Flown AA from Santa Cruz, Bolivia (VVI) to Miami on an old B757, early 80s uncomfortable seats. The buttom to recline the back was locked and I could not recline anything in those more than 6 hours. Meal service started 1 and half hour after take off (at 2am !!) and drinks arrived 45 minutes after food . Flight attendants were on their 50s-60s. I asked for a coffee with milk and received a tea with milk. No breakfast before landing (7am)
The overall impression was to ride a 3rd class train !

The age of the flight attendants was a problem? LOL!

And you expect two meals in six hours?

Everyone's had a seat that didn't recline at least once in their travels.

Something tells me you've never been on a third class train!

the age of FA is not a problem as long as they are motivated to offer a good service to customers but the feeling was that after decades of the same job they even did not listen to my coffee request.

But maybe you are right. I probably just collected more than one weakness on the same flight. Bad luck for me

Take heart AA.com is upgrading to a new fleet

But you are right they are the oldest planes stewards in SA

I have had to stop X 2 down there when a part fell off an

AA plane incurring delays of 12 hours or more so look

on the Bright side... I have ridden 3rd class bus/trains

in Boliviabella.com a great country but the transport sucks

way worse than AA.com

At least they do not LOCK the bathrooms for 12 hours on AA

like they do on most Bolivian Buses I have been on...

IF they even have a bath a big if...

Pretty sad when they get dirty rather than clean them

they just lock them up and let them stink...

Not for the faint of heart...

I see...... thanks

I forgot to mention no AVOD and individual tv screen in economy, just an overhad monitor and the selection was only among 10 music channels plus 2 channels for the played movie. Probably, comparing with other airlines, my expectations were wrongly higher.

Fabio, you're correct your expectations of AA were too high, in future rather than just getting to the airport and getting on a flight as you would expect, you need to be aware of the following when travelling with AA:

Due to lack of entertainment options, you need to bring headphones, ipod, DVD's and laptop

Due to the terrible or lack of food options, you should pack your own food in a carryon bag prior to departure, but please be careful not to choose anything that will smell unpleasant in the cabin.

Flight Attendents are not there to provide service, they are there for your safety, so you were lucky to get anything.

Their planes and their interiors are old but if you can wait, this should start improving in the next 10 years, provided they are still in business.

But the good news is that due to all the cost cutting over the years and the intense competition, I bet your ticket price was incredibly cheap.

A couple things:

"Flown AA from Santa Cruz, Bolivia (VVI) to Miami on an old B757, early 80s uncomfortable seats."

Assuming you were flying coach ... I'd love to know which airline actually has comfortable seats. Also, American used to have extra legroom, but did away with that.

"The buttom to recline the back was locked and I could not recline anything in those more than 6 hours."

Were you in an exit row? Some exit row seats don't recline, whether you're on American or another airline.

"Flight attendants were on their 50s-60s."

So what?

"I asked for a coffee with milk and received a tea with milk."

The horror!

Geordie: LOL !! thanks for starting my day with good spirit and lots of smile !

andrews98682: seats shape have anyway developed in the last 30 years even in coach. Legroom is another story and pitch among airlines in coach varies by 1-2 inches maximum, not more, still too little room anyway.

No, I was not in an exit row. It was just my middle seat 28E that did not recline, and the flight was full so not possible to switch to another seat. On top, the man sitting on my left side was XXL size, again bad luck for me.

FAs I do not complaint for the age because I was expecting young, nice and smiling FAs, but probably they did not still feel comfortable in their position after all those years and I felt it.

I agree that costs cuttings and high competition do not match easily with the need of investments in new fleets but looking towards the future, just cutting costs without investments is not enough to survive !

Hey, Fabio:

The oldest 757 in AA fleet was delivered on 31/07/1989 (Registration #N610AA). See the whole list:
http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/A...ctive-b757.htm.

So your aircraft was likely to be early 90th not 80th. Seats were also updated several times since then.

The reason 757 is flying to South America is likely due to specifics of the landing strips. I terms of airport requirements 757 remains to be one of the most capable air crafts today.

Don't expect individual screens on AA soon ... because as of today
American Airlines Becomes the First North American Airline to Offer Inflight Streaming Video Product
American Enhances Onboard Travel Experience with Initial Rollout of Entertainment On Demand to Entire 767-200 Fleet
Plans to Roll Out Entertainment On Demand to Virtually Entire Domestic Fleet.
Further details:
http://aa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=3302

Having the middle seat on the back of old 757 is not fun at all. There is a reason why 757 is called sometime "slAAve ship"..

Next time you fly, check out the seat at:
http://www.seatguru.com/

Good luck!

Hi Alex

thanks for info !!! the airfleets web is great !

I knew seatguru but did not check it before this specific trip ! However having done check in late and flying as 4 people, someone of us had to seat on a middle seat !

Flight left around midnight and you had your drinks at 2am-how "perky" are you at that hour for smiling and working? I think that the younger flight attendants would be about the same?

It's just a matter of having a better coordination with timings. It's not impossible !