American Airlines

piscesgirl0314 · Post by **piscesgirl0314** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:36 pm

Hi everyone...We normally fly with USAir but their flights are ridiculously expensive right now. American actually has flights that are $150.00 less than USAir and Delta. Anything I should know about flying AA before I book? Any input would be greatly appreciated...btw...not sure how everyones weather is today but its about 70 in VA Beach...BEAUTIFUL day...hope yours is as well...

ToonMann · Post by **ToonMann** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:58 pm

We've traveled on American for many years and we feel they've earned our loyalty.

Last month, when my wife and I were on St. John, she decided she could stay another few days. We called American with her request, and even though we were traveling on frequent flier miles, they changed her return flight, at no cost.

We are both Aadvantage Gold members, which allows us to avoid charges for checked bags, check in for flights in the First Class line, and board before others in Coach class.

Great service to the Caribbean.

TM

rpplano · Post by **rpplano** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:54 pm

Since we fly out of DFW, AA has become an almost monopoly over the years. However, they still have given good service overall. I'd rate them top 2-3. Southwest is the best, but they don't always fly where I want to be.

CassieBelle · Post by **CassieBelle** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:34 pm

Friends and I headed that way in May and I looked at every air posibility on the planet (from everytown within a 8 hour drive to this airline for this and this arline to there, etc.) For us AA was right under $600 and EVERYthing else was over $800..Of course, I live in AR where we do NOT have an international airport...We will be heading thru DFW also..Anyway, trends looking that prices will not be going down, so we booked. I don't care what it cost...Just get me there...

jayseadee · Post by **jayseadee** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:09 pm

We fly AA BOS to STT due to best schedule and most FF miles.

If you are booking far in advance, keep checking your itinerary. They will make several changes, but eventually lock it down ~90 days out.

I have had some very inconvenient changes/layovers, but they have always fixed it for me.

AquaGirl · Post by **AquaGirl** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 8:25 pm

We have traveled on AA for years, using FF miles, and flown to many Caribbean islands. They used to have a hub in San Juan, where we would pick up the smaller planes (American Eagle) to the islands. We could always reach our destination somewhere between 2-4pm. We've never had any issues and would continue to use them if the schedule works out to where we want to go.

CassieBelle · Post by **CassieBelle** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:04 pm

76 Days out now- Hooray!!! I have prior heard some bad things about AA thru DFW...Glad to hear the positive on this post. May the travel God smile upon us all!

dannyboy · Post by **dannyboy** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:52 pm

We are flying AA out of National on 2/24 and my daughter is driving up from Va Beach to join us. AA was by far the most reasonable and we've flown them several times with no problems!

piscesgirl0314 · Post by **piscesgirl0314** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:48 am

THANK YOU ALL so much for your input. Made my decision to book with them much easier...Have a great day!

stjchica · Post by **stjchica** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:24 pm

I am from DFW as well, so American has always had my loyalty..Flew Southwest for the first time, and really loved them..but they don't fly to the islands

I would feel confident booking American..have a great time~

BRY1105 · Post by **BRY1105** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:36 pm

Flew with Delta last trip and everything went fine, but based on all the great comments, I may consideer AA next time as well.

suzanna945 · Post by **suzanna945** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 8:11 am

ToonMann wrote:We've traveled on American for many years and we feel they've earned our loyalty.

Last month, when my wife and I were on St. John, she decided she could stay another few days. We called American with her request, and even though we were traveling on frequent flier miles, they changed her return flight, at no cost.

We are both Aadvantage Gold members, which allows us to avoid charges for checked bags, check in for flights in the First Class line, and board before others in Coach class.

Great service to the Caribbean.

TM

Interesting! We tried that with Delta Airlines when we were last on St. John, and they wanted hundreds more per ticket when I asked to extend the trip and fly out 2 or 3 days later.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:21 am

We have always flown AA since John obtained gold status with them. I get automatically upgraded with him as a companion even though I do not have status. Free bags (which for us can be a bad thing), first class check in line, priority tagged bags off the plane (which only seems to work sometimes), and he uses his miles to upgrade us to business class. They have the most flights to the Caribbean from here, and I think the only direct flight, though I am not 100% on that.

We did look into extending our stay the other day, but could not do it for a reasonable charge. They have waived the change fees and fare increases when he is traveling internationally, but I guess they don't consider the USVI international for that purpose? Or maybe it depends on how much lead time you give them. We didn't start looking into it until about 14 hours before our flight was scheduled to leave!

surfnh · Post by **surfnh** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:47 am

I've been chairman level on USAir for many years, and they really treat me nice, similar to whats been mentioned above....can't argue with that, big customers get great privileges.

Be that as it may, they still charge me for an itinerary change if I've paid for my tickets. If I'm flying on frequent flyer miles, I can change our itineraries without a charge, no problem.

The problem with flying on USAir frequent flyer miles is they don't give automatic first class upgrades. This was a program change about four years ago. But, if I pay for tickets, my wife and I can get upgraded for free. So that's the trade off....fly for free, then go in coach.... or pay for coach and fly in first.

So basically we try to save the frequent flyer miles for when really needed (whole family going), and we'll pay for the flights if the prices are good.

piscesgirl0314 · Post by **piscesgirl0314** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:46 pm

SO much great information from all of you. I feel really good about our decision to book with AA.
Thanks again!

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