American Airlines CEO Doug Parker Retiring

AA really needs some fresh blood and new perspectives. Ison isn't it.

Isom, that is. Need and edit function.

Nothing out of left field, when will you share what took you to the AA IOC? Seemed like a cool experience to be able to see it, would also love to work there one day

Here’s to hoping they cater his retirement party with meals from domestic “first.”

Good Riddance! Don't let the door hit you in the back on your way out.

I agree that Parker simply wanted to make a glorified version of Spirit Airlines. Operationally the airline is a mess. And also agreed the guy coming in doesn't seem to be any different.

The thing is when AA gets it right it really gets it right. Flagship lounges, great Business seats on it's widebody aircraft, the only domestic airline that continued food and beverage service in First/Business during the depths of the COVID hysteria. Too bad AA just can't be constitent.

Glad to see him leave. His early successes in transforming HP and then merging it with US were outdone by his terrible stewardship of the merged AA/US. What worked for US (and HP) did not and does not work for AA. Hopefully, Isom will work to improve American's marketing, service, and network.

Can't be soon enough.

International First class is ending soon. A business class seat assignment in row 1 or 2 on a long haul flight will be a nice pull.

Retiring? He should have been fired long ago. No golden parachute for this loser.

Interesting way to look @ it...That puts it more in line with the Smisek situation @ CAL/UAL ...What worked for an airline with 2 Hubs/limited wide body fleet[s]/smaller everything most certainly did NOT work once he was in charge of UA...Not an excuse, just a possible explanation...

If the top complaint you lot have is the catered food i think that shows he did a good job. I find it funny how much people in the points communties cared about first class food. The people who pay cash for these tickets (airline's real customers) arent flying for the food and generally dont even eat it even if it was good. Imagine flying international business and getting an angle flat seat or being stuck in the middle with no aisle access. You cant say that about American Airlines but fly emriates and youre stuck in the middle on an angle flat haha.

“Golden parachutes” exist specifically for people being fired, not people who voluntarily end their employment…

Look at American’s stock price and tell me he did a good job again.

The airline's real customers are business travelers, and I would hazard a guess that some of us do eat on airplanes. It's not a fun experience to be starving on a 5h transcon flight and served a rock hard "sandwich" with slop in the middle. I need to arrive at my destination ready to work, not starving or nauseous. It was bad enough to make me switch from AA. Why put up with bad food and, all too often, flight attendants with bad attitudes when you don't have to?

I didnt say he did a good job i find it funny people complain about something that can easily be mitigated. You cant fix a seat, you can visit a lounge before hand. You cant turn a 2-3-2 layout into a 1-2-1 but you can buy a nice $10 sandwich in the terminal before your flight. Just eat before or after or bring your own snacks plus why would i care about catering if im getting a full meal in the lounge before anyways?

Yes in an ideal world every flight attendant is perfect and the food is good but its not an ideal world. Business travelers pick the best times and generally dont have multiple choices for routes. When im traveling for business i can just eat in the terminal since im expensing the meal anyways. If i dont have time then oh well i might not eat, not the worst thing especially if you have a protein bar or something in your bag, American's obsession with eating and eating again and again is the real problem, just because they put food in front of you doesnt mean you have to eat it. Imagine if the US didnt have an obesity problem, covid deaths would be a fraction of what they are.

COVID deaths are mostly related to age and other comorbidities, and vaccination status. Obesity doesn't help, but it's not a major driver.

Otherwise, concur with your assessment, Mr Business Man! 😉

These two CEOs look a lot like the First Class sandwich.
If you lined the three up, it'd be hard to tell them apart! LOL!

Thanks for all the CX/JL F flights, Dougie Poo, but I still want my remaining confiscated miles back. Maybe then I'll fly your garbage airline again.

The real travesty of Parker's career at American was the approval of billions in stock buybacks at $40-60 per share while American was retrofitting its fleet. This saddled American with billions in additional debt that made it the weakest airline when covid hit.

At first Parker blamed the debt on the retrofitting (buying new planes, etc). Even this was not done right as American could never settle on Airbus or Boeing for its narrowbody fleet or other gages as well. This unwillingness to resolve a plane type was the result of pilot pressure from American and Continental pilots who were Boeing flyers, and US Air pilots who preferred Airbus. The lack of fleet commonality cost American billions in extra parts and maintenance, to say nothing of crew scheduling sub optimization. Ask Southwest, who has made commonality an art form, and reaped profits as a result.

Later Parker blamed the stock buybacks on poor advice from Wall Street investment bankers. Did Parker not know to question the motives behind the people giving him the advice? The Unions complained. Where was American's board of Directors?

Now American can buy all its stock it wants for less than half what was originally paid.

Will Bob Islom be any better? Who knows at this stage. What is known is making American into another Spirit, with its crew cost and maintenance structure, is an invitation to liquidation. American will never be the low cost carrier. It needs to add value to the flying experience. Perhaps they were trying to learn as much in hooking up with Jet Blue. While they are not similar airlines, American can learn from them in terms of amenities and customer service.

AA HDQ looks completely empty.

Exactly. Couldn't these two get a decent fitting jacket for that photo...gawd!? It's long past due that Doug-wiser moved on.

Scott Kirby certainly appears to have lost the battle to win the war in the AA succession debacle

American is just too big. Their DFW hub is too big. Their debt load is too big. No one is going to be able to fix it.

American is run purely by Finance. They undervalue what will happen to customer loyalty if / when they make changes, avoid upgrading their fleet, or dramatically improving employee morale through better pay, benefits, and working conditions.

I get it. 40+ years ago, airlines were deregulated and instead of the government making sure they stayed afloat until deregulation, airlines had to become profitable. They did extreme cost cutting. And they never balanced out that thinking to be a profitable, yet customer focused airline. Problem is, Delta has struck this balance. United is now making an effort to be a profitable airline with loyal customers. On the low cost side, Southwest provides a no frills experience with crews that are friendly enough given the price.

Best of luck AA.