American Airlines is increasingly trailing both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines when it comes to financial performance. In recent years, United has improved its margins, moving closer to Delta, while American has seemingly fallen further behind. It very much feels like a zero sum game between American and United.
Along those lines, unions representing employees at American aren’t happy about this, and have something to say, as flagged by PYOK.
In this post:
Unions angry over American’s trailing financial performance
Six different unions representing employees at American have convened this past week, to discuss concerns regarding the company’s financial performance, relative to competitors. The summit had representatives from APA, APFA, the CWA-IBT Association, PAFCA, and the TWU/IAM Association, and the goal was to explore ways to strengthen their collective position.
Here’s what the unions explained to members in a joint statement:
This landmark union leadership summit reflects our unified commitment to protecting our members, improving working conditions, and securing a more prosperous future for us and for American Airlines while demanding increased management accountability. We are committed to maintaining a cohesive, coordinated labor coalition to address the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Topics discussed include:
- The impact of management’s peer-trailing financial performance on employees and other stakeholders and on American Airlines’ operational performance.
- Cross-union solidarity and coordinated advocacy.
- Increased labor inclusion and increased management transparency and accountability.
- Joint proposals for operational and service improvements that include greater employee empowerment and enhanced employee protections.
This collaboration marks a significant step toward a more unified, impactful labor movement at American Airlines.
The American unions certainly have a point…
The unions are spot on when it comes to pointing out the trailing financial performance of American in relation to Delta and United. There has been a complete lack of accountability at the top of American for close to a decade now.
I’d say that when American and US Airways merged in 2013, there was still a sense of wanting to make the airline more premium. But over the past decade, management’s focus has shifted multiple times, and the company essentially spends most of its time reversing decisions that were otherwise made in recent years.
First American started installing seat back TVs on narrow body planes. Then the airline ripped the TVs out. Then American entered its “the schedule is the product” era, which included trying to lower distribution costs and making other cuts. Now American is undoing that, realizing that you can’t cost cut your way into improved profitability.
At this very moment, I feel like American is moving in the right direction when it comes to focusing on improving the passenger experience. However, who knows how long it’ll be before we see a reversal there yet again. What stands out to me the most is how there hasn’t really been a leadership change throughout all these failures, as the America West folks are still running the show.
It’s understandable that union members want to look out for their own interests. But if the goal is to actually look at American’s trailing financial performance, some of the focuses the unions have are a bit questionable.
For example, “joint proposals for operational and service improvements that include greater employee empowerment and enhanced employee protections.” Okay, the first part of that sounds great, but how exactly do “enhanced employee protections” play into service improvements?
One certainly wonders what the unions see as the reason for American’s trailing performance? If you ask me, American’s failures come down to a lack of investments in the things that actually matter. American invests tens of billions of dollars in new planes, only to configure them worse than the 30-year-old planes that Delta and United are largely flying.
American needs to focus more on taking care of customers, giving them a good experience, and making them feel valued. The memo doesn’t really give me the vibe that the unions see this as the issue as well. Though who knows what was actually discussed…
Bottom line
Six American Airlines unions have issued a joint statement blasting management for the company’s lagging financial performance, and committing to working together to advocate for improvements. I’m all for increased accountability for American management, as it’s overdue.
I’m curious what’s actually being discussed at these meetings, because the joint statement doesn’t necessarily give me much confidence in terms of what they see as the problems.
What do you make of this joint memo from American’s unions?
I am platinum pro with American. I haven’t flown United in decades, and I’ve flown Delta enough that I can say some of the blame lands on the unions and their members. The service on Delta is consistently better than on American, Especially when flying in premium cabins. I’ve never not been offered a welcome beverage before takeoff on Delta and I would say 50% of the time American attendance don’t offer it. Also, I...
I am platinum pro with American. I haven’t flown United in decades, and I’ve flown Delta enough that I can say some of the blame lands on the unions and their members. The service on Delta is consistently better than on American, Especially when flying in premium cabins. I’ve never not been offered a welcome beverage before takeoff on Delta and I would say 50% of the time American attendance don’t offer it. Also, I feel like the American attendance often have an attitude that I’ve never experienced on a Delta flight. It’s a cooperative effort and it’s disingenuous just to blame management.
When I started out in the Travel Business, American was the airline to beat; great legacy, pleasant on-board service, any passenger could order a great seafood meal, the list went on in the 80’s. Then, merger madness. While Delta did the same thing, they didn’t let the diverse cultures get ahead of them, while AA became a polyglot culture, with no real identity.
We now see the results of the lack of management control....
When I started out in the Travel Business, American was the airline to beat; great legacy, pleasant on-board service, any passenger could order a great seafood meal, the list went on in the 80’s. Then, merger madness. While Delta did the same thing, they didn’t let the diverse cultures get ahead of them, while AA became a polyglot culture, with no real identity.
We now see the results of the lack of management control. I used to travel American quite a bit, but don’t anymore. DL and UA take much better care of its customers.
Mgmt works for managers. Unions for employees. Both seem to hate customers
Follow the money. Doug started all this….but he got his share Big time! Others want out too with Big money.
Used to be when companies fail….the higher ups got NOTHING. Not now.
Typical. Blame others. Never accept responsibility for one's own actions.
There is plenty of blame to go around in the hot mess that seems to be AA... I would say most of it is the total lack of coherent vision and strategy from management though.
As a frequent traveler who's OW emerald through BA, I spend a lot of time in the US but have actually given up flying domestically on AA - the spend, even in first class domestic, isn't enough to make a...
There is plenty of blame to go around in the hot mess that seems to be AA... I would say most of it is the total lack of coherent vision and strategy from management though.
As a frequent traveler who's OW emerald through BA, I spend a lot of time in the US but have actually given up flying domestically on AA - the spend, even in first class domestic, isn't enough to make a difference to my BA status, and the experience is just so, so terrible.
I flew Delta for the first time in decades recently, on a 3-hour domestic flight from MIA (and AA fortress hub supposedly), and every single aspect of the experience was just so much better, it was like a different world. Not perfect. But the airport staff and flight attendants actually seem to enjoy their jobs, and don't seem to hate their customers, which is the general attitude on AA... It will take years of work to try and get AA back to any kind of "premium" carrier. They need to change the entire culture of the airline at every level.
Wow. You sacrificed MIA Flagship Lounge access as a non-US Emerald to fly Delta?? When I briefly had the match to BA Gold, I gladly suffered through any AA unpleasantries to enjoy the premium lounges.
Perhaps the reason Delta performs the best is because they ARE NOT union. Fire all these old sloppy lazy union hags at American and things will turn around real quick!
35 year AA cabin crew here. Isom has absolutely ZERO leadership skills. ZERO.
The monthly town hall meetings he holds rarely attract actual employees as HDQ staff are required to attend to fill up the room for the cameras & fake interest.
Doug Parker completely destroyed the AA brand. We used to live & breath customer service & USAir management at all levels took every single tool we had away. EVERYTHING.
The...
35 year AA cabin crew here. Isom has absolutely ZERO leadership skills. ZERO.
The monthly town hall meetings he holds rarely attract actual employees as HDQ staff are required to attend to fill up the room for the cameras & fake interest.
Doug Parker completely destroyed the AA brand. We used to live & breath customer service & USAir management at all levels took every single tool we had away. EVERYTHING.
The airline will be gone in ten years or less. It has terminal cancer & most of us will retire just in time. I won’t even let my family fly on AA as it is THAT bad. It’s just a huge version of Spirit with equally incompetent management.
Yet maybe for the very first time in the industry we will see the BOD’s criminally charged for not fulfilling their fiduciary duties.
Braniff
Pan Am
TWA
Eastern
Midway
Spirit
Frontier, etc.
And more to follow.
Old lazy timers like you are why American fails
Real classy dude. You don’t see us coming into the 7-11 you work at and call you a lazy, worthless employee!
Unions can make me roll my eyes sometimes but this is another reason why I am pro-union. When employees feel free to criticize management decisions without retribution it brings to light issues that management would rather avoid. Some of the decisions they criticize are pointless and a distraction. Other ones, like this, are very valid and makes investors pay attention which is the only way management gets things done
Enhanced employee protections seem like the exact reason AA is behind. Can’t let go sub par employees while the good ones don’t get rewarded. Everything’s based on seniority so if you just do the minimum and don’t get fired for a long time you make a lot more money. Makes no sense.
AA has earned a reputation for being cheap, not frugal.
The board of directors at AA should have fired upper management years ago.
Once every three or four years we will fly AA. When we do decide to give AA another opportunity, the customer service we receive reminds us why it had been three or four years.
The management and the customer facing employees must improve for AA to improve.
Unions are also to blame. Just look what was the rate of pathetic pre departure beverages.
It seems to be getting better but a few months ago they pulled the snack basket from F on shorter flights. The flight attendants were horrified to have to offer the same pretzels as coach. They seem to understand that if you want to command higher prices you have to offer value for money. That $1.50 or whatever it costs them goes a long way.
It's sort of like daily housekeeping hotel management was...
It seems to be getting better but a few months ago they pulled the snack basket from F on shorter flights. The flight attendants were horrified to have to offer the same pretzels as coach. They seem to understand that if you want to command higher prices you have to offer value for money. That $1.50 or whatever it costs them goes a long way.
It's sort of like daily housekeeping hotel management was all excited that they could charge the same rates and slash staffing and service. And then the customers rebelled and it all came back.
I really can't understand how these executives think they can command the prices they need by offering less and less.
Housekeeping is basically optional now. And with the average stay being 3 nights or less, most aren't having their rooms serviced. If you need towels, you just message on the app of the big 3 hotel providers.
What makes you think that most aren't having their rooms serviced? Every hotel I stay at does daily housekeeping and at 5 start they also do turndown. If I wanted to make my own bed I'd stay at an AirBnB.
The US government is going to buy a large, controlling stake in American in the coming years. The airline is already named what the current administration wants anyway.
Without Citi, American would be an even bigger dumpster fire.
The government buying a controlling stake in AA???.... hahaha....hahaha. gee whiz...the silliness
Great fan-fic. Give us some more.
"how exactly do “enhanced employee protections” play into service improvements?"
If you look at the American Government, not American Airlines, the current trend is to fire any employee who tries to blow the whistle on incompetence, fraud or political retribution. An American Government employee trying to prevent children's deaths by maintaining their healthcare is told to leave. Likewise, an American Airlines employee trying to point out mistakes by management, may be facing retribution.
At...
"how exactly do “enhanced employee protections” play into service improvements?"
If you look at the American Government, not American Airlines, the current trend is to fire any employee who tries to blow the whistle on incompetence, fraud or political retribution. An American Government employee trying to prevent children's deaths by maintaining their healthcare is told to leave. Likewise, an American Airlines employee trying to point out mistakes by management, may be facing retribution.
At least that's my take, since no one wanted to ask the unions.
I fly All THREE of the Legacy Carriers......AA,DL and UAL......very little difference when it comes right down to it. The nonsense talk about IFE screens is so over rated and the Screen Time is pretty much why Society in General sucks with most interactions nowadays. the Younger Generation cannot take their GD fingers off the devices and lack in People Skills to the point that most are USELESS. AA is a Big Company with many...
I fly All THREE of the Legacy Carriers......AA,DL and UAL......very little difference when it comes right down to it. The nonsense talk about IFE screens is so over rated and the Screen Time is pretty much why Society in General sucks with most interactions nowadays. the Younger Generation cannot take their GD fingers off the devices and lack in People Skills to the point that most are USELESS. AA is a Big Company with many diverse hires over the years, no different than any of the others. All Workers do NOT come to work with the same level of professionalism or commitment to the job. Of the Three Legacies I like UAL the least, not overly impressed with the Smoke and Mirrors, downright BS of DL and AA is hit or miss depending on who you are dealing with. UAL is my LAST Choice.
I agree with you as I fly all three of the Legacy carriers and I do not find much difference. This week I flew Delta and was upgraded to First Class on one segment of my trip. For an hour and a half flight I got a cup of coffee in a china mug. A variety of snacks offered which I declined -- nothing special. On AA I look forward to the warmed nuts. On...
I agree with you as I fly all three of the Legacy carriers and I do not find much difference. This week I flew Delta and was upgraded to First Class on one segment of my trip. For an hour and a half flight I got a cup of coffee in a china mug. A variety of snacks offered which I declined -- nothing special. On AA I look forward to the warmed nuts. On the last segment of this trip, I had the last seat in Coach and had to listen to the FA's talk nonstop for at least 45 minutes from taxi time to when they finally began service. This is one of why pet peeves for all cabin crew on all airlines -- too much talking amongst themselves that the customer's can hear. Not professional. Best flight I took this year was an AA flight from Copenhagen to Philly. I was in Business Class. The flight attendants were wonderful -- very professional, courteous and attentive. A lot of a passenger's experience is so dependent on the flight crew.
To find the crux of the challenges facing the likes of AA, both management and union officials should take out to actually read the customer reviews.
World airlines ranking organisations like CNT, Forbes or SkyTrax are an excellent starting point. Thereafter, Trip Advisor and TrusPilot to name just two other organisations will give all concerned an excellent alternative option.
Finally, AA could do much worse unless they sack all those staff members who...
To find the crux of the challenges facing the likes of AA, both management and union officials should take out to actually read the customer reviews.
World airlines ranking organisations like CNT, Forbes or SkyTrax are an excellent starting point. Thereafter, Trip Advisor and TrusPilot to name just two other organisations will give all concerned an excellent alternative option.
Finally, AA could do much worse unless they sack all those staff members who have a ‘Micky Mouse’ management degree. The scourge for all boardrooms are the who pretend to have management experience simply because a piece of paper says so.
Any ranking a corporation can buy is not a ranking worth having.
Standard blame the unions here. It is not the employees that sell broken seats or squeeze the food service companies to provide inedible meals. They finally get new Neos with a upgraded experience and they don’t replace the the old aircraft flying NY to LA instead they will fly narrow bodies to Europe when their competition flys wide bodies.
Plenty of blame to go around, but this is laughable from the unions. Sure, management is largely responsible for poor direction and screens (which gets too much attention IMO). But as any elite flyer can tell you, the top reason an airline is “premium” is the experience with its employees. AA, like all US airlines, needs to do more to weed out the sub-par employees that ruin the experience and give their peers a bad...
Plenty of blame to go around, but this is laughable from the unions. Sure, management is largely responsible for poor direction and screens (which gets too much attention IMO). But as any elite flyer can tell you, the top reason an airline is “premium” is the experience with its employees. AA, like all US airlines, needs to do more to weed out the sub-par employees that ruin the experience and give their peers a bad name. That’s almost exclusively on the unions, thanks to these contracts.
I agree that AA is currently moving in the right direction. Long way to go, and I hope it continues. But it’s typical union to deflect blame, when in reality it’s at least equally their fault. Be mad at the old AA, and help make this apparent directional change better. This complaining is 2 years late.
Unions at fault as well. Rather than outsourcing some of the expertise for connectivity and TV screens they rather do it in house. Of course finances not going to look good.
US Airways was an airline that had an okay Europe network, virtually no interest in Asia, and a lot of barebones narrowbodies that could connect people via CLT to Florida.
American is now 3x the size of US at its peak and it has...an okay Europe network, virtually no interest in Asia, and a lot of barebones narrowbodies that can connect people via CLT to Florida. They have kept LAA's Latin American network but other...
US Airways was an airline that had an okay Europe network, virtually no interest in Asia, and a lot of barebones narrowbodies that could connect people via CLT to Florida.
American is now 3x the size of US at its peak and it has...an okay Europe network, virtually no interest in Asia, and a lot of barebones narrowbodies that can connect people via CLT to Florida. They have kept LAA's Latin American network but other than that, they're still running a US Airways operation like 2012 never ended.
Excellent observation. Especially considering the fact that the army of 777-200s still have no announced plan for having less density with a greater focus on premium services, and they are so much bigger than 787.
Yep why bother with increased premium when you could fly CLT-MAD???