AA 'been cancelling Colombia flights?

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 7, 2008, 09:07:

YEP, AA is the worse Airline in the world

engage brain before opening mouth

MaFe says on Mar 7, 2008, 09:22:

I never had a bad experience with AA, I feel the worst is Avianca...

"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. "-Aristotle

miamimike says on Mar 7, 2008, 09:26:

I've used AA several times on trips to Colombia, never had a bad experience. Lan Chile is great also, stay away from Avianca, if you want to experience what poor service is all about, fly with this Avianca Crew. They wrote the book on poor Service! Hard to believe in this day and age, they still are even in Business! LOL

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.,

getting better says on Mar 7, 2008, 09:43:

I am aware of several instances recently of problems with Continental. In most cases these relate to delayed baggage, and they are incredibly unhelpful and slow in reuniting passengers with their baggage.

wendell13 says on Mar 7, 2008, 10:12:

AA was criticized by some environmentalists last week for a flight from Chicago to London that had only 5 passengers on board. So maybe they are delaying or cancelling some low capacity flights

muchacho_escondido says on Mar 7, 2008, 10:28:

>So maybe they are delaying or cancelling some low capacity flights

I think that's the likeliest explanation: let 'em wait so we can save some money on gas. I don't know that for a fact but that's the best guess in my opinion.

What I don't get is why don't they just switch to smaller airplanes? Instead of using the humongous A300's to Bogota they could use B737-800s . Instead of B737-800's to MDE they could use B737-600's. Everyone would win-- they'd get a higher load factor and we'd have convenient schedules...

What's funny is that they've been clinging to their Colombia frequencies hard. They even filed a complaint against DOT for taking one unused frequency away from them! Why do they insist on keeping them if they are making such a poor use of them? Definitely need some new blood on the Colombian market-- hopefully JetBlue and Spirit are going to start a revolution.

wendell13 says on Mar 7, 2008, 10:29:

Competition makes for lower prices

divingdave911 says on Mar 7, 2008, 11:14:

Last summer I returned from Cartagena to Miami on Avianca. I was in coach class and was served chicken something. I cut into the meat and it was red inside. The flight attendant passed by and asked if everything was OK and I pointed that it was red inside (think salmonella). She got a worried / sad look on her face and took the meal away and said something that I did not understand. A few minutes later she reappeared at my seat with a linen covered tray with silverware (not plastic), red wine and one of the best Filet Mignons I have had in a long time.

If she could have only done something about that little prick in back of me that had to keep kicking me :(

Avianca also has great policies in changing your ticket. They don't nickel and dime you to death if you have to make a change.

I usually fly in on American because of the Frequent Flier miles I get. Phoenix to Colombia for 30,000 miles! Can any other airline beat that deal?

El Piloto says on Mar 7, 2008, 11:58:

Bad weather here in DFW yesterday (6Mar) could have had a minor impact on routes elsewhere in the AA system. Probably though just maintenance cancellations that are par for the course on any airline.

Airlines do not cancel flights just because of low load factors. Now it's possible that if an A300 goes mechanical at MIA and say there are three A300 flights scheduled to leave at the same time that the equipment from the least heavily booked one will be "stolen" and that flight canceled in order to be able to fly the flight that has more passengers. But to say that an (US) airline would cancel a flight solely because of low bookings is patently wrong, depsite being a popular urban legend.

I was once one of only 8 passengers onboard an AA 727 flight!

muchacho_escondido says on Mar 7, 2008, 12:07:

>But to say that an (US) airline would cancel a flight solely because of low bookings is patently wrong, depsite being a popular urban legend.

That's good too here if it's true.

tomtom33 says on Mar 7, 2008, 12:31:

"Avianca also has great policies in changing your ticket. They don't nickel and dime you to death if you have to make a change."

Yup they sure do. They lose your reservation, charge you twice for the same flight, refuse to give you a refund, then lose the credit they promised you. That ain't nickel and dimin' you. That's jammin' it where the sun don't shine sin vaselina.

They have owed me over US$100 for better than 2 years now. I realize that I will never get the money, but Avianca will never get another dime of mine unless I have no choice.

I do agree with you, Dave, about the AA FF program. I can fly MDE to MSN for 30K miles round-trip.

El Piloto says on Mar 7, 2008, 12:34:

It's true. Like I said in the event that some flight has to be canceled because of maintenance, delayed or illegal crew, etc. it is possible that the airline will cancel the least heavily booked flight leaving that airport at that time, but canceling a flight ONLY for the reason of being lightly booked is not going to happen - and could open a US airline to legal action if it happened regularly. Also the way airline schedules are built just doesn't leave much slack in the system to play games like this (the downside of this being that it also doesn't leave much slack in the system to recover from operational disruptions such as bad weather at a major hub).

Another reason why low load cancellations wouldn't make sense is that that lightly booked A300 scheduled to fly MIA-BOG has to turn around and come back to MIA and with average load factors being quite high, chances are the return flight will be pretty full. Cancel the lightly booked inbound flight and there's no A300 in BOG to fly all those passengers back. Rebooking a planeload full of passengers is not only time consuming for an airline but very expensive (every ticket that has to be endorsed over to Avianca or Delta or whoever means a payment from AA to the carrier that winds up taking the passenger).

wendell13 says on Mar 7, 2008, 12:48:

Thanks for the info on load factors

divingdave911 says on Mar 7, 2008, 13:45:

Hey TomTom! I guess we have all been shafted by one airline or another at one time or another. My experience with that sweet, caring flight attendant from Avianca will be remembered by me for a long time. In the end it is the service from the people we buy tickets from that matters.

miamimike says on Mar 7, 2008, 18:11:

Yup they sure do. They lose your reservation, charge you twice for the same flight, refuse to give you a refund, then lose the credit they promised you. That ain't nickel and dimin' you. That's jammin' it where the sun don't shine sin vaselina.

They have owed me over US$100 for better than 2 years now. I realize that I will never get the money, but Avianca will never get another dime of mine unless I have no choice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TT-you are spot on with that Post! 3 bad trips with Avianca and each one worse then the prior trip! I wouldn't send my Pet Goat in their(avianca) cargo hold! LOL

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.,

DodgerDogs says on Mar 7, 2008, 18:26:

Here is the person at Avianca in charge of their U.S. operations.

I have talked with him before and got things fixed , Avianca once in Bogota put me up
for 3 days at Hotel Habitel and fed me room service then gave me 2 free r/t tickets.
Avianca though will pass the buck , but only if you accept their excuses.

Hugo Villarreal
Avianca Airlines
Regional Airport Director
North America, Mexico & Caribbean
786-2653962

(Tell Hugo the Colombian Gringo with
the bad temper says hola)

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.Martin Luther King:

tomtom33 says on Mar 7, 2008, 18:33:

Thanks, DD. I do appreciate the contact.

However, I will spend no more energy on Avianca. It's worth the money to me to never have to deal with them again.

divingdave911 says on Mar 7, 2008, 20:47:

OK. I surrender. Avianca SUCKS! I'll take your guys word for it. I had a really good flight before with Continental and would fly them again except they don't go to the cities I would like to, yet. Continental owns Copa and Aero-republica and I can't figure out why it is difficult to book flights via Continentals website. You would think they would have better synergy in their combined airlines, but no.

lpdiver says on Mar 7, 2008, 20:49:

I have had good and bad experiences with all of them. Continental darn near caused me to miss my own wedding in 2003. It took them three days to get me from Houston to Medellin.

t

"cook some rice!"