Flying in the United States has been pretty miserable as of late.
Following weeks of flight delays and cancellations, severe winter weather caused a slew of problems around the country. Not only were many flights canceled or delayed, but in some cases, pilots, crew, and passengers were left stranded with no way to fly to their intended destination.
Even though the storms have largely passed by, issues with flights are ongoing. Now, one woman is calling out American Airlines after recounting a miserable experience with the carrier.
What Happened During This American Airlines Flight?
In a video with over 121,000 views, TikTok user Jessee Gettins (@jaii.bee2.0) explains why she would “rather chew glass than fly American Airlines ever again in my entire … life.”
According to Gettins, every part of her trip was a disaster. For her trip to Toronto, she was told the wrong terminal for her initial flight. Then, after the first leg, she was switched to a different, smaller plane—with no working bathrooms.
“Three hours between onboarding and deplaning. Zero working bathrooms,” she says. “I’ve seen flights be delayed because a … buckle doesn’t clip right and an armrest is broken. But, apparently, bathrooms are not a necessary function to have.”
As previously covered by BroBible, a plane does not need to have working bathrooms in order to take off.
Now, she sits in the Toronto Pearson International Airport and says that, somehow, things have gotten worse.
Delays, Misinformation, And Missing Planes
According to Gettins, she was told upon arrival at the airport that her flight was delayed. While the airline did offer rebooking options, she says that they were so bad that “the devil himself would not have concocted” them. For example, one of the options would have her traveling from Toronto to New York to Miami, only to then board a plane to Orlando.
Gettins then did the math and realized that, even with the delay, she could still make her original connection in Philadelphia. Others decided to rebook.
Then, 15 minutes before the original boarding time, all passengers received a notification that the flight was not going to be delayed and was, in fact, going to take off as scheduled.
“So I run my s— from the lounge that I’m at down to the … basement, because that’s where we’re boarding from, to find out that we’re not boarding,” Gettins says. “It’s not delayed anymore, but there’s no … plane.”
“They’re trying to tell us, ‘We’re gonna start boarding in five to 10 minutes,’” she continues. “We don’t have a plane to get on … I’m not a pilot, but I’m pretty sure we need one of those to … fly somewhere.”
Things Get Worse
From here, Gettins says that the group was told that the plane would not be boarding in five to 10 minutes. Instead, the plane was still on its way from Washington. Still, the airline somehow insisted that the group would be able to board within 20 minutes.
“Last time I checked, we have to wait for the plane to get here, for everyone on it to deplane, for you to clean the … plane, for the flight to do their safety checks, and then we get on the plane,” Gettins states. “I’ve never seen that be done in 20 minutes in my … life.”
Finally, Gettins says that the airline admitted that the flight was delayed—30 minutes after the group was supposed to be boarding. Then, the airline said the flight was delayed even more. The problem? According to Gettins, the airline said it could not “locate the entire flight crew.” This error caused the flight to return to its original delay time.
“So we’ve gone delay, revert, minor delay…and now we’re back to regular delay,” Gettins summarizes. “And then, we’re delayed again.”
The plane was so delayed this time that Gettins says she missed her connection. In order to solve her issue, she says she will simply have to travel to Philadelphia and hope that American Airlines eventually figures out a solution that does not involve her flying around the country.
“This was a free flight, and I’m paying for it,” she says. “Never again. It’s costing me so much.”
What Happened Here?
Gettins’ experience appears to be a multifaceted logistical failure on the part of American Airlines. Still, some aspects may be explainable by the time when this story occurred.
Gettins posted the video in the last days of January. In the days leading up to her trip, severe winter storms caused massive delays and cancellations across the country. This left many American Airlines pilots and crew scattered around the country.
While the airline undertook considerable efforts to get their staff back in order, flyers reported a variety of issues. Missing crew were among the many complaints made by passengers, with discussion of these problems spreading onto social media sites like Reddit and X.
Although most of these issues were seemingly resolved by January 31, it’s not surprising that problems with staff and crew lingered for longer than expected.
As far as the other issues are concerned, BroBible has previously discussed why airlines tend to delay flights instead of canceling them. No matter the reason, it can make for a pretty unpleasant flying experience.
The TikToker Has An Update
In an email to BroBible, Gettins explained what happened next.
“After trying to get me to leave the next day without a hotel guarantee, or take a flight with 2 additional stops, I finally to transferred to WestJet and I got on a direct flight later that evening,” she says. “I was given a confirmation number and told to ‘Go find a WestJet agent.’ WestJet was great.”
At the time of her original flight, Gettins says a gate agent told her to file a claim. Now, however, she says they’re not offering her anything, alleging that delays were weather-related.
“They refused to issue any compensation or points,” she explains. “While the gate agents told us repeatedly the delay was their fault and in their control, AA has stated days later it was a weather delay that eventually lead to the cancellation so no one was entitled to compensation. When AA customer service called, they reiterated it was due to weather, would not take accountability for what their gate agent told everyone, and basically said, ‘It doesn’t matter if the gate agent never mentioned weather or explicitly said the delay was avoidable—the airline maintains weather as a cause, and that’s the end of it.'”
She closed by declaring, “You couldn’t pay me to fly with American or their affiliates ever again.”
Commenters Are Angry
In the comment section, users expressed their frustration with the current state of the American airline industry.
“At this point the airlines are no longer being held accountable for any of this,” wrote a user.
“OMG!!! We just flew with AA to and from Jamaica…. Absolutely a freakin … show!!!!” exclaimed another. “We missed every connection we were supposed to have… finally made it close enough to home to rent car and drive the 6 hours home.. still made before our rebooked flight!”
“American Airlines is literally a cattle [herding] company with a high class price tag. I hate them,” detailed a third. “at least w cheap airlines you dont expect anything better.”
@jaii.bee2.0 @American Airlines literally the worst flying experience of my entire life and you shoukd be embarassed for real. Just this trip: – plane with no working bathrooms for 3 hour duration – app has wrong terminal on boarding pass – flight delayed by 1.5 hours (options for other flights the devil himself couldn’t dream up) – flight revered back to regular departure (an hour later after people chose to change flights to not miss connections) – flight is boarding soon but no plane to on – can’t locate entire flight crew – flight delayed back to original delayed time – flight delayed again, now connections will be missed guaranteed and rebook options are worse than the first time.
BroBible reached out to American Airlines via email and Gettins via email and Instagram direct message.