[dulyon]

I didn't believe the bad reviews before but boy did I regret it.

After landing in LA International Airport, instead of letting us through, several members of the flight were rushing to catch a connection to Miami, which was delayed by a miscommunication by AA ground staff.

We were made to re-check in despite having our boarding passes and our luggage tagged for the final destination. We therefore missed our connecting flight.

I was rescheduled to fly at 11.45 pm to Miami and 11.55 am to Fort Myers. That is another 11 hours of waiting in LA and another 3 hours of waiting in Miami. As it was I was already travelling for 26.5 hours in flight and a layover in Narita. When I talked again to American Airlines counter staff in LA, they had been unhelpful towards my problem, worse she blamed me for missing my flight. I wasn't the only person who missed that flight to Miami.

Why do I have to waste almost a full day in LA just because AA staff had misunderstood orders from her superiors? Why couldn't she let me terminate the flight in Miami, when I had offered to waive the flight from Miami to Fort Myers.

A week before my scheduled flight home, I checked my return flight only to find out that my flight from MIA to SFO had been deleted by someone in LA on the 22nd Oct. I am glad I checked or I would have stood at the check in counter like an idiot. AA had cost me my vacation time and additional expense.

According to AA's reply to my email, I needed to recheck in my luggage. Why would I need to recheck my luggage, when they are all tagged all the way to Ft Myers? I could have just moved to the baggage area to pass my luggage to the handlers. They are tagged all the way. For what purpose do I need to queue up again at the counter to re-check in myself, when I have the boarding pass all the way to Ft Myers?

Now if I was to presume that you need to check in again at the counter including luggage.

Why would American Airlines sell an impossible itinerary? That is like selling false hope, isn't it? It was my first experience in visiting the USA and AA is not making it memorable nor is it a good start for a vacation.

My next question is how does an AA counter person deal with a customer who missed their connections? What is the company policy? My flight delay was 12 hours. I was a stranger to LA airport and was on an international flight. It was unlikely that I could make myself at home at the airport. I was left to my own devices and LA Int is not exactly the friendliest airport to be at.

I am disappointed in American Airlines. I flew with other airlines and I never had problems before. The only flight which I had problem with was a budget airline in Asia, which cost a pittance as compared to AA, and AA performed worse then they did. It's sad that AA's air crew, who have excellent performance, were overshadowed by their ground crew.