Another foray into the realm of endless wonder that is air travel within the United States...
This was my first time flying with American for the thick end of twenty years and that was in economy. Overall, the experience was mixed and, sadly, the overwhelming impression is of a company staffed by people who, for the most part, don't really care about customers.
The first class check-in counter we used at Miami was staffed by two ladies who made it quite clear that the few of us waiting for service were really messing up their day. During the check-in process, our agent would break of talking with us, mid-sentence, to resume a conversation, in Spanish, with a colleague. Were they talking about some issue realted to the flight? Judging by the tone, doubtful. Were they talking about us? Who knows - either way it's rude.
Unlike US Airways, American Airlines is gracious enough to grant lounge access to passegners carrying a First Class ticket. Indeed, the receptionist even issued us with two vouchers for alcoholic beverages and a Wi-Fi log-in. The lounge was reasonably comfortable, although busy. There were soft drinks and an assortment of bar snacks available for free, as well as hot food for purchase. We ordered the quesadillas which, fair play to AA, were actually pretty tasty, if not the most wholesome snack. Obviously, if this were the business class lounge at a key hub for most major European or Asian airlines, all food and drink would be complimentary, but we've all learnt to reduce our expectations on that score when in North America.
My main grip about the lounge is flight information. There are no announcements, which is fine, but there is also a distinct lack of screens. The only departure screen I found was near the entrance and, thanks to the layout, completely invisible from any of the seats. Given the number of weather-related delays that were occuring, the regular jaunt back and forth to check on the latest estimated departure time went some way to burning off the cheesy quesadilla.
Eventually we headed to the gate, only to spend another 45 minutes hanging around as the odd vague announcement was made about thunderstorms in Dallas.
Aboard, the seat is decent, certainly better than intra-European business class, but there's no pre-departure beverage service; one area where Virgin America, who are now making tentative inroads into AA's Texas hub, have them soundly beaten.
There was a drink service after take-off, then a reasonable salad for lunch, but little else in the way of service. We did secure another round of drinks, but it took something of an effort to grab anyone's attention.
After touchdown I remarked to the other half that there seemed to be a remarkable number of aircraft waiting to take off - more fool me. At that point, the pilot informed us all that, due to an earlier storm, there were no parking stands free, so we would be waiting on the tarmac for a couple of hours. Honestly, when I've read US news stories about tarmac delays I assumed they were a myth, now I can see why consumer groups are so exercised about them. The situation, particularly for those sitting in economy with screaming children, might have been amerliorated to some degree if anybody had bothered to offer a glass of water, but such small considerations are not, it seems, part of American's staff training.
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