American Airlines is rolling out fantastic new functionality, which customers will no doubt appreciate…
In this post:
American gives passengers new insights into flight delays
When traveling by air, delays and cancellations happen, including for situations outside of a carrier’s control. As I see it, what counts is the frequency with which airlines cancel or delay flights, as well as how good of a job they do handling them, including communicating with customers.
Starting today, and rolling out over the course of the next month, American is introducing easy to understand delay and cancellation reasons directly within the mobile app and website. Here’s how American describes the improved functionality:
When flights are disrupted, customers want more than a status update — they want context. Whether it’s a delay due to weather and other external factors, or something within the airline’s control, American will reassure customers that teams are actively working to get them on their way, providing context and rebooking options — and vouchers, when applicable.
In addition to seeing delay and cancellation reasons on the mobile app and aa.com, customers will also begin to receive tailored push notifications, emails and text messages this month, ensuring communications are timely, relevant and informative.
This development builds on American’s recently improved disruption platform, which offers tools that customers need to manage unexpected changes to their travel plans. This includes being able to rebook flights, tracking checked bags, accessing eligible hotel, meal, and transportation vouchers, and more.
Kudos to American, these are all great changes!
I’m pleased to see American improve its technology, including providing better delay explanations through the app and website. This is good, full stop.
It has to be acknowledged that as is all too often the case, American is only playing catch-up here, as this is something that United has been doing for many years. We’ve seen American make all kinds of positive changes to the passenger experience lately, though in a vast majority of cases, it’s just American trying to slightly narrow the gap with competitors (which is easier said than done, when they’re also trying to improve).
While I think better app and website notifications are an important aspect of improving how customers perceive their experience during irregular operations, it’s not everything. I hope the airline also puts effort into how it manages rolling delays in terms of the accuracy with which it updates departure times, and also service from frontline employees in terms of communicating delays, being helpful with answering questions and rebooking, etc.
Bottom line
American is rolling out new app and website functionality, whereby the airline will start providing explanations for why flights are delayed and canceled. Customers most definitely value this level of transparency, so it’s nice to see the airline trying to remove some frustration and friction from irregular operations.
What do you make of this update from American?
Airlines need to add another capability, now that the UK (along with increasing numbers of others) have introduced requirements for dual-national citizens to use a UK passport to enter the country. Since this means that you need to use your "other" passport to go back home, it is increasingly necessary to store TWO passports in your profile. So far only United seems to allow this. It's time for American, Delta and others to add it.
Doesn't matter, it's not going to change their on time performance. It is the worst.
If only I could get the AA app. I have an older iPhone which cannot update to anything more recent than iOS 16. The latest AA app requires iOS 18 or later and AA no longer supports the older versions of their app. Incredible they don’t realize not all their pax have the latest tech.
Got a notification that my JAX/MIA flight was delayed 6.5 hours due to crew rest/availability. Now what irked me this was a 6AM flight and I did not get the notification until 4AM when I had just arrived at the airport. So now I have to hang around JAX (of course no lounge) for over seven hours when I could have gotten a full night's sleep. Wouldn't AA have known last night about the crew issue?
Same boat, 6:40 flight this morning. Passed security waiting near the gate and got the alert about the delay. Never saw the reason in the app but when I asked I got the same answer about crew rest. Would have loved more sleep as this was known for a couple hours (per the agent) but not shared through the app for a while.
Meh if all it's going to say is "maintenance", "weather at destination", "ATC management", etc. this is all just statements of the obvious that only a casual traveler may find any value in.
"Maintenance" can just as easily mean something that will take 10 minutes to fix as something that will take 10 hours to fix and unless an informed assessment of how long it's likely to take can be provided this doesn't tell me anything useful at all.
Any improvement in AA’s app helps the overall experience when one has to fly AA—and this is an improvement! These small steps all add up. Lately, I’ve been seeing great value out of AAdvantage miles, certainly more than UA’s which have been steadily devalued. This is flying as a 1K with UNITED and a regular (non-pro) platinum with AA. Everyone benefits when AA is competitive.
Doesn’t really matter if they’re going to continue rolling out their delays in 15 minute intervals, keeping you trapped at the gate even when in reality you won’t be leaving for an hour or more.
...sometimes much more...and then they eventually cancel anyway.
I have noticed a pattern with flights that are delayed - when the flight is delayed twice it usually ends up being cancelled most likely because the crew times out. I was sitting on flight and the crew timed out. We all had to de board the plane and wait for another crew. Flying is a sport!
Makes sense, since it shows in ExpertFlyer. I will be checking to see if the reasons agree.
And what is the recourse if they don’t? we recently lost an entire day of our vacation to New Zealand as they canceled the flight a few hours before. Two agents I spoke with said it’s because of a problem with crew, but when I complained to AA, they said it was Weather and therefore there’s no compensation.
The "why?" won't matter at all if they keep doing their usual rolling 15 min delays in situations where it's obvious the flight will be delayed 1 hour+
Our flight, AA820, PDX-ORD was canceled last night. Scheduled for noon departure, it was delayed until 4p when we boarded. Not surprised because Flight Aware showed many, many aircraft in holding patterns at ORD. About 15 minutes after everyone is aboard, the Captain said the FA PA system wasn't working and he called maintenance three times. He was nice enough to say he would set his watch for 15 minute updates. Finally he updates to...
Our flight, AA820, PDX-ORD was canceled last night. Scheduled for noon departure, it was delayed until 4p when we boarded. Not surprised because Flight Aware showed many, many aircraft in holding patterns at ORD. About 15 minutes after everyone is aboard, the Captain said the FA PA system wasn't working and he called maintenance three times. He was nice enough to say he would set his watch for 15 minute updates. Finally he updates to say maintenance says they are on the way, and then the app says the flight is scheduled for 7p departure, but almost immediately its canceled and we get off the plane. If we had departed at 4p PDT, we might have joined all the other flights that were diverted from ORD. However, at 10p, flights were arriving Chicago. The captain told me that so many planes diverted that the diversion airports were saturated. So, AA called this a weather event, rather than mechanical. Someone in ops chose the easiest route because they knew they couldn't get our aircraft repaired quickly and decided to call a weather cancelation.
This has happened many times to me. Crew announcing it's mechanical and then AA lies and says the reason is "weather," so they don't have to pay for any hotels, meals, etc.
The rolling delays are the worst. We were flying DFW-JFK right after the last blizzard and after boarding at 730 am and sitting on the plane for 2 hours, the captain said the delay would be at least 7 hours more and we would deboard. However aa would only delay departure by an hour or two all the way until a late evening departure.
Hope is NOT a strategy. I pity the poor fools who think American will tell the truth.
Laughable. Flight from JFK to EGE cancelled today due to weather. Only 3 other flights from JFK cancelled at that time and wx at EGE was CAVU. After pushing for further details was advised there was turbulence forecasted enroute and pilot was not comfortable flying through it. So cancelled for weather.
That’s something Emirates’ app could do with right now with all the unpredictable effects of the Middle East war on its schedule.
So now they can lie about the delay reason in writing. And give you the reason for the delay in 5 minutes increments that come after the posted departure time has passed. What a great improvement.
This is good news provided that AA is fully honest and transparent with their explanations for delays and cancellations. Unfortunately I do not have much faith in AA in this regard.
The issue is that most flyers have no idea of what to do in the event of a delay. They wait around waiting for an overworked, under resourced, stressed out gate agent to help them.
Although it may seem an irrelevant comparison, the DC metro walked back giving reasons for many delays after it exposed that most were due to not having even close to enough drivers. Airlines like to talk up transparency but they may end up eating that.
Looking forward to a follow-up post on the digitalised hotel options - or the lack thereof.
AA will still lie about the reasons for the delay. And it still won't show delays until 30 minutes after takeoff time.
Ahh, the United-Airlines-special!
Who wants to place a bet that AA will find a way to make 99% of all delays/cancelations "weather" or "ATC"?? I have zero confidence that they will act in good faith and see this as a way for AA to now document erroneous delay causes as means to reject compensation claims.
I worked for years in Customer Relations - before AA shuttered the department - and I have to say that as employees we loved nothing more than to have a flight coded as crew or mechanical that we could pay on. It meant making a customer happy and usually not getting any pushback. I promise we were NOT attributing delays and cancels to weather that weren't. Weather codes just got us angry customers and endless...
I worked for years in Customer Relations - before AA shuttered the department - and I have to say that as employees we loved nothing more than to have a flight coded as crew or mechanical that we could pay on. It meant making a customer happy and usually not getting any pushback. I promise we were NOT attributing delays and cancels to weather that weren't. Weather codes just got us angry customers and endless writebacks. And unmerited weather codes could open an airline to hefty government fines. Customers just didn't want to accept that just because they couldn't see bad weather, that bad weather didn't impact their flight.
I do hope this new system helps more passengers than causes them problems.
BS.
Recently had a flight from MCO-DFW. Heavy thunderstorm day in DFW, yes. And initial delay was due to those thunderstorms. But then we boarded and went out to the runway...and then a light came on and we went back to the gate and took a mechanical delay for an engine problem--a 3pm departure was delayed until 6am the following morning.
AA called it weather and denied all passengers hotel rooms for the night,...
BS.
Recently had a flight from MCO-DFW. Heavy thunderstorm day in DFW, yes. And initial delay was due to those thunderstorms. But then we boarded and went out to the runway...and then a light came on and we went back to the gate and took a mechanical delay for an engine problem--a 3pm departure was delayed until 6am the following morning.
AA called it weather and denied all passengers hotel rooms for the night, meal certificates, etc. (They also refused to get anyone's bags off the plane, with the gate agent saying it was "too much work" for the staff at MCO.)
And it's happened multiple times.
I believe you that those working in Customer Relations preferred when AA was honest. It's total BS that AA is honest about the delay reason.
Woohoo! I’ve also noticed they seem to be getting better about announcing causes on planes and at gates, but that’s strictly anecdotal.
When does it matter "Why" a flight is delayed or cancelled ?
Doesn't matter at all .
Anyone who purchases a seat ought not be surprised why a flight is delayed or cancelled .
It matters A LOT to those who have travel insurance. Weather-related delay is covered in the policy!
@ Alert -- I disagree, and it goes beyond just the travel insurance reason shared by TT. Ultimately we all know flights get delayed and canceled, but providing frequent and accurate updates not only gives us a better sense of what we can expect and allows us to make plans, but it also makes us feel like the company cares more, and respects our time.
Let me give an example. Say your flight shows a...
@ Alert -- I disagree, and it goes beyond just the travel insurance reason shared by TT. Ultimately we all know flights get delayed and canceled, but providing frequent and accurate updates not only gives us a better sense of what we can expect and allows us to make plans, but it also makes us feel like the company cares more, and respects our time.
Let me give an example. Say your flight shows a five minute delay in the app. Wouldn't it be useful to know whether the delay of five minutes is because a flight is arriving slightly late, or whether it's because they're short a pilot, and are trying to find a new one? I think it's worth knowing, because the former is likely to be resolved pretty quickly, while the latter isn't.
Bad delay handling goes beyond any on factor. This is just a small thing that contributes to happier customers, as I see it.
As someone who works in the travel and tourism industry down in the Caribbean, I can tell you firsthand that American Airlines is disproportionately affected by delays and cancellations. It’s actually become a running gag at my workplace: when guests arrive late and frustrated, we lighten the mood by asking, “Flying American today?”
More often than not, their response is, “Yeah… how did you know?”
We just smile knowingly.
At least this...
As someone who works in the travel and tourism industry down in the Caribbean, I can tell you firsthand that American Airlines is disproportionately affected by delays and cancellations. It’s actually become a running gag at my workplace: when guests arrive late and frustrated, we lighten the mood by asking, “Flying American today?”
More often than not, their response is, “Yeah… how did you know?”
We just smile knowingly.
At least this technology update is being rolled out by an airline whose passengers stand to benefit the most.
How will they "stand to benefit the most" ?
It was a tongue in cheek comment referencing how AA passengers are affected by delays the most, therefore benefit most from software that explains said delays.
The reason customer most often states yes arrived on AA is because AA has a lot of service to the Caribbean!!
Absolutely. A big reason I’ve remained an AA loyalist is convenience, which may also partly explain my perspective. That said, on a typical Saturday — the main day for Caribbean turns — I’ll have guests arriving on all the major airlines in fairly even numbers. And the majority of delays are on American. No doubt that the higher proportionate airlift offered by AA will be a contributing factor and I should perhaps not judge too harshly!