Why Do I Keep Flying American? Good Question, Let Me Explain…

A few days ago, I shared my awful experience flying American, where the carrier’s handling of a delay was oh-so-bad, yet oh-so-typical for the airline. Some people (fairly) asked me why I still frequently fly with the airline, and am loyal to American. Let me explain, as the answer is a bit nuanced.

The short answer is that I’d no longer consider myself to be loyal to American. However, that’s not to say that I don’t fly the airline sometimes, and it’s also not to say that I don’t participate in AAdvantage, and even pursue elite status. Let me explain.

Living in Miami, American is often the best choice

Let me start by saying that I’d no longer consider myself to be loyal to American. Airlines have eroded the value of elite status to the point that it doesn’t do much to impact my choice of which airline I fly. I fly the airline that offers me the best combination of price and schedule, whether paying cash or redeeming points.

Truth be told, I don’t do much domestic travel, as a vast majority of my flying is international. That means the domestic flying that I do is often simply positioning to major gateways, and then most of my international travel is on foreign airlines.

Living in Miami, American is often the best option in terms of schedule. American flies the most places nonstop, so I’m just going to fly on American over connecting on another airline, since there’s huge convenience to flying nonstop.

Like, I’m not going to fly to the Caribbean by connecting in Atlanta with a 40-minute connection. For that matter, my most frequent domestic route is from Miami to Tampa, where competition is limited, and American has by far the best schedule.

But honestly, I’m not loyal to American, as it has probably been six months since I’ve flown through Charlotte, Dallas, or Phoenix. That should tell you everything you need to know.