We booked a direct flight to Puerto Rico 3 months in advance. It turned out to be a "ghost" flight. This is a flight that the airlines expects to cancel but lets you book it. A month after we booked, we received an email that we were changed to a one-stop flight. So, our flight time increased from 4.5 hours to 12 hours. The only direct flight left was one that arrived late and one that would leave Puerto Rico too early. To book this flight we would have to book hotels in San Juan which would cost $250-$300 per night. We called a customer service rep, she told us the airlines would add a flight that would be comparable the one cancelled, so wait. This did not happen. We call a customer service manager and she gave us misinformation, we believe intentionally. A month before our flight, we call another customer service manager and he again was no help. Made us feel like it was our fault. So, we cancelled the flight and paid a premium to book with United Airlines. We were lucky fit their parameters to get our money back and also lucky United had seats available. I will fly American if it's the ONLY option to a destination.

Our flight was posted as "On Time" for the whole day and we all boarded great. That's when the good stopped. We sat around on the tarmac as our takeoff time came and went until we finally got word that they needed to change the oil which would take "a few minutes." Apparently they had trouble scheduling maintenance in an industry that relies heavily on numerous and regular maintenance actions.

So we sit around for another hour and hear nothing. No updates on if anyone can come for maintenance or if it was going poorly (which I can only assume is the case). It's not until an hour and 45 minutes after our departure time that we hear that the maintenance is complete and we're good to go. Yes, this is good news. But we're left to stew that whole time thinking "how long is a few minutes? Is anything even happening?" We ended up leaving 2 hours after the departure time.

Also we had to pay for wifi on a cross-country flight because our "3 hr 52 min" flight was not 4 hours and did not qualify for complimentary wifi. We were in the plane for nearly 2 hours before even taking off. We should've been at least given free wifi for those 6 hours of plane time. Other competitors offer free wifi on all flights nowadays and they even have tablets built into the seats while this flight did not.

Overall, the scheduling was terrible. The delays were not communicated to the customers well (whyyyy are we still sitting here? What is the path forward?) The in-flight entertainment was well below any large full service carrier competitor standards. I see no reason to pay hundreds of dollars to this company for no return in quality or care for customers.

Their app is decent though. It works about as well as the other functioning carrier apps and is intuitive. Not all the other apps even work. My connection was automatically updated to a new flight.

Never flying American again. Worst then spirit. Better off carry on everything and then forced to check it. Flight number 3 with plenty of space for my carry on but forced to check my bag all of them. American has no idea how to load a plane. No idea how to manage people’s luggage, scan the plane for space. Nor do they hold people to their luggage standards. Have people putting their tiny purses in over head and calling it full. Inflight entertainment is piss poor. Had better flight experience in a puddle jumper that landed on water! GTFO AA!

The only flights I've had lost luggage, constant delays and by far the worst people to deal with is American airlines. They are by far the worst in the United States. Avoid if possible. Their employees are terrible, couldn't care less about their jobs and certainly helping customers. Hopefully in time this airline will go out of business.

Absolutely awful experience. If you have children do not fly american. Canceled our flight at boarding time, then refused to book on a united flight. Instead had to travel 2 days and 18 hours with kids on another American flight. In total 30 hours in the airport. Never never again.