So what should I know about American airlines?

[SuzanneSLO]

I found the emails from the airline - my original flight was delayed leaving Nashville, but I did get to Charlotte with plenty of time thanks to a larger layover. They had cancelled an earlier flight to Wilmington due to a wheel malfunction, so they put all the passengers from that cancelled flight onto MY flight. Also, even though I was told by both the employees at the gate AND the employees at the customer service counter that the flight was entirely booked and that I "wasn't getting to Wilmington tonight," the email said their records show "the flight left Charlotte with one empty seat." So I'm not real sure how 4 different people told me there was no room on the flight (even though I had a ticket), when apparently...there was one empty seat? According to the customer service rep over email, at least? Like I said, I don't know protocols or laws, I'm simply telling the story as it happened and what the email said.

Stupid auto-correct: I typed "misconnect" not "misconduct". DashofSunshine: I'm sorry if my post suggested you had done something wrong (misconduct) when I meant you had failed to make your departing flight (misconnect).

From your latest post, however, it looks like you may have been on a smaller regional jet. In which case, they may not owe you anything as compensation for involuntary denial of boarding. Sorry this happened to you. -- Suzanne

 

[dashofsunshine]

Stupid auto-correct: I typed "misconnect" not "misconduct". DashofSunshine: I'm sorry if my post suggested you had done something wrong (misconduct) when I meant you had failed to make your departing flight (misconnect).

From your latest post, it looks like you were at the gate when all the other passengers were still waiting to board. If this is the case, yes, they expected you to not arrive on time due to the delay of your arriving flight and gave away your seat. When you did arrive on time, they owed you compensation for involuntary denial of boarding. Sorry this happened to you. -- Suzanne

No worries at all, thank you for helping me understand what happened! I'm really glad to know the laws and what I should demand, should this ever happen again. From what everyone has said I get the feeling that it is a rare occurrence, so fingers crossed I never have to deal with it again!

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I've connected through Charlotte a number of times (I fly to Richmond from MSP on business, and CLT is really the only way to get there from here) and other than Orange County, it's my favorite airport. It just seems so quaint with all the rocking chairs and such. LOL. It's fairly small in comparison to other hubs and pretty easy to navigate. American is one of those airlines that seems fine to me...I can't think about anything outstanding about it, but also no big complaints come top of mind, either.

 

[karly05]

I've flown AA maybe a couple of times a year over the past several years, and have generally had good luck - AS LONG as I'm flying actual American Airlines operated "big" jets. But if any legs of your trip are on American Eagle (the smaller "commuter" jets operated by smaller companies under the American umbrella), watch out. I had a couple of adventures with them this year, and apparently the "delay delay cancel delay" operation wasn't just a fluke. I actually looked up on time percentages online and American Eagle is apparently notoriously bad. Unfortunately, the Eagles are all AA flies in and out of my home airport these days, so I'm going to gamble on Delta for my next MCO trip

 

[jec6613]

I'm an elite tier flier on AA, and a basic connection in CLT should be fine. It's not my favorite airport, but it's not as sprawling as DFW or ORD (AA's two big hubs). AA is part of OneWorld, so their policies are heavily geared around keeping elite FFs happy (DL and UA, who are SkyTeam/Five Star, respectively) are slightly more favorable to non-elites.

A few things:

• You'll board with your group number, don't try to bum rush the gate and be in that massive ball of people at the gate waiting to board. Group 2 is actually behind four or five other groups, depending on the particular gate agent you get, so there's no rush.
• Don't try to play fast and loose with the carry-on requirements, they'll catch you (they generally ignore elites, though)
• If you have group 4 or 5, be prepared to be separated from your rollaboard carry-on.
• The on-board food I've found to be a better value than most of the stuff in the airport. It's not overly expensive and not terrible - but not they only take credit cards.
• If you're on a business-heavy flight, the Wi-Fi has limited slots and will probably be used by people with monthly passes.

 

[JodyTG]

Just keep an eye on your flights. They just change our schedule both ways. Luckily I caught it in time so that we're not sitting all over the plane. The bad thing is now we're leaving home an hour later and coming back two hours earlier...so way to cut my time at Disney down, AA.