American Airlines Clusterfuck

Not me but my sister. She is travelling home from Toronto (YYZ) via Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW). I was supposed to pick her up at John Wayne Airport (SNA) around 10:00 pm. Well, it is now 10:30 pm and she just got off the plane at DFW, and there are no more flights to any of the four Los Angeles area airports.

Her flight took off on time from YYZ, but was diverted to Wichita (ICT) for refueling after circling twice over Missouri. There was adverse weather at DFW and I guess the pilots thought they could not land. This is their flight path:

I was looking at FAA advisories at the time and landing delays at DFW were about thirty minutes. Do modern passenger jets (her flight was a Boeing 737–800) have such narrow fuel margins? The diversion appears to be the same distance as continuing to DFW. On the ground in ICT, her flight was fourth in line for refueling. There was a shortage of open gates, so it took about 1:15 to refuel and take-off again. AA flight 1111 finally arrived at DFW at 10:00 pm. American Airlines cancelled so many flights tonight that the only option was a flight to Ontario (ONT) but it was departing from another terminal, and she would not make it. The flight was full anyway.

I just texted my sister. She is spending the night in DFW. Airport hotels are nine miles away and she is on standby for a 7:30 am flight to SNA. American Airlines gave her a $12 voucher for food, but of course, nothing is open at this time. She said the terminal is full of people. AA should have at least brought out some snacks and water. DFW is one of their major hubs and I know they have a huge stash of food for all their Admiralty Club lounges. A long time ago I was flying to Las Vegas from Long Beach on Jet Blue. The flight was delayed an hour and the staff brought out boxes of snacks and soft drinks. This is such a trivial thing to do but demonstrates why the large US carriers are always rated near the bottom in passenger surveys.

Speaking of surveys, American Airlines ranked ninth in Travel + Leisure’s domestic airline rankings for 2022. They are the worst of the three large carriers. United Airlines is not much better at number eight. They also have a list of the top 10 international airlines. I have been on four out of the ten.

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Qatar Airways
3. Emirates
4. Turkish Airlines
5. Korean Air
6. La Compagnie
7. Air New Zealand
8. Japan Airlines
9. ANA
10. Cathay Pacific Airways

Other international airlines I have flown that are not in the top 10:

• Air Canada
• China Airlines
• EVA Air
• Thai Airways
• Air China
• Sichuan Airlines
• British Airways
• Air France
• Canadian Pacific Air Lines (eventually merged with Air Canada)