Manchester to Manchester via London, Miami, Guatemamla and Raleigh - Updated
Written: Jun 13 '05 (Updated Jul 27 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: network into South America and 34" transatlantic legroom
Cons: food, service, inflight entertainment, staff, everthing really
The Bottom Line: way of the pace in every way - a necessary evil and that is why i use them
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| silwood's Full Review: American Airlines |
Updated portion:
Following on from this disaster of a trip on AA i decided to complain to the customer services via their web site aa.com. At the same time i complained to BA about the lack of staff at flight connections at Heathrow. the outcome is below and says much about the 2 airlines!
American: complained about inedible food, poor service, unhelpfull staff etc - i have yet to recieve a reply to this complaint directly from anyone other than the normal auto reply that you get. i complained directly upon my return to the UK now 8 weeks ago.
BA: complained at the same time as to AA, directly upon my return! within 3 hours i had a personal email from BA directed to myself - outlining the issues at flight connections on the day, taking my suggestions of automatic check in machines on board and hoping that it had not put me of from flying BA in the future! The luggage issue was also explained in detail as to what happened with my bags and what was done with it - section by section with a full outline of flight numbers and times! the fault was AA who had not checked my bags in correctly at Raleigh - what a suprise!
Just to think that at one point BA and AA were trying to merge - thank you UK competition commision and the EU for preventing this as it would have been a total unmitigated horror and the demise of the best airline i have travelled on for customer serive!
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Original review
This is my 5th or 6th flight on AA in the past 2 years. All in the South America and all Via Miami, as this route was not new to me and seeing as i had had no problems on the previous trips i was expecting more of the same, how wrong can a person be!
Route taken was as follows with Airlines included!
Manchester - London : BA
London - Miami - Guatemala : AA
Guatemala - Miami - Raleigh :AA
Raleigh - Miami - London: AA
London - Manchester : BA
I will take each section in term and then sum up at the end.
Manchester - London: Long live BA, check in was very smooth and even though my travel agent had booked the most complicated tickets i have seen to save me some money they managed to get my bags checked through to Guatemala with no issue, very good staff at manchester and speedy service. Had to go via Flight connections at Heathrow and at 8am in the morning it was empty (more on flight connections at peak time later for the return leg). Great service on board with a welcome hot breakfast sandwich with was much appreciated. Collected and boarding card for Miami - guatemala leg at flight connections and staff for AA were helpfull and speedy!
London - Miami - Guatemala
Flight left on time with no issues, quickly boarded but full flight! this is about all i can compliment AA on for this flight. I have travelled onthis airline for years and it is getting wosre by the year. the only reason i use them is because of the 34" leg room that they have in economy. So the negative points:
1) Food: AA it is 2005, you are on a transatlantic flight competing with Virgin and BA amongst others to Miami, you really need to improve what is on offer for food. Almost inedible chicken mess for main meal followed by microved Pizza before we landed to Miami thi is not good enough. my Advice is TAKE YOUR OWN FOOD ON AA FLIGHTS! either bring your own to the airport or go to the M&S simply food in Terminal 3 and get food there. the stuff they serve on the plane is bland, unhealthry and so full of salt that even thr cabin crew were advising us to drink plenty of water, not what you want on a flight that is goingto dehydrate you anyway.
2) inflight entertainment and magazine: Not good enough. Limited choice of films - 4 channels on a loop unlike the 12 channels of films on BA and Virgin. Magazine that is very bad, poor articales and read within 5 mins. The rest have moved on and AA have stayed put! Buy magazines and books at the airport - you will need them!
3) service: Very poor, brusk and rude staff, unwilling to help or oblige, food was thrown at us and cleared up almost as soon as we got it. AA get round this blunt attitude by saying'the cabin crew are here for safety firt' so thay are but they are also there to provide a service to the customers that have paid for ther flights! Not good enough when compared to my earlier BA flight!
Miami - Guatemala:
Please take note that you do not get food on any flights i have taken into South or central America that i have flown on AA so take your own food for this leg, again bring it with you or buy at the terminal you fly from.
Customs was as expected, long lines and slow with it, i understand the reasoning but in all honesty i doubt it is doing what they want it to - still one of those things that you need to get through.
FLight to guatemala was the same as that from london really except this time you have no real inflight entertainment, smae magazine you have read on your transatlantic flight and same CBS eye on American that you have seen - book and magazine are needed!
Ok now this is where the fun starts, get to Guatemala and my bags ar not with me!! for some reason they were put on the lfight to Chicago rather than miami, helpful staff but still took 3 days for bags to arrive via Los Angeles then back to Chicago before heading to Miami and then Guatemala. still staff were helpfull and got the bags to me in the end!
Guatemala - Miami - Raleigh
Good start for AA, good check in and flight to miami as the previous leg - again take you r food with you and a book. However, heavy rain in Miami on our way up meant were delayed landing, the strange system of having to re check baggage that has been booked to your final destination meant that even though i still had 1.30 hours from landing to take off i missed my flight. This fair enough i suppose but waht really shoked me was the total chaos at Miami airport that was all around me!
1) Collect bag to head through customs, long queues as only 2 staff worked the gates - unnacpetable give the load of passengers! unorganised staff from AA who were rude and unhelpfull - worste i have ever seen, bltantly runde to customers. Saw 2 young brother travelling alone who were no more than 6 and 10, left without the AA staff member to try and contact parents who then had to try and get them on other flights to their final destination - if i were a parent sending my children on a flight unaccopmanied i would not use AA. Anyway over night at my expense and i get to Raliegh 36 hours later!
Last legs so nearly done
Raleigh-miami-london-manchester
Ok flight nothing out of the ordinary and re enforced my realisation that this airline has been left behind byt he rest of the field. Flight back to london was as poorly served as the one out, food in fact was worse and for me unedible! Flight connection centre at heathrow was in termoil - BA please have some self service check in stations for those who need them rather than just counters with hundreds of people changing flights and tickets - it took me 3.5hours to get to a counter and i only just made my flight!
Oh and when i got to Manchester my bads were still in Miami! another 3 days of waiting to get my luggage!
Overall - a bad journy but to me it is clear how far of the pace AA is getting - my advice do not use them into states - BA, BMI, Virgin are far superior and the same proce or slightly more expensive. However to get to south America it is limited to these guys or Iberia from Europe and i dont know which is worse! 34" of legroom is good but the rest needs a major re think... they are in my mind a necessary evil and that is all
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
silwood
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Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 0 members
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