American Airlines Reviews

by LukeG2407

American Airlines has lost my business.
I have been an AAdvantage member and have flown with American the past 8 years. I recently took a trip to Costa Rica in May. My flight was from Dallas to San Jose. When approaching San Jose the visibility worsened due to fog. The pilot did not land the plane and ended up landing at another airport in Liberia, a 4 hrs behind schedule. I am not against his decision for safety reasons, but multiple planes landed in San Jose after our arrival time. Upon arriving in Liberia, we were told we would be placed in hotel rooms and flown to San Jose in the morning. Once we got off the plane we were told the hotel did not have enough availability for everyone, and passengers other than families would have to be shuttled 4 hrs to San Jose. I agreed to this at customs. After getting through customs, we then find out that the shuttle only fits 20 people. I then booked a taxi with 3 other passengers I met on the plane. I contacted customer relations after returning home to be compensated for the money spent on taxi and time lost. I was told they do not compensate for weather issues, and since I chose to take a taxi they would not reimburse me.

by NicholeenPragle

I will never fly American again. 1 star is too many. The plane needed repaired and they told us it would be 15 min. It took 3 1/2 hours . The temperature out side was 90 and we had NO air conditioning in the plane . We had to wear our masks. We were offered no water ! My daughter had 3 children under 4 years old . Her one year old was ripping her clothe of because of the heat with sweat pouring off her. NO ONE asked if we needed help! Not even offer water . One woman did bring a tiny cup to my daughter. No flight attendant ask. My daughter had to ask if they had any type of snack for her daughter to help calm her down because she was crying hysterically. There was even a Christian group on there and not one of them ask if there was anything they could do until we were getting off the plane . It wasn’t until after 3/4 of the plane was unloaded did some one say let the mother and and her babies go and then ask to carry a bag . Also right before boarding the plane they never aloud people with small kids to board first and as we were boarding people were cutting in front of us. Shame on you American Airlines ,Shame on you.

by AnaKaluderovic

The worst air company. I am flying all the time and this company made nightmare of my last flight with them. They lost my 18 months son’s stroller I went to their office and they said I can go to the store and get the new one , no matter if they find the one they lost and they will pay it for it. I came to Florida on vacation and I can not be in apartment and wait if the find the stroller or not. My kid spend half of the day in the stroller. So As they told me I went and bought the new one and mailed them the bill of the stroller and all other documents. I bought the same stroller we already had (the one they lost) . They never contacted me, It is been one month and half since ot happened, I am calling every day, they don’t pick up. I am sending emails they don’t answer. I spent $800 because of their fault but they don’t care. This is how they respect their passengers. By the way after 7 days they found the stroller they were lost, but I already bought the new one. I couldn’t wait for them and thinking Are they going to find it or not. Even they found it , the stroller were so dirty. The real color of stroller supposed to be white but they delivered to me very dirty , they were actually almost black. I was shocked. I am still waiting for them to contact me and see if they are going to give me my money back!!!!!!

by RedDirtNerd

Not living in a city that is a major hub for one airline, I frequently switch between American, United, and Delta. After booking with my company’s travel department my flights on United and Delta automatically show up in their respective Apps, along with boarding passes showing my Pre-Check status. To get a boarding pass in the American App, you will have to enter your confirmation number in AmericanAirlines to view your reservation, and it won’t show Pre-Check status. My Pre-Check number is in my profile and shows in AmericanAirlines , but according to American, because we don’t book directly with American they are unable give me boarding pass in app showing that I’m Pre-Check. This requires a trip to the Kiosk where I have to check in and manually enter my Pre-Check number and get a printed boarding pass.
Push notifications are so far behind you won’t get a notice your flight is boarding until you’ve already (hopefully) landed at your destination.
The one bright side is easy access to terminal maps in AmericanAirlines . But AmericanAirlines and this airline are in desperate need of an update in user friendliness.

by Samuel Sicairos

Never flying AA again. I kept hearing all these horror stories and figured it wouldn’t happen to us. What started off nice ended up ruining our day. We flew from Phoenix to Orlando with a connecting flight from Charlotte. The night before I checked in with AmericanAirlines , cool! But then we get to Charlotte and it never gave me the option to check in so I figured I didn’t need to. AmericanAirlines was showing us the seats I specifically picked out when I bought the tickets. Yet when we arrive to board they say we don’t have assigned seats (even though AmericanAirlines and our paper tickets had seats). Traveling with an 8year girl and autistic son, being split was not an option. After much frustration, the agent finally gave us two and two seats. Not how we wanted but fine, we at least got the flight to Orlando. Of course, being Orlando, we arrive and it’s raining! With lightning! Our bags would not come due to the storm. Okay, we get it. But after two hours waiting AND all other airlines delivering their people their luggage, everyone starts to get mad. WTH?!? Ruined the rest of our plans for the day. And then we’re looking out the windows and no rain? Wish I could share the pictures I took of no rain and clouds clearing. Never again American.

by Eubanks6703

Flight 805 from Cancun to phl... April 5 238pm

VeriFLY downloaded before the trip. Our trip went as planned and we had a wonderful time. We were not able to check into our flight or make any changes using AmericanAirlines the night before. Our transportation got us to the airport as scheduled around 12:15. This would leave plenty of time to get settled and arrive to our gate. When we arrived at the airport we still could not check in at the kiosk there were 2 lines one for VeriFLY and one If you did not. I explained that I had VeriFLY but it was loading and my husband also had it and I was his companion. We were sent into the main assistance line and we did not reach the counter until 1:45 boarding started at 1:53. The rest of our party was at the gate and relaxed. We were so tired that we even asked if there was a voucher or option to stay and change our flight to the next day. After all of that standing in line They didn’t even ask for the paper of the negative covid test. We were extremely frustrated and disappointed in this process. Other airlines had the option to quickly scan the covid results and keep things moving. We arrived at our gate just before boarding was closing and thankfully friends were able to grab us something to eat. Our luggage did arrive however the wheel was broken off of my suitcase. This was truly a horrible experience.

by L1011fivehundred

The only thing worse than AmericanAirlines, is the flying experience as a customer on American Airlines. I am Executive Platinum on American and the only reason I have that status is that I am forced to fly on American, there are just no other options many times. When flying on American, you get a sense of complete and total apathy from check in through the completion of your flight. One reason for this is the criminally negligent management of the airline. It is managed by attorneys and accountants. AA management knows it can run a sub par operation because many times you don’t have a choice when you need to fly. They have a monopoly over many markets. In addition to this, they can shave off all the profits, enrich the upper management, and if they get into financial trouble the government is more than willing to bail them out with billions of YOUR tax dollars. Why should they care? There is zero incentive to operate in a manner which provides a top notch passenger experience. This goes for all of the airlines. This is now the pathetic status of our American transportation system. Take one ride on Emirates or Etihad and going back on an AA flight is like hitching a ride with a smelly hippy in the back of his 1976 Gremlin.

by ❤️G+

Today, I needed to change a flight reservation to another time. I logged on the mobile app to make the change, but AmericanAirlines stated that the changes were unavailable. I tried this twice with the same result. Then, I called American Airlines to get the problem fixed, but they were slow and unhelpful. I had the same issue with their website when I tried to book online. I finally called the call center and was able to get help. Throughout this entire experience, American Airlines continued to charge my card for every attempt. By the time I was able to get a flight change, the price of the change had risen by $100. American refused to revert the price to the original, even though a glitch in their system made me unable to make the change. Additionally, I am having trouble reaching the finance department in order to get a refund for all the flight changes which I did not receive. American has wasted nearly a full day of my time and cost me an extra $450 in flight changes on top of my $380 ticket. Please do not use their app or website and just book through another airline.

by Phileas Fogg's 'stache

As AAdvantage member, I attempted to use AmericanAirlines. On opening AmericanAirlines for the first time I was unable to log in using my credentials. I verified that I was using the proper member id and password multiple times, but was repeatedly told the information was incorrect. To add insult to injury, there is literally no way to get help on this issue via AmericanAirlines or online at the American Airlines web site. Trying to follow the Kafkaesque circle of links to email customer service (which, good news, we can help you through a faq! A faq that has nothing to with anything other than answering questions like when should I arrive at the airport!), to phone numbers that try to get you to wait until three days before your flight out of respect for those who are in a hurry, to the circular reference vortex of go to the website, which tells you to call customer service, which tells you to download and use AmericanAirlines , which sends you back to the website. Fun. No app is worth this level of malign witlessness. The people responsible for this atrocity should be ashamed, but given the absolute depravity of this worthless, steaming pile, it has to be deliberate. So gold star for you.

by ABHTCAN

Woman at gate told us we had to check our carry on bags because it was a full flight and they were out of overhead space. I objected mildly because my carry on had things in it that I need/that can’t be lost or delayed. Was told they very rarely have issues with bags and that if I didn’t like I and my bag could not board. Awesome start to the AA experience! I surrender my bag and board the plane to see that two-thirds of the overhead bins are empty. I say something to one of the flight attendants about having to check my bag because of lack of bin space and get the same story about it being a full flight. Why do I have to check my bag so that someone boarding after me has room in the overhead bin? As the FA’s prepared the cabin for departure they shut the doors on all of the still empty overhead bins. At least, according to the AA app, both of my bags made it on the plane. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the baggage claim in Miami we found out that was a lie too. My checked bag and my wife’s checked bag were still in Cincinnati. Every time I give you a chance to earn my business you give me reasons to consider you the airline of last resort.

by Shrine17

The aadvantage portion of AmericanAirlines works fine. However, the inflight entertainment is terrible. Last week I was on a flight and used AmericanAirlines to launch the inflight movies. While this is a little hit and miss (whether it works or not), this time it worked. On my return flight, it decided that I needed to upgrade and it would not let me launch AmericanAirlines without upgrading. Keep in mind that I am on the plane when it notifies me of this. You would think that it would let you upgrade while on the aa inflight wireless but no such luck. So I tether to my phone while we are taxiing to attempt to upgrade to the latest version. I successfully upgrade and launch the inflight movie selection only to be given an error 404 on my browser. I tried several things including powering down my iPad to get it to work but it never did. This is just one example of many where the inflight entertainment system did not work. I am in support of using personal devices for inflight movies but only if the system works consistently. Please fix this terrible and bug prone system.

by Rudder61

I use AmericanAirlines every week as i travel that much. Its amazing to me that after being at this for so many years, AA STILL doesn't understand what travelers need.

there are many annoying things that i wish they would solve already. 1). I live in PR, the area to store my CC information does not accept PR as a state or territory for my address. PR has been part of the US for 100 years. I’ve reported it several times but they either ignore it or cant figure it out 2- AmericanAirlines used to have multi-city functionality, it was taken away, so, we are going backwards? 3- i often get an “error 504” when paying for tickets, its annoying as it forces one to have to start again 4- if one is traveling outside the US, it defaults to the local language, the Language chOice option is not permanent, it should allow language preference regardless if where you are. 5- luggage tags should be added to the electronic boarding pass. 6- there should be a “order of presence for CCs, meaning which ones to use first, second, etc.

The list of suggestions can go on and go, but first, fix the problems.

by MiscMel70

I just opened my app in order to check in for my flight tomorrow from BOS to ORD. Upon refresh, I received a notice that they were looking for volunteers to take a different flight and wanted to know the minimum I would accept to switch. It said my choice had been noted and if needed I would be called to the desk tomorrow! Wow! That’s using technology to prevent fires instead of always fighting them. There is bad weather across the country and they are really working to prevent as much pain as possible at the airport tomorrow.

I have one suggesting and AmericanAirlines will be simply the best in breed. For upgrades, please put the number of seats available along with the number of people checked in. That way you have a bit more of an idea if an upgrade is even possible. Currently, you can see your name of the list but not how many seats are available to begin with.
Delta does this and I love it!

by Slpoulos

AmericanAirlines is almost always very efficient.... but recently, my seat assignment that I chose in a premium economy as a Platinum Pro an aisle seat 9c when I made the reservation... but I went to check later that week I saw that my seat assignment was changed to a window seat which is not what I chose. Also... when I am in Premium Economy seats or pay for First... it is pathetic that you are not serving beverage service .... and can’t serve a snack or light meal as was our rationale for buying First in the past ... the service and the way we are treated in first.... so obvious that the management is using Covid as an excuse not to give the exceptional service that American has been known for.... other carriers are treating their loyal customers much better... makes you think about your
Loyalty to American going forward. Just wanted to let you know how so many of your customers are venting and expressing their disgust with the level of service commensurate with Southwest or Spirit.

by Ellejayare

I didn’t realize how much I love the American Airlines app until traveling on a couple different airlines recently and I really came to appreciate it. I get notified immediately through push notifications when there are any delays, flight changes, etc. and it also updates all the information on the boarding pass in my Apple wallet. I expected this from another airline and didn’t receive it - got all the way to that gate and then customer service before finding out a flight was cancelled, which never would’ve happened on American! Everything, including same day flight changes is a breeze to do in AmericanAirlines , and I also have been able to reschedule flights easily: I got notified that my flight delay would cause me to miss my connection and was offered other flight times that I could book immediately. Huge fan of AmericanAirlines and of American!!

by ViridianPhoton

AmericanAirlines really made my travel experience easy not just in terms of getting flight and boarding info, but also navigating unfamiliar airports quickly.

I didn’t need to enter any info to have my reservation front and center, and it filtered out legs of my trip that I completed (though they’re still accessible)

AmericanAirlines has a map of each airports on the reservation, with their terminals/gates, and marks where the gate is in the map. You can also get directions if you want to. I had very short layovers and needed to get quickly to my next gate, and AmericanAirlines made figuring out where and how I needed to get there effortless.

In addition it shows nearby airport restaurants and other things by name on the map. Also, when browsing restaurants, it pre-filters them based on where you’re at. It even has their menus, which I appreciated b/c I eat GF and wanted to know ahead of time if it would be a waste of time to eat somewhere. The map loaded fast too, and didn’t chug when I scrolled/zoomed.

The confirmation reminders helped me not forget to do it, and the boarding passes added to passbook in the proper order (small detail but other apps have messed this up or don’t add all boarding passes for a multi-leg trip).

Bottom line - I always felt the most relevant info to me at the time was present, was easy to find, and never slowed me down. Best airline app experience I’ve had. Don’t change anything!

by Luciano_menzo

I had a flight from Philadelphia to Orange County with a layover in Dallas. Due to weather in Dallas, I experienced several delays and cancellations, so my 7 hour travel day turned into a 22 hour travel day.

Every time there was a complication, AmericanAirlines notified me and easily gave me an option to change my flight. I didn’t have to go through the hassle of going online and booking it from the website; everything was right on AmericanAirlines . I learned about flight cancellations, gate changes, and general updates on AmericanAirlines wayyyy before the airport gate boarders updated us in person. When I landed in Dallas for the first time, I was immediately notified of missing my layover flight and was able to change to another flight before I even finished exiting the plane I was currently on.

If I didn’t have AmericanAirlines, I probably would’ve lost my mind/missed even more flights. Definitely a necessity if you’re flying American in case of events like this.

by Stewbinator

I read through the reviews and took issue with most of them. People qualify themselves as frequent fliers and then mention that AmericanAirlines is dysfunctional...as an Executive Platinum member (i.e.- I fly), I find AmericanAirlines highly capable.

I find it useful in every way that I need it to be. I’m able to book revenue and award tickets, I’m able to select my seats, and when my upgrade processes I’m able to recheck my seat in the new cabin. I’m able to check-in and I find AmericanAirlines to be very useful in receiving flight updates. My company uses concur, and the moment my flight is reserved in concur it shows up in AmericanAirlines . I’m able to understand if my flight may be impacted based on AmericanAirlines -provided “inbound” flight, and I’m able to live-track my baggage in the event that I check bags.

I’m not sure what people expect from an app, but in reading the reviews it seems that people are hoping that AmericanAirlines somehow will solve all of their travel nightmares, but I’m afraid those are classic weather, mechanical, and customer service issues.

by Swooshn1

Terrible app, this isn’t very functional compared to the United app. I dropped United last year and I am a frequent flyer and now Platnium pro. The WiFi functionality in the air to stream just doesn’t work well in AmericanAirlines . How you have to switch back and forth multiple times going from ur WiFi settings to AmericanAirlines in order to play a video. U should simply be on the WiFi and then be able to select entertainment and be able to select the video all in AmericanAirlines . The upgrade list isn’t well done and isn’t able to be seen in real time except right before boarding. Interactive maps are terrible. Push notifications for boarding, or modifying push notifications to 15 min before boarding so you can leave the Admirals club and make it to your gate on time.

Also it is a pain when ur boarding pass expires when in the air, a big problem when ur flight is delayed. I get better notifications from Kayak about my American Airlines delays and baggage claim then I get out of the American app. It is truly a disappointing app.

by Chicago Dad151235

Unlike some others, I do find AmericanAirlines intuitive. Love being able to see inbound flight info, and updates for flight information is very timely. I feel like I have an inside track because in many cases, I have learned about gate changes and other info before formal announcements. Seat change requests are accurate, and I’ve never been let down. When traveling, we rely on having accurate information and having control, and AmericanAirlines helps me keep the stress level down because I never have to guess. Yes, sometimes the in-flight entertainment is glitchy, but I’m on a plane sharing a small network with many users so I’ve stuck to using data, only for work, and viewing downloaded movies or listening to downloaded music. There are too many other entertainment options out there these days for me to hold this against AmericanAirlines when that is not it’s main purpose.

by LaBradFord Shabazz

AmericanAirlines did not allow me to download multiple boarding passes. I was able to download mine but not my 9 and 6 year old daughters’ passes. I went to my laptop just to see if I could get them. I had to enter unique emails for each traveler in order to receive the boarding passes electronically. Thank goodness my daughters have email accounts I thought sarcastically. The point here is why go through the hassle?! Just get the passes printed at check-in.

The other issue is the constant searching for my trip with the record locator. If I have a profile in AmericanAirlines and online, why doesn’t AmericanAirlines or the full website version keep a record of my trips associated to my profile? Why do I constantly have to input my record locator to view my upcoming trip? Much like American Airlines, this process was inefficient. The airline lost my consistent business years ago. I took this trip as the low cost option against my better judgement. I guess one gets what one pays for.

by GumbyN

I usually give an app 3 stars if it at least does the minimum across all platforms. AmericanAirlines does not execute it’s features at an acceptable level. Forgetting about the missing features (well documented in other reviews), the watch app is horrendous. It no longer has complications for Apple Watch (not Series 5 paired to to XS Max, anyway).

The complication functioning correctly is incredibly important on travel days to keep current with changing gates and departure times. For as a long as I’ve been using AmericanAirlines (across multiple phones and watches now), the watch would usually display incorrect times after connecting in a different time zone. For example, when I go from Florida to someplace else and connect in DFW, the change in time zone wreaked havoc on AmericanAirlines . I would frequently be onboard my 2nd segment and the watch was telling me how long until my 1st segment had to land. That is just nuts... but that is if it would give me flight info at all. Approximately 25% of the time, nothing would update and / or I couldn’t even get my flight to come across from the phone to the watch.

Seriously, AA?!

by NewiphoneLady

American, you do a great job with so many things, but check out your competitor’s app and websites compared to your’s to update yours and make them both more user-friendly and alleviate stress on your employees, especially during busy travel times.
Unlike United’s app, you can not upgrade your seats, other than within Coach....how much money are you missing out on from your customers from people like me who are too busy to sit on hold for literally sometimes hours or await a call back for hours only to be put on hold for close to 30 minutes before you can speak to someone. Give your customers to do business with you how they want to and your competitors are already doing.

This, I would think would accomplish the following:

1. Allow much of your customer traffic to flow through your most cost effective channel: mobile and web sites

2. Make you more competitive and attractive with doing business with consumers the way they want

3. Give your company more revenue by allowing busy customers to upgrade to premium seating or change flights easily and at the last minute, which you might not have gotten otherwise. Research this channel, and I’m guessing you’d see you are leaving a lot of money on the table.

Until these things are changed on your app or website, I, and many I know, will choose a competitor for the majority of my flights even if more expensive due to the convenience and upgrade factor they have in their apps and website.

by WillieNelson1992

I would bet that I am in the top 1% of time spent using AmericanAirlines as I fly often. I have many ideas for how it can be improved, but the first would be to make it to where cash and miles redemption values are pulled, preferably shown simultaneously, at the same time like in Delta’s app. Second, multi-city search should be an absolute no-brainer. Third, adding a filter to flight results for departure time (slider), arrival time (slider), flight duration (slider), cost (slider), class (I hate that Basic Economy shows up as it makes Sorting on Price cloudy just like on the website), and connecting city (check boxes). Fourth, being able to add more the one origin airport into a search would be very convenient. Fifth, GoGo Entertainment App is a nuisance - buying WiFi and accessing entertainment during flight should all happen in-app (I’m sure this is the most difficult as info would pull from many sources.) Sixth, the boarding passes added to Apple Wallet should disappear on their own after a flight has occurred. All of the above should be the standard for an airline’s app, excluding the WiFi and Entertainment all in one place.

by Userzz

Seems like most people don't know how to review an app and instead review customer service issues 😄. Here's an actual app review. Been using consistently for over a year now. Used for 70+ check-ins, TSA points, and boarding. App is reliable, updates changes in flight information quickly, sometimes even before the pilot has informed passengers. A recent update broke the "clear expired passes" feature which was useful as I am a frequent flyer that uses iOS's wallet feature a lot. Using AmericanAirlines for in-flight entertainment is quite atrocious. UI loops that bring you back to square one and very infrequent experiences without glitches. Most of the time it just plain doesn't work. Maybe it's the plane's servers, but c'mon...WestJet got it right, why can't American!? The most recent update killed compatibility with iOS 9. Yeah, I should update, I get it. But really, how hard is legacy support?

by Pscoulter

I’ve recently switched to flying primarily American based on the routes I fly most. Especially after reaching Gold status, when more things opened up in AmericanAirlines , AmericanAirlines experience has continued to improve. I love that I can now book my main cabin flight using my corporate card and then pay to upgrade to first using my personal card. The only issue that I run into consistently is that when I pay to upgrade my flight, I always have to re-enter my card details. The UI suggests that I should be able to use a card on file, but none of my payment methods are listed. Fixing this would make upgrading a snap!

by TBGothard

Of all the airlines I fly in the US and even abroad, the American app is the best to me. It rarely glitches on my device. I am able to book paid and award tickets. Check-in, change seats, request upgrades, and navigate the airport. The airport maps help when I have to quickly make a connection but need to coordinate a quick food or rest stop before deplaning. Push notifications work well and the travel advisories on the home screen have helped me with rebooking/cancelling travel on more than one occasion.

I would like to see the upgrade list view come available sooner than like 2 hours before departure and have the ability to download airport maps to my device. Sometimes when traveling internationally my data signal is not great so I can’t view the airport apps unless on WiFi.

Also, when using the onboard entertainment feature you have to have AmericanAirlines plus it opens a window or two in safari to bring the entertainment up. I wish AmericanAirlines could coordinate all the flow of the entertainment more smoothly.