American Airlines review by Farouk 2013-12-29

Had reservations for San Francisco - Miami and later on Miami - New York La Guardia on my 3 weeks USA tour. The SFO-MIA flight started badly where all passengers were standing in a long line 5am in the morning with no open check in counters and self-check in unresponsive. Some passengers overheard AA staff state that the flight will be delayed, however I saw that all was according to plan on all screens. Ground staff finally came and they denied any delays. Self check in either couldn't read the passport scans or simply loading into oblivion with an error message at the end. AA staff was more concerned only with payment for checked in baggage which for a non US passenger is considered unacceptable. Check in was chaotic to say the least and the First class counter looked even less organized. Only after everyone was checked in the flight jumped from 7am to 8am and in an hour the flight was delayed to 5.30pm! No explanation or apology. Only 1 agent handled the full flight rerouting people with onwards destinations but no interest in assisting any of the passengers who have Miami as their final stop. No apologies, no assistance, no accommodation, no food for a 10 hours delay! The afternoon flight was boarded on time on an ancient B757 that seemed to still have technical problems as we learned from the crew. We stayed on the tarmac for another 90 minutes. Plane old and showing its age with interior from the 80s and an inaudible flickering screen, leg room acceptable. Crew incredibly chatty amongst each other. Increadibly non interested staff and very very badly kept (no pride in uniforms or general look). Non visible cabin presence. Flight from Miami to New York, as well an ageing 737-800. As they again charge for checked in bags, all bring oversized bags onboard causing a less than civilized situation where there is NO space for all the bags, thus delays in checking those bags and taking them out of the cabin. Again no food onboard for a long flight. Will never consider this airline. It is laughable that AA is presented as "full service" airline where I had far far better services from North Korean Air Koryo!