With AA, you're not going to get the legendary first-class service of an Asian airline like Singapor

I am starting to plan ahead for a possible trip to Argentina in December, 2014. We would like to use our Alaska Airlines miles to fly in Business or First Class due to the long flight. I would prefer to fly LAN, but it looks like all of the options from Seattle rental cars christchurch new zealand would involve 2 or 3 stops in each direction (i.e, Seattle to LAX to Lima to Buenos Aires). We can make it with just one stop in each direction (at DallasFW) if we fly American Airlines.
The American Airlines flights I can book right on the Alaska website, one leg at a time; for LAN I would have to call and book roundtrip. I have no idea what the availability of award seats on LAN looks like.
So my question is---would it be a mistake to just go ahead and book on American? I ask because my secretary used to be a travel agent and she says to "never" fly AA. And we never have, not because of that but because we fly British Airways to Europe and Alaska for domestic flights. So what has AA done to get this bad reputation---or is she wrong?
I think you have to take with a grain of salt any statement that goes "Never fly Airline X." If the person is talking about some obscure rental cars christchurch new zealand airline in some obscure country, yes, it's warranted. But I don't think such statements are justified about an established airline like American.
With AA, you're not going to get the legendary first-class service of an Asian airline like Singapore Airlines. If it's a three-class 777, you will get your own cordoned-off area with a comfy seat that folds down and lies flat when it's time to sleep. You'll have a table/desk and plenty of room to store your things. The seating is 1-2-1 so every seat is an aisle seat. If "we" is you and one other person, you probably want to try and get two middle seats so you can converse rental cars christchurch new zealand with each other. The food will be several cuts above what is served in economy.
Second, who knows what AA's schedules or equipment deployment will look like then; there may be 773s assigned to EZE, or you might end up on an ex-US Airways Airbus, or... It's highly rental cars christchurch new zealand possible (probable?) that AA and US will be deep in the throes of "integrating" their operations (outright prolonged laughter) by then so you might find yourself connecting in Charlotte instead of Dallas, or maybe Philly, or maybe Phoenix. Not to mention Miami or LAX.
AA has announced it will be converting its existing 777-200s from 3-class service rental cars christchurch new zealand to 2-class, starting in... ? However when they do so they'll be using the new business class seats up front - lie-flat, very nice chairs, also in 1-2-1 configuration, so even if you ride in biz instead of FC it will be a better experience than the current business seats on the 772s. The current first class "Flagship Suites" on the 772s are very good, with their swiveling chairs and big wide beds; and reports of the FC suites on the 773s are that they've saved most of the good points of the current suites but have updated everything.
It is not really the comfort of the seats or th elevel of service that I am questioning--I rental cars christchurch new zealand am sure those will be fine. It is the overall rental cars christchurch new zealand reliability of the airline---things like on-time record, cancelled flights, etc. Do they have a good record in that respect?
In many many flights on AA all over their system, most in business class or first class, I can count the number of seriously delayed, cancelled or otherwise fubar flights I've had on my fingers, probably with a couple left over. Personally, I've found AA to be exceedingly good to work with (compared with other airlines) over the years. No guarantees, rental cars christchurch new zealand of course, but you could really do worse.
Yep, I know I can't book until Jamuary, but I like to scope things out well in advance so I am ready with a game plan when the time comes. It wasn't until last night when I spent an hour or so exploring options that I realized we couldn't fly LAN unless we make 2 stops each way. So I started playing with the Alaska website. Delta does the route too, but with two stops in each direction like LAN, and their one-way bookings use too many miles. So it comes down to American.
We flew AA in F from EZE-JFK on a 777 last year and it was fine. There were some minor problems with service, but I complained to AA management at DFW and they later called rental cars christchurch new zealand me at home to apologize and gave DW and I 25K miles each as a peace offering. Overall, I have no regrets.
I've flown on an airline that someone said "my travel agent said she NEVER refers anyone to them as they are so terrible". We flew business with them (no first class from Australia - only two classes) and they were absolutely fantastic. The plane was fabulous as too was the service. Ignore the comment.
We flew roundtrip to Rome on AA in a 767 in economy and it was much better than I imagined. I was prepared for terrible service and old planes. The service was surprisingly good and the planes rental cars christchurch new zealand were in good shape.
Qantas rental cars christchurch new zealand and Cathay Pacific - Just wonderful in every which way, the ground crews, F Lounges, the flight comfort and service, rental cars christchurch new zealand food, especially on Qantas. Rate them about the same and #1 and #2 in no particular order.
AA - wonderful suites on the 777s. Food very good, above average. Flight service - good but not the same as the 2 above. rental cars christchurch new zealand Ground crews very helpful but I have to admit I had top status so yes I had access to the best in the system when things got complicated or needed changes. Rate AA #3.
BA - very nice, ground crews very accomodating, overall a great experience, but something was just not right to me about the flight crews. Can't really pinpoint my thoughts about it but I will have to rate BA as #4 in the alliance.
rental cars christchurch new zealand It's the service, rental cars christchurch new zealand helpfulness rental cars christchurch new zealand of the ground staff, etc. that really helps in these situations. When flying in F or C class, you will get the perk of dealing with the staff that can go the extra mile for you.