American Airlines kinda-fail
I am traveling on my usually favorite Airline; and of course everyone knows that they are suffering, right? And yes, the flight to L.A. is ridiculously inexpensive. But still, let’s say these raised my eyebrows:
- When I checked in, I looked at the seat assignment chart and there were no free seats (I wanted to switch to an aisle seat.) Over the P.A. they said, more than once, that the plane was totally totally full. Yet when the doors closed, there were at least 8 empty seats visible to me from where I was sitting, including two whole rows. Don’t they have, like, computers, to keep track of who is on the plane and how many seats it has?
- They don’t serve food on the plane anymore. Ok, cost cutting measure. And they say, on the web site, on the signs and in the booklets that there is food for sale on board. Why is it that they ran out of any kind of food for sale before they were even half through the rows? I mean, don’t they have any idea what percentage of people are going to order some food?
- Oh, and do they assume that most people don’t have a suitcase that they have to check? Even the first checked bag is $20 extra. Next they are going to charge extra if you actually want to use the bathroom or perhaps for oxygen.
What, I should be grateful that they fly Boston to L.A. at all?
Popularity: 11% [?]
October 26th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Pito, my recent JetBlue experience was similar, but with a happy ending. JetBlue charges for the first checked bag, just like American. Here’s the kicker: want a blanket or a pillow? $6.50, credit cards only, if they have any, and if they offer you one.
The happy ending: my flight’s take-off was delayed by an hour. It arrived only a half hour late, but they gave me a $25 credit for my next flight. Not bad, considering I wasn’t even put off by the half hour arrival delay.