Why is AA so expensive lately, compared to other airlines? Has something changed? Usually they were about equal to everyone else. I fly AA 99% of the time and never really paid much attention to the cost of the ticket as they have the most convenient flights for my trips and I have lots of FF miles. Basically for hundred dollars give or take, cost wasn’t an issue. Now I am booking to NRT and it’s not just a hundred dollar issue, it’s hundreds of dollars. I don’t want to fly the other airlines, as I hate the way they have the seating. But why are Continental, Delta, United so much cheaper all of a sudden. I was checking out one date and I could fly those airlines for around $600 and AA was over $1,300. I am loyal to AA, but I think for that price I am going to have to reconsider… What’s up with that?? 
Could be the particular date you want is heavily booked on AA (for example if a group of 40 is going from DFW to NRT that day, it would eat up all the lower fare buckets).
Also, AA might be using a different Revenue strategy in that market.
If you can provide where you’re flying from I can pull AA’s fares they have filed in that market and tell you if they’re any different from their competition. I’m willing to bet the fares aren’t any different, just the fares that are AVAILABLE on your particular day.
Is their price inclusive of all the taxes and fees while the other you’re looking at is not?
yep, both prices included tax, surcharges etc. I am really disappointed. 
Honestly, AA was usually comparable in price, maybe a bit more that the other US carriers, but less than ANA or JAL. Now even those two are cheaper. I just don’t get it… I really prefer AA for long international flights when we fly economy because on the 777 it 2 x 5 x 2 not the 3 x 3 x 3 seating. I like the window, my hub likes the aisle so it worked perfectly. I think our flight this month to Japan maybe be our last on AA… 
Kinda sad, but for the price difference I can’t justify the ff miles…not when I can buy 2 tickets for the price of one.
Assuming you’re flying from Milwaukee, I’ve checked the fares.
AA has the SAME fares filed as DL and UA.
However, the difference is that that fare has SOLD OUT on the day you want to travel.
ahhh! That’s it. I guess we always pick the most popular dates to travel. Unfortunately, I can’t always be flexible on dates, but at least now I know what was going on. Thank-you drdisque! Oh, and you are correct, we fly out of Milwaukee…don’t care what major airport we then fly from, but we always want to come home through O’hare, well from international flights.
I can tell you that the reason is probably a combination of airlines reducing seat capacities more than the decrease of travel which is causing several airlines to overbook several flights. I can tell that over here at Delta, all our flights are overbooked. Even when I tried to book a passenger of AA either today or tomorrow, all the flights were full for them. It almost feels like the airlines overestimated the number of people travelling this year.
Yeah, I know that flight from mke to ord were definitely cut. A few months ago if I showed up for my usual 8am-ish flight two hours early, I could always board an earlier flight to ord. Now, I have to wait for my scheduled flight, as the earlier flight isn’t there! I just read that the airlines are all planning on cutting even more flights…
You do know that you can drive to ORD much quicker, right?
sort of, if there isn’t any traffic or bad weather,…but we go through MKE so we don’t get stuck in the lines at ORD. We have a fast, hassle free check-in from our little airport. Once we land in ORD we are luggage free and have been through tsa so it’s simply less stressful. Plus, we don’t want to deal with our car, parking etc. Oh, and we have taken the busses that run between the two airports, we still have to drive (or get a ride) to get to the bus, then drag our luggage, and have to stand in the hideously long lines at check in at ORD, so to us, it’s just not worth it! I have to admit too, that I like the little jet that we fly on! We go to 9,000 feet and cruise down the shore of lake michigan and it’s a great way to start our journey! 
Now, if we had to fly the propeller plane again, I am not so sure…I always hated those and they scared me…I am sure they are safe, but they freaked me out!
When you look at it that way it makes sense. I was thinking it was such a short flight, showing up 2 hours ahead, time spent switching, etc, That it must be quicker to drive. Plus on the return, when you’re exhausted, you only have a short drive home. Enjoy the trip.
Boy, if I was going that far in coach Id fly JAL. I did a biz trip to NRT and PEK about 18 months ago - and the service and food in coach between NRT and PEK was demonstrably better than the service in business class between JFK and NRT.
I would not fly AA internationally no matter what. Plus, their domestic US service is really customer no-service.
If I were flying business class between the US and Asia it would either be on JAL or Korean. If going to SE Asia then it would be on Singapore. . . .
I didn’t like JAL at all, it was the hottest most uncomfortable flight ever. ANA I love, but we have so many miles on AA that we use them. I have flown, JAL, ANA, UA, NWA, CO and AA to Japan. ANA was the best, then AA, CO, JAL, UA and finally NWA. We have lots of perks through AA and they treat us very well, so we stick with them. Plus, we can always get a flight out and into Chicago. My hub isn’t an American and immigration treats him the best there. I know many people here seem to despise ORD, but I love that airport. Newark, Seattle, Houston, Minneapolis have all be absolute horrid experiences for us with immigration. So there are a few reasons behind our choice with AA.
Asian airlines have better service than American airlines simply because of the cultural difference . . . . one bad experience can happen anywhere - I would not give up on JAL / ANA to Japan.
As for DHS/ICE/TSA - we have replaced the old USSR in that category and are battling for the lead with North Korea . . .
Well, I am back from Japan, and yep, on AA. I have to say our flights were wonderful. We flew business class to NRT and then were flying economy back. Much to our luck, some planes landed late in NRT and AA took their passengers, so we were bumped to business class for the trip home. They apologized profusely for giving our tickets away and they hoped that this was acceptable! Of course for all our good luck, my husband was taken out of immigration and questioned for 2 hours; just long enough for us to miss our flight to Milwaukee. It all worked out in the end, and AA got us on the next flight.
I know a lot of folks think AA has no customer service etc. But I can honestly say they have always treated me with great care. I was given bonus miles for my “inconvenience” of them giving away my economy tickets, and they also gave me the extra miles that you get for flying business. Plus they did the same for the flight we missed in Chicago.
And yep, I was able to book cheaper tickets for our trip back over to NRT in August. I had to check a bunch of dates (like someone posted to do, THX), but I was able to get reasonable tickets. Now I gotta hope a plane is late and they give my tickets away! 
Also, as I am a sometimes nervous flier, I was amazed at how being farther up the front of the plane really made a difference in the whole feeling of flying. It was smoother and when we did have some turbulence it wasn’t that kinda swingy, up and down, feeling. I was so much happier! Plus with take-off and landing it somehow didn’t feel so extreme, like the angle wasn’t so steep feeling. I am not sure if that was due to the our position on the plane or perhaps these pilots did something different?