IO: American Airlines Sucks

[redkat]

Re: Re: IO: American Airlines Sucks

American is no different from any airline flying out there. The complaints in this thread humor me...you could really insert ANY airline name into all of them.

This is so true. I've had my baggage lost by all the major airlines. It's sort of a curse and I'm always shocked when my luggage does come back to me. Ipod/camera never leave me. The checked bag is just clothes and shoes misc. stuff.

I think some airports are just bad too. Like Atlanta one giant clusterfuck. I knew when I added my bag to the giant pile it had a 50/50 chance of making it on my flight.

 

[zoney!]

UPDATE for everyone but zoney...


blah, i guess nobody wants to take responsibility

No one has to take responsibility...read my first post.

 

[maycocksean]

Hate checking bags, never do it.

I wish I had that luxury.

But when you're flying from an island in the middle of the Pacific to. . .well, just about anywhere, carrying-on only is not an option.

 

[maycocksean]

Re: Re: Re: IO: American Airlines Sucks

I think some airports are just bad too.

I hate LAX. Worst airport I've been in so far.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

Re: Re: Re: IO: American Airlines Sucks

I think some airports are just bad too. Like Atlanta one giant clusterfuck. I knew when I added my bag to the giant pile it had a 50/50 chance of making it on my flight.

Atlanta's airport is the worst.

 

[RedRocksU2]

Re: Re: Re: Re: IO: American Airlines Sucks

I hate LAX. Worst airport I've been in so far.

Yep.



I love Ontario International in California.

 

[LMP]

Re: Re: Re: Re: IO: American Airlines Sucks

Atlanta's airport is the worst.

 

[Babydoll]

I agree that LAX is pretty nasty... had some bad experiences there. JFK in NY is nice though....

 

[U2Girl416]

I'll take Midway over O'hare any day here.

 

[anitram]

Charles de Gaulle is the worst airport I've been in. By far.

On the way in, they shepherded us into a small building (people were literally squeezed by the sliding doors), with about 2 more plane loads behind. Then they decided they didn't have time to actually look at all our passports and opened the floodgates, so we entered France without having our passports stamped. Since this was my first stop in Europe, it haunted me the remainder of the summer when every, and I mean EVERY single border guard demanded to know where and how I entered Europe.

I also had the misfortune of flying out of there once. The procedure was like this:

- Line up to have passport checked (by a woman who spoke no English - mercifully my French is decent)

- Then line up for the check in counter, where....you guessed it, your passport was checked again. This process was so slow that I only got to the counter when it was actually boarding time.

- Then line up at the baggage check in...with every other freaking passenger in the terminal. By the time I actually checked my bags, it was actually flight take-off time.

- Oh, but it didn't end there. One of my friends was told she could not check in her backpack in THIS line, because it was only for "hard" luggage. She was directed to yet another line for "soft" luggage. Where she waited another 20 minutes at least.

Needless to say, we were very late arriving. Never again, I say. NEVER! I'll go to Heathrow, where I've never had a problem. Or Gatwick or Frankfurt or Schiphol. But not de Gaulle again. Under any circumstances.

 

[maycocksean]

Charles de Gaulle is the worst airport I've been in.

Oh but it looks so COOL on the cover of that album All That You--

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

^ That's living dangerously, my friend.

 

[zonelistener]

the ATC system SUCKS!

avoid india and italy too.

I am hating the Philly airport this summer!

 

[Varitek]

BA lost a bag of mine once and returned it with a paint-like stain on the outside. Air France once returned my mom's and sister's lost bags at 2am after calling at 7pm the previous evening to say the bags would be there shortly.

Anyway, I use the little tsa combination locks whenever I check bags. Not totally fool proof, but I think only TSA security and not normal airline employees can get in. That's the only constructive thing I have to say and it doesn't really help you...sorry.

 

[Varitek]

Re: the ATC system SUCKS!

I am hating the Philly airport this summer!

uh-oh, I fly in and out of there during the school year...what's wrong?


Oh and I never, ever check my electronics, nor my chargers if I can get away with it. Things that always stay with me unless they are too large to carry on:
electronics
chargers
medicine/contacts/glasses
anything worth anything sentimentally or in $ value

 

[maycocksean]

^ That's living dangerously, my friend.

 

[anitram]

I flew first class a couple of times. Didn't have to check in my luggage (as they had a compartment in the plane for it). That was truly the best flying experience I had.

 

[Varitek]

hmm worst airport debate. I'm gonna go with a tie between Accra, Ghana and Kampala, Uganda. The arrivals sections of both look like bomb shelters, and while Ghana's departures section has some really glitzy duty free shopping and an overpriced tiki bar, their security is pretty much the worst ever, they just let a friend of mine in a military uniform with his gun walk through passport control and practically onto the tarmac. Then again, at the airport in Lagos, they throw all the bags in a pile outside, totally unattended, and don't put them on the plane unless you happen to know (no announcements or signs) that you have to personally go move your bag from the random pile to the pile for your flight.

 

[zonelistener]

Oh and I never, ever check my electronics, nor my chargers if I can get away with it. Things that always stay with me unless they are too large to carry on:
electronics
chargers
medicine/contacts/glasses
anything worth anything sentimentally or in $ value

Nothing is worse than hearing someone say "But I have my very important medication and/or my car/house keys in that bag (that did not arrive with me at my final destination)."

HEY, PEOPLE. DON'T BE SO STUPID. CARRY ON THE IMPORTANT STUFF THAT YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY NEED WHEN YOU GET OFF THE PLANE!

Then again, at the airport in Lagos, they throw all the bags in a pile outside, totally unattended, and don't put them on the plane unless you happen to know (no announcements or signs) that you have to personally go move your bag from the random pile to the pile for your flight.

I think US Airways just started using this concept in Philly.



I have been on assignment at the Philadelphia Airport this whole summer. I SWEAR this place was built on an indian burial ground or something. That or it was built on Murphy's Law. If soimething can go wrong....it will. I have worked in a number of large and small airports and I have never seen so many crazy things happen. And I am not even going to talk about the delays (yesterday downright SUCKED).

 

[BonosBaby12]

Philly has treated me rather decently this summer. Considering myself VERY lucky since I have seen so many others get screwed over there. When my bf came for my father's funeral in June he got delayed in Philly for the longest time when he went to leave. Ended up not getting back home to Chicago till around 4:30am the next morning.

As for airlines Southwest is #1 choice. The lining up sucks but like Zoney I find the back of the plane to be less crowded. Northwest was pretty good too when I flew them. Reached each destination on time and had no problems with checking baggage.

 

[LiLJennie]

Did you fly out of a NYC airport?


If not, don't do it....


Me: La Guardia...JFK.... camp out over night... both times.....

La Guardia lost my bags....

don't blame the airlines completely.... the airports have to take some of it too.

My last trip back from Berlin was a nightmare....I get to JFK just fine....

getting out of that f***ing city is a different story,,,,

there is worse weather in other cities...but then yet I have never had been stranded at any other city than New York..



any advice I can give you is to be sure you get traveler's insurance.... especially if it is a big trip to Europe, Asia, etc...ya know.. a trip of a lifetime thing...

most insurance will cover costs of airfare (remember the the thing with Australia, Japan and Hawaii re: the Vertigo Tour?) and lost luggage.... look into it. If you pay a crap load of money for a trip, you want to be covered if things go wrong...


and of course...you want to be sure you have the important stuff like meds, extra underpants, toiletries, booze money etc...to get you by until your either insurance kicks through or the airline gets their heads out of their asses.

 

[Carek1230]

and of course...you want to be sure you have the important stuff like meds, extra underpants, toiletries, booze money etc...to get you by until your either insurance kicks through or the airline gets their heads out of their asses.

Amen to that!!