Luxury Travel calls the newest airplanes in the American Airlines fleet “torture tubes”… American Airline’s own pilot called flying AA “the most miserable experience in the world” … American Airline’s stock is down 21%. But, American Airlines continues to make flying worse for Senior Citizens. And Senior Citizens are abandoning American Airlines in droves. The Seniors Center surveyed some of our friends and found out the biggest reasons:
- American Airlines squeezes more seats into the same amount of space. In 2013, American Airlines had 150 seats in its Boing 737-800 aircraft. In 2015, they added 10 seats, taking the aircraft to 160 seats. This year (2018), they’ve begun retrofitting their airplanes taking adding 12 more, bringing the total to 172 seats in the same amount of space. So can you just avoid 737-800 airplanes while flying American? Sadly, no. AA will begin retrofitting its other planes this Fall.
- American Airlines has removed padding from its new “Slimline” seats in order to make them lighter and have them take up less space. American Airlines claims we “won’t know the difference.” I’m not guessing that my backside is particularly sensitive but I can certainly tell the difference between a hard plastic bench and a normally cushioned chair.
American Airlines has removed padding from its new Slimline Seats. - American Airlines has removed its in-flight entertainment screens, saying its passengers should bring their own entertainment.
- American Airlines is taking out the bathrooms on its planes and replacing them with smaller bathrooms that are only 24 inches wide. Can you guess why? To make room for another row of seats. A 20-something gymnast may be able to comfortably use these new American Airlines bathrooms but Senior Citizens, people with mobility problems, and those of us carrying a few extra pounds sure can’t. I know I won’t even try to use one of these 24-inch bathrooms. American Airlines Pilots and Flight Attendants have complained about these cramped and poorly configured bathrooms. The advice from Gary Leff at View From the Wing? “Hold it.”
American Airlines passengers line up at the ticket counter at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. - American Airlines isn’t only making the the bathrooms smaller but they only have two of them to serve the 156 seats American Airlines crams into Economy Class, resulting in long lines and clogged toilets. Other airlines, with fewer seats in Economy, offer three bathrooms.
- American Airlines isn’t friendly to its customers – particularly senior citizens and people of color. A year ago, the NAACP took the unprecedented step of issuing a “travel advisory” recommending that people of color avoid the airline because of discriminatory practices (NAACP lifted the “travel advisory” this Summer). As for Senior Citizens, American Airlines had a cancer patient arrested after he back tracked after boarding to retrieve his prescription medicine.
- Afraid of flying? Stay away from American Airlines. When 5-year-old Milo Halkuff froze up and started crying while boarding an American Airlines plane in Dallas, American ordered his family to leave the plane. Milo has autism and his family had practiced boarding the plane with him before the flight.
- American Airlines doesn’t allow families paying its basic economy fares to sit together on flights. Often, passengers will trade seats to allow parents to sit with their small children but not always. American Airlines doesn’t offer assigned seats until the last minute for basic economy tickets and then puts those passengers into random empty seats. American Airlines even refused to allow an elderly woman in a wheelchair to sit near her son.
- American Airlines doesn’t care about your problems. A three year old with a burst appendix… a terrible traffic jam on the way to the airport… a death in the family… American Airlines refuses to rebook or refund flights whatever your emergency is.
American Airlines loses more luggage than any other major airline - American Airlines cancels more flights, loses more bags, and has among the worst on time records in the industry. And while American isn’t flexible with its passengers when they’re late for a light, when they cancel or delay flights, watch out. American Airlines regulations don’t allow you compensation beyond that required by US law.
