I have used AA a lot over the last 10 years. It has gone from moderate to desperately bad over that time. Last leg home to the UK was 10 hours of torture in a seat just about big enough for someone half my size.
Small things like having a Visa card demanded for even the first drink. Can't the management see what this implies - the impression it leaves with the passenger? Dreadful food, served with an indifferent attitude. In flight entertainment? I'm long past caring about that, given they can only provide a 10c headset for the masses. Just horrible, and in my case, little choice of carrier.
I've been lied to about flight connection times. Having those lies substantiated by a VP of the company in a 40 minute conversation. Having my hold baggage fly the next leg without me, despite assurances it couldn't possibly happen. How legal can that be?
It goes on and on. I dare say mine are typical of thousands of complaints, and AA are now powerless to do anything about it. Fuel prices and a multiplicity of other authorities' hands held out for a share of the ticket price mean there is insufficient money to do the job.
Hearing about the shedding of maintenance staff leaves me wondering just what other cuts of vital services might be made behind the scenes. It seems to me the entire fabric of the industry is built on financial quicksand.