Over the last few years I've experienced unbearable frustration when dealing with American Airlines, but this weekend I experienced the worst, the rudest and the most unfriendly service from this airline that I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing.
If American Airline dare request a bailout from taxpayer money I will campaign hard and do whatever I can to ensure they receive no such assistance ... this company deserves what they get!
I wanted to fly from Los Angeles to New York - so I thought why not fly American Airlines (AA) and upgrade my coach tickets to First Class using the huge number of Advantage Miles that I've earned.
I called AA and asked which flight I should book that had an available allocation of upgradable seats. The representative told me the flight number, suggested I book it, and then call back to their Advantage program to have my reservation upgraded - the cost would be an additional $50 per ticket.
So I duly made my booking online for the flight suggested and thereafter called their Advantage Program number as advised.
To my surprise the representative on the phone said I needed to wait 48 hours to do the upgrade, unless I paid a premium of $20 per ticker to do it immediately. This sounded ridiculous so I demanded to speak to a Supervisor. After a 10 minute wait a supervisor came onto the line and repeated the nonsense about the $20 fee to arrange the upgrade immediately. I informed her that I had been told I could arrange the upgrade after simply making my reservation and paying for it online. I was quite persistent.
The supervisor returned to the phone, claiming "the rules" changed while she was on vacation and that she could in fact arrange the upgrade immediately, at no extra charge.
The bottom line is that AA is nickle-and-dimming their customers while at the same time destryoing any goodwill established by the company.
After dealing with Virgin America - Richard Branson's American version of Virgin Airlines - one cannot help notice the huge difference in their business ethic. Virgin strives to earn your business. They go out of their way to gain your patronage - whereas American thinks it's their right to have you as a customer.
Unless there is a major change in the way AA treats their clients, this airline will surely fail.
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