Recently, I returned from my vacation and I was severely disappointed with both my flight to and from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Now, I have had problems with this airliner before, but never this severe. You may be wondering, which airliner? Well, it’s none other than American Airlines. While American Airlines offers the benefit of a direct flight to Guayaquil, the cons of flying on American Airlines painfully outweighs any sort of advantage that American Airlines had with its one-way flight.

The most jarring of the problems I had with my flight this time around was that my trip was cancelled. Although this is a very common problem, American Airlines did not handle the problem very well, and the staff only served to exacerbate the problem.

That night, our flight was set to set to depart at 9:00 pm, and we had arrived at the airport at around 6:30 p.m. to give us some contingency time. While I was sitting the gate at about 8:00 pm, it became clear to us that something wasn’t right. We hadn’t heard any information about our flight, and the departure time was quickly approaching. Long and behold, I went to check the departure times on the monitor and it seemed that our flight had been delayed to 11:45 p.m. Even though I wasn’t particularly happy about the delay, it wouldn’t have been the first time my flight had been delayed, and I was willing to wait it out.

However, my optimism quickly died down as the hours passed with no updates on my flight, save the departure time on the monitor. When the hour soon approached, I suddenly witnessed a mass of people slowly getting up and flocking away in intervals from the gate. I was at a lost, and with no American Airlines employee at sight. When I was finally able to find one, she informed us that our flight had been cancelled. There had been no announcement, and only the people had been checking their phone for the flight’s information were aware of the change. We were then prompted to make a large line in order to rebooked our flight.

We didn’t last long in that line, seeing as how many people from our flight were once again flocking away from their position. We soon followed suit. Apparently, there was another line for rebooking. When we got there it was only a bit shorter than the one we had left, but it was something. Or so I thought. The reality of the situation was much worse. The line was moving at an excruciatingly slow pace. The employees at the counter were taking around 20 minutes to attend to each group of people (flying together).

There, we also learned that seven other American Airlines flights had been cancelled that day, and it wasn’t because of the weather either. In fact, we were having beautiful weather that day. Instead, we were left in the dark as to exactly why so many flights had been cancelled.

By the time I had gotten to the counter, it was a little more than 3:00 am in the morning. I was not met with good news. The next available flight was two days later. Those were two whole days of my vacation gone. To top it all off, they couldn’t offer us any hotels because they had run out of vouchers. This happened to a few other passengers as well, and they weren’t fortunate enough to live in Miami.

Two days later we once again arrive to the airport. This time, things went a little smoother, but it did not go without its complications. Unlike two days earlier, the weather that day was less than optimal, but luckily, the flight was only delayed for about an hour or so.

However, my displeasure with American Airlines did not stop there. On my way back from Guayaquil, the staff was mortifyingly rude. I remember that the woman next to me had asked for a drink, only to get a snarky look as a reply. When asking them questions, the employees would also answer with attitude, which only served to make matters worse.

The flight in itself was alright, but I couldn’t overlook the terrible service. For me, that was the final nail in the coffin, and I definitively decided that I will never travel on American Airlines again. Not only am I tired of constantly getting my flight cancelled or delayed on American Airlines, but, I’m also tired of the terrible service they provide, not only on this trip, but on countless others. For your own good, next time you fly, make sure it’s not on American Airlines.