Well, we've booked it now! No turning back. Thank you very much for your kind advice and warm welcome!

AA to bring back Manchester-JFK route

American Airlines will re-launch its non-stop summer seasonal Manchester-New York JFK route next year.

The route was introduced last May but, due to strong demand, its launch is being brought forward to April 6 next year.

American said it also expected it to operate as a year-round service.

Departures in both directions have also been re-timed by over an hour so that they will now depart Manchester earlier and leave New York later.

With permission from Travelmole

Hi Darren,

I'm flying on American Airlines AA0051 tomorrow from LHR to DFW at 0930. Can you let me know what route the aircraft operates beforehand - there's loads of AA flights coming into LHR and I can't tell which one our aircraft is operating.

Thanks,

TMW9725

TMW9725,

Your aircraft in showing as operating in from MIA (AA0056).

Darren

Have just flown Manchester - Tampa - Manchester with AA. The aircraft was a Boeing 757 , very old ,grubby and VERY cramped. No seat back TV, couldn't be seen from the window seat. We could reserve seats online and we got those seats. We flew via Chicago O'Hare ,landing at terminal 5. 2 HOURS (yes 2 hours !) spent in immigration hall. They divided passengers into 2 groups - American and Visitors. 7 immigration officers to handle approx. 130 american passengers. 3 immigration officers to handle approx. 250 (and growing) visitors. After an hour and a half some clever immigration officer realised there was a problem and found some more officers.We were already an hour late leaving Manchester and the immigration delay meant that we could not take up the AA Admirals Lounge rest we had booked and paid for. Baggage and security were much more efficient. Flew back from Tampa with AA but operated by BA. New Boeing 777, clean ,comfortable , a whole different experience. If you like roughing it on a old ,uncomfortable aircraft ,fly AA. If you prefer a clean,spacious, comfortable flight from an efficient airport (Tampa) to another efficient airport (Gatwick !) fly with British Airways ,even if my diabetic meal was disgusting. Both cabin crews ,by the way, were excellent.

Further to my previous post, American Airlines were over an hour late taking off from Manchester. We flew into Chicago O'hare Terminal 5 (the terminal American choose to use ) and spent over 2 hours going through Immigration because there were only 3 Immigration officers on duty. We had booked a stay in the Admirals Club lounge as we should have had over 3 hours between flights. As it was we only just made the second leg of the journey. I politely requested in an e-mail, a refund of our $100 for the unusable lounge booking . It took American about 5 weeks to reply ! Guess what the answer was. I have never heard the statement to **** off put in such a polite way! Needless to say we will NEVER fly with American again, even if they change hubs . BA were much more clean ,spacious and comfortable on the return leg.

AA have applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15935206

shouldn't affect flights already booked

As far as I'm concerned AA can go into liquidation! I wil NEVER use them again.

AA were one of the few US airlines who didn't already have Chapter 11 protection. All the others have been flying for years in Chapter 11.

luci

What does chapter 11 protection actually mean? I'm looking at booking flights with ba and the return flight is with American airlines. Is it still safe to book or could things go belly up with them?

Thanks x

Rachels79,

It means they are protected. A number of airlines in America have been operating under Chapter 11 for a while. You should be fine booking with them.

Darren

Brilliant thank you. Are they about the same as BA?

We really like AA. The cabin service on flights to and from Vegas has been excellent as they constantly came round with the drinks trolley and served drinks along with the meal, not ages before or after. However you pay for all alcoholic drinks which isn't a problem for us. You also can't pay in cash, only by card.

Many US airlines have been operating under Chapter 11 for years so it's nothing to worry about.

luci

It wouldn't bother me to pay for alcoholic drinks either so it sounds good enough for me.

Oh my goodness, ridiculously excited now! I'll book it this week

chrissfhl.
My only experience with American Airlines will be my last with them. Old grubby aircraft (Boeing 757), very cramped and claustrophobic, uncomfortable, poor IFE, lousy hub, non existent post flight customer service. Cabin crew were OK but everything was better with BA.

The thing to remember with whichever airline and whichever hub you fly into from outside of the USA is that you are going to encounter long queues and problems with US Immigration if you aren't a US citizen travelling on a US passport - I don't know anybody who's flown to the US post-9/11 who hasn't experienced long delays. And no doubt anybody flying into the UK with a non-UK, non-EU passport has just the same experience at the major UK hubs. 3 hrs in transit at any large airport where you are going to have to go through immigration makes booking a lounge fairly pointless and I wouldn't have bothered. It's fair enough to hold the airline responsible for the condition of their aircraft but they are powerless once you've got off the plane and are at the mercy of the bureaucrats.

I find flying into Heathrow with BA and trying to transit onto a domestic flight to Edinburgh just as bad as your experience at O'Hare. Luckily, if things are really bad, as a UK passport holder I am able to shortcircuit the security queues between terminals by going through Immigration to get landside where even though they can get a bit confused as to why you want one, the BA check-in staff will give you a new boarding card on request so you can then go back airside! Doesn't always stop them from mislaying my luggage which once took a further 2 days to get to Edinburgh and another day to actually arrive at my home!

SM

I must be one of the few that haven't had any long waits when entering the USA. I've been to the country twice times since 9/11 and only had any sort of hold up when leaving the country and that was in 2002 when there were huge long lines to enter the airport in Honolulu. In 2008 I flew in to New York Kennedy and breezed through, I was in my hotel room in Manhattan just over an hour and a half after the plane landed. I must be lucky though as friends have had horrendous waits to get through security.
I agree with Sm though about lounge use, I have had experience in the past when I had free use of Star Alliance lounges but rarely got to use them because the timing rarely worked out..

I would transit through any American hub any day rather than transit through Heathrow. Even with clearing immigration at Vegas we have been in our hotel an hour after landing. Compare that to LHR where we took 1.5 hours to transit even arriving and departing from the same terminal.

To keep on topic re AA, we find that flying on a US carrier means that the majority of passengers are American so the queue at immigration for non-US passengers is much shorter than flying with BA or Virgin.

luci

To keep on topic re AA, we find that flying on a US carrier means that the majority of passengers are American so the queue at immigration for non-US passengers is much shorter than flying with BA or Virgin.

That's a really useful tip Luci and probably explains why my parents' experience of flying to the US with AA was far less hassle than other family members using Virgin on various trips.

SM