American Airlines to Australia

[Tara S]

Does anyone know why on earth American Airlines doesn't fly to Australia? I know other American carriers do, such as the likes of Delta and United.

Why not AA? They are a major player in the international market and honestly I thought they would have been one of the leaders in this route.

If anyone has any information on this it would be greatly appreciated.

Fly safe.

Tara

[Alex T]

I think the main reason why AA doesn't fly to Australia is due to their AA-QF joint business agreement...

http://www.ausbt.com.au/us-govt-greenlights-qantas-american-airlines-joint-venture

[Yusef D]

and, until very recently, their complete lack of an aircraft suitable for the job. (77W now)

[Thomas Collins]

I am not sure they would be a 'leader in the market' based on their product offering...

[Andrew P]

they used to flying dc-10

[Ryan K]

Based on my experience of flying American, there's no way I'd torture myself with a 15 hour flight across the pacific with them. Qantas and VA all the way for me.

[StevenW]

Air New Zealand for me - no LAX :D

[Andrew P]

they used to flying dc-10

actually their J class was quite good as was mostly empty to SYD

[Ryan K]

Slightly off topic, but I always find flying on an American carrier like AA slightly amusing. No cabin crew requesting to see your boarding pass upon boarding... Half of the window shades down for take off and landing and a lot of really old aircraft like MD80's scooting around all over the place. Makes Australia's major airlines look brilliant.

[Ian Garton]

It seems common place in the US not to check boarding passes when boarding. And you are right, things are a little more casual there. A flight I had on Virgin America when boarding I looked in the cockpit to find both pilots enjoying Miccy-D sundae's and having a laugh at something.

[Joe Frampton]

Living in the US right now. Some recent US flight experiences:

- Almost NO checking of boarding passes onboard, very rare indeed
- Captain standing in the aisles during loading and help to load luggage in overhead bins
- Captain making flight data announcement standing at the PA at the front of the cabin, visible to all
- Captain sounded very excited and saying we were about to 'blast off' like the cabin announcements you used to get on Virgin Blue in their early days, that was a half empty flight from Orange County to San Francisco
- Have flown lots of Alaska sectors in brand new 737-900's - nice plane, and also some nice new United A319/320's.

I've been coming over here for 25 years now, and I have to say, compared to the old days, the domestic planes are looking a LOT LOT nicer... they used to look dirty and old compared to Australian fleets, but now I would say the reverse. Yes, the AA MD80's are not good, but they are fast becoming somewhat of an exception, well in the west/northwest anyway. And I don't think I've had a widebody sector over here in 2 years, compared to the old days of half empty sectors on DC-10's with Northwest Airlines in the 90's! I feel pretty safe now on US airlines on the whole.

[Steve Crook]

I remember loving the sight and sound of American Airlines 707s flying in and out of Sydney in the 70s.

[Michael Morrison]

It's not just in the US they are not checking boarding passes.

In Europe I know of at least British Airways (shorthaul, not sure about longhaul), Virgin Atlantic and KLM who no longer require a boarding pass check at the aircraft door.

[James S.]

AA don't need to fly to Australia. QF does all of it for them through codesharing. If anything you can probably expect AA to start LAX-AKL, but nothing to Australia. There's just no need, it's a crowded market as is.