People flying on American Airlines say they want flight attendants to shut up about credit cards

[Initech]

Passengers are losing their patience with American Airlines, complaining that flight attendants are hard selling the carrier's credit cards on planes.

Several people on the r/americanairlines subreddit say they took flights on the carrier, and had bad experiences with flight attendants eager to make a sale. The airline offers a wide array of co-branded credit cards.

"I get it. The flight attendants make $50 on each approved applicant. They live in the same world I do and they need money. But they are getting too aggressive," a person with the username StudioLoftMedia wrote in a Reddit post.

"I have been tolerating this, but what pushed me over the edge recently was a redeye from LA to NYC, it was 5 in the morning and the flight attendant practically swallows the PA phone as she proceeds to wake up the entire aircraft and begin the 5 minute rant about why we need the card," StudioLoftMedia said in his post.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/people-flying-on-american-airlines-say-they-want-flight-attendants-to-shut-up-about-the-carrier-s-credit-card-deals-and-stop-the-mid-flight-advertising-spiels/ar-AA1fI21J?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=a8c7a0ea6ac84e2e9d4b40e767644bfd&ei=47

YES! I've been on a couple of flights lately (including one last week) where they've been pulling this bullshit. It definitely needs to end now.

[struggle4progress]

1. "Can I use this card to book a flight on Southwest?"

[maxsolomon]

2. People flying on Alaskan also want flight attendants to shut up about credit cards.

Every flight, loud enough to hear over noise-cancelling headphones, on and on.

[Initech]

5. Hawaiian too.

They pulled this shit when I went to Maui last year. Enough with the damn credit cards already!

[sarcasmo]

3. Trapped in a tube and flight attendants put on the hard sell.

[dem4decades]

4. How about just saying you have it already and go back to watching the movie?

[yellowdogintexas]

12. I do have it and I told them. I am glad I have it

when I got it - back when US Air was separate, I got a ton of miles with no minimum on the total purchased to earn those miles. I think I have had it since 1982- the last time I flew US Air.

The one that was being pushed on my last 4 flights was the Barkley bank one. (the old USAir one)

There is also a CitiBank one; I have both because I had them individually before the merger.

I seldom use the Barklay one but it is very handy to roll a balance over to a 0% rate

[maxsolomon]

19. Everyone gets the pitch, every flight.

It's over the loudspeakers. And it's gotten longer.

[onetexan]

6. Hmm wow i've just flown AA couple months ago & many times before bunever had

Been hit up to apply for their card.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. it's a sales campaign for the card by the bank.

I am sure the flight crew gets a bonus. When the sales campaign runs out, it will stop.

[maxsolomon]

20. You think?

I've been hearing it every flight for over 10 years.

[SCantiGOP]

7. Classic "first world problem"

90% of the world’s population can’t afford to fly. We bitch about someone asking us to get a new credit card.

[Zeitghost]

16. So true

I've heard the sales pitch and simply ignore it as I power up my noise canceling headphones. I've never seen anything close to a "hard sale", just "if your interested, talk to your flight attendant". The people selling solar and cable TV at Costco are more annoying, when they don't get the hint from my lack of eye contact as I walk by, I generally get them to move on by telling them I'm homeless.

[RobinA]

21. That's What

I've heard for quite some time. Recently I haven't heard it at all, so I figured they got sick of doing it and just didn't. I worked in a department store once where we were supposed to tout various things. We HATED it. I always figured the flight attendants did as well. New people at my store would do it for about the first two days of employment, then they just stopped.

[Tanuki]

8. I took them up on it several years ago and got 40k free miles

for signing up. Unlike most programs, their miles never expire. You can earn more miles when you use the card for daily purchases, and I sometimes get points at designated restaurants and hotels as well as their online shopping portal. I have earned enough miles for 3 free trips to Southeast Asia, and just a few days ago used some for an urgent out-of-town trip in response to a family member's illness when a last-minute fare would have been jacked up to a sky-high price. I can sympathize with people annoyed at being awakened for a sales pitch, but I'm sure I wouldn't have sought out their credit card on my own, and I've never regretted having it.

[Initech]

10. I've been thinking about getting an FF credit card.

Mainly because I want the traveler benefits. There's some that do seem like they are better deals than others, particularly the major airlines.

[Tanuki]

11. My friends are often surprised that so many stores are in

their shopping portal network. I used it a lot during the height of the pandemic when I made almost all of my purchases online, and racked up the miles.

https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/

[yellowdogintexas]

14. I have lost count of how many times I have flown to Phoenix

or Nashville using miles.

Like you, I use them for other things. I put our new water heater on one of them and use the other one for a number of little things that recur, like streaming fees, ActBlue donations and so on.

It is worth the annoyance to get those thousands of miles!!!

[usonian]

9. Coffee's for closers. n/t

[Demovictory9]

15. Yes..i recall them hawking stuff on flights

[johnnyplankton]

17. I was on an AA flight this week and I actually felt bad for the flight attendants...

I'm sure they'd rather just do their jobs. Service people aren't usually sales people

[DFW]

18. I have managed to avoid American Airlines for over two years, and I'm in and out of Dallas often

Well, no longer very often, but several times a year.

Delta, Southwest, even United or Jet Blue domestically, and Air France/KLM/Delta, Lufthansa, British, even Iberia for transatlantic, but no more AA. I‘m done with them, and have been.

I hate credit cards anyway. I realize that these days it is practically impossible to exist without them, especially if you travel as much as I do, but I still hate it.