American Airlines [Domestic First] sucks

[steved]

I had to book four first class flights with American with Qantas points and their first class is a joke. they put priority on your bags but they never come out first, they know you are using points and put you in the back of first class. I had a flight from Lax to Honolulu and they ran out of food for first class so I ended up with an economy sandwich. Seat barely recline and do not have foot rest. Glad I did not pay for this

 

[anat0l]

Re: American airlines sucks

I had to book four first class flights with American with Qantas points and their first class is a joke. they put priority on your bags but they never come out first, they know you are using points and put you in the back of first class. I had a flight from Lax to Honolulu and they ran out of food for first class so I ended up with an economy sandwich. Seat barely recline and do not have foot rest. Glad I did not pay for this

Redeeming Qantas points for American domestic first class - a rather expensive exercise, unless you had a particularly long route, and even then. You say you didn't pay for it - so someone else used their points (or someone else paid your taxes, fees and charges)?

Calling it "First Class" is mostly a misnomer, but only because their tradition is to call that class of service First and we in Australia better know it as Business (except for certain long services in the USA which actually have three classes of service - Economy, Business and First).

I'm not sure if someone here with more experience can comment, but I don't know / didn't know that FAs know what class of service you are booked in; if you are booked on an award, do they simply know you are on an award but not which program it was redeemed through? Either way, it shouldn't have significant effect on you, except possibly in rearranging your flights if things go wrong (e.g. you miss a flight). Being put in the back of First is likely just something to do with seat selection (did you select a seat), as well as maybe some others having some priority in terms of status.

Status also helps in some respect for food as it is common that AA elites are usually asked for their preference of meal first, irrespective of where they sit in the cabin. That all said and done, there are still enough meals for everyone in First, even if you don't get your choice, so for them to run out of food before you are properly catered is appalling.

For the baggage situation, it seems that happens almost anywhere in the world, with few exceptions. Maybe it works sometimes as well, though with almost every traveller in the USA carrying everything they need and more on board (with an allowance to match it), very few seem to bother with checking in bags except for the kitchen sink pax, tourists and the greenhorns.

You can probably make a decent complaint to AA with respect to not meeting the catering expectations, and make a comment about your bags at the same time. No matter how you paid for your fare, the catering did not meet the standard expected. That said, you may have to content yourself with an apology; or, if you feel like demanding some satisfaction, your options will likely be limited to AA miles or an AA voucher - you're not likely to get QFF points refunded or a cheque in the mail. Someone else may suggest a different experience with respect to this, however....

 

[steved]

Re: American airlines sucks

American did not release any economy seats on any flights I wanted they were only first class and were all major airports
I blew alot of points for them but I could not get any business flights to the US with Qantas and they did not release any .We booked 9 months in advance and there were no seats in business.
I have flown business with Qantas and got the same treatment as paying customers.
american only gave us seats in the last row of first on every flight.

 

[drron]

Re: American airlines sucks

Even on a QF award you can select your seats at time of booking.
You can also preselect your meals so you don't go without.Normally AA send you an email about 2 weeks out reminding you of this.Possibly QF didn't give them an email address.

Never been a problem for us on AA if on an award.The one time we were on a QF award they actually went well beyond what they had to do.Flight from CDG was cancelled due to the French habit of calling strikes.Checkin agent found us an alternative whilst quite a few also in J were told they had to wait until the next day.She knew we were on a QF award and said QF may cancel the rest of the award as you are not flying the CDG-JFK service so reissued the ticket on AA stock.

But AA domestic F is not an F service but prices are comparable to QF domestic J and you get F SCs if you pay rather than the lesser J number.Meals are certainly not gourmet but with the reduction in QF catering I now prefer the AA F meals domestically.

 

[serfty]

Fot a start, with an AA first class booking, even an award, you can:

1) Preselect seats &

2) Preselect meals (within 30 days).

I have an AA first award flight in a few weeks and have selected 1A gor seating amd crab cakes for my meal.

Perhaps you should have asked here about these things and others before you travelled. You experience would have been improved and your expectations lowered.

Sure US domestic first class is not what one would visualize, but that is the way it is (it has been described as an "upgrade class").

 

[opusman]

However bad it is, it's a lot better than down the back.

 

[Blackswan]

I won't repeat what others say about preselecting seats and meals. I've flown numerous times AA Dom First (revenue and award), and never had any complaints. I've always had fantastic service from the FA's onboard.

Compared with intra-Europe J, it's not a bad product.

 

[Anna]

Depending on what aircraft you are on, the back row of AA first can be the row nearest the exit door and thus easiest to get off the plane.

Sometimes F bags are put in a separate area away from the carousel so there isn't such a scrum to collect them. I've waited by the carousel a couple of times before realising my bag was on the floor by the desk ready for me to collect.

I know you didn't pay, but the number of status credits earned for the price of AA first is enough to help me overlook the occasional food and beverage deficiencies.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

It is a perfectly reasonable way of getting around the usa but I would never use QF points to fly on it

 

[kermatu]

Unfortunately it is a risk with many airlines these days that if you don't select your seat or pre-order your food (when available) you will miss out on all the benefits of the higher cabin. Fortunately when it comes to AA First, which I have travelled on a fair bit in the past few years, I had my expectations realistically set and through advice on this forum (and others) knew about pre-selecting meals and/or the flight numbering system that dictates the order in which the F cabin is served. If you can do a bit of research you can make a journey better.

I have been very well looked after in F on AA (onboard, and on the ground when faced with delays etc). I think the FAs they have looking after F cabins are top notch.

Priority baggage a bit hit and miss. I've had TSA-induced delayed and outright lost baggage with AA before. But also had luggage hand-delivered to me at the carousel when I identified myself as a F pax.

But I feel for the OP -- to run out of food on such a long flight, in F, is not acceptable. Not everyone knows about pre-selection etc. To run out of (probably $10?) meals is ridiculous penny-pinching.

 

[steved]

I did get to select my seats they would only let us have the back row,not mater whatI tried I only got the back seats, didn't really bother me as their was never more than 5 rows ahead,

 

[bsb]

I hope the QF bashers are reading this. We are so spoilt in Australia.

The only plus of flying on AA in F (when paid) is that you get a points booty. I've done it many times and whilst it's not that good, anything is better than up the back on AA (or any US carrier).

 

[opusman]

QF domestic J is pretty good. Although I was very impressed with VN domestic J recently - pretty much up to par with QF. They even have hot towels! And priority baggage actually works.

 

[amaroo]

I agree with the OP

 

[DC3]

There are mixed opinions on AFF about many airlines, including AA.

In my case, it took years, not weeks or months, to get a reasonable handle on the ins and outs of the knowledge that members have shared. I've learned a lot here, and you need to put in the time to get some rewards, including trying your best to avoid as many pitfalls as you can (not easy).

I have a soft spot for AA. Maybe I've been lucky, but there have been very few issues. Granted, AA (and domestic First) is far from perfect, but it beats Y any day. As far as meals, it sounds as though the catering issue that the OP had was never properly explained by the FAs.

The last row in some aircraft cabins may have limited seat recline. And never assume that there will be footrests, although you may be lucky. Seat Guru can have some useful information. Priority baggage - hit and miss, anywhere.

Normally, using QFF points on AA domestic would not be cost effective. Paying for discount First (with restrictions), for often not much more than full Y, and good SC earn to QF to boot, if that is up your alley.

 

[junbugging]

Only peripherally related, but I was recently bitten by a YUPP fare on AA.

I'd booked MSY-ORD for the day after Jazz Fest and wanted to be in F given that it's usually pretty chaotic that day, with absolutely everything overbooked.

A few days before the flight I checked online and saw I'd been downgraded due to a downgauge, with the sole remaining flight with an F cabin already fully booked.

I could presumably have waited until the next day to get the option to fly F, but unfortunately had an international flight to catch from ORD.

So Y it was. And when I checked what kind of compensation might be offered, the standard offering turned out to be a voucher with value "equal to $0.10 per mile, or $50, whichever is greater, for each flight segment flown in the downgraded cabin", which I guess would have come to around USD84. Not that a voucher would have been much use to me as I don't plan to be back in the States for a while.

All in all, I wasn't happy. But after a mail to customer service I ended up with 5,000 points and a refund to my credit card of USD150.50, which looks like it might have been the difference between the fare I paid and the cheapest Y fare as of that time, although I no longer have any way to check that. That would be a better approach than Qantas seems to apply. So ended up quite happy. Especially since I also got 2,200 points from QFF.

 

[DC3]

... A few days before the flight I checked online and saw I'd been downgraded due to a downgauge, with the sole remaining flight with an F cabin already fully booked ...


... So Y it was.

Something similar happened to me once. Not much that could be done, as since I booked, the route had now become Y only, from what I could see. The fare was recalculated and I received a refund. I was happy with the ORC for the QF SCs. That suited me.

Edit: Technically, the ORC should probably have not applied (due to the refund), but it was credited.

 

[dfcatch]

The OP doesn't state whether they have any status with either AA or QF or whether it was in the booking.

As others have stated:

- AA domestic "First" is the equivalent of QF Domestic J. It's a domestic Business cabin.

- IME, AA does priority baggage 1000% better than QF does even on their best day.

- Most likely, if you didn't pre-select seats, all the other seats were already preselected prior to you checking in.

- Meals - again, orders usually taken in status order to some degree, then by row.

- Of course the soft service doesn't compare to QF, so if you had the wrong expectations, then you would have been disappointed.

 

[serfty]

...
- Meals - again, orders usually taken in status order to some degree, then by row.
...

No - on AA it's "preferences" - either front-to-back or back-to-front.

 

[yohy?!]

agree with others - count your blessings you weren't in Y!

my last AA flight left me with back strain due to the large fellow beside me taking up half my seat and no headrest!!