Monday, September 28, 2009

Flying the Un-Friendly Skies

It’s time for a business travel rant. My target today is American Airlines. My company seems to love them because their fares are cheap. I can’t stand them because to a customer, it’s the little things that matter, And American just can’t seem to do any of the little things right. Or the big things, for that matter.



  • American charges for every single piece of checked luggage. Fifteen dollars for a bag containing my gym stuff, a change of clothes, and toiletries over 3 ounces.

  • These people cannot load a plane with any degree of efficiency to save their lives. Note to the gate agents: making announcements 10-15 minutes before you start boarding so non-veteran travelers know where to be will help you immensely.

  • On a related note, thanks for making me sprint through the Dallas airport, with no food or bathroom break after a 4 hour flight, so I can BARELY make my connection to a puddle-jumper with virtually no overhead bin space. All because you can't load a plane and get off the runway in Burbank on time.

  • How is a chocolate chip cookie $3? And $3 for one of those crappy vending machine cheese and cracker things? COME ON! I expect them start to charging me for my ginger ale here soon.

  • Not a single American employee I've interacted with today has been the slightest degree of pleasant. These people must hate coming in to work. If they ever travelled their own airline, I can see why.

  • They promoted their new in-flight Wi-Fi service the minute we got off the ground, but didn’t mention that it’s not free. It’s $7.95. Yet another nickel-and-dime tactic flying in the face of good customer service!

So in closing, thank you American Airlines for making a long day of travel more arduous than it needed to be, and for ensuring I would arrive at my hotel after room service cut off, having eaten nothing since breakfast. I'm sending you my Papa John's delivery bill.

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