Good to know I'm not the only one who really didn't enjoy the AA flight as well as finding a similar Tunisia flight rather terrible. I cannot remember the carrier but it was the only one I've ever had where, at my slight 5'6" frame, my knees were jammed into the seat in front of me. My 6'2" OH was in dire pain. Probably the same airline as it sounds rather familiar. The only airline ever to make Aeroflot look luxurious.

That flight sucks. I never eat dinner in the JFK-ZRH direction. Lunch the other way is marginally better. We were gold/platinum class for several years, and flew in the exit row which helped a little (my husband is 6'5"). I've flown first LHR-JFK, and it's ok, but I'd never pay for it other than with miles.

I'm not being Anti-Semitic here, I'm actually part Jewish, but the flight often has lots of Orthodox Jews with huge hatboxes in addition to the usual carryons. It would make me nuts, especially when there are 30 or so in the cabin. No room in the overhead, or your crap ends up crushed. Bah.

If you have rules about carryon, enforce them fairly - I think sometimes AA staff is worried about being labeled ant-Semitic.

Their new orders for new planes from both Boeing and Airbus are crucial for the future of the airline as their present fleet is one of the oldest in the industry and burns too much fuel.

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It indeed IS a fine airline. Luckily for them, Chapter 11 in the USA is a good concept to rescue companies in need

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The car manufacturers were/are dinosaurs and so hopeless, while the airlines in the USA are crocodiles and can be rescued

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Board service ? Cuisine ? While the organisation of US airlines usually is good, the board service generally is mediocre and the "cuisine" not something to speak about

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And finally, whatever negative points there are, I personally support the fight of American Airlines for its survival

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I booke a reward mile flight to miami.....hope they honor it.

Never had problems with American airlines.

I love AA and try to do most of my flying with them...it's like the greyound bus of the sky.

To be honest when I flew with AA economy from Zurich this summer I found them to be no worse than the other US airline I've used out of Zurich - Delta and not too far behind Air Canada (Air Canada were better with the alcohol, ability to buy and exit-row seat and in-flight entertainment).

For us AA offered a great opportunity to reach Toronto and Montreal during peak travel season without having to pay the four figure franc fares that the other operators were looking for. That my wife and I were then able to secure a complete middle 3 row for ourselves on both the outbound and return ZRH-JFK legs made our journey all the more comfortable. If there had been a third body in the middle then it would have been a very different story - but the airline might have avoided bankruptcy!

I had read some awful stories about them before we flew but decided to chance it as it was a last minute unplanned additional trip and budget was therefore paramount. I found the flight attendants to be pleasant enough albeit one poor old boy looked like he was the long side of 80 and struggled to push the cart.

For anyone yet to try AA and with a ZRH-JFK flight in economy coming up I'd recommend 2 things: 1) bring your own food and 2) bring your own entertainment. Also allow plenty of time at check-in for all the additional pre-check-in security questions that you don't face when flying to e.g. Europe or Canada. In our case that meant it took 20 minutes extra to check-in and drop bags than it normally would - we were not able to complete online check in because of these security checks.

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Yeah if you know what to expect...flying with American Airlines is good. The service is really nice. I brought my ipod and kindle...and thanks to howard stern, never had a dull moment. They are usually the cheapest fare going to the US when going to New York.....United seems to be better for Boston.

Plus getting their miles is incredibly easy if you get their credit card. I got 75,000 miles for spending $4000 that i normally would have spent! That helped me get free tickets to Miami from Zurich in May.

Last year we flew AA from ZRH-JFK. It was a code share with El Al, and had (apparently) come from Tel Aviv. The pre-checkin and pre-boarding security questioning was pretty thorough. I vaguely recall that my passport got checked by 6 different people at ZH airport.

It was at the time of the Icelandic volcano troubles, and the plane was about 5 hours late. Before takeoff, it waited in one spot for a while while the pilot said it was burning off a ton of fuel. We actually flew over Iceland, about 100 nautical miles north of the volcano. No inflight entertainment system. Food seemed reasonably ok. So it was an awful long flight, but at least we got to see Iceland and Greenland.

As an aside, the JFK passport control experience seemed warm and loving, compared to eg somewhere like Birmingham.

Actually I completely forgot about that (they say the brain tries to bury bad memories). The check-in ordeal for American was particularly stressful, with this short obnoxious woman barking questions at me (purpose of your visit, where are you staying, who do you work for, why are you living in Switzerland etc..) she then asked me to produce my B-permit which I didn't have (and wasn't listed as a required travel document ) 'No permit, no fly' she said luckily I kept my composure and explained patiently that I was flying to New York that day, all my documentation was in order and if necessery they could contact my employer for proof of my residence status... like a bored kid, she handed everything back and barked 'Next!'.

You don't get that crap flying Swiss to the US.

Boeing just announced that AA remains committed to the 200 B.737Max orders that they placed earlier this year. The Max is Boeing's new generation 737 and a competitor to the Airbus NEO series, itself a reincarnation of the popular A319, 320 & 321 models.

So you've filed for insolvency and creditor protection, but you're still keeping an order open with Boeing for 200 airplanes with no idea of how those are going to be financed. You've just got to love the aviation credit game. Never a dull moment.

I wonder how John Doe, his wife and their 3 kids feel having just been evicted from their property in Eagle's Asshole, Montana because they couldn't make a $ 850 mortgage interest payment? Should have lived in a Boeing John ....

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Something else I meant to add. I feel much more comfortable on an AA plane because of the pilots. To me, they're the best pilots in the world...(possibly because many of them come from the Air Force).

Delta JFK to Zurich didn't even have individual TVs!

If it's a 767, it won't.

Many ex. military jocks join civilian airlines, AA don't have any particular hiring policy regarding employing ex. service aircrew. I know several pilots flying UA as well as other domestic airlines.

judging by the average age of their staff they were probably flying sorties over Korea

..that's because long-haul flights are based on seniority. Since Asian companies bought their first plane like 3 years ago, they are happily staffing them with model material...it proves to me, that American carriers (and probably some European carriers judging by the soda trolley pushing grannies) are somewhat good, solid companies to work for IMO.

Super Saber F- 100 and F-86 saber pilots,Must be best the pilots

When reading your post, I was puzzled first, as there is no LY-AA codeshare flight via ZRH generally But when I realized that it was during the vulcano crisis, it became a bit clearer. BUT, was it an ELAL airplane or an AA airplane ?

They MUST BE the best, as they are TEXANS

You mean because AA is based out of Dallas? Originally, though, they were based in NYC, and moved to TX, I think in the mid-60's.

When I was growing up in Pittsburgh, we flew Allegheny (the precursor to US Air). There were some awesome pilots. Probably guys from WWII and Korea (this is the 1960's, 1970's). They could land those suckers in all sorts of crap weather. Yes, the flights were sometimes late (hence the nickname Agony), but you got there.