American flight policies are very bad

[maryag]

I have been sucked in to American Airlines through their credit card & accumulating milage. If you book a flight early for best time, direct flight & price AA looks great. But, a few months before your flight you will get a notice of flight changes. Direct flight cancelled. Now instead of arriving in four hours, it becomes six to nine hours. They will not allow you to change airports in order get a better flight so you are stuck. I fly to St Maarten every year. I started out of BDL (CT) until AA prices got to high. Then I started out of FJK (NY) That worked the first time. 4 hrs down & 4 hrs back.
Then the changes started. They seem to occur every other year to through you off balance. This year is the worst. Down our flight is 6-1/2 hrs and back its 9 hours. When I bought my four tkts back in 8/10 the price & flight were great. Now its a nightmare. I am done with AA for any and all future flights anywhere. Next year I will fly Continental to St Maarten. They have not changed their direct flight schedule in 20 years.

[wanderer]

Seasonal Schedule changes are normal with all airlines, but most will try to work with you to find a happy medium. There are probably going to be more reductions in the near future because of fuel prices.

[maryag]

As an airline employee you are trained to use the "seasonal schedule changes". If this is so, why does the direct flight show on your schedule for next year, for the exact same week? Why does the flight change some years and not others for the same week? I don't see this on any other airline. Especially Continental, which I have been tracking.

[wanderer]

As an airline employee I am not trained to say " seasonal schedule change". I call it seasonal because I see flights change with each change in season. I do not work for AA so I can't tell you why that flight. I was commenting more or less about AA not giving you options.

[maryag]

That is absolutely untrue. You are quoting generalization. I have tracked this specific flight for twenty years!!! It is only occasionally and only recently you decided to change this flight. I am only stating my complaints to warn other potential passengers so they don't get stuck like I did, twice. It will never happen to me again. I don't care what your times or prices are. I know they change at a whim. This year we have had three changes in our flights SO FAR. Also, can you explain our route on our return flight on 5/14/11 which is taking "9" hours to get fromSXM to JFK. Are we going via the South Pole? I have only encountered the 4 hr flight & the 6-1/2 hr flights in the past.

[wanderer]

I do not work for American Airlines.