If you are traveling with your 82 year old mother, 2 connections is not the best plan. I understand that you are trying to save money, but seriously?!?! I am not defending AA, because AA has some serious problems, but what do you expect.

With summer weather and thunderstorms, airports close somewhere in the US almost every day. Thousands and thousands of passengers do the same thing, every single day. Most of the time, passengers do not even get to their destination on the same day. Also, there is rarely one single reason for a delay. Once airplanes start being delayed, there is a cascading effect. Airplane gates are changed, crews run out of duty time, flight routes change, fuel loads change, there are delays due to congestion, airplanes have to divert to other airports, and about 1000 other things happen. Yet, all of your complaints are a result of bad weather. Last time I checked, even Doug Parker can’t control the weather.

If I had $1 for every time that I have heard that someone is never flying on AA/United/Delta/Southwest/other airline, I could retire. They are all the same. Everyone knows that you will be back to AA. If it is the cheapest airline, you will likely choose them again, rather than pay an extra $500 per ticket on Delta. And if you do choose to pay the extra $500, then Delta will appreciate it. And the former Delta passenger that will “never fly on Delta Again” will pay an extra $500 for a ticket on AA, and everything will be a wash. Both airlines are better off in the end. And they thank you for it.

They aren’t perfect, but as you said, their job is to get you from point A to B safely, and they did that. My suggestion is that you learn a little more about what it takes to operate an airline, and to understand that air travel is not an efficient means of travel. Your ticket DOES NOT guarantee you a seat. All airlines overbook flights. If they did not, your ticket costs would go up, and you would not pay it.

Also, you need to learn how airlines assign seats. And how to check in. And what to do when you are bumped off of a flight. 99% of it is common sense, but there are YouTube videos and travel blogs if you need help.

Let’s take this a step further. If you were going to travel on a train around China, wouldn’t you do some research ahead of time and learn how their system works so you will be prepared? Wouldn’t you want to be an efficient traveler, so you can take care of yourself and not rely on everyone else to help you? I know I would. The same thing goes for air travel in the US. You are expected to have a baseline knowledge of how the system works. If you do not, you will likely have a bad time.

If you do not like flying comercially, you have the option to drive a car, get on a train, or to charter a private airplane. From your ranting, I can tell you you got exactly what you paid for. No more, no less. You are blaming weather delays on the airline, which is ridiculous.