Flight Delay Survival: Lessons Learned from American Airlines

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The traveling public breathed a collective sigh of relief when Memorial Day Weekend was over. Despite a record number of passengers going through the TSA checkpoints, air travel didn’t suffer any major meltdowns. That’s not to say there weren’t problems, as 860 flights were canceled, and over 20,000 flights were delayed over the weekend. But compared to holiday weekends of the past, that’s not quite so bad.

Unfortunately, things started to get worse on Tuesday as major storms affected airports in New York City and Dallas.

Gary wrote on View From the Wing that his American Airlines flight from Austin, TX, was grounded because the crew that was scheduled to fly in from Dallas couldn’t make it to the airport. So, while they had a plane and clear weather, the plane couldn’t leave without a crew. AA’s problems aren’t over, as they’re dealing with planes and crews out of position and passengers who still need to get to their destination. They had 508 cancelled flights and 1335 delays on Tuesday alone.

American Airlines’ problems continued into the next day, with more delays and cancellations than the other airlines. However, things were admittedly slightly better by Wednesday, with only 407 cancellations and 1263 flight delays, according to FlightAware.

I was scheduled to be on one of those canceled flights. Here’s what American Airlines passengers had to deal with if they were flying with the airline yesterday:

Dallas, We Have A Problem

I was watching my flight closely because I knew American Airlines was having problems. The same flight I was on never left the day before and was scheduled to depart at 7 AM, probably because the crew timed out. This wasn’t good, but I had no news from American, so I headed to the airport. The plane scheduled for my flight was already there from the night before, but that can always change if an airline swaps a plane for a different flight,

I arrived at the airport about 2 hours before my scheduled departure time and headed to the Centurion Lounge. After getting some coffee and breakfast, I received the first message about my flight which was due to depart at 11 AM.

My flight is now scheduled to leave at 1:20 PM and arrive at 8:37 PM, which would cause me to miss my 8:20 connection in Charlotte. American Airlines said I should wait to receive information if I would misconnect. I was hoping for some help as I was booked on a First Class award ticket, and American works harder to make sure the people at the front of the plane are helped first.

If this delay causes a missed connection, we’ll work to rebook you on another flight and contact you with updated flight information.

It was only about 10 minutes before I received a confirmation that my connecting flight was moved from 8:20 PM to 10:20 PM, arriving in Orlando at 11:59 PM. If I wanted to, I could have settled in for a long day of waiting. There was only one thing.

I Don’t Trust American Airlines

I have a long history with American Airlines delaying flights, only to cancel them later. If my delayed flight to Charlotte was delayed any further, I would risk misconnecting or having either flight canceled. I saw that every American Airlines flight departing was significantly delayed, and it was only noon. Things usually don’t improve as the day goes on.

So I did what you’re supposed to do when you think your flight will be delayed or canceled – I started looking for options.

I found a flight on Spirit leaving at 2:44 PM. This was after my American flight was set to leave, and American still had not provided any updated information. While that plane was set to leave in 90 minutes, there wasn’t any departure information available. Things were starting to get suspicious. I talked it over with Sharon, and since I needed to be home ASAP and the price wasn’t too crazy for a last-minute booking, I made a reservation on Spirit.

Just to be sure nothing would happen to my backup, or now my primary way to get home, I kept the American Airlines award ticket until 1 hour before departure time. That’s when I went online and canceled to get a refund of my points and a credit for the taxes paid on the ticket. I was now depending on Spirit to get me home.

Spirit Don’t Fail Me Now!

I traveled from the Centurion Lounge to the gate where my Spirit flight was set to leave, which was on the other side of the airport. The only available seat on the flight was a middle seat in the exit row. I’m not complaining, as I was on a plane headed home…which was something I wasn’t sure of, a few hours earlier.

American Eventually Canceled The Flight!

My intuition was correct, as American Airlines eventually canceled the flight to Charlotte after several hours of rolling delays.

It looks like they did eventually fly to Charlotte, as there’s a flight that left at 4:43 PM, which is not normally on the schedule. Landing around midnight is better than nothing for people who live there, but it’s not helpful if you’re catching a connecting flight and now have an unexpected overnight stay before getting home the next day.

Final Thought

I’m glad I took matters into my own hands and booked a flight home with Spirit instead of waiting for American Airlines to get me home. But that’s because I have experience in dealing with flight delays and a lack of faith in AA to get me home when there’s IROPS (Irregular Operations). You can’t blame an airline for having delays when there’s extreme weather. However, when it takes several days to get your entire route network functioning again because of a problem at one of your many hubs, it seems to me more of an operational issue than a weather problem.

American Airlines had already fallen to #6 in our personal rankings of domestic airlines this year. I think Spirit, at #7, has a chance of passing them when I make my list for 2025.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary