Just my luck.
Reliable news organizations such as the Wall Street Journal and CBS News are asking an important question: Is American Airlines a trusted travel source this holiday season? According to the CBS piece, American Airlines cancelled over 300 flights two weeks ago, purportedly due to disgruntled employees. Yesterday’s news about loose seats makes me even more nervous. Whether this is caused by staff sabotage or oversights due to overworked and unhappy employees is irrelevant to me; I think I’ll look elsewhere.
That’s where my trouble begins.
Each November and December we make the trek twice (Thanksgiving and the December holiday season) halfway across the country to visit family in the Midwest.
For many, this is a no-brainer: take another airline. However, in our quest to live in small town America, we moved to Texarkana nearly four years ago. Guess how many airlines service our town?
You’ve got it: exactly one….American Airlines.
So, now I’ve created a list of (hopefully) inexpensive ways to avoid American Airlines. Here are our choices the way I see it:
1) While Shreveport (75 minutes away) offers me nothing exciting unless I’m headed to Vegas or Orlando, Little Rock (two hours) and Dallas (three hours) might give me some interesting options. Experts always recommend checking neighboring cities. In my case, Southwest flies into Little Rock. However, the Little Rock – Detroit trip has never been an inexpensive proposition for some reason. Dallas gives me plenty of possibilities, but between gas, parking and the six hours of combined travel time there-and-back, I’m almost a third of the way to my destination if I’d driven it.
2) So…I’ve scheduled alerts on Hotwire and Expedia to tell me if prices decline in Little Rock or Dallas. I’m not hopeful, but I like the fact that I can electronically monitor rates without having to flip through several websites each day.
3) I’ve also begun the search for discount options. I could try to sell our AA miles and buy miles in other programs, but this is fraught with risk (and I’d still have to drive to Shreveport, Little Rock or Dallas to catch a flight). The last thing I want is to end up with no ticket because I violated the airline’s terms of service. It isn’t against the TOS to swap miles with family (I transfer my AA miles to them while they give me an equivalent on another airline). While there have been times where giving miles in an unstable airline sounded like fun, I can’t do this in good faith to my family.
4) We could drive or take the train. Hold on. I just wrote, “Take the train!” Just a minute while I catch my breath…man, that was funny. I COULD take Amtrak if I wanted to pay a bundle AND arrive just after my retirement date.
Seriously, though, in the past we’ve driven, but that kills two days from the trip, instead of a few hours to fly. The first day we arrive and the initial day back home I’m still tired from all that time in the car. As in the past, if we stick with hotel deals (like on Hotels.com, use gasoline smartphone apps and the awesome Wasi social driving app, we can make it there in 15 hours.
5) For now, I’ve set an alert in Google for “American Airlines” news to follow the situation closely. I have maybe two weeks before I need to pull the trigger on this decision. Hopefully conditions improve and I can just schedule a flight out of Texarkana.
Which would you choose? Any ideas I’ve forgotten?
Joe is a former financial advisor and media representative for American Express and Ameriprise. He was the “Money Man” at Detroit television WXYZ-TV, appearing twice weekly. He’s also appeared in Bride, Best Life, and Child magazines, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Detroit News and Baltimore Sun newspapers and numerous other media outlets. Joe holds B.A Degrees from The Citadel and Michigan State University.
I would watch those prices out of Little Rock & Dallas like a hawk. It sounds like you’ve done the right things to try and find a better solution. Many in my family have similar feelings about United. Constantly getting their bags lost or not working with them on the miles. Unfortunately my Dad’s side of the family lives in Montana, so they only have two other options.
I’d do exactly what you’re doing. I have this problem lately because I try my best to avoid regional airline carriers when travelling. It’s a pain in the butt and a hell of a lot more expensive. But worth my and my family’s safety/peace of mind? Absolutely.
It does sound like you are doing the right thing. I agree wtih John S and watch those prices. Hey, maybe you can take a Megabus? or a party bus?!…j/k.
If you have to take American Airlines, see if you are able to upgrade at a low rate or if you can use your miles. You can get more leg room. In the meantime, keep an eye out on the prices. I hope your experience will not be a bad one.
I like AA and I like their miles even more. I wouldn’t hesitate to fly them!
If you have 70,000 miles in one account, I would be willing swap for some united miles!
Unfortunately, I only have about 40k. I’m hoping that this current employee slowdown will pass and I’ll get to use them….
Come on Joe…You need to man up and drive:)
I’m in denial. 😉
HA, Amtrak would be awesome but you’re right, you’d get there when you turn 89. I just had a bad experience on American — they are a little/lot cranky. Dallas is an American hub though, so be careful there. I think you’re going to end up flying AA!
Unfortunately, I think so too, unless I drive. I might just take Greg’s advice and suck it up and take the car again.
We are taking a cruise in February and I think it would be fun to road-trip down to Florida. Unfortunately not sure our car can handle it…guess we have to fly.
I will not have to fly this holiday, and I am SOOOOOOO glad. Thanks for some travel tips. I didn’t realize AA was particularly bad around this time of the year (at least they were last year according to your sources). Fortunately, for me, that won’t be an issue. Good luck!!!
I really hate when you only have one travel option from the closest airport. That is why I have to unfortunately fly AirTran a lot. Honestly, I would take the drive and hook up some place else. There is nothing worse than turning your money over to an incompetent company. Who really just cancels on you like that??
Domestically, it is a real gamble. I like Southwest for short trips or JetBlue for coast to coast. I am a United frequent traveler, but hate using it domestically. You might try using Kayak for finding flights.
I was on one of their affiliate flights with Delta and they cancelled my connecting flight. I was furious. Delta refused to do anything to compensate us for our inconvenience, too. I’ll be trying to avoid them like the plague.
We only have Frontier or United here and the airport is the size of a postage stamp. Next closest if Albuquerque at four hours away, so I feel your pain. I have made no plans for the holidays and am in denial. We drove from CO to KY last year and it sucked but saved lots of money and we got to stop at Graceland. We will probably drive again this year unless there is a blizzard.
I’ve flown Frontier twice and although I had a poor experience one time, it wasn’t their fault and they treated me well while apologizing for the incident. Overall, though, the planes were new and the crew friendly. When I was a kid United was my favorite airline, but to a 10 year old any airline is awesome.
Wow, you stopped in Memphis? So do we when we drive! You have to eat at Rendezvous next time you go through that city. We stop there to eat every time possible.
From Tulsa, AA’s reputation is mud. For this being a maintenance hub, their flight schedules treat it like a red-headed stepchild. I’ve gone over to Delta, and stranded by 40,000 or so miles. I’m sure I’ll eventually get an offer to trade them in for magazine subscriptions.
When I was in Detroit I thought Northwest (Delta) was the worst. I think AA’s giving them a run for their money….
They all take a round-robin whack at screwing their passengers. Eventually, Delta will get around to me too.
I’ll bet they’re in meetings right now deciding whether it’ll be your baggage or your seat they’ll mess with first….
You could take the bus. Or hitchhike. Add some fun to it and hitchhike wearing orange jumpsuits with “Department of Corrections” written on back…
Ha! It’d be better if I wore the jumpsuit and started running every time a car came by. I’m sure then I’d get a free ride somewhere.