Monday, September 10, 2007
My advice is to never, ever, if you can help it, fly American Eagle out of Waco...
I should be in Atlanta right now, at a planning meeting for the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. I'm not-- instead, I am still here in Waco.
The reason I'm not in Atlanta is because, for the fifth time this year, American Eagle airlines has failed to get me to Dallas in time for a connecting flight. Well over half of the times I have tried to fly out of Waco this year, American Eagle has been unable to perform. They have, in just the past several months, left me overnight in Dallas, abandoned me in Killeen with no way to get back to my car in Waco, and cancelled consecutive flights even when the weather has been fine. Airlines have lousy customer service these days, but American Eagle is the absolute pits.
My advice to those of you who are traveling to interviews or other things is to just not fly American Eagle, because there is a very good chance they will not get you there. They claim, of course, that the problem is usually "weather," but that is only a small part of the problem. The bigger underlying problem is that American Eagle has fewer planes than they used to, so if one has a problem there is not another one available (and they seem to be having lots of problems). Also, they have cut back on flight staff, and predictably the lack of staffing also is causing delays. Even now that the problems these decisions cause have become clear, they have not been fixed. The people who work at the airport for American are doing their best-- the problem is the choices made at the corporate level.
So, what should you do to avoid flying American Eagle out of Waco? Here are some suggestions:
1) Fly Southwest. You will have to drive to Austin or Love Field in Dallas, but Southwest has an excellent on-time record. Apparently, it seems, the weather at Love Field is much better than at DFW.
2) Fly Contintental out of Waco. Though they have had some problems, too, the disgruntled crowds at the Waco Airport are usually disgruntled at American.
3) Drive to Austin or Dallas and fly on JetBlue or Frontier. If you are used to flying American, you will be surprised at how good the service is on these two smaller airlines. Jetblue flies out of Austin, while Frontier flies out of DFW.
Please share your own airline debacles in the comment section...
Comments:
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I feel your pain, brother. American has abandoned me in Chicago (twice); Dallas (three times); St. Louis (once) and Waco, (three times), so go with the flow, and drink something strong while booking on another airline.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on you again.
Fool me 5 times...
You are quite the forgiving and trusting fellow. Time to "really" give up in AE and make the arduous, yet predicatble, drive to DFW.
Fool me twice, shame on you again.
Fool me 5 times...
You are quite the forgiving and trusting fellow. Time to "really" give up in AE and make the arduous, yet predicatble, drive to DFW.
# posted by 
: 3:04 PM
: 3:04 PM
Tradelawperson--
I did give up for a few months there, and then thought it would be better after the summer was over.
I was wrong.
I did give up for a few months there, and then thought it would be better after the summer was over.
I was wrong.
I had a 6 am flight to Houston on American Eagle. At 5:30 they told us there would be a slight delay.
At 6:30, after hearing nothing, I approached the desk. In an unfriendly and sarcastic tone, I was told, "The plane is broken so I guess we'll just have to wait until maintenance shows up at 8, won't we?"
Push my buttons...
At 6:30, after hearing nothing, I approached the desk. In an unfriendly and sarcastic tone, I was told, "The plane is broken so I guess we'll just have to wait until maintenance shows up at 8, won't we?"
Push my buttons...
# posted by : 3:50 PM
: 3:50 PM
My wife telecommutes from Waco to Tulsa and she has to fly out of Waco once a month to Tulsa - she feels your pain.
In the future, to get switched to Continental, Athena says you can cry like a little girl that you are going to lose your job if you don't make it. (She adds that it also helps to have a nice chest.)
Clint
In the future, to get switched to Continental, Athena says you can cry like a little girl that you are going to lose your job if you don't make it. (She adds that it also helps to have a nice chest.)
Clint
# posted by : 4:10 PM
: 4:10 PM
On the plus side - I hear today from The General that security in Baghdad is improving. It shouldn't be long before you can have your American Airlines flight to Baghdad cancelled, too! Have a happy day.
# posted by : 4:12 PM
: 4:12 PM
American Eagle is pretty much the worst. The people who work here seem nice, but the airline doesn't do that whole "get you to the destination airport" thing very well.
# posted by : 6:15 PM
: 6:15 PM
I was abandoned in Tel Aviv by Continental over spring break. After waiting 2 hours to talk to a customer service rep, he informed me that he had a seat for me on a flight leaving in 7 days.
# posted by : 7:32 PM
: 7:32 PM
I once reserved a seat on a flight from Istanbul to London on EasyJet- it was a steal. Meaning that I think I was robbed. The company never had a permit to fly into Turkey- the flight could never have taken place.
Another time I bought some cheap tickets to London from Orbitz- connecting flight in beautiful Newark. When they did not send my tickets, I was caught in a bureaucratic circle that would have made Vaclav Havel shit a brick. The tickets were bought by Orbitz, who paid Virgin, who paid ATA. I was issued a ticket by Virgin, but the ticket never arrived. It was about a week before my flight and I wondered where they were-- I called Orbitz- which was my first mistake. They raised their hands and told me to call Virgin, as they issued the tickets. Virgin told me they could not reissue the ticket unless I went to Virgin Atlantic desk, the nearest of which is in Vegas, but ATA may be able to get me the ticket. In the current system ATA does not get paid unless they see the Virgin Atlantic ticket, so they will not let me on the plane. And that's why people yell at people at the airline counters.
Another time I bought some cheap tickets to London from Orbitz- connecting flight in beautiful Newark. When they did not send my tickets, I was caught in a bureaucratic circle that would have made Vaclav Havel shit a brick. The tickets were bought by Orbitz, who paid Virgin, who paid ATA. I was issued a ticket by Virgin, but the ticket never arrived. It was about a week before my flight and I wondered where they were-- I called Orbitz- which was my first mistake. They raised their hands and told me to call Virgin, as they issued the tickets. Virgin told me they could not reissue the ticket unless I went to Virgin Atlantic desk, the nearest of which is in Vegas, but ATA may be able to get me the ticket. In the current system ATA does not get paid unless they see the Virgin Atlantic ticket, so they will not let me on the plane. And that's why people yell at people at the airline counters.
Eesh.
I hate flying AE because they always feel like they're gonna drop out of the sky. Super yuck.
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I hate flying AE because they always feel like they're gonna drop out of the sky. Super yuck.
# posted by : 1:56 AM
: 1:56 AM << Home
