Opinions on American Airlines

[btab]

I am thinking of booking flights with American Airlines next year, via Miami. Could anyone share their experiences and advise if they would recommend them.

I am looking for information such as seatback screens, service, meals, punctuality. I have also heard that legroom on AA aircraft is greater than other airlines. Is this true? There will be 4 of us travelling - myself, my wife and two daughters, 8 & 6.

I would appreciate any feedback

Thanks

BTAB

 

[Enright78]

Just back from Orland via New York with AA. |Very impressed with legroom and general levels of service. try to pre book rows 20 or 21 both are bulkhead with loads of legroom, we couldnt reach the seatback pockets in front!
One word of warning though, AA routinely overbook (as do all airlines i think) and if you do not check in early you are in danger of not flying! At JFK they were asking for volunteers to be bumped! We actually accepted and recived $1000 in flight vouchers, meal vouchers and a night in a NY hotel...all this for a 8 hour delay on our return flight!
Also, at NY they fly into terminals 8 &9 which are undergoing major refurb and so are a bit chaotic.
Overall though I was very happy with AAs service

 

[WDWfan uk]

Hi I flew very recently with AA to New York - the planes were 777s and yes they had seatback TVs and they also had more legroom than any of the other scheduled airlines I have flown with (BA, Virgin, Air Canada, Thai). I do not know if all their fleet have seatback TVs so that may be worth exploring further.
The meals - our lunchtime meal wasn't very good but then they served a supper and that was an excellent pizza, cookie etc and they also brought round chocolate bars.
We found the crews both ways very pleasant and efficient.
They were punctual too - our return flight would have left on time but two passengers decided not to fly at the last minute and their luggage had to be removed but they got the luggage off surprisingly quickly and we were away.

 

[tyke]

We flew with AA to Las Vegas + LA (via Chicago) a few years ago.

The overall service was good but no seatback TV's on any of the routes ! (this may be different on the Miami route).

We did experince slight delays on a couple of the flights but nothing too extensive.

The meals were ok and drinks were served on a regular basis throughout the flight.

As for legroom - I cannot recall that this was any better/worse than any of the other airlines (at 6'4" legroom is a 'big' issue for me !)

If the price was right I would fly with AA again, but personally I prefer to fly to Florida with Virgin (they are also great with the kids - providing activity packs, kids meals + a kids channel on TV !)

Tyke

 

[Sue F UK]

We flew to Orlando from Manchester with AA last year - via Chicago. The flight was good. Plenty of legroom (I believe that AA have the largest legroom of any scheduled airline). The food wasn't memorable - but then it never is, is it?? There were seatback TV's to keep us entertained and a kids pack for DD.

We were delayed on our inbound flight and missed our connection but they managed to get us on a later flight by asking others to offload and travel the next day (for $500 and overnight accommodation)

I would travel with them again although going via Chicago was a long route to take - Miami should be much better for you in this respect BTAB.

 

[vernon]

I'm flying AA to Miami over Xmas, so I'll be able to give you a run down in the new Year as to the actual route you're planning to fly.
My previous experience with them is similar to those above, pretty rasonable US carrier.

 

[Peebee]

Excellent experiences on three separate occasions, with our fourth planned for later this month. To be honest, i'd prefer to fly with AA rather than Virgin, BA, etc - what's more they've usually worked out cheaper too.

If you get the early Miami flight out of Heathrow at around 8am you will be scheduled to get into MCO by around 4pm local time - not much different from the direct flights, plus you've had a chance to stretch your legs in the meantime and gone through customs.

Haven't flown through Miami with AA - only NY and Chicago in the past, but will give you a report on our return for how that worked out.

Peebee

 

[cheryl.UK]

Last year we flew to orlando via dallas with AA.

first the positive point:

The legroom was excellent, even in normal seats.

However:

Seatback TV's were good but the children we were with were very disappointed. Only 1 kids channel and it had the same 2 hour loop of programmes shown over and over. They were the same programmes of the return journey too! Also none of the films were suitable for under 10's.

The food was abismal. We are veggies and I can only call what they gave us 'brown mush'. There wasn't much of it either compared to the carnivore meal. And no pudding!!
On the return there were cheese and tomato pizzas but they wouldn't let us have any because we were vegetarians!! We had to have more brown mush.

the kids were also disappointed with their food. They had burgers but the bread was really soggy and no ketchup etc. They also complained that their fries were stone cold- which they were.

I know ariplane food isn't the best in the world but I can honestly say that AA's was the worst we've ever had.

 

[uksaint]

We are flying AA via Miami in Feb. We have flown before on their 777's and legroom is much better than BA/Virgin etc. Meals were OK, but to be honest I don't see this as a very important factor. Crew were brilliant, especially last time when I was traipsing up and down aisles with DS - 18 months old. Very friendly, even when he went running off into business class.

 

[alexandra uk]

Can anyone post a link on a site to book flights please ?
I want to book flights for next November. Does anyone know how soon I will be able to do this ?

 

[Peebee]

Hi Alex - Expedia UK is only showing through to early October 2003 at the moment, so I would say wait another month or so.

It's difficult to say at this point what the tourist market for the US will be like in nearly 12 months time, but I wouldn't expect you to have any problems in getting Orlando flights just a few months out.

One suggestion for you would be to look at Travelocity.co.uk's farewatcher system - a friend of mine has found some excellent bargains with it. Basically you enter your plans, and it emails you when prices drop, or hit a certain level. www.travelocity.co.uk/farewatcher I think.

Regards,
Peebee

ps - did you get my email of trip planning suggestions ?