AMerican Airlines - Good, Bad or Indifferent

[TraceyL]

The search facility has been disabled do I'm looking for any information I can glean please ??

I'm contingency planning at the moment for June, October & December and have found som excellent prices for December (£1000 for 4) out of LHR either changing in NY to MCO or direct into MIA.

 

[Peebee]

We used them the last couple of times Tracey and they were great - we went LHR to MCO, via MIA and it was painless. Excellent leg room, much better than any other airline, and the meals and entertainment were fine too.

Paul

 

[TraceyL]

Thanks Paul - I had considered via MIA into MCO but its cheaper to go via NY ! I am a little concerned that the connection time at JFK is less than 2 hours though

Do they have seatback TVs ? (I have two young children)

 

[cheryl.UK]

Legroom is excellent

Seatback Tv's are great (but the kids channel is on a 90 minute loop- same 90 minutes all the way there and back!) There were no seatback TV's on our interanl flight, only transatlantic.

Food- truly awful- worst airline food I ever had.

 

[uksaint]

I am definitely an American Airlines fan. As others have said, legroom is excellent - their transatlantic 777s have seatback TVs. Food is average, but I wouldn't go as far as to say awful.

Just a thought, when we searched for our flights - we were also given the connection at NY as the cheapest option, but after calling the travel agent, we were able to route via MIA for only £16 more.

 

[vernon]

I flew with them just before Xmas, going direct to Miami. I thought they were very good, the extra space both legroom and width on the seats was very welcome. The food we had was as good as most airlines and better than some I have been on. It's certainly an airline I would use again, particularly at a price like that.

 

[TraceyL]

Seems like a general thumbs up then ! Routing via MIA is coming up about £300 dearer, but I'm concerned at the lack of connection time at NY - doesn't leave much margin for customs & delays !

 

[vernon]

It doesn't, but I don't think many airlines leave more than two hours as a rule. It is their duty to get an alternate flight for you if you miss the slot due to a delay.

 

[TraceyL]

There is the option of an earlier LHR-JFK flight with teh same JFK-MCO flt - but that's dearer lol !!

Nice to chat to you again Vernon - seems like an age since the last time !

 

[steve_rob]

I was tempted to go with American this year - as I live reasonably close to Heathrow at the moment, I really would rather not travel halfway round the M25 (like I do every other day) plus me and Gatwick Airport really don't get on (reasons to many to explain, but let's just say I've never had a uneventful time there).

They were doing a great deal earlier in the year, with an early departure via Miami to MCO arriving at about 4pm - plus it was cheap (almost £200 pp less than Virgin)!

Only I've just found out they are stopping this early flight in April (I'm going in October) and the earliest flight I was offered into MCO was something like 10pm and picking up a hire car when my body is telling me it's three in the morning is probably not a good idea!!!

United Airlines are still doing an afternoon arrival (exactly between the BA and early Virgin flight I think), but do I want to book with them considering their current financial difficulties?

 

[WDWfan uk]

Hi Tracey

Another thumbs up for American Airlines ! We flew with them for our trip to New York in October... I was worried for all sorts of reasons but now wouldn't hesitate to use them again!
(We also had a meal which is best described as awful and then later on in the flight we had an extremely nice pizza for tea..... return flight the meal was bad again but the breakfast fine, but frankly airline food doesn't influence our airline choice).

 

[Balloonman]

Over the last couple of threads people have mentioned seat back t.vs on transatlantic flights. we are due to fly from manchester to mco (via chicago) in a couple of weeks, i have checked the AMERICAN AILINES website and it says our aircraft is a 767 - 300 which does not have seat back t.vs. has the website got it wrong or do they only fly a 767 on that route. We were quite dissapointed but too late to change now.

 

[Rain]

We are flying AA in April from Manchester via Chicago, we too are showing aircraft type 767, checked other days from Manchester and all aircraft types are showing 767, can only suggest you ring the airline and check.

 

[steve_rob]

I think they use 777's on flights from Heathrow, but not Manchester. These planes are quite wide and not all airports are equipped to deal with them.

However, I have been on a 767 with seat back TV's once. Can't remember who it was or where I was going, but they do exist, so maybe you'll get lucky. Wouldn't get your hopes up though.

 

[Rain]

I dont think the reason for not flying the 777 from Manchester has anything to do with the runway at Manchester as I have flown on several Continental 777s from Manchester, love the plane ,feels really roomy.
I really don't know why they use the 767s from Manchester, maybe it is to do with the number of passengers?

 

[UKPhil]

We flew back from Miami with AA last November after being transferred from Virgin who had oversold the flight. I'd give AA a definate thumbs up and would fly with them again without hesitation. Cabin crew very efficient. Good legroom. No free alcoholic drinks though.

One point to note (and I've only flown once with them so have no idea whether this is usual) they were VERY picky about baggage weight. We had 3 cases under and one only about a kilo over (a situation which Virgin usually overlook) but I had to take a jacket out of the overweight case.

 

[TraceyL]

Looks like it'll be AA then if the prices stay the same


Now all I need is DH to come home safely !!