AA Changed Flts with no Notification

[gopbroek]

I'm really glad to have Alaska as our "home town" airline. I get e-mails when there's a 10 minute change in arrival or departure....

(Though they did cancel a flight a couple times after I got to the airport. Some lame excuse like "the airplane would have crashed and burned if we flew it now." Seriously, I "get" mechanical or weather cancellations that happen last minute.)

American has hosed groups I've brought out of Belize that catch the last Dallas-Seattle flight of the day. Too late to switch airlines, they cancel that flight and put us on one the next morning. That means we cram a bunch of people into a cheap airport hotel for a short night's sleep.

United has had more issues with my and my group's travel than I care to think about.

AA has moved the daily DFW flight up to 14:25 going and 6PM going back. This allows for connections going in but outbound connections may be a problem. Last weekend I went in to CZM but did the bag drag yesterday so I could get back to DFW mid afternoon (not a bad flight, finally was able to have a cocktail and a nice sandwich out of Cancun after a year of nothing)

 

[loady]

Nonstop would be amazing if it flies. Tijuana to Cancun on Aeromexico primero classe would have beat the 48 hr delay experience we had. the thing is, with modern weather satellite forecasts they should know (most ) airport weather accurately 24 hours in advance. And they fly above weather . With regular proactive aircraft inspection maintenance schedules and in airport repair mechanics and spare planes, the planes shouldn’t brake irreparably between flights to cancel them. And we chose the biggest , oldest airline , American , rather then a garbage one like Spirit, BECAUSE American has spare planes, spare flight crews, massive aircraft repair , cust service infrastructure , and can put passengers on other airlines flights. That didn’t happen in our case. Does DFW DALLAS often get weather preventing flights? Can big jets really not fly during thunderstorms?

I'm really glad to have Alaska as our "home town" airline. I get e-mails when there's a 10 minute change in arrival or departure....

(Though they did cancel a flight a couple times after I got to the airport. Some lame excuse like "the airplane would have crashed and burned if we flew it now." Seriously, I "get" mechanical or weather cancellations that happen last minute.)

American has hosed groups I've brought out of Belize that catch the last Dallas-Seattle flight of the day. Too late to switch airlines, they cancel that flight and put us on one the next morning. That means we cram a bunch of people into a cheap airport hotel for a short night's sleep.

United has had more issues with my and my group's travel than I care to think about.

 

[loady]

one abandoned family was at our hotel. It was one planeload czm to to Dallas American air dumped, another larger plane load Miami to San Diego canceled, another Miami to somewhere else. Waited in the six hour line in Miami. Bring your sleeping pad , pillow to sleep on airport floor like the guy that lived in terminal for years . Tom hanks movie “the terminal”.

Did those several hundred stranded folks stay at Hotel Cozumel? Did they use taxis to get back to the airport?

 

[DandyDon]

Nonstop would be amazing if it flies.

No ifs; it did. There are risks to a once-a-week flight in that if it cancels, then choices are limited, but there are choices.

Tijuana to Cancun on Aeromexico primero classe would have beat the 48 hr delay experience we had.

Some do that: park on the US side, walk across a special bridge to enter the airport, etc. I think those flights connect in Mexico City, without English subtitles to signs and announcements, and getting stuck there would be challenging.

the thing is, with modern weather satellite forecasts they should know (most ) airport weather accurately 24 hours in advance.

Ha! Weather changes faster than a woman's moods.

And they fly above weather .

That's the easy part.

Can big jets really not fly during thunderstorms?

Taking off and landing in storms is what's dangerous. In worst cases, the airline remove the planes empty before the worst storms hit and hide them elsewhere, but in marginal cases, you do not want to be on a plane that might make it on a bad weather takeoff attempt if the plane did manage to land in the storm.

 

[DSR-3]

re. United; On our trip last week that included the "mexican standoff" with the taxis, United conveniently re-booked us for the new plane the next morning to IAH, but opted to add another leg and layover in Denver afterwards, also moving us to separate seats in coach for our first class tickets. 2 hours on the phone, with no mention of refunds, etc, and no other reasonable options to SJC. After some pushing, they did agree to re-book direct IAH to SFO in FC after I found the flight and pushed for it, as I was just about to book that and dispute later.

 

[ReefHound]

Taking off and landing in storms is what's dangerous. In worst cases, the airline remove the planes empty before the worst storms hit and hide them elsewhere, but in marginal cases, you do not want to be on a plane that might make it on a bad weather takeoff attempt if the plane did manage to land in the storm.

Yep. Big planes can fly through severe weather and most of us have experienced strong turbulence, which is little threat to the plane except you don't want a sharp 30 foot drop to happen when you are 20 foot above the runway. There's also a risk when heavy rain reduces visibility to less than 50 feet. Poor ground viz was a key factor in the worst air disaster in history - Teneriffe. The jet taking off and the jet crossing the runway (due to miscommunication between pilots taking off and ground control) did not see each other until collision unavoidable.

 

[judydivescoz]

re. United; On our trip last week that included the "mexican standoff" with the taxis, United conveniently re-booked us for the new plane the next morning to IAH, but opted to add another leg and layover in Denver afterwards, also moving us to separate seats in coach for our first class tickets. 2 hours on the phone, with no mention of refunds, etc, and no other reasonable options to SJC. After some pushing, they did agree to re-book direct IAH to SFO in FC after I found the flight and pushed for it, as I was just about to book that and dispute later.

With all the drama caused by the airline and the hotel I think they owe you a whole new first class experience someplace!

 

[flyboy08]

With all the drama caused by the airline and the hotel I think they owe you a whole new first class experience someplace!

LOL...like that will happen!

 

[ggunn]

Yep. Big planes can fly through severe weather and most of us have experienced strong turbulence, which is little threat to the plane...

I was on a plane for what should have been a short flight from Houston to Austin except for a line of severe thunderstorms about halfway between HOU and AUS. The pilot took us all the way to Texarcana looking for the best place to cross the storm front, and "best" was till pretty bad. We were all over the sky. I was sitting in a window seat in front of the wing where I could see the torrent of water being sucked into the maw of the engine on that side, which amazed me. Both airports were cleared for takeoffs and landings, though, so there was no real problem besides feeling like a pea in a maraca.

 

[loady]

IF there’s a nonstop that meets location, schedule and price requirement then take it. we did fly once tj to Cancun on Aeromexico business class via Mexico City and it was fantastic. Same price as a USA carrier sub cattle car steerage class. I don’t know if there’s a nonstop. Most employees spoke English.
Lesson learned is a minimum of two hours layover for any connecting flight, and more for international plane changes because of airport terminal navigation and security. Enjoy waiting in lounges like TJ, Cozumel and Mexico City airport lounges. Maybe US service will catch up one day. US airport workers treat travelers like crap.

No ifs; it did. There are risks to a once-a-week flight in that if it cancels, then choices are limited, but there are choices.

Some do that: park on the US side, walk across a special bridge to enter the airport, etc. I think those flights connect in Mexico City, without English subtitles to signs and announcements, and getting stuck there would be challenging.

Ha! Weather changes faster than a woman's moods.

That's the easy part.

Taking off and landing in storms is what's dangerous. In worst cases, the airline remove the planes empty before the worst storms hit and hide them elsewhere, but in marginal cases, you do not want to be on a plane that might make it on a bad weather takeoff attempt if the plane did manage to land in the storm.