I could write a book on the bad experiences I have had with this airline but I will spare you and provide just a few recent highlights - or should I say "lowlights?" I only fly this Airline as the hub is in Phoenix (where I live) and I often find it to be the only option for a direct flight to where I am traveling. Although 3 or 4 stops may be more pleasant in the future! I also unrealistically keep hoping my horrible experiences are a "fluke" and the next time will SURELY be better!
So let's just ignore for a minute the fact the flights rarely leave on-time. And let's also ignore the fact that they WAY overbook flights. I used frequent flier miles to upgrade to first-class on a recent trip from Washington DC on March 22, 2016, they overbooked that too - so I ended up sitting in the last seat in the plane up against the smelly bathroom without reclining seats without ANY refund for the 25,000 miles I used to upgrade; unless the back of the plane is now "first class" which is possible. All that aside (because maybe I just had some bad luck) there is one really bad thing that cannot be ignored.
Drum roll please....the pilots are disgruntled and miserable! Two pilots overheard me talking to someone else about my "experience." They approached me afterwards and told me that it isn't just the passengers who are treated poorly...they both said the pilots are ALL MISERABLE! Since this recent trip, I have heard the same thing from other American Airlines pilots. I'm sure the flight attendants are really treated like dirt if the pilots aren't even treated well. Maybe that is why I thought I was going to die the last two landings. No joke. Worst landings of my life and I've flown everywhere. One of the landings, we had to take back off as the pilot ran out of runway, couldn't stop the plane in time and had to take back off or land us all in a river. I'm sure he was just having a bad day as he's treated so poorly. Or he just learned how to fly as all of the experienced pilots are headed to better airlines.
So, next time we all go to buckle up, take comfort in knowing that the pilots are disgruntled employees with all of our lives in their hands. Greyhound busses are suddenly an option and I'm not exactly a "bus" kind of girl.