How many stars are American Airlines?
I am going to discuss the quality of the services and then tell you how many stars American Airlines has.
It is indeed an influential air carrier since it offers services to hundreds of locations in approximately dozens of countries. Serving millions of passengers every year, America operates a sizeable fleet of planes. However, despite the above observations, how does American Airlines compare to other airlines in terms of quality and service? For instance, the number of stars this airline has as a member of the OneWorld alliance.
Defining Airline Star Ratings
Before getting to decide how many stars American has or any other airline for that matter, it is imperative to know what those star ratings imply. When airline star ratings are mentioned, it is often in the sense of quality and service standards emanating from airline rating agencies. These organizations focus on detailed and thorough analysis and research on the airlines all over the world and rate the airlines from 1 to 5 stars, depending on some aspects.
The leading global airline quality ranking body is Skytrax, which is established in the United Kingdom. Skytrax benchmarks its airlines based on factors such as the comfort of the cabins, the quality and friendliness of the staff, conditioning systems, the cleanliness of cabins, the quality and variety of foods served, and general onboard products and services. For achieving a high rating in all these factors as per the Skytrax approach, an airline stands a chance of being awarded the 5-Star Airline accolade. Other major airline rating firms include AirlineRatings.com, and they use similar parameters when determining quality and services.
The industry involves many airlines from different parts of the world and most of them have 3 or 4-star accreditation from Skytrax and other accreditation agencies. This is because the full-service-premium carriers with outstanding service like Singapore, Lufthansa, and Emirates are the ones that have been awarded the 5 stars. But only a handful of the airlines have 1 or 2-star rankings, including the low-cost ‘budget’ airlines. The number of stars, in turn, implies a certain minimum level of quality, along with special service. With the help of this rating scale context, we can now assess the star rating of American Airlines.
American Airlines Skytrax Rating
Currently, American Airlines’ rating is a 3-Star Airline rating from Skytrax for the year 2023. This puts it squarely into the Skytrax definition of a good mid-tier or better airline that provides decent service in most areas. However, they do not offer special products or service experiences, more so in comparison to other airlines rated 4 or 5.
Some of the pros for American that contribute to its 3 stars include:
- Modern, up-to-date aircraft such as the Airbus A320 family and selected Boeing series, including Boeing 737 and Boeing 757.
- complimentary soft drinks and snacks for passengers even on domestic economy class flights.
- Internet: Many of the flights come with free Wi-Fi on board, and entertainment screens are also present on most of the flights.
- Extensive domestic connectivity across the U. S. mainly focuses on key cities as their main connection centers, referred to as hubs.
- There are some reasonable lounge amenities for the business class and those who hold frequent flyer status.
However, American does have some drawbacks or service gaps that likely prevent it from earning more stars:
- This has been supported by some ratings that state that food and meal quality in the economy class is just average.
- Space between seats, especially when it comes to pitch and leg room as well as comfort, is rated mediocre depending on the aircraft.
- Staff service is not highly rated, as often not being rated by travelers as per the above surveys.
- Less integrated with its systems and that of US Airways, check-in is not as smooth as some of the best options out there.
- Still lacking in other global airlines, amenities, airport lounges, and premium cabins comparisons.
Therefore, although America provides passengers with a satisfactory and safe experience and employs professionals, experts do not see it as high enough for 4 or 5 stars across the criteria at the moment across the criteria. However, 3 Skytrax stars offered by the airline do depict an above-average, or, in other words, a quality airline.
The following are the other Star Ratings awarded to American Airlines:
In addition to Skytrax as an authority on airline quality, other major rating firms have also weighed in on American Airlines: In addition to Skytrax as an authority on airline quality, other major rating firms have also weighed in on American Airlines:
- Based on the evaluation made by AirlineRatings. com, American has been awarded an average rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars. This score was attributed to aspects such as product lines, staff service, and reliability in fulfilling basic operational requirements.
- This American Airlines travel site rating from ThePointsGuy. com is 3. 5/5. Positive scores in the route network, together with superior first-class hard products, masked some mixed economic sentiments.
- They get 3 out of 5 stars, according to Gilbert Ott from the GodSaveThePoints blog, although he explained that they’ve suffered some recent setbacks, though strong points include new planes and enhanced premium cabins.
Hoping that these means do not lie, the results presented by other organizations, including 3 or 3. points out of 5, indicate that they are above average compared to other global full-service airlines. However, they remain rather far from achieving higher top-in-the-industry ratings of the passengers’ experience.
Future Outlook
Although AA is still trying to overcome the negative impacts brought about by the pandemic, coupled with integrating line-heavy systems into their operations and renewing some parts of their fleet, the outlook for service restoration seems relatively positive. The airline is spending significantly on enhancing premium cabins for all types of planes; new seating offerings are set to be unveiled up to 2024. It can assist the airlines in targeting improved yield from their passengers, particularly first-class travelers. Improvements made to airport lounges also work well with the target of attracting premium travelers.
If America can operate efficiently operationally and manage the fluctuation of economies of scale in the proposed product upgrades, the staff and economic service figures will demonstrate a process of constant enhancement. This would place the airline in a strategic position to likely achieve a 4-Star Airline certification from Skytrax and rating agencies next year. For now, passengers can continue to expect at least a 3-star experience across both cabins and all aircraft types when flying American Airlines. But as far as passengers feel it, it has been rated better than before but is not yet on the list of top airline companies.