American Airlines Diverted Flight Followup

On August 8th I wrote about Flight 4956's diversion to Midland, Texas due to the failure of a wind sensor and the airport tower having no staff present to provide that information to the pilot.  

American Airlines customer service complaint:

I requested a refund for a terrible flight experience and AA has denied that request. I had two miserable flight segments during the trip but flight 4956 on 8-4-25 was the worst experience in my over 40 years of flying. I created the refund application in the Midland airport on my cell phone, an IPhone 8.5. I just tried to refer to the Chat messages I sent that evening for this complaint and am not able to access them as the mandatory AA App update no longer works on my phone. Flight 4956 was diverted to Midland on a clear night with light winds. It did so because the weather report lacked any wind information. I recognize this is a requirement but AA and the FAA/NWS need a backup for when that information is not available. 

There was no support from AA when we landed in Midland after midnight. You can see the calls I made to AA phone line and the chats I sent to your AA bot. The flight crew got their mandatory rest, but I got very little during my night spent in the Midland airport. Airport security did not know how to handle us the next morning as my boarding pass had yesterday's date. After landing back in San Angelo I learned my bag arrived home before I did. The wait for the bag was nearly an hour, as all staff were out on the tarmac for those departing on the plane that got me home a day late. An AA person told us someone would be with us shortly for the bag. Next thing we know she walked by us with her purse and coffee. No service for us. Less future business for you.

The AA reply sounded like something written by AI (see image at top of this post).  So I sent them a link to a previous post on the diverted flight.  That prompted AA's first attempt at service recovery (after providing dozens of feedback via chat, phone and AA's customer service website).  

Thank you.... this is the first message that acknowledged anything. I gave feedback all along the way and American showed no care, much less interest. The bonus miles are appreciated but are a tiny positive in a sea of abuse and inattention.

The City of San Angelo runs the airport which failed to provide the necessary weather information for the plane to land and does not have staff in the tower as backup should the automated system fail.   An initial public information request produced an e-mail regarding ongoing ASOS issues and an August 21st meeting with the Airport Director.

"Ongoing issues" implied that my flight was not the only one impacted.  A PIR on how many flights had been impacted in calendar year 2025 produced "no responsive documents."  Another PIR on the 8-21 meeting gave the same answer, "no responsive documents."  There was a communication from the Airport Director that "all components of the wind sensor had been replaced and that NWS staff would monitor that daily."

A public information request to NOAA and the National Weather Service on the issue was placed on a back burner because it did not meet their criteria for a more prompt response.

As our world moves to automated everything with no human backup, my advice for you is "be prepared" to be treated inhumanely, over and over and over and over.  

If I could never fly American again, I would.  But there are important humans I need to periodically visit.

Update 11-24-25:  Apparently I was not alone 

According to data collected by the United States Department of Transportation in the August Air Travel Consumer Report, American Airlines was the worst of all domestic airlines.