- People on Reddit say they've had it with flight attendants hawking credit cards.
- One person said a flight attendant on a red-eye woke up passengers with an advertising spiel.
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 said 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," they wrote.
The Reddit user added that the passengers were later treated to the same sales pitch for the second time.
"I thought I was done... nope, as soon as we landed and were taxiing to the gate we get the rant a 2nd time," the post continued. "Followed by walking down the aisle waving the pamphlet in each aisle-seat passenger's face - shaking it a little to really get our attention."
StudioLoftMedia did not specify when the flight took place, and Insider was not able to independently confirm their flight details.
Another person echoed similar sentiments and said American Airlines' sales tactics had "gotten completely out of hand."
"I sent feedback to AA customer service about this exact thing. It's gotten completely out of hand, and just piles on top the additional card ads you have to watch when you fire up the inflight entertainment," the person wrote on Reddit.
Some commenters said it wasn't just American Airlines that did in-flight promotions for credit cards.
"Other airlines do it just the same and it's nauseating…I was in ATL flying Delta - my city is a AA hub - I was in line checking bags and the Delta employee was begging me to take the pamphlet," one person commented, adding that they had to listen to the sales pitch again mid-flight and after landing.
One person who said they were a flight attendant replied to StudioLoftMedia saying they weren't enjoying doing the spiels either.
"Most of us hate doing them as much as you hate hearing them," the person wrote in the comments. "At the MOST it'll be a quick bare minimum mention and/or walkthrough."
"As for the ones who try really hard to sell it, $50 is $50. It's not for me but I can't blame the hustle," the person added.
Some people were resigned to the practice and told StudioLoftMedia just to accept the airlines' promotional spiels.
"Get used to it. It's not going away," one person said in a comment.
Others said that getting a good pair of headphones would help solve the problem.
"Get some noise canceling headphones. I never even notice them making the offer," read another comment.
Representatives for American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.