American Airlines takes heat from two senators

American Airlines earned some high-profile bad reviews over the weekend from two senators.

First, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) turned to Twitter late on Friday evening to vent his frustration about a delayed flight.

Every American flight I have been on this week has been at least two hours late or cancelled. This one already one hour delayed.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 22, 2012

Then on Saturday, his Republican colleague from Texas, Sen. John Cornyn, encountered similar problems on his way to Austin.

Rash of "minor" maintenance issues reported by other passengers on AA flights, including mine to Austin. #whatsitallabout?

— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) September 22, 2012

Cornyn noted that he had seen Rubio's previous tweets.

The airline, in a letter to loyalty card members over the weekend, blamed a surge of maintenance requests and pilots calling in sick for delays and at least 310 canceled flights last week, according to USA Today. The Allied Pilots Association, the pilot union, denied it had sponsored a "sickout" by pilots.

Both senators were careful to distinguish between their complaints against management and the individual fight crews on their planes.

The airline thanked Rubio for his "patience" in a response from their official Twitter feed.

@marcorubio Thanks for your patience, Marco. We hope you have a great flight.

— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) September 22, 2012