American App & Website Now Explain Why Flights Are Delayed & Canceled!

American Airlines is rolling out fantastic new functionality, which customers will no doubt appreciate…

American gives passengers new insights into flight delays

When traveling by air, delays and cancellations happen, including for situations outside of a carrier’s control. As I see it, what counts is the frequency with which airlines cancel or delay flights, as well as how good of a job they do handling them, including communicating with customers.

Starting today, and rolling out over the course of the next month, American is introducing easy to understand delay and cancellation reasons directly within the mobile app and website. Here’s how American describes the improved functionality:

When flights are disrupted, customers want more than a status update — they want context. Whether it’s a delay due to weather and other external factors, or something within the airline’s control, American will reassure customers that teams are actively working to get them on their way, providing context and rebooking options — and vouchers, when applicable.

In addition to seeing delay and cancellation reasons on the mobile app and aa.com, customers will also begin to receive tailored push notifications, emails and text messages this month, ensuring communications are timely, relevant and informative.

This development builds on American’s recently improved disruption platform, which offers tools that customers need to manage unexpected changes to their travel plans. This includes being able to rebook flights, tracking checked bags, accessing eligible hotel, meal, and transportation vouchers, and more.

Kudos to American, these are all great changes!

I’m pleased to see American improve its technology, including providing better delay explanations through the app and website. This is good, full stop.

It has to be acknowledged that as is all too often the case, American is only playing catch-up here, as this is something that United has been doing for many years. We’ve seen American make all kinds of positive changes to the passenger experience lately, though in a vast majority of cases, it’s just American trying to slightly narrow the gap with competitors (which is easier said than done, when they’re also trying to improve).

While I think better app and website notifications are an important aspect of improving how customers perceive their experience during irregular operations, it’s not everything. I hope the airline also puts effort into how it manages rolling delays in terms of the accuracy with which it updates departure times, and also service from frontline employees in terms of communicating delays, being helpful with answering questions and rebooking, etc.

Bottom line

American is rolling out new app and website functionality, whereby the airline will start providing explanations for why flights are delayed and canceled. Customers most definitely value this level of transparency, so it’s nice to see the airline trying to remove some frustration and friction from irregular operations.

What do you make of this update from American?