I am writing to you while flying in flight 461 from Minneapolis to Texas. I am on the first leg of my trip back to Los Angeles on an old McDonald Douglass Super 80, sitting in seat 32A, flattened against a large Jet engine and the bathroom.
As I sit here typing, cold air blasts from a leak in the air conditioning system. My air vent is fully closed, but the air keeps rushing down on me. Apparently someone was working on this area of the plane, because black smudge marks are all around the duct area (that is loose) above my seat and the two seats directly in front of me.
The Air conditioning seems to be leaking around the edge of the panel above my seat. I can feel where the frigid air is coming from and now it is memorialized by the subsequent condensation that just dripped on my laptop, wild.
I pressed the flight attendant button about 5 minutes ago, I am going to push it again, maybe that jet wide ringing sound wasn't working anywhere but my frozen seat.
It was another sunny and 94 degree day in Minneapolis, I changed into a long sleeve shirt for the flight home just in case the flight was cold, lucky me. I am incredibly cold and I am starting to become quite upset. I am not necessarily upset because the flight attendant has not come to my rescue, because who knows; maybe she is frozen to her jump seat and can't hear the bell. The guy next to me has an extra shirt in his bag and just asked me if I wanted to wear it over my other shirt. I am embarrassed, but freezing. I just thanked him and put his shirt over mine. I am now freezing, embarrassed and furious.
You know why I am furious? I am furious because I asked for this. The company I am working for books Delta flights for business. All my co-workers flew direct from Los Angeles to Minneapolis and they will be home hours before I even make my first stop in Texas. I booked American because I have found that Delta service has gone down hill and I just can't stand dealing with bad (Burger King) style customer service, gate agents who are incredibly rude and jets that have even less legroom.
Excuse me for a moment, as my attendant has just stopped by. I am happy to see that she seems to be warm. I told her that I was freezing; she said that they are turning up the heat. I said, yes, but look at this, the air conditioning is leaking on me, she said it was a quick turn around, sorry. It's getting warm finally. The heat does a pretty good job of drying up the condensation that had dripped down only a few minutes ago. So as long as I can use my new friends shirt until we land, I should be ok.
What the heck is going on with American Airlines? I know the economy is slow, I know everyone is cutting back and I also know that you are sorry, my flight attendant has already mentioned that to me.
Honestly, I don't think I care anymore.
As a person who flies for enjoyment as a private pilot, I have to thing that if American is under such financial stress that they have to cut back on customer service, what are they doing for mechanical consideration and maintenance?
Over the past 16 months, I have flown with American to a few destinations and the best I can say is that I arrived on time. I flew Southwest to Vegas and San Francisco and had two great experiences with charming flight attendants and quick service. I flew Jet Blue to Boston and enjoyed a free bag, free snacks, video and fine service. I flew Business Class on Korean Air to Japan, Amazing Experience and Virgin Atlantic to Boston, absolutely stellar.
I also flew Delta for the last time. I simply refuse to pay into this old school, "we are too big to fail" type of greedy self-centered mentality. There are no valid excuses for poor customer service, absolutely none.
I don't know what to say. I have logged about 825K miles in my years with American. I feel there is some value to our relationship when I am willing to fly with a layover in Texas to go from Minneapolis to Los Angeles
Oh and yes, on the way out I almost cut my leg on this armrest (pictured) that was broken about 15 rows in front of me and for some reason pointed slightly into the isle.. I am can't make this stuff up... read more