American Airlines has many old and shabby looking airplanes. Gate personnel and flight attendants are often rude and unhelpful. There has been serious questions about their maintenance practices. Fly American only as a very last resort.

Yikes. GHETTO.

Tired planes, tired and nasty cabin crew, and an attitude that an airline should only do the minimum required.

This airline is particularly awful if you travel with children, as they only have 1 bassinet per flight (on long-haul flights; none on domestic flights). It's first come first served, so if the bassinet has gone your child will be on your lap for 12 hours.

I'm a member of their AAdvantage frequent flier program, and I have tons of miles. But I never end up using them because when it comes down to award travel, other airlines have better times, blackout dates, and service

I fly American often and am a member of their AAAdvante mileage program. The mileage program is nice and they offer you all sorts of ways to earn miles for a flight. It's around 25,000 miles for a flight so it does take a while to accumulate them unless you fly a ton. But, if you don't acquire that many miles, they offer you other options to redeem them on. Like magazines and even gift cards for amazon.com. As far as flying with American, it's kind of unremarkable. Never great, never horrible. Flight attendants seem pleasant and the flights always seem to go smoothly. I've never had a problem with them.

The worse airline, it rates up there with Jamaica. I flew first class, was delayed an hour for maintainence, missed my connector, put me in a dump of a hotel, told me they called for a transfer to the hotel and did not. I will never fly them again.

My family traveled on AA in the summer of 2004 from Birmingham, AL to Jackson Hole, WY, via Dallas/Ft. Worth, and return. The gate agent, security personnal, and flight crew were very nice and helped everyone. In Dallas, AA's employees were once again nice and helped us, since this was our first trip on AA and to DFW. On the flight to Jackson Hole, however, the flight crew had their things in our seats! What were they thinking? After removing their things, we had our seats. The rest of the flight was fine. Jackson Hole's AA's employees were HORRIBLE. Check-in was super long and premium passengers were treated like "royality." At the gate, the gate agents "pushed" passengers out of the way, so the first class cabin could board. First class is not everything! The flight crew on the DFW bound flight were mean and did not act like they enjoyed their job. The BHM bound flight was delayed; however, no announcements or anything were made. The flight crew did not offer passengers any refills on beverages, despite being a full flight. AA needs to clear up their employees' attitudes. The employees need to stop treating first class passengers like "they own the place."

American Air is absolutely the worst airline I've been on. I've used them for domestic and for international flights. They are rude, skimpy and hard to deal with, changing plans is like a nightmare with them. In Chicago 2005 I had the worst experience in my life becuase i missed a flight due to a gate change, didn't get there on time, and when I went to fix my ticket for another flight they didn't care, said i had to buy a new ticket, (like I have $2000 pocket change to buy a new ticket!) I was on my way to Kenya. anyhow, the attendants were mean, and rude, every single one of them!! I found a guy to help me, becuase he said he was quitting, didn't care much about the job that changed my flights, etc.. helped me out tremedously and since then I've never used AA. I use Northwest now for this side.

American Air should be ashamed of themselves for the way they treat people. I've seen them kick people off planes due to overbooking, when they paid like everyone else. They are sickening.

They owe me for a lot of time, stress, lost baggage, they never paid me. Some they have, but it's a nuisance

I would normally never make the effort to comment on an airline but I feel I have reached the point in which I must comment.

AA are shocking at best and should at all costs be avoided when possible. I have had too many bad experiences to list. I have flown with AA from London to Latin America via Miami on three occassions this year alone(my employer chose the carrier) and the experience was unpleasant each time.The staff were uncopperative, unfriendly and abrupt with the airline overall lacking class.

SO NEVER AGAIN.

Let’s see LAX airport Aug 3^rd 2.30pm board (overbooked) flight to HNL.Due to take off at 3.15pm.3.00pm hostess comes on loud speaker stating we all have to leave the plane as a food cart hit it and it now needs to be taken out of service. 3.00pm-5.45pm total chaos as AA staff try to convince people to surrender their seats as the new plane is much smaller than the original. Not many people give up seats so staff become very aggressive calling people’s names once then cancelling them off the flight if you don’t answer with in .0000005 of a second. No communication what so ever occurs between staff and customers. No one knows what is going on. People are tired and hungry and too afraid the leave the gate incase their name is called and the plane takes off.5.45pm I go to board but my pass in invalid, 5.50pm I board the plane and await my 3 freinds.6pm 2 freinds made it the other was bumped despite his pleas to the counter staff who claims he called his name 6 times when it was only once and he responded immediately.6.45pm plane takes off 3.5 hours late.Pilot and staff on plane very apologetic but friend is still in LAX-we arrive in HNL at 9pm even though we should have arrived at 6pm.Too tired for even food we go to our hotel and sleep.Our friend finally arrives at 1am in the morning!NEVER AGAIN!

Flights are almost always delayed or late. Pure customer service at best and they take no accountablility for their own mistakes

Ive only flown with them for two international flights, but I was very pleased with them.

I've flown with them 3 times in the past couple of years and they were never on time.  The employees are underpaid and frustrated so they don't care about travelers. Don't expect your luggage to make it to your destination.

We spent 1.5 hours in line at Boston's Logan Airport with our two young granddaughters, who were flying home as Unaccompanied Minors. We were there 2 1/2 hours before flight time. As we waited, the attendants kept bringing forward late arrivals for flights leaving earlier. At the ticket counter, only three people were actively working on our line--the "self-checkin" counters had five people working! (Unfortnately, the type of tickets we had did not qualify for self check in.) When one of our three people got hung up with one customer for almost an hour, no one else was brought in to help the rest of us. The at-airport service is intolerably slow and totally chaotic.

Beware of American Airlines. I purchased assigned seating for my elderly parents when they came out to visit me in Albuquerque last week. On the way back they had to stop over in Dallas before ending the trip in Chicago. My mom is 82 and my dad is 84. They arrived in plenty of time for the connecting flight. When they presented their tickets at the American Airline counter they were told, sorry, the flight is full. Youll have to take a later flight.
What happened to their seats? Everyone please be aware that purchasing assigned seats from American Airlines does not mean anything. It seems to be kind of a cruel joke.
My parents were then sent walking across the Dallas airport to different terminals not once, but twice. They also had to locate and ride those airport shuttle trains twice. My mom is 82 and my dad is 84. Why were they not offered a ride?
What are the American Airlines people thinking? Who ended up in seats 21D and 21E?
Before this happened my parents were talking about coming out next Christmas for a visit. Now, not only are they not coming for a visit buy they told me that they will never again for any reason fly on any plane. They arrived home very late, exhausted, upset and very stressed. What if all this stress had caused a heart attack, or stroke? My parents are not hikers.
Please be aware of all of these possibilities before you put any loved ones into the hands of this airline.

Bring a copy of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" with you. . .by the time Jean Valjean is fighting in the streets with Marius hundreds of pages later, your plane will be boarding. . .

American Airlines does so much that reveals their true attitude: It's all about us. For one thing, I don't know if I'll ever forgive American for monopolizing DFW and driving the prices through the roof during the Wright Amendment years. The way they no longer even give a bag of peanuts or snack mix to their coach customers reinforce the comments made by the CEO that the days of good fares, etc., are over and customers need to get over it. What a creep. They're so cheap and, especialy in the CEO's case, obnoxious. Then I had an encounter with a flight attendant very recently (I know; I caved and flew with them) where the FA acted like I was cheap because I didn't want to buy a $2 bottle of water from her. Sooo rude. I will say, though, that I've had good experiences with their phone-in customer service. I got through quickly and received the help I needed. If only JetBlue would be allowed into DFW. For now, AA and SWA have decided to share the Dallas area and not let new competition in. Oh well. At least the air fares have dropped by 50% since the Wright Amendment opened up.

2007 UPDATE: One star downgrade. Much has changed in a year. Let's put it this way. Everyone else is worse..including Southwest!! PROS: Probably the most caring and professional {US based, not outsourced!} reservation staff in the industry. They speak English [update: although they are beginnning to hire a lot of foreigners on H1B visas who are barely understandable!] and are actually educated, and yes they can say something besides "no" to a justified exception to a rule. [Just try that with any other airline.] Although that may change if the company starts laying off experience in favor of cheeeep dumb labor!!!! [It seems they have now. See updates throughout..] PROS: They'll get you where you're going, which is all they are supposed to do according to the Conditions of Carriage, yet when I fly, people are continually bellyaching about the stupidest things that don't come with the ticket.. Methinks the travelling public has been spoiled rotten. CONS: Flight attendants are legendary for their laziness. 50-50 chance you'll get a pre-departure drink in First Class, even though it is a service requirement. Same goes for a second beverage service or refill in coach, even on 2.5 hr flights.  CONS: Most of their baggage folk and many ticket counter agents are outsourced which is where most of the complaints arise...pilfered and lost bags, lost kids, etc. Downgrade one star for this company becoming much more bottom-line oriented of late. They talk a good "customer service" talk, but they don't walk the walk. The CEO and corporate underlings care only about the bottom line [short staffing ticket counters, removing meals even on long flights], have continued to stick the screws into their employees [which leads to worse service], while continuing to draw millions in bonuses etc for themselves. The company has been turned around financially on the backs of their employee slaves who have taken major pay and benefit cuts since 9-11, especially the core group in reservations, which as I stated earlier are among the most professional in the industry..or..were...they've reduced training and have begun hiring folks with no benefits and a high turnover rate, hoping their experienced people leave. Bad move Arpey. You don't generate revenue, your people do.

Unfortunately there is little other choice since the alternatives like DL, who have outsourced their reservations to India, are much much worse. Treason is the word which comes to mind to describe corporations who screw the American worrker in favor of cheap foreign labor. 

P.S. Continental has the best flight attendants and has always been one of those quiet dependable airlines. I like them. Give them a try if you want an alternative to American because CO is the only alternative. 

worst customer service. they charge you with all kind of fines. No good flight. Flights are always delayed. Dirty old flights and seats. Worst customer service.Dont every try it. its shit kind of airlines.

Extremely poor customer service skills. Rude flight attendants. On 2 different flights, the FA's were discussing their wages. Sat on tarmac for 3 hours, FA's refused to serve us coffee or soda, but did offer cup of water. If they wanted us to feel like prisoners, they got the job done. I won't be back.

We had a laptop stolen on our vacation. When we called AA the first comment was "we don't cover it", followed by, "you shouldn't have had it in your bag". We have had to call over 30 times to even speak with a person, they do not return phone calls and when they finally did they were extremely unhelpful and rude. we have now sent two e mails regarding our customer service issues and no one has contacted us.

I've flown AA to numerous destinations--never had a problem. The flight crew are usually very hospitable--have had some great conversations with them especially the Los Angeles based crew--they are the best! DFW based crew are a close second. AA have never cancelled flighs on me or lost my luggage. There were a few incidents where I checked-in for my flight too late and my luggage didn't make the flight. They always ensured my luggage was on the next flight and at my front door that same day. I have nothing but good experiences with this airline. I hope it remains that way.

flight delays was not even announced, did not even provide any light snacks (5 cents peanuts) on a 4.5 hour flight. Flight attendants did not care and were not very helpful.

People need to accept domestic travel for what it is: transport from one city to another. The sooner they stop expecting luxury accomodations for dirt-cheap prices and learn to live with pedestrian accoutrements, they will be much more appreciative of AA's timeliness and extra few inches of leg room. Always a pleasure.

GROUND CREW WORKED GREAT LEFT GATE ON TIME AND I HAD MY BAGS WHEN I ARRIVED. FLIGHT CREW, RUDE, NASTY, LOUD AND TALKED BAD ABOUT PASSENGERS AS WE LEFT THE PLANE. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL, LACKING CLASS.... SO TO SPEAK OF.

GROUND CREW WORKED GREAT LEFT GATE ON TIME AND I HAD MY BAGS WHEN I ARRIVED. FLIGHT CREW, RUDE, NASTY, LOUD AND TALKED BAD ABOUT PASSENGERS AS WE LEFT THE PLANE. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL, LACKING CLASS SO TO SPEAK OF.

Terrible airline, as one reviewer said, the flight crew can be uncaring, snotty and annoying, and for some reason, I never meet friendly passengers on an AA flight. The food is ok, the lunch bags I mean, I suppose it's better than military MRE's. I wouldn't shed tears if it went bankrupt.

AA lost my child. She is 11 years old and flew with an AA escort. They lost her, did not put her on a flight 4 times, and then they said sorry, the agents didn't do their job. She was required to stay alone, with a stranger (escort) overnight in the Dallas Ft. Worth Airport. Her ordeal took her 20 hours to get from Ontario, CA to Ft. Smith, AK. She is traumatized. I strongly urge parents to NOT LET THEIR KIDS FLY ALONE ON AMERICAN AIRLINES!

Pros: largest route network within US, worldwide partners and frequent flyer benefits Cons: cramped seating (more room is no more), no complimentary meals on US domestic flights, Dallas hub is a mess

a lot needs to be done

Over the last couple of years, several business trips with AA to the East Coast and one to Frankfurt. I remember one nice perk, More Room Throughout Coach extra legroom on their many 767s. That really made a difference comfort-wise, especially to Europe. Unfortunately they're getting RID OF IT! Which leaves us with a mediocre, bloated airline with shabby planes and hubs (ORD, DFW) more crowded and dirty than the norm - they look like Greyhound terminals. And when you get delayed, that matters. AA sucks.

No really bad experiences with the largest airline in the world---American Eagle is a small jet I've flown a few times and encountering an air pocket on one of those planes is a stomach-turning experience. Also, they use Dallas as a hub, so you can expect your usual choppy flight (see my comments about Continental). But no real problems with American---yet.

Them, along with United, are forever on my No-Fly list.

American used to be America's premiere airline. Now first class means a meal-less flight in a worn dirty seat without a footrest, video display, hot towel, or high speed internet.

Their flight crew tend to be very arrogant and rude. I had a flight attendant snap at me when I asked what the salmon dish was...she gave me a snotty answer and gave me the food...which I might add...wasn't even salmon!

I would have to say AA is probably the largest airline in the world. They have modern aircraft and keep things clean, but it still isnt magnificent. For international flying I personally like to fly on european airlines ( if at all possible). But if you live in an AA hub than i guess thats who you probably will fly with.

Horrible lines at the airports for check-in, even at curb side. Flight schedules are often changed or not on time. Rude employees (I've actually watched flight attendants toss the brown bags that they call food into passenger's laps as they go quickly up the isle with the cart. More room? NO! Crowded and dirty. First Class is not much better - Rude stewards, dirty bathrooms and seats, lousey and minimal food (just try getting water out of these people), uncomfortable seats. I fly American ONLY when it's the absolutely only flight I can find. Their pricing is very good....but so are other airlines.

My first flying experience was last year, from Glasgow (UK) to Newark. We had to go on a small British Airways plane to London before the American Airlines to the States. The BA plane was quite cramped and low-budget (although the food and service was good), and I thought I'd have trouble if the 7-hour flight by AA was going to have such little legroom, me being 6ft tall. I was happy to learn that AA was known for having a lot of legroom for their passengers on all classes, and even happier when I was surprisingly offered the spacious seat beside the escape door (good for the legs, bad for the paranoia)! The journey consisted of a good, friendly service, with nice meals and enjoyable shows on the screen. I think we watched It Could Happen To You (starring Angelina Jolie) which wasn't to be released in the UK for some time to come. Plus some promo material for CBS like Everybody Loves Raymond. Pity the radio wasn't up to scratch - AOR isn't my thing... Overall, a great experience and I would have no problem in flying with them again in the future.

We flew American to Hawaii. The plane was dirty throughout the cabin. We had one quick sevice and never saw the flight attendants again. We didn't even get coffee. The only saving grace was that the flight was only 25% full. We could see why.

American cancelled my flight out of BWI after 2 hours of delays because "the inbound flight hit a bird and we don't have one the 'bird strike' report forms here", then put is in a cab for Dulles. They're just not getting enough competition.

Only flown American once, we had to change planes as our one had a technical problem; however they handled it pretty well. (I'd rather go late on a plane that works, than on time on a plane that doesn't!). I didn't get an upgrade, but I was happy to fly coach on a coach ticket (why do people moan about not getting something which they did not pay for and are not entitled to?). The meal was a sandwich, but that was more than I got in First Class on Delta! In summary, I flew safely, in the class I paid for on a plane that worked and got a sandwich. Why complain?

They treat Platinum fliers terrible and are misers with food, upgrades, etc. Fed up and switching airlines. 40% of their planes are looking very unkempt.

I had the worst time with American. I was flying from Evansville to Chicago to San Antonio for a conference for a conference with some people from school. They were having problems getting the cargo door to close in Evansville, so they put us on a Northwest flight to Memphis and then a flight from Memphis to San Antonio. However, they failed to confirm the Memphis to San Antonio leg. Once we get to the overcrowded Memphis airport to the Northwest counter, the lady was a completely rude. Since we were traveling with a school group (with two chaperones), we had to fly the same flight. Since the flight was overbooked, they asked passengers to give up seats for free tickets. An older couple gave up their seats and one female chaperone and a female student from the other high school took their place. Now, remember our luggage is on this plane and it's ready to leave the gate. So they got to San Antonio and checked into the hotel on time and notified them of the situation we were in. They hotel guaranteed our room due to the conflict. The lady at the counter finally told us that we'd have to the American counter to fix the problem since they screwed it up. So we march over to American and work patiently for 2 hours with the attendant to find any open flight into San Antonio. She offered to put us up in a hotel for the afternoon and give us meal vouchers. We talked her into shuttle tickets to Graceland. So we ended up in Graceland for the afternoon. Our flight left later that evening, but it was to Dallas/Fort Worth. We then had a 3 hour overlay at D/FW. We then fly to San Antonio from there and land at midnight. Then we tried to find luggage. Nobody was open. No personnel whatsoever. I picked up the emergency phone and said our luggage was missing. The airport sent someone over and we went to somekind of garage and there was our luggage. When we finally get to the hotel, they gave away one of our rooms (the one for the guys). Since the other two people got their earlier, they got the female chaperone room and the female student room. However, me and the other guy didn't have a room whatsoever. So at 1am now, our chaperone has to call other schools from Indiana to find open room. So at 2am, we finally got to sleep after being up for nearly 24 hours. It was exhausting. I refuse to fly American and Northwest!

Probably about 65% of the flights I've flown on American have been delayed or cancelled. I've missed connections, camped out at airports, the works. Several of those times I've been late due to unexplained problems (not for mechanical or weather reasons). The reason I keep going back to them, you may ask? The prices and the locations. American has pretty competitive prices on a college student budget, and they go pretty much everywhere you might want to go within North America. If I can save a lot on an airline ticket, it's worth a few hours of delay. (Sad that these are the choices, eh?) Besides, almost all airlines are plagued with the same problems as American Airlines these days. The whole airline industry needs a makeover, but American is about par. I've usually had good customer service with them. Their frequent flyer program is decent too.

I've spent 4 years flying all over the place for work and I must say that I now like American the best. They really do give you more legroom than on other airlines and it makes a huge difference. I normally order vegetarian meals and of all the airlines I've flown that serve food, American's veggie meals are the best. I had something on United that was undescribably bad. I don't even know what it was. On American it may be simple, but easily identifiable and always fresh.

In Feb.2001 I was travelling from NY to Caracas Venezuela not only they took us of 2 airplanes, they left us in the runway 3 and 4 hours on every airplane, but when they finally realized that they could not take off they left everybody in the airport without hotel, transportation etc. Forget the supervisors, a 18 hour nightmare, this people just don't care. They needed to have the airplane in Caracas for the next morning flight, and just didnt care about all pasangers until 4:00 am wasssss just to much and the crew became illegal.

Good service, but don't eat the "pancakes".

I fly American Airlines to Hawaii several times a year and enjoy their spacious seats! They do have more space between rows than other airlines. Airline employees are generally friendly and helpful. However, with the news today about flight 39 to Hawaii returning twice to SF, well, my rating may change.

I flew with American Airlines recently and was pretty impressed. Good service, our flights were all timely and smooth. Even the meal was pretty good.

Terrible customer service.

if you enjoy delays, missed connections and in general, a hostile environment, then this is the airline for you.