA gate attendant had not pulled the gate back far enough for our plane to successfully leave the gate. We waited for an additional hour, yes, an hour, whey someone was located to simply move the gate back about another 10 feet…..we then left the gate and headed toward the runway…when we arrived at the runway, our captain pulled over to the side, and came on the intercom after sitting there 15 minutes and announced that because of all of the delays (incompetence), we now did not have enough fuel to go to our destination. He told us we had to return to the gate to refuel, and de-ice again! We returned to the gate and refueled. The captain then told us we were still on to go to Rochester, but had to de-ice again first. The de-icing process was started and then stopped. The captain came on the intercom and announced the flight was cancelled. However, the issues and incompetence did not end there.
The flight attendant on the flight was extremely rude. He stomped around the aircraft, slamming doors and being very abrasive and belligerent to passengers. One passenger wanted to know if he could get off the plane when we came back to the gate to refuel and de-ice again to get something to eat. Instead of simply answering the man, he came on the intercom and told all of us, “If you get off this plane, you are not getting back on. I am not standing in your way, you do what you want” And that is a direct quote. He angered many of the passengers….Once the flight was cancelled, we were told that the agent at gate 19 would assist us in rebooking our flights, that we should make sure to stop at the gate for assistance. All of us left the aircraft and formed a line at gate 19, where a flight to Columbus OH was about to board. The gate agent was unreasonable, rude, and confrontational. She told us to “Get out of the way, I am not going to help you. I have another flight to board. You will have to go somewhere else” Passengers were confused and did not know what to do. Instead of politely giving instructions, she barked out that she wasn’t going to help us and to get out of the way. I asked for her name, and she told me “I’m not telling you my name, ask someone else” and then began talking loudly into the intercom at the gate so that I could no longer talk with her…..unacceptable, totally unacceptable behavior.
So, after sitting on a small commuter plane for almost 4 hours, watching one incompetent action after another, while enduring a rude, obnoxious flight attendant….we were again abused at the gate by an agent that was supposed to assist us.
I have been traveling for over 15 years and I have never seen such incompetence nor endured such rude, obnoxious, irresponsible customer service. I have been a happy Southwest customer for many years. American Airlines has certainly left its negative mark on not only me as a customer, but everyone on that flight. This was the worst customer service experience I have ever had. I understand bad weather, delays, even cancellations…but when you have a company whose total business model is based on good customer service, proper maintenance of its equipment, and providing a service….you better make great improvements to survive. American Airlines is not an airline that I nor my coworkers will fly again in the future.