The American Airlines fleet of Airbus A320s is a mess, and should really be put out of their misery. Since the airline has gone over a decade without investing in them, they’re dragging down already low expectations for customer experience at the airline.
It’s usually first class on these planes, but here’s a coach seat that’s allowed to fly.
- American knew the condition because they taped it up.
- And they didn’t bother fixing it for some time, because the tape wore out.
- Passenger after passenger sits there, getting the full A320 experience – which isn’t what they thought they were buying.
love to take advantage of the highly functional tray table on my flight to be productive and get some work done @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/rdOWDRwlom
— heath (@heathdwilliams) December 10, 2024
Here a first class passenger on an American Airlines A320 from Dallas to Grand Rapids found that the person sitting in front of them in seat 2C had an extra special premium seat that reclined more than most seats. And American didn’t even charge them extra! Some might say the seat was “broken” but I prefer to think of it as “angled flat.”
“First Class”
Dude is in my lap.You continue to be awful, @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/JbaaZALcrm
— COVA (@av_cova) November 10, 2024
Last year I called for the retirement of the ‘basket of deplorables’ Airbus A320 fleet but American says they no longer have plans to do so this decade “because we have a really young fleet because of that massive fleet renewal program.”
American Airlines retired its Embraer E-190s, Boeing 757s and 767s, and Airbus A330s during the pandemic, and its MD80s right before that. Many of those planes still had great utility. They chose to keep these rickety interior planes instead – planes that haven’t been updated other than seat covers since the 2013 merger.
Whenever I’ve flagged photos like these from Airbus A320 cabins, the response I’ve gotten has been ‘well passengers wouldn’t want us to delay their flights to fix these seats’ – but that begs the questions, (1) why is it always the A320s? (2) What are they doing – or not doing – when the planes aren’t flying to maintain the interiors so that this doesn’t happen so frequently?
This fleet of around 48 planes continues to operate. Many of them date to the 90s, from America West Airlines and from US Airways prior to being taken over by America West. The newest one is around 18 years old.
The problem, of course, is more with the airline’s own decision-making processes than the planes themselves. There are plenty of thirty year old aircraft flying around in great condition and with updated interiors.
Ultimately American Airlines isn’t providing the product they’ve sold. They think they are, and they claim they are – saying that when you buy a ticket you are only buying transportation. But the common understanding that you’re buying a functioning seat, too. However American even argued in court that as long as a passenger travels they aren’t even entitled to a seat at all.
The AA fleet is now a race to the bottom…other than their newer A321’s, that are clearly better than flying on any 737…because they are wider than a 737 and offer more space in first and in general for coach as well. AA has missed every industry trend…larger aircraft for ultra long haul…their solution is to stick a 787 on the route to compete with airlines running A380 on the same route…yeah like I’ll choose that experience for the same price. They can’t even add new overseas routes because they don’t have the planes…they are one plane damage incident away from having to cancel routine routes at least it seems. They are so far behind because they cancelled their A350 orders and the larger 787’s they ordered are still smaller overall. It seems like whoever is making these decisions does not have good forward thinking or any idea that yes, many travelers check to see what ‘equipment’ they are flying on before booking. I was looking at BA’s fleet yesterday and that is how AA’s fleet should look.
As to the 320’s, they do vary since the ones I believe that were former America West are far worse than those that US Airways ran…maybe because they are older or were not as well maintained.
Let. Them. Fail. Only oligarchs are allowed to have nice things. Besides, when us peasants finally become billionaires, we’ll want to pay no taxes and fly private anyway. Right? When. We. Become. Billionaires. RIGHT??
I’ve always believed that running an airline is one of the hardest things to do in business, and generally give them a lot of slack. But AA has become the Hertz of the airline business, something to be avoided to the greatest extent possible.
Airlines are great at marketing their newest aircraft, top service, best lounge, but when things go wrong, airlines are so quick to state that we ‘bought a seat’ not all that puffery they sold us. I wish we had greater protections as passengers so we could be compensated when things go wrong. Europe and Canada are ahead of the US in this regard. At the very least, they have self-respect and would not allow this to fly, lest it damage their reputation. We can do better.
Plain and simple, ever since USAir bought American it has become a disgrace. They deserve to fail. They don’t even try to keep up with United & Delta, which isn’t a really high bar! What I find incredible is the board continues to let the idiots who “run” the airline to stay. Why they get to keep their jobs and continue to let the company fall apart is beyond reason.
In the 1970’s, tourists took photos of Aeroflot planes in disrepair, particularly the interior. American is the new AAeroflot, it seems.
@derek
You made my day. I love a good Aeroflop reference. Truth be told, they aren’t doing much better these days either. You know, sanctions prevented parts for maintenance. Turkish received some of their new a350s since Airbus was not going to deliver to Russia. It’s funny to see the orange and navy interior on a Turkish plane. Bah!
I know the FAA gave UA a hard time for forgetting to request an exemption for having always on “no smoking” lights or w/e.
Why are they not harassing AA about their clearly unsafe seats they’re continually flying around? That’s a real safety hazard for the folks around them.
@derek
Thank you! You just provided the inspiration for a new AA nickname: “Ameriflot.”
I agree that these planes are in a deplorable state. However, AA is scheduled to retrofit the A320s with the newer MiQ seats (from 12 to 16 J seats) and new Y seats as well (plus more MCE?). I’m just surprised that this project hasn’t already started as it’s well overdue.
The A320’s are from the Roswell storage “boneyard”. And it certainly showed the last few times we flew up front between CLT to SAT and back……old, tired and dirty interiors.
If you are flying from DFW to Grand Rapids you have a lot of problems.
I flew American once, Premium Economy, from Newark – Manchester UK return only because I couldn’t get a seat on the airline I always fly with to Manchester, Virgin Atlantic.
I’ve been flying for over 50 years. It was the worst flight I have ever been on.
Because of a “weather delay”, I missed my overnight flight from Newark to Manchester and had to wait 24 hours for the next one. They sent me to a disgusting hotel, which I had to pay for.
The plane I flew out on the following day was the shabbiest plane I’ve ever flown in and my old, scruffy seat was next to an exit so the back of the seat couldn’t be reclined. The food was awful. My Premium Economy desert was a small cardboard tub of vanilla ice-cream with a flat wooden spoon at the bottom of the tub. To charge what they charged for Premium Economy was a disgrace.
I arrived in Manchester, but my 2 bags didn’t make it although they had had been in their possession for 24 hours before the flight. I went to Baggage Claim, told the guy what had happened and he said this was typical of American. They will just wait until the passenger submits a Baggage Loss Form, when they receive it they will go and pick up the bags and put them on the next plane. They arrived 24 hours later. Comparing Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy with American Premium Economy was like comparing a Rolls Royce with a tractor
It’s all about Profit over comfort and people….SAD.
@Joseoh, I’m sure the great benefit to those flying to Grand Rapids is knowing they won’t have to deal with you.
As long as the actual stuff needed to fly is in good condition, I don’t mind the worn out interior when sitting in economy because of the better seat pitch.
AA is going the Boeing way. Cut as many corners as it’s impossibly possible and keep charging them top $$. Who’s gonna know, right?
AA is what happens when you put accountants in charge of a company. Bean counters need to stay the hell away from the C-suites and let operations people and those who understand the customer experience run the show. Sorry, but finance people don’t get it – and never will. I hope AA goes out of business so better options will come to Dallas. the DFW area is a global mega-business hub so there will be plenty of other airlines eager to backfill the capacity here.
I’m shocked that American didn’t immediately retire these planes since you called for them to do so. I assumed they considered your input in all their decisions! Guess not.
I’m sure the FAA requires passengers to be in seats of some standard. Am I wrong?
@Jeff M
AA doesn’t fly EWR-MAN. That’s a UA route.
DFW Steve, accountants CAN understand the balance between all aspects of a company. AA’s accountant cannot maintain that balance because they have sabotaged their revenue generation and have no choice but to cut costs.
It is true that other airlines will figure out how to provide a higher quality product.
As for the argument that AA wants to replace the seats, every aircraft mod is behind schedule. They should be able to obtain their old seat parts and fix planes overnight but the number of times Gary finds this stuff says they don’t have the right parts and can’t manage to get them where they are needed – clearly it isn’t a priority.
Weird. I never see this kind of damaged seat story on EK, QR, or AF. I did fly AA a few times on a three routes the last couple of years, and I luckily had good aircraft, service, and seats on all three routes. I actually almost flew AA this year to Grand Rapids, but ultimately chose to fly AA to Chicago and drive a rental car the remainder of the way to Grand Rapids. I think that I made the lucky choice on AA to Chicago and not Grand Rapids. After this story, I would not make AA my first choice to any destination, and might even consider Amtrak before considering AA.
Don’t see missing seats and stuff on Spirit…. I guess they realize that an out of service seat doesn’t earn any revenue!
I find it hard to believe this is flying around the system with no placard or blocking for more than getting to the next station.. If the seat is broken like that it is going to be listed as inop for seat in use thats broken, and if it blocks egress for the row behind it will also be blocked. Would be interested to hear if it broke inflight because I’ve seen blocked seats for less than that.
A320s are all being updated to the Kodiak/Oasis, along with the A319s starting next year. So will have new modern seats and amenities soon.
@TimDunn i respectfully disagree. As a general rule Financial types simply don’t have the operational or marketing expertise to design and deliver a delightful customer experience. Their first move to “save their way to prosperity”. As the customer experience deteriorates, customers flee. Thus begins the inevitable downward spiral of revenue loss and concomitant spending cuts. I’ve seen it time and again in my 45 years of business experience. AA is a case study!
If I have to fly coach I love the A320 when I can get Row 11 exit row, though – it’s ginormous. I haven’t found anything near as spacious in steerage on any of the other AA aircraft models.
AMERICAN AIRLINES is a classic example of what is wrong with American Business. The management has no interest in the customer; only the stockholders. This is what you get when Product decisions are in the hands of MBAs with spreadsheets. They calculate every expense to the penny, because “The numbers dont lie!” As a result they end up knowing the cost of everything, and yet, the VALUE of nothing.
Really sad. A classic example of a diseased corporate culture that’s focused on revenue far more so than product and service.
Sigh… My first flight on American was aboard a DC-6. They used to be a really good airline.
Thanks for the memories, AA. Memories from 30+ years ago…
Comparing an A321neo to a MAX 9 is like comparing a mule to a thoroughbred. I’ve had three miserable flights on them on UA on routes where I’ve also taken MAX 9s. So they aren’t a solution. And the fault is Airbus’s. UA’s A320s and A319s are also in sad shape, although not as bad as this. If you’re an American (airline or citizen) and you prefer any Airbus to any Boeing, the FBI should put you in an interrogation cell.
AA’s steady state will either be bankruptcy and/or a domestic+LHR airline if you live in DFW, CLT, PHX, PHL, MIA, or cheap fares to connect through there.
Surprise surprise, that sounds a lot like US except with fortress markets DFW and MIA added…and competitive hubs NYC, LAX, ORD abandoned.
Meh. Complain all you want. With the oligarchy your masters have wrought this is as good as it gets
I don’t see the problem here. The seat with the backrest has a “Do Not Occupy” sign on it. It was clearly taken out of service. Airlines can’t keep every part of an airplane at every station they land. It’s prohibitively expensive. So the put the seat on deferral. It’s perfectly legal, and all airlines do this. Not just AA.
Flew American 1 time back in 2012 and never again. The staff onboard was horrendous and unprofessional and not even towards me. That was enough to make me never fly them again.
Wow, there’s no limit to the lows this industry will go to. Absolutely scummy, I’d be upset at a greyhound bus in that state….but a plane?!!
Now would be a great time to enter … Braniff!
American Airlines (not the legacy) is showing off – what a calamity!
Further proof that AA is mostly a multi-channel rewards program/credit card that also happens to fly some planes (and if you’re lucky, maybe they’ll be on time a few times, but don’t count on it).
No shade to the hard working line employees, this has been mismanagement from the Parker days (and before) and it continues…
The clapped out old AmWest iron are simply crap. They should have been rebuilt or scraped years ago.
Boeing gets all the negative press because short sellers are manipulating the media but they build the most reliable planes. Airbus jets are more likely to break down causing delays and massive maintenance expenses.