Update: their customer service already replied to my letter, they were FAST!
They told me this:
We appreciate your comments about our fleet. We are currently replacing our older domestic aircraft with modern Boeing 737 and Airbus aircraft. The delivery of the 737s commenced in 2009, and the delivery of the Airbus aircraft began in the fall of 2013. On the international front, we have 42 Boeing Dreamliner aircraft on order, with estimated delivery dates commencing in 2014. We are also proud to be the first U.S. carrier to be flying Boeing’s 777-300ER. With these fleet enhancements, we anticipate having the youngest fleet out of our top U.S. competitors by 2017.
Very good customer service! Prompt and courteous! I reconsider my opinion on them.
Original story:
Some months ago I traveled with American Airlines and I have to say that I had the worst travel experience in my life. Even worse than when I traveled with Spring Airlines, a low cost Chinese airline.
The ticket was just $50 cheaper than a Lufthansa one, but the level of service was awful.
I wrote a letter to their customer relations team:
Hi, recently I had the “pleasure” to fly with American Airlines, on a transatlantic flight.
I was surprised to learn that the entertainment equipment in the aircraft is extremely outdated.
A small 13 inches CRT TV overhead, playing a videotape, to be watched from a far distance? Are we in the 1980s?
The audio was fuzzy and noisy, as if it was coming from a thirty years old radio.
Maybe this equipment was the best the technology offered, when you installed it in year 1982, but, hey, it’s time to upgrade!
Yes, upgrading it will cost a lot of money, but how many customers will you lose if you offer such a poor experience?
And it’s not only the entertainment system to be outdated, everything it’s.
From the aircraft painting, that reminds the 70s, to the ticketing system.The return flight was a British airways codeshare, but your system in MIA could not find it. I was sent to the BA counter, then they sent me back to your counter because it’s was a codeshare, then my connecting ticket at Heathrow could not be found. You could not emit the connecting flight ticket, even if it is the same oneworld network.
Why it doesn’t happen with Lufthansa and the star alliance network? Why it doesn’t happen with air france and the skyteam network? Probably it’s because they invested a lot of money and upgraded their systems, instead of keeping it outdated as you are doing.
Alitalia has a big financial problem, but when I traveled with them, the entertainment system was modern. Usb ports for charge phones or play movies from hard drives, lots and lots of movies, and so on.You might say that on your 777 there is an on demand movie system. Well, it looks like it’s just a frontend to an analog TV system: just four movies and you can’t decide when to play them. It might seemed exciting in year 1994, but now it’s not.
Concluding: you saved some money by keeping your airplanes unchanged for thirty years, but you lost a customer and I will warn all my friends to choose a better way to fly. Was it worth?
Will they answer me?
They definitely lost a customer.
(Update: in february 2014 I flew again with them and it was better)