As a traveler in these times, airfare is easy to find at any time. The trip you plan to take can be last minute, it can be in several months, or it could be in two weeks. In any case, there are a thousand different places on the Internet to instruct you on finding the best price, flight, and airline to suit your needs. Most consumers research their travel plans with the accessibility of so many sites specializing in finding you the cheapest travel plans. Maybe taking into account the sacrifice of the cost maybe something worth looking into.

A top airline that comes to most people's minds is American Airlines. It is supposed to be a business and international travelers airline, though recent reviews seem to advise otherwise.

While most people would agree that American provides more leg room, which seems to be a more prominent complaint in travel today, that is just about the only area they rank high in. The biggest complaint seems to be with American's customer service from counter all the way through to flight staff. Several reviews even made the claim that had they not gotten on line to check their flight, they would not have even known it was canceled. One guest even claimed that the customer service throughout his entire trip acted as though he were "flying for free" and he was treated just as so. Several people who had used their airline miles were rescheduled from non-stop flights to flights with one or more stops and had even lost first class accommodations with no compensation for miles used! Several reviews spoke of canceled flights with little explanation, no hotel compensation, and no miles credits. Most airlines offer credits and hotel vouchers when a flight is canceled for reasons other than weather. Not in these cases. One such review even stated that there was no weather the morning of the flight. The weather had occurred the day before, yet he flight was canceled the night before the flight. Again, no compensation.

In the search for some positive feedback, there is very little at this point. The common threads reporting good points are occasionally the promptness, though this also appeared to be only average rather than poor, and the comfortability of the plane. In some cases cost was rated a little higher as well, though still not in a good range. Most opinions were that if you pay the money, no matter what the cost, you should get the service they are being paid to provide. If they want to put out lower service standards because they are putting out an economy fare, they should advertise "Economy fare, expect economy service without a smile!" That might help some in making the decision and even ease the burden of late flights, lost luggage, no compensation, missed connections, lackluster planes, and sourpuss faces on flight attendants.

The concept of a cheaper flight does not always deliver the best service, however, when an airline claims to be top of the game, what is it that is acceptable service standards? When a customer pays any amount for any service, what is it that constitutes receiving quality service? If they pay less for the flight, are they sacrificing quality and in some cases their own dignity and travel plans?

These questions are left up to the airline to answer because customers do have choices and the ability to report on what they have experienced. Just like airfare site, there are review and opinion site. Maybe taking matters into your own hands with a little effort isn't such a bad idea!

Learn more about this author, Christina Scott.
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