Recently, we’ve seen major airlines in the United States report their financial results for 2025. Among the ”big three” carriers, the results are exactly what you’d expect — Delta had the best performance, United was in second place, and American was a distant third.
Continue reading: American Airlines Employees Get 0.3%(!!) Profit Sharing, And That’s Gotta Hurt
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Workers, at American Airlines, and elsewhere, should be getting paid more, regardless. This isn't about unions or lackthereof (as I know some will be quick to bash them, sadly). There's no world where CEO Isom deserves $34 million (as in 2023). Even so, he's a mere mercenary compared to the billionaires that exploit our people, our resources, and our futures. Major reforms sorely needed.
Nobody is "stuck working for a management team that has no vision". They are free to explore other opportunities.
American's profitability would markedly improve if many flight attendants who are unhappy with their jobs found the door.
Like many of my colleagues, I have avoided American for numerous premium flights and will continue to do so until I notice a marked improvement in service from crew.
Flight attendants are clearly overpaid for their skill level.
Compare US crew salaries to European and Asian carriers, where airlines provide much better service. An American does not do a better job serving meals or pouring drinks than a British, Korean, French, Polish, Taiwanese or Italian would do for 1/3 the cost.
There is no supply constraint for flight attendants as there is with pilots and mechanics. They are overpaid, and if rightsized, the savings can be put into premium improvements.
"Maybe American management should have a new pay structure?"
Doug Parker took all his pay in stock. That was supposed to align his incentives with shareholders. All it did was encourage him to borrow money to fund stock buybacks, timed with his 10b5-1 plan.
LOL.......hopefully this pushes some of those overpaid, overweight and overaged flight attendants right out the door.
My goodness this generation is tone deaf. People will never be happy with any pay structure. This is why people get paid millions to run actual companies and businesses while others make 50k a year.
A company allows you to share in their profit, if they have any. Not happy.
A company gives you a discretionary bonus. Not happy.
A company allows you to work overtime and make 1.5x your pay. Most companies don't even allow overtime because of the 1.5x pay. Not happy.
A company pays you with stock incentives. Oh the stock sucks, it's losing money or I have to pay taxes. Not happy.
Own your own damn company! Work for yourself! Hire you own employees and give them salaries and benefits. Be a contributing member to society.
Georgie thinks stew pay is the reason American is so broke.
Bless his wooden head.
I would assume that the method of calculating bonuses for unionized AA workers would be spelled out in their contract with the airline. Is this not so; is it purely at the discretion of corporate leadership?
Put in your best effort? Really? Like no PDB's? One drink and to the back galley they go for the rest of the flight? Screaming at customers at the gate or just ignoring them? For the employees that really do a good job, this is sad. For those that don't really care, it's too much.
I'm pro paying people what they're worth. Just ask my team - I fight for major pay increases for them every year. They generate value, and the cost of replacement for any of them would be burdensome.
That does not apply to flight attendants. American flight attendant training takes six weeks. They could fire the worst 10% every couple of months and, one year later, have 60% fresh crew with better attitudes.
boards are overlapping clubs stocked with homies who all reward each other, crony capitalism at its finest
Want Delta profits provide Delta level service. Many great AA employees but equally offset by indifferent staff who are just there for a check. Their product is not that bad - it’s the way the product is presented / delivered by some staff. Delta at least consistently gives the illusion that they care.
In this case this was self inflicted by management. Yeah, there are some lousy employees but difficult to determine if their numbers are any different at other airlines.
Pilots are seniority based and would most likely take a cut in pay if not work conditions if they moved to Airline "X." To a lesser extent flight attendants so the "just go work somewhere else" doesn't apply as much in the airline industry for crew.
Sadly, for all involved it's going to take money to again begin making money which profits will be low, and even losses, for the interim period.
Pointless and completely irrelevant rant.
The expectation of profit sharing is not in question here — it's that American is a company so mismanged relative to its peers that its employees receive a pittance in profit sharing while others receive weeks or months of pay.
Telling frontline employees to "own your own damn company" as a solution is as stupid and tone deaf as complaining about the generation gap.
Ben, you questioned why would AA board allow Isom to run the company. Show me 1 example when board has done what's right for the company and shareholders? Having a board to oversee CEOs of public companies is just an illusion. No board fulfils their responsibility.
"Workers, at American Airlines, and elsewhere, should be getting paid more, regardless."
This remains one of the most inane comments you offer. Just add it to the pile.
Can’t say I’m surprised. When I go to book travel through my company’s portal American is greyed out and listed as “non preferred carrier, in cases of no other routing” while Delta, United and Southwest are preferred (in that order). Doubt we’re the only ones.
"While Delta employees might be making some major purchases with their profit sharing checks, or might be paying off loads..."
I think you meant "loans" here, Ben, or Delta employees have some other burdens I wasn't aware of.
Should have done what Trump did and pay the Top 10% of cabin crew $10k each, the rest get diddly.
Mike,
He does this all the time...he's just an attention whore who has now spread like a virus across the travel blogs spewing his broken record BS because he loves the attention it brings him.
American being a poorly ran airline isn't new. Don't like the way it's ran? Leave.
And my point of saying own your own company is because people don't know how incredibly difficult it is to run any company, let alone a multi billion dollar company. So when folks point at executive pay, they forget that most busted their ass and worked their way up. They weren't handed that title.
This would make a lot more sense of someone would do an analysis looking at AA's profit-sharing through the lens of, say, Delta. Until then, it's just all too confusing.
I for one can assure all readers, commenters and users of OMAAT that Tim "Tom" "Poirot" "MicroD" Delta is celebrating hard today! I will look forward to his commentary later on! I'm sure he is already on the fifth drink!
This is why AA's unions won't negotiate profit sharing as being any meaningful part of their salaries - because there is simply such a low likelihood that it will add anything.
It also explains why there is little incentive for AA labor to go above and beyond.
The real question is what the end game is for AA. Scott Kirby would like to think he is gong to force that question but I am pretty sure that he hasn't thought through the end game.
“ This is why AA's unions won't negotiate profit sharing as being any meaningful part of their salaries ”
Huh? Every AA union already did negotiate this profit sharing plan and it was something they trumpeted as a win for their member
You, once again, prove that:
I live rent free in the heads of so many people including yours and
You think that you know what I believe but are always so wrong.
I don't wish ill well on any person. I discuss companies and their employees are just pawns - for good or bad - in those companies' strategies.
Yes, I have had a couple cups of coffee and several glasses of water already. all of that is so intoxicating.
Do you try to be this ignorant or does it just come naturally?
if you want to discuss profit sharing, compare all airlines including .
In discussions on AA's earnings call about compensation, AA execs noted that 80% of UA employees don't make industry comparable wages.
While some love to highlight AA's low profit sharing, it is UA that is funding all of its strategic battles on the backs of its employees because stuff like the Chicago shootout hurt not just UA's profit sharing but make them much more likely to drag out raising their employees' wages.
AA execs are right to note that UA has a bill to pay and Wall Street would do well to calculate the real costs of operating airlines today including in Chicago.
"...the savings can be put into premium improvements."
Or, likelier, be used for shareholder dividends and stock buybacks.
Asian, Europeans, Taiwanese and Italians have a lower cost of living. Pilots in all those foreign carriers make much less than US pilots and they fly just as safe . You live in a bubble.
"They could fire the worst 10% every couple of months and, one year later, have 60% fresh crew with better attitudes."
This really falls into the "The beatings will continue until morale improves" camp. This is one of the most unwise management suggestions I've seen in some time. Nobody's performance will improve based on the fear of being fired every month.
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" was fiction, and it's best left that way.
"So when folks point at executive pay, they forget that most busted their ass and worked their way up. They weren't handed that title."
Your naïveté is embarrassing.
"Should have done what Trump did..."
LOL! You should have stopped there, the rest of anything following that is guaranteed to be laughable.
Nah, George. Bad take, yet again. Workers and consumers deserve better. Management and shareholders have gotten too greedy. If there's anything that needs to be 'rightsized' it's that balance.
TravelinWilly gets it. 2023 Isom got a record $34 million in compensation... that was mostly because our corrupt officials were lobbied into billions of public funds, meant to keep these business afloat during the preceding years of the pandemic when air travel was at historic lows (since the world shutdown 2020-2022), and they just did stock buybacks will forcing retirements anyway.
And yet, Mike P, you offer no solution, other than, one assumes, indentured servitude? Workers deserve a thriving wage in this and other industries.
Steve, you've offered nothing on-substance; just ad hominem. Thanks for the extra attention, I guess.
You almost got, George. Management is to blame. Yet, there you go... punching down anyway. Sad.
May you be treated exactly how you treat others.
Be sure to tell those crew members how you feed, preferably before beverage service.
Drink up!
George, who/what determines our worth? Seems ripe for abuse.
Instead, maybe baseline standards that ensure not only a living, but a thriving compensation package would be a good start, not just for C-Suite, but FAs, baggage handlers, maintenance techs, gate agents, call center folks, all the above. Or are they not 'worth' it to you? Clearly not.
Ben, you made a very interesting comment in your piece, commenting on how AA employees put in their best effort and only got a 0.3% profit share. I would argue the profit share reflects the effort of AA employees.
If how AA ran its airline and the actions of its people reflect their "best effort." It's time for AA to hang it up and for the employees (well, some of them) to find a new industry to work in...because they can't compete effectively in today's competitive landscape.
Isn't profit sharing paid into a retirement (401k) account? It isn't like these folks actually receive a bonus check from the company that they can spend on something like a fancy dinner, or that's my understanding of profit sharing.
Love it when, like clockwork, someone widely despised rolls out the "rent free" line.
and AA's unions know that profit sharing is worthless.
again, AA employees make more in base compensation than UA employees.
Even including profit sharing, AA employees still make more.
Both trail DL.
WN pays its profit sharing into the retirement plan but other airlines do not.
AA is clueless when it comes to employee appreciation. This is just as insulting as when during the pandemic I received an appreciation gift in the mail. It was a heavy winter scarf - AA branded. I lived in Phoenix. It felt like they were dumping unsold unused merchandise on us. Sadly, when employees don't feel valued or appreciated it can be difficult to provide the customer service day after day that the customers deserve. Glad I'm no longer a part of the AA mess. As long as Isom and his cronies are in power nothing will really change.
the chevy chase movie Christmas Vacation comes to mind. he fantasizes about a swimming pool and gets a magazine subscription? delta pilots have been getting the former while aa pilots get the latter. its been that way for years now. back when Doug Parker was running AA, he had to give us a mid contract raise because new hire pilots were leaving the school house when they got a class date with delta. getting rid of A330,767 and 757's was a huge mistake. AA needs to poach a bunch of Delta management/
The employees didn't decide to rip out IFE. The employees didn't retire the A330s and LAA757 premature. The employees didn't jam in more seats and reduce MCE seats. The employees didn't decide that spending money in operations was useless. The employees didn't use cash to buy back stock. The employees didn't think they could build an airline around CLT and DFW. Should I go on?
Couldn't happen to a more deserving employee group.
American Airlines waitresses: I hope it was worth it. Girl, bye.
@digital
Would have to agree with that. And that so many of the same people and same type of people continue to fail upwards is depressing.
check the timestamp.
I hadn't even participated in the discussion before Rod made his comment.
Yes, some people are fixated w/ me given that they bring me into conversations before I ever participate in them.
Admittedly I don’t know you. But you sound like someone who does not like, appreciate, or support your employees.
And to take your argument one step further, when an executive fails year after year to return value to the company he or she is running, then it’s time to cut bait. Isom, despite his salary (whether deserved or not) is not returning value to American Airlines. It’s time for him to go.
Guessing Tim Dunn's nipples are pretty chafed over his excitement from this news.
Actually, they're called Flight Attendants, and they are there for your safety throughout the ground activities and phases of flights! Now, GFY!
... but the employees and their horrific attitude pushed AA into a corner where they have to make these decisions.
With less lazy and loud employees, they would be in a better place. Gate agents and the waitresses onboard carry 99.9% of the blame.
What is there to appreciate? Maybe do a good job, then ask for more than your salary.
Fact: everyone of the waitresses onboard could be replaced tomorrow. For 20K/yr. And still we'd have better waitresses. You should all be fired.
Total falsehood. I have flown AA 100s of times and have never seen anything like what you're describing. Also, FWIW, "waddling like a duck" would not disqualify them from the role provided they can execute on the duties (which are safety)
Oh, but this is a solution..."Workers, at American Airlines, and elsewhere, should be getting paid more, regardless."
That's nothing more than an empty, vapid statement—your calling card.
The execs need to be shown the door. The least they should have done is cut their own pay and given it to staff. Terrible leadership!
As if AA gets their employees from a different pool than other airlines or service industries. It's management stupid.
You, once again, prove that:
I live rent free in the heads of so many people including yours and
You think that you know what I believe but are always so wrong.
I don't wish ill well on any person. I discuss companies and their employees are just pawns - for good or bad - in those companies' strategies.
Fake 1990, well done, not too far off; besides, @notscott is a literal white supremacist, so feel free to let him have it. --O.G.
Guessing Fake Eskimo's nipples are pretty chafed over his excitement from this news.
Mike P, please do repeat my point again; as long as we get the word out, I'm pleased.
"Workers, at American Airlines, and elsewhere, should be getting paid more, regardless."
Say it again.
Tell us that you have ZERO clue how the airline industry works. Or what it means to take care of employees so that they will take care of the customers.
If you have such disdain for airline workers, please don't ever fly again. There should be a greyhound that would work for you.
I don't have disdain for airline workers. I hate American Airlines' lazy, overweight employees.
For most of them, it's 0.3% too much. For others, it's way too low.
Sad indeed
Yes, it’s spelled out in the contracts and it’s the same formula as Delta. DL made more so their profit sharing is higher.
Right..
You can just say you said something stupid and move on, Tim.
No need to double down on some weird Delta rabbit trail about AA and UA compensation.
And "AA employees make more than UA employees" With profit sharing included.
You are one certainly prone to dogmatic over-arching blanket statements that are rarely correct and this is certainly one of them.
Some groups? yes. All AA employees make more than all UA employees groups including profit sharing? No. Just cut out your ridiculous delta rah rah nonsense at every comment.
Nobody cares about your weird obsession about an airline that thought you were sh*t at your job and fired you.
Not exactly a lot of profits to share out... And that's the problem.
Though looking at the other article about the breakdown of corporate expenses, seems there's a lot of non-operational spending, which doesn't leave much profit despite a huge revenue figure.
Profit sharing
Okay I’m an employee who love to come to work daily. From the time I get out of my car until the time I get home I’m appreciative of the people and the culture here at American. Who don’t want massive payouts in bonuses but it’s deeper than that. I wouldn’t trade a 30x bonus for a layoff. For the uncertainty of my co-worker not being able to pay their mortgage or pay child care or put their kids through school. You see we are truly family. Coming to work daily to make sure our customers are safe, happy, and getting to their destinations in a timely manner. Our managers, supervisors and my self included aren’t perfect. We’re learning trying to do better daily. This is a very fast pace industry. It’s not just about loading the plane up and going. There are a lot of moving pieces. Before you even get on the aircraft. American pays me a far wage that I agreed to when I was hired on. Whatever I get extra is cool but I agreed to my wage before I started working. I’m at peace when I look over at my co-worker and they are working and not worried about hours and etc. We have the best union, the best manager, the best people working under the American brand. I can go on and on about the pros of this great company but that will become a book not a reply . So please.Do me a favor and get out of our pockets and don’t compare us to any other company. Respectfully 1 of over 15,000 employees who love this company.
Based on what I frequently read in this blog about AA staff and their attitude, and given that they apparently cannot get fired, this is exactly what they deserve.
If I were in the shoes of AA's management I would make this a quarterly exercise to ram home the point with higher frequency: "Just quit and try to find work elsewhere".
Which is why I argue pay should be tied to long-term earnings and/or stock price. This is the principle that Berkshire uses with great success fir the firms they own/control.
What my former co-workers and friends are getting this year and for the past several years is beyond belief. They are samharinf $1.3 BILLION! And some are complaining! I remember getting a few savings bonds and a few shares of stock.
The employees are partially responsible for this outcome when their representatives (union) voted to have US Airways took over AA…..
It's interesting you compare Delta with American. At least the majority of American aircraft purchases are MADE in AMERICA versus Delta whose vast fleet is comprised massed mainly of plans BUILT IN EUROPE. How can an airline market to Americans when it does nothing to support the workers who fly on those planes?
and like the dog you are, you came running as you refreshed over and over waiting for someone to mention you 😉
It is optional to have it deposited into ones 401(k) or take it as a bonus check.
because Airbus wasn't screwed up for a decade while Boeing created endless problems for airlines around the world.
and a number of Airbus aircraft are more efficient and capable than their comparable Boeing counterparts.
and DL is still expected to be the launch customer for the MAX 10 and has a larger 787 orderbook as of right now than AA or AS.
and don't forget that AS no longer exclusively flies Boeings (again) and AA and UA are major customers for the A321XLR which is a European product.
and the A220 is a N. American product -built in the US or Canada of mostly N. American components. It is Airbus in name only.
Yesterday (27Jan) had six AA flights canceled - 3 with the aircraft sitting at the gate but no crew! Sick out? AA finally put me on UA - what a difference... a wonderful difference.
Of course people are free to leave — and maybe should! — but in an industry where seniority is everything there's a tangible pay and quality of life impact to that decision, so there's more of a gravitational pull to stay. Given those circumstances, people are inevitably going to complain when they work at the laggard.
If you think being an airline CEO is a lot of work in the same way that being a grunt employee is a lot of work, I have a bridge to sell you. This is a Fortune 500 company, not a small business — Isom seems uniquely challenged by this role in a way that other airline CEOs aren't and has played the "we'll be better soon!" card for years now.
Can't imagine being an employee or customer of yours.