Could eff up a soup sandwich. I what is wrong with them?
They have cancelled more flights and caused more issues in that last few months that I've ever seen from them.

Others experiencing this?

When weather shuts down their 2nd biggest hub (CLT) for multiple hours day after day that'll have effects across the network

Yep...I posted about them back at the end of July.

They cancelled our 730 am flight in the middle of the night (supposedly no crew). Luckily, my BF was up and saw the change on one of our two reservations. I made both reservations originally and was never notified the flight was cancelled - no email or text message.

AA couldn't get us out for 2 days, so they put us on Jet Blue, which was fine, except we had to drive 3 hours to our final destination and the cost of the rental car doubled. Put in a complaint/request to customer service and have not heard back. The extra cost really rubbed us the wrong way because these were already almost $600 flights (in economy, on a weekday, and it wasn't a holiday).

Then our flight home got hung up because of bad weather in CLT. I understand bad weather happens, but when they have a bunch of cancellations like that, their app absolutely craps the bed. The customer service agents at the airports are limited, both in number and what they can to to help you. There were 5 of us traveling together, and the agent at the desk couldn't/wouldn't tell us if the flight we needed to change to even had 5 seats available. She said to "just change it in your app and see what happens". Three/five of us didn't even have an app that was working, and even after the flights were changed, we couldn't get confirmation or boarding passes in our app. The agent had to print them.

If you aren't on top of your reservation and watching for delays/tracking flights in flight aware and running to the desk as soon as you see a hint of a problem, you're waiting in a mile long line with hundreds of other people.

They are the worst at delaying, delaying, delaying, delaying a flight before finally cancelling it, often leaving passengers with no alternative but to sleep in the airport. They also have a habit of delaying flights to the next day, which shouldn't even be allowed (that should be a cancellation).

We booked through CLT this year because we had a similar situation through PHL last year - flight cancelled, stuck in PHL overnight (luckily we were able to snag a hotel room), only flight home to iAH the next day was through DAL. Had the exact same problem with the app not working, limited agents at the airport, and miles long lines.

We only fly AA because there is no other option for this particular destination (we visit friends near BGR once a year). But that makes the problem worse because we can't just catch a flight on another airline. I think flying to BOS and making the three hour drive may become our new plan.

That's awful, but unfortunately becoming common with AA.
I too can tell many similar stories. I started this following a fiasco they started yesterday (still unfolding).
Buddy and I booked through Alaska Air to get to Kotzebue. Buddy coming from SAT. we used miles to book because Alaskan is very flexible with tickets book using miles and hunting in AK often requires airline flexibility. When you book with miles, it opens up partner options. While I hesitated to do it, the option of nonstop AA flights from DFW to ANC did work well for us. Buddy could get from SAT to DFW with. A 45 min window to make connection. This made both his flights AA flights. I checked the weather, obviously fine in Texas but also in California as the flight to ANC was previously leaving LAX. All looked good so I hoped that meant the flights were dependable.
Nope, buddy's SAT flight boarded and then sat on the ramp for 1:15 due to maintenance. This meant he would miss the nonstop to ANC flight. So, AA auto rebooked him for a flight 24 hours later from DFW to ANC (presumably his checked bags too).
However, once it finally departed, it actually landed at DFW 20 mins before scheduled departure of ANC flight. I was already boarded and a flight attendant was helping us by talking with the counter agent. Our plane delayed (for a screw to be tightened). We thought maybe we would at least get buddy on our flight. Nope, he called me 20 mins after landing and they were still on the ramp waiting for a gate. My flight left 15 mins later than scheduled and buddy was still in his plane.

He then went to hotel where he waited in one of those lines for 2 hours. When he got to the counter, and although he had a reservation, the hotel wouldn't allow a single occupancy room, so he and some stranger got a room. He worked the Alaska to get better flight since Alaska is through whom she originally booked. He got those but we still aren't sure if Alaska was able to get his bags from American.
Next, we had to change flight from ANC to OTZ since he won't be in ANC in time for those.

Any other service business could not survive with this poor performance. I will make more of an effort to not use them by living in Dallas area, that's easier said than done.

One they have your money, they really have no incentive to help you or make anything right. And that goes for all the airlines.

It's one of the few industries where they can take your money with no obligation to even provide the service you paid for. And when they can't provide, it often costs you even MORE money on top of what you already paid to get the situation resolved.

Also, AA's automatic rebookings when there is a delay or cancellation are trash. They seem to manage to find the absolutely worst itinerary to rebook when there is a problem. You almost have to either call customer service or find an agent at the airport. Which, when there are a lot of delays and cancellations, is an absolute mess of long hold times and long lines.

There is absolutely no excuse for their online booking system/app crashing every time there is bad weather at one of their hubs.

Lately?

United gives me more problems than American (part of why I dint fly them if I can help it).

This last week I wanted to check my account, and their app is more than useless.
Couldn't log in due to all the stupid extra questions about who my first girlfriends car was etc....had to re set my password.
Then it ends up the status O was supposed to have for being Bonvoy Titanium doesn't show (still not sure who to talk to about that).

There's a reason I only fly them to go see my parents in Houston (and even then only if I have to).

dirkjones said:

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United seems to be becoming more unreliable also

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Agreed. The lack of communication and boiler plate updates on why there are delays and cancellations is brutal, too.

Its all airlines. Lack of crews and pilots and ground ops + lack of planes (thanks Boeing). Any little reverberation in their flight plans cause a lot more issues than it used to

Never wait in line at the airport. Call.

Agreed, but he waited online at the Wyndom where AA gave him vouchers for a room.

All US airlines are struggling right now.

Boeing and Airbus are behind on new aircraft deliveries, which means airlines are running through the busiest travel season of the year with a much smaller margin for error/maintenance than they would prefer.

Nobody is doing it well right now, they're all just hoping to get lucky with weather. AA is exposed a little more because August is monsoon season in the southwest and American has PHX as a hub.

As summer moves into fall, things will get better and more planes can get in for maintenance.