Anderson to AA?

[saxman]

As do airlines on AU. But does AU come up on Airliners.net?

Yup. I found AU back in 2004 because of Airliners.net! I had discovered A.net a couple years prior when internet forums were a new concept to me. Someone on there made a mention of AU on a discussion about Amtrak. Funny thing is that now I haven't been to A.net in years. I like FlyerTalk now.

And to keep things on topic. I was willing to give Anderson a chance when he first came on to Amtrak. After seeing the improvements he made at Delta after the merger with Northwest, I figured that Amtrak could use some new fresh ideas. I especially thought Wick would guide him well the first few months. Well when his Southwest Chief bus idea came about, I knew I was wrong.

Anderson would be good for an airline again. I thought maybe he would retire by now though. I actually thought Doug Parker was doing a decent job at US Airways after the merger with America West. It became a profitable carrier even though it was turned into a bare bones, no frills carrier that happen to be a legacy airline. But his performance at AA has been pretty terrible as of late. Even United has made great strides at improvement over the last few years. I even made 1K status on United this year because of the recent change in status requirements. I've never had airline status before!

 

[jiml]

I never saw a reason to support Anderson at Amtrak, in fact his tenure honestly made past presidents look better by comparison, but I'm not so sure he's a terrible fit for American. His previous employer Delta is far from the worst airline I've ever flown. Their loyalty program makes a mockery of the concept but the on board service isn't horrible. American was my first and favorite US airline long ago but they're rather uninspired today. The ghost of America West seems to live on while the golden era AA service is long gone. So long as the weather is clear and the aircraft is functional AA flights are generally fine if you can get a seat ahead of coach, but the service is nothing to look forward to and the "food" they serve on my flights is pretty sad. I also find their booking process rather tedious. If I want to check a premium economy ticket through an aggregator I first need to start with basic coach, upgrade to main cabin, and then upgrade again to premium economy. I wish they would just publish a separate booking code for Y+ so it would be easier to check and compare pricing. Maybe Anderson can fix that.

Can't disagree with any of your points - and I'm an AA Lifetime Plat, so have some loyalty.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Thus, an exec with railroad industry experience would probably be the best fit.

You mean like Claytor or Moorman? Agreed.

In Amtrak's history, which of their presidents are widely considered their "best", and what was their particular background? Any things in common?

W. Graham Claytor and Charles “Wick” Moorman both came to Amtrak after leading Southern / Norfolk Southern.

Joseph Boardman came from the FRA.

David Gunn came from a long line of railroad jobs that started with the Santa Fe.

 

[B757Guy]

My fiance is a pilot with AA, and she is hearing that Anderson has a pretty significant non-compete with Delta, and that will most likely preclude him from running AA. At my airline, thus far I'm happy with our new CEO.

 

[the_traveler]

Yup. I found AU back in 2004 because of Airliners.net! I had discovered A.net a couple years prior when internet forums were a new concept to me. Someone on there made a mention of AU on a discussion about Amtrak. Funny thing is that now I haven't been to A.net in years. I like FlyerTalk now.

I first came to AU in 2007 because AlanB made a mention of AU on FlyerTalk. I haven’t been to FT in years.

 

[jiml]

I first came to AU in 2007 because AlanB made a mention of AU on FlyerTalk. I haven’t been to FT in years.

Getting off-topic, but this is turning into one of those "small world" discussions. I've been on FT for years and know more than one person here who also participates on FT. The smart ones don't use the same username. I don't fly nearly as much as I used to and couldn't be described as an airline "fan", but I have a weakness for rail discussion.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

FlyerTalk is great for “insider travel” reviews. right now it’s interesting to read about how airlines and hotels are responding to Coronavirus (actually worse than Amtrak, at least Amtrak is still providing something that vaguely resembles a meal.)

 

[capltd29]

I am a Delta guy. I always had average to great experiences on Delta while RA was in charge. It seems that it went downhill a little bit after he left in terms of service. I swore off AA after the last flight I had with them where we landed at Ohare 20 minutes early and taxied on the tarmac for 90 minutes because there was no gate. Chicago was my destination, but multiple people missed their connections, and being late evening, likely the last connection of the day. Even better, was that it was an Embraer 145 and the gate checked bags were delayed coming to the gate, and when they did come to the gate, they just rolled up the door and said "have at it" so we had to each unload each other's bags on the jet bridge to find our bag. AA is an awful airline.

 

[jiml]

Everyone has an airline story. The last time we flew with Delta in paid FC they stranded us in Minneapolis at -28 degrees, then made us wait in the airport until 10pm while sending our bag to Las Vegas. They finally told us to get a hotel room at our own expense and they'd sort it out in the morning. The next morning had us back at the airport at 4am and completing our trip in economy, with an eventual refund of the difference. In almost 40 years with AA I've never had a similar experience that wasn't handled immediately and in my favor. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Back in the day when I was a Road Warrior, AA and United were considered the Premium Domestic Airlines ( I had the 200th AA Advantage Membership issued).

I would occasional fly other Airlines, and considered Eastern to be the Worst, with Pan Am, Quantas,CP,Mexicana and Air France being the best of the International Lines.

By the 2000s when I retired, most of them were gone, and the race to the bottom had started, (they were following the Class I Rail Roads Run 'em off Model )

I've only flown a few times in thevpast 10 years, and with the exception of the Airport expierence, really enjoyed my flights on Alaska Airlnes,Southwest and United. AA has really slipped! YMMV

 

[west point]

AA denied me boarding in ABQ. It came down to my employer paying me to take the SW chief home. Time was becoming critical for getting the Chief. However after employer intervened finally got on a later flight. AA never did admit wrong or give reason but suspected it was a mistake on a do not fly list ?

 

[jiml]

A few others have mentioned, but I'll second that Alaska Airlines is very good - if they go where you need to be. Best North American airline IMHO.

 

[the_traveler]

Back in the day when I was a Road Warrior, AA and United were considered the Premium Domestic Airlines ( I had the 200th AA Advantage Membership issued).

I would occasional fly other Airlines, and considered Eastern to be the Worst, with Pan Am, Quantas,CP,Mexicana and Air France being the best of the International Lines.

By the 2000s when I retired, most of them were gone, and the race to the bottom had started, (they were following the Class I Rail Roads Run 'em off Model )

I've only flown a few times in thevpast 10 years, and with the exception of the Airport expierence, really enjoyed my flights on Alaska Airlnes,Southwest and United. AA has really slipped! YMMV

I used to like Eastern, flying them often. (I almost got a job with them, making it to the final cut of 5 people.) I’ll agree with you about Alaska. I used to like UA a lot, but now like them slightly less.

 

[Seaboard92]

Alaska is an amazing airline. I will go out of my way to fly on them even if the routing is a bit clunky. Of course I'm bias they let me fly on a travel agent rate so it's very economical too.

 

[Qapla]

Everyone has an airline story

I don't - I don't fly and never have ... and don't plan to

considered Eastern to be the Worst, with Pan Am, Quantas,CP,Mexicana and Air France being the best

A friend of ours who died a few weeks ago was retired from Pan Am ... he and his wife lived in a community where there were several Pam Am retirees

I used to like Eastern

I have a friend in Jacksonville whose wife used to work for Eastern - way back when

As a side thought, one of Leann Rimes uncles used to be a pilot for Eastern - he got disability retirement when the plane he was flying dropped over 5,000 feet in what they described as a, "air pocket" ... the sudden jolt when they caught the air back and climbed damaged his back. I did some work for the family back when I used to install carpet.



Now, back to talking about Anderson and AA

 

[the_traveler]

Now, back to talking about Anderson and AA

Why? It seems that Eastern, Pan Am and TWA carry almost the same amount of passengers these days as Amtrak does!

 

[MARC Rider]

Back in the day when I was a Road Warrior, AA and United were considered the Premium Domestic Airlines ( I had the 200th AA Advantage Membership issued).

I would occasional fly other Airlines, and considered Eastern to be the Worst, with Pan Am, Quantas,CP,Mexicana and Air France being the best of the International Lines.

By the 2000s when I retired, most of them were gone, and the race to the bottom had started, (they were following the Class I Rail Roads Run 'em off Model )

I've only flown a few times in thevpast 10 years, and with the exception of the Airport expierence, really enjoyed my flights on Alaska Airlnes,Southwest and United. AA has really slipped! YMMV

In my college days, my choices for PHL-ORD flights were TWA, United, and AA. My travel agent issued my first standby ticket on TWA, and thus I became a TWA fan, although I would also take United if I couldn't get on a TWA flight. When I started flying for work, United was my go-to airline to fly between BWI and Denver and BWI-SFO. Sometimes the government contract carrier was USAir (later USAirways), and although the service was OK, it was better on United. In any case, they had nonstops for both routes. At certain periods, I would have to fly TWA and change in St. Louis. By the later 1980s, TWA was definitely on the way down. If I was headed for Texas, I'd fly AA to DFW. The last time if needed to do that was in 2009, and service was perfectly good. For a short period around 1986-87, we had to fly Continental under the Lorenzo regime, and it was pretty terrible.

Lately, most of the time, when I fly, I take Southwest. In fact the last time I flew something that wasn't Southwest was in 2010 when I flew to SFO. The service was terrible, I mean OK in the plane, though they served no food, but the ground work was being handled by contractors at SFO and the check in process was terrible. Actually, I'm pretty happy with Southwest, even if they serve no food. I pay extra for Early-Bird check-in and don't have to worry about checking in at exactly 24 hours before flight to get a decent boarding position and the seat I want on the plane. The fare includes checked baggage, the planes are usually on time and seem to be in good condition, the check in process is smooth, and it's as good as it can one can expect in today's business climate for air travel. It helps that BWI is a Southwest hub, and I can fly them to pretty much anywhere I need to go in the US, mostly with non-stop flights.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I really like southwest too MARCrider. I just wish they would offer a no-frills business class seat at the front. Those small 3 x 3 seats mess with my back on long flights.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

AA is sitting on the lip of the toilet rim right now and Anderson will easily push them into the ranks of the fallen flags. C.R. Smith is going 'round and 'round in his grave as we speak!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Among the remaining US airlines...

Alaska - Had good experiences but unless I'm flying to the Northwest or Asia it's probably not worth traveling out of the way with only one or two available flights per day. I have also heard good things about their loyalty program and should probably be crediting to AS whenever possible. I tried to do that with a some trips last year but buying OW flights through AA somehow locked them on AAvantage. I'd imagine there's a workaround but it wasn't easy or obvious to me.

Allegiant - Never heard a single positive comment about Allegiant. It sounds like they provide fewer protections than are legally mandated and essentially dare customers to lodge a complaint that Allegiant is convinced will have little or no material impact on their bottom line.

American - As mentioned above American was once my first and favorite airline. Even as a young child I felt they were better than the competition, in fact they fawned and doted on me back then, but that was a long time ago now. Today coach class has a pitch which is unusable for someone of my height, but they are one of only two airlines that serve an important airport for me and their F/J/W products remain workable for now.

Delta - Along with other airlines Delta's coach service has become unusable for someone of my height but as with American and Alaska their F/J/W products have worked fine for me. I have no problem using Delta for trips that either don't require or aren't negatively impacted by a connection in Georgia.

Frontier - Flew them back when they still had decent pitch as an LCC before they started following a much more aggressive ULCC path. They were fine for flights to/from the Rocky Mountains and Vegas but as with Spirit and Allegiant there is no way for someone of my height to travel comfortably with them today at any price.

JetBlue - Heard good things but they don't serve my airport, don't sell connections from here, and connecting through New York for North American trips makes little sense. They do serve Austin but that airport has become a bit of a mess in recent years and it's too long to drive for a domestic or regional flight. The distance isn't far but the traffic is so dense it takes hours each way. The toll roads don't even help due to how inefficiently they were designed and implemented.

Southwest - For decades I was a routine passenger on Southwest. Even as I would switch between American, United, and Delta I still flew Southwest as well. Initially this was because Southwest offered me more non-stops and because they made it so easy to reschedule if anything changed. Then as other airlines continued to cut back Southwest still included checked luggage, snacks, drinks, and larger aircraft than the competition. Unfortunately with continuing reductions in seat pitch my legs can only fit in the first row or the emergency exit rows, which Southwest cannot guarantee no matter when you book or how much you spend. When combined with changes in my travel patterns the new seat pitch made Southwest unusable and caused me to lose hundreds in credits.

Spirit - Heard nothing but horror stories about the ULCC version. Once upon a time they offered a larger seat with more pitch suitable for tall people. Then they got rid of those seats. It's crazy to think that merely being tall could become a disability but that's where we're heading with so many airlines following in the footsteps of Spirit and Ryanair. Spirit used to serve my airport and then left. To which I can only say good riddance and don't bother coming back.

United - I left UA after the David Dao incident. I didn't leave merely because of the decision to forcibly remove a revenue passenger for non-revenue staff, or even because a paying customer was beaten and bloodied in the process. I left because of how United management responded when the news hit the fan. Rather than acknowledge that it was a terrible outcome that deserved a deeper look into their policies and protocols they praised their staff while criticizing a customer who did nothing more than refuse to abandon his paid seat for an arbitrary non-safety related reason. UA's blind faith in their bureaucracy and their use of security staff to resolve a civil dispute was genuinely dangerous and could have been resolved without bloodshed but they chose to blame the victim instead. That was enough for me to leave and never look back.

 

[railiner]

I still maintain that flying was better overall, in the regulated era. Even if you couldn't get very low cut rates for advanced purchases, you didn't get gouged for last minute purchases, either.

And flying on any carrier back then was a delightful experience, where you were treated like they really welcomed you on board. Some even more than other's. Their fares were identical, so they competed with ever greater airplanes and amenities, as well as faster or more frequent schedules....

Not to mention, their employees received a decent wage, pension, and benefits.

 

[me_little_me]

Why is this thread part of "Amtrak Rail Discussion"? It has nothing to do with Amtrak other than a former employee of it has a new job outside of the company. None of the discussion relates to his Amtrak employment other than the fact that he used to be there.

If we're going to include discussions of former employees and their new jobs, can we include a discussion of a former LSA who now works cleaning at a hotel chain? It's just as relevant. And she was a lot nicer and did a better job for Amtrak.

 

[MARC Rider]

I still maintain that flying was better overall, in the regulated era. Even if you couldn't get very low cut rates for advanced purchases, you didn't get gouged for last minute purchases, either.

And flying on any carrier back then was a delightful experience, where you were treated like they really welcomed you on board. Some even more than other's. Their fares were identical, so they competed with ever greater airplanes and amenities, as well as faster or more frequent schedules....

Not to mention, their employees received a decent wage, pension, and benefits.

I tend to agree with you, but I also remembered that we all complained a lot back then, too. The best thing I liked was that my standby ticket was honored by all the airlines, and if I couldn't get a seat on one, I just went over to another counter, and eventually I found something. The meals on the PHL-ORD flights were convenient, even if we complained about the food, because if you took a no-meal flight, you would be in the airport during meal time, and the only thing worse than airline food at the time was airport food.

But they also had better bus service back then, so if the short-haul flights were too expensive, you could always take a bus, or even Amtrak if you happened to be traveling somewhere served by Amtrak. So the expensive air fares back in the regulated era weren't as much of a burden as they might be today if they reregulated airlines.

 

[Seaboard92]

In my opinion Frontier and Spirit are the "City Buses" of the sky. I will fly them if it's convenient to my destination but neither are my first choice. If you remember what you pay for on Spirit and aren't expecting anything above that it usually isn't bad.

 

[the_traveler]

Even today, meals are iffy.

I flew on DL in F from ATL to DTW. This flight is between 2 of the major hubs on DL, and was midday (a “normal” meal period). However, since the flight is under 900 miles, DL does not offer any meal or “food for sale”! So I got a light snack (I believe fruit & a candy bar) in F!

Luckily, DTW has a SkyClub, so I got some food (and not just snacks either)!