American Airlines - AAL > Reviews > STAY INDOORS DURING A LIGHTENING STORM

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Satisfactory
Customer Service	Unhelpful
Punctuality	Satisfactory
Space	Comfortable
Value for Money	Poor

Advantages:	Good leg - room, many flight routes, may get good ticket price
Disadvantages:	Bog - awful films, WET LUGGAGE

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

American Airlines (AA), along with United, make up the two largest american airlines. American have a policy of being very customer-friendly, which is reflected in their decision to give customers leg-room in coach class, so that you won’t have to be a contortionist on a long-haul flight. However, my experience of AA is not so customer-friendly. Let me explain.

I was recently on a trip from Glasgow to San Francisco International, with a change in Chicago O’Hare. My flight from Glasgow to Chicago was smooth (apart from being sat between a warring couple who insisted on throwing liqcorice allsorts at one another!). Leg-room was ample, the films were appalling and this led to a good sleep for yours truly! On arriving at Chicago, I was met with temperatures in excess of 90 degrees, but other than that a clear, sunny day. Within two hours, however, torrential rain had appeared and as we boarded the flight, we were sat on the tarmac for two hours until the storm passed. Great opportunity for watching the lightning, but other than that, another chance for a snooze! Little was I to know that I was not alone in being sat upon the tarmac…..

After take-off, the flight to San Francisco was uneventful. Yet more snoozing, and a bit of reading for me. Wonderful! I arrived at SFO tired but otherwise in good spirits. I collected my luggage and phoned my pre-ordered pick-up. My luggage was a little damp, presumably from transferral to the plane during the storm in Chicago. I thought no more of it.

I arrived at my hotel at 1:30am. Since I was to have an interview at 8:30am later that day, I began to unpack my clothes and presentation. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The contents were totally soaked. They had clearly been left on the tarmac at Chicago for the duration of the 2 hour delay. With an interview looming in 7 hours time, there wasn’t much I could do. I hung out my clothes around the room, in a bid to dry them as much as possible. At that time, I am sure that divine intervention took place. I noticed that my room phone was flashing. I picked up a voicemail to the effect that “Two of the guys who want to interview you tomorrow are stuck in Montana. Can you phone me (finance person), regardless of what time you get in?”. I had no choice, but to phone this poor woman in the middle of the night. I explained the luggage debacle and we arranged to reschedule the interview for the following day. Hurrah! Interview aside, I still had to shout at AA….

I woke the next day and after a couple of interviews conducted whilst wearing my well-worn travelling clothes (eurgh) with thought-out clean underwear packed in the hand luggage (phew!), I returned to my room to attempt to make some headway with AA. I phoned the AA desk at SFO to be met by some nasal-toned mouth-breather who had clearly began work with AA only hours previously. I explained that not only had pieces of my clothing been ruined, but it was a waste of time for both myself and the company I was to visit. “Why don’t you get your clothes dry-cleaned and we’ll foot the bill?” Safe to say she hadn’t seen the clothes. I gave up, but vowed revenge. I found a launderette and repaired some of the damaged stuff. All was not lost. Thankfully, some of the women at the company I was visiting were keen to take me shopping in the area, so I could buy any stuff I needed. Rule #1 of interviews: Look your best, and that will boost your confidence. And the survey said: Naw.

After days of interview and a wee trip to San Jose and downtown San Francisco, it was time to return to Glasgow. I turned up at SFO two hours early so that I could get into shouting mode. I turned up at baggage claim and half-scared the clerk to death. I was getting nowhere. I’d thrown out most of the damaged stuff that couldn’t be repaired (to make room for the stuff I’d bought to replace it!), but he said it was needed to make a claim. I threw a wobbly. I was disgusted, not only at the damaged goods, but wasting both mine and the company’s time. Eventually, he relented and I wrote out a list of goods and estimated value. Probably so that the clerk could get some peace, he wrote me a cheque for $450.

I still don’t know how the delay affected my interview, as I’m waiting to hear the final verdict from the company. After I returned, I emailed AA (as directed by the clerk at SFO) about the distress it had caused and received an apologetic email “sorry, but there’s not much we can do”. Well, thanks for that. They could have made sure it didn’t happen in the first place!

Other than this unfortunate occurrence, I’ve had no problem with AA. Their service is good, and nearly always full on trans-atlantic flights. Booking in advance, as with many airlines, can ease the strain on your pocket. If only they’d eased the strain on my interview procedure……..

Would I fly with AA again? Not if I could help it.