American Airlines is laying off hundreds of US-based contact center employees, in a move that the carrier claims will allow it to “provide an even higher level of support in the future.” But of course!
In this post:
American cutting nearly 700 US-based contact center jobs
American Airlines is reorganizing its customer service team, which will see the airline laying off at least 335 contact center employees in Phoenix, and at least 320 contact center employees in Dallas.
These non-union employees will maintain their jobs through March 30, 2024. They’ll have the chance to apply for more than 800 current job openings with the company, or otherwise American will help place them elsewhere. If employees are not able to find employment elsewhere in the company or are eligible to retire, they’ll be offered a severance payment.
If you are in touch with an American contact center employee in the coming weeks, be extra nice, because they could soon be out of a job.
How American is reorganizing its contact center
Here’s how American describes the reorganization of its contact center team in a statement:
“Today, we announced updates to our contact center organization that will help us better serve our customers. As part of these updates, we are creating a new Customer Success team that will be dedicated to providing more convenient, elevated support to American Airlines customers with some of their most complex travel needs.”
So American is creating a new “Customer Success team” that will be made up of 135 “upskilled team members,” who will handle more complex travel issues. Then American will be expanding its outsourced teams offering 24/7 support for less complex customer questions.
Presumably none of these employees will be as efficient as Gemma Flint, er, Cathy Garcia, er, whatever name American is now using for its automated customer relations.
American claims that setting up a smaller dedicated team of US agents and then outsourcing the rest of the jobs will somehow provide travelers with “an even higher level of support in the future.” American has been using its outsourced customer service teams since 2021, and claims that the airline has “seen improved customer satisfaction” with these employees.
Bottom line
American Airlines is cutting hundreds of US-based contact center positions. Instead, the airline will set up a smaller team of “upskilled” US-based customer service employees, and will outsource the rest of these positions. The airline claims that this reorganization will allow the airline to provide “an even higher level of support.” As the old Fox News slogan used to go, “we report, you decide.”
What do you make of American’s contact center reorganization?
Indian-American Airlines
Not sure if "outsourcing" and "improving" has ever worked successfully.
FA here...just what we need more outsourcing. They are really trying to destroy AA, so sad and disgusting. Pretty soon we will charge you to speak with an agent, like Frontier.
Preposterous. Now we get to speak a form of south-west asian english that is barely intelligible while we try to have a problem addressed. Bad move AA!
I’m opposed to outsourcing however consider how most Americans speak in the Deep South.
Another knife in Americans heart and worse the end of acceptable CRM @ AA
Advantage Customer service already had these lying clueless unhelpful overseas agents who aren’t empowered.
This will end up damaging the brand and revenue further
I just pre-qualified for EP and this is a huge disappointment. I'm already DONE with the automated BS emails from AA. Now, when I'm absolutely forced to get on a call I get to be thanked every 2 seconds, called Sir every 3 seconds, and then talk around in circles for 3 times as long and nothing gets accomplished! Great!
you just described it perfectly! They think if they add lots of fluff to the conversation like calling you ma'am or sir constantly...and other unhelpful filler...we won't notice how absolutely worthless they are. Let's not forget so many of the scams come out of India and other Asian countries, and from what i have read, can be traced back to these call centers! They do not vet these people they just are interested in hiring...
you just described it perfectly! They think if they add lots of fluff to the conversation like calling you ma'am or sir constantly...and other unhelpful filler...we won't notice how absolutely worthless they are. Let's not forget so many of the scams come out of India and other Asian countries, and from what i have read, can be traced back to these call centers! They do not vet these people they just are interested in hiring the cheapest cheapest. Let's not forget these US companies allow these people to have access to our personal info..so they pass it all on to their scammer friends.! A company that uses the word American in their title do not want to hire Americans...got knows if they can pawn you off to Bombay Bob...the CEO may get another million in his/her bonus this year...
Other companies tried this approach before but ended up needing to return the call centers to the US because people could not understand the representatives and they lacked actually solving the situation at hand - just making the customer more annoyed.
Facts!
It's pretty telling that they believe that someone else's employees can do a better job than then their own - or at least they'll claim that. What an insult to American's employees. I'm executive platinum, but I haven't called the call center in years. So, I don't know how things are today. But past experience has been unfailingly friendly and helpful, even if they may have a few issues -- like when they tried to...
It's pretty telling that they believe that someone else's employees can do a better job than then their own - or at least they'll claim that. What an insult to American's employees. I'm executive platinum, but I haven't called the call center in years. So, I don't know how things are today. But past experience has been unfailingly friendly and helpful, even if they may have a few issues -- like when they tried to rebook me out of the wrong San Jose during IRROPPS. But I hadn't even left the house and had a great laugh with the agent when we figured out what was happening.
But regardless of the current state, American should be able to be more effective with their own employees. Executives get caught up looking at the bottom line of a cost cutting measure without understanding the bigger bottom-line impact.
Many elites maintain status in great part because they get to the front of the line for help during IRROPS. If the person answering the phone isn't effective, that's going to change.
I am one of the 650+ employees told in a 5 minute phone call yesterday that my job is going to be eliminated. Since then I have gathered more information about my future from the news than I've received from AA. They are gutting three departments and think that 135 people will be equipped to handle the most complex AAdvantage customer and post travel customer service and baggage issues. The more simple issues will be...
I am one of the 650+ employees told in a 5 minute phone call yesterday that my job is going to be eliminated. Since then I have gathered more information about my future from the news than I've received from AA. They are gutting three departments and think that 135 people will be equipped to handle the most complex AAdvantage customer and post travel customer service and baggage issues. The more simple issues will be handled in Haiti and in the UK. They are trying to convince customers that it is for their benefit. From where I sit that math doesn't math.... Somehow I'll land okay. I do feel bad for my colleagues and for AA customers. We deserve better.
AAnonymous - so sorry. Layoffs suck. I hope you land someplace amazing!
The U.K. ? I doubt that as AA first outsourced its centre to Dublin years ago. Most likely India, especially since salaries are higher and there are strict employment laws in the U.K. The average salary in India is around $5-6k with no job security.
Bigger companies don’t care about quality although they like to believe so. Outsourced staff have no loyalty. The turnover rates are high so by the time someone is trained...
The U.K. ? I doubt that as AA first outsourced its centre to Dublin years ago. Most likely India, especially since salaries are higher and there are strict employment laws in the U.K. The average salary in India is around $5-6k with no job security.
Bigger companies don’t care about quality although they like to believe so. Outsourced staff have no loyalty. The turnover rates are high so by the time someone is trained they leave and the process starts again. In places like India they have probably never been to an airport and have no cultural awareness, and lack any ability to understand the gravity of some issues. They just use boilerplate responses and don’t bother reading complaints properly.
Im very sad to hear. Its truly awful what they are doing to this airline. Good Luck to you.
Ugh. Who has *ever* outsourced customer service and had the result be a better experience for the customers?
I was EXP for 20 years starting with the first year the program was made. 5mm+ AA miles. I’ve watched the airline go steadily downhill until I couldn’t stay. I’ve switched to DL and am delighted with nearly every experience. AS still recognizes my lifetime platinum status on AA and upgrades me sometimes, but AA never. DL makes me smile.
Another style “US Airways type”cost cutting “cheap” move with NO thought to the premium customers! Sooner than later the majority stockholders have to wake up and clean house or this will just continue to get worse!
Ben, it would be helpful if you described what a contact center is…do you mean a call center? If not, then I have no idea what a contact center is and how customers interact with them, so I’m unclear if the impact here to the regular consumer.
It’s the people who answer the phone when you call AA.
The regular consumer will be impacted when a storm rolls into Dallas and all their flights are canceled;
It’s pretty obvious. You contact by phone or call doh !
Sounds like a PR job—poor PR,
Yet another American company lays off its American employees. So sad our companies don't really care for us. That's what having a "fiduciary responsibility" toward your shareholders will do. Personally, I hate speaking to India because I can't understand what they're saying about 80% of the time. It's ridiculous we have to go through that only to get very little done. I guess I'll be going to the airport to have them help me if I ever have a problem.
I am an Executive Platinum AAdvantage member and very routinely have 1 hour + waits to speak with an agent on the Exec Plat line. This really isn't an acceptable situation. Hopefully they can resolve this.
I never comment on here (because y'all can be a lot) but this one is strangely triggering. Being Chicago-based (and occasionally New York-based) frequent traveler, I clearly have options but have been steadfastly loyal to American because of their customer service—particularly phone-based. I often joke that if I need anything flight-related, I can just call "Peggy in Dallas."
I work with international teams every day and I am never not impressed by someone's ability...
I never comment on here (because y'all can be a lot) but this one is strangely triggering. Being Chicago-based (and occasionally New York-based) frequent traveler, I clearly have options but have been steadfastly loyal to American because of their customer service—particularly phone-based. I often joke that if I need anything flight-related, I can just call "Peggy in Dallas."
I work with international teams every day and I am never not impressed by someone's ability to conduct business in a language that is not their native tongue—regardless of its level of refinement. But when my flight has been canceled and I am about to be stranded somewhere or some other comparable debacle, I do NOT want to be read to from a script and thanked for every bit of information I provide and constantly called to as "sir." It's impersonal and infuriating. I need empathy and relatability and efficiency—things that are essentially nonexistent when dealing with a foreign call center.
I'm very curious to know further details on this one. Will it be ALL phone agents in Dallas and Phoenix? Will it be limited to certain types of calls? (New reservations only? Things like that?) Will agents for elite members remain in the US?
This is only for non-reservations calls: customer complaints, AAdvantage account help, lost bags, etc. Anything related to your specific flight (changes, mileage redemption, etc.) is unionized. 85-90% of these calls must be answered by the USA based union. Per their new contract, as of 3 weeks ago anyone currently working for them can’t be let go for the next 4 years. So, that’s very good news, but sad for AA to take out the added...
This is only for non-reservations calls: customer complaints, AAdvantage account help, lost bags, etc. Anything related to your specific flight (changes, mileage redemption, etc.) is unionized. 85-90% of these calls must be answered by the USA based union. Per their new contract, as of 3 weeks ago anyone currently working for them can’t be let go for the next 4 years. So, that’s very good news, but sad for AA to take out the added cost of the new contract on the non-union folks.
@burn158
I'd be a little careful about some of the claims in your response, here.
In Australia, AA maintains a "call centre" .. and you guested it. Not in SYD, MEL, BNE, ADL or PER ~ but in KUL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Let me assure you that ticketed reservations (gee, international and domestic USA-based travel) ALL go through this call centre, regardless.
Now, having dealt with this centre, I have found the AA...
@burn158
I'd be a little careful about some of the claims in your response, here.
In Australia, AA maintains a "call centre" .. and you guested it. Not in SYD, MEL, BNE, ADL or PER ~ but in KUL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Let me assure you that ticketed reservations (gee, international and domestic USA-based travel) ALL go through this call centre, regardless.
Now, having dealt with this centre, I have found the AA KUL Call centre to be incredibly helpful, responsive and personable. If they need to call you back, they do. And within 5 minutes of the time they agree with you.
It has been this way for the past 5-6 years. This is such a contrast to the many Philipino / Indian call centres that are used by both Australian and international airlines in our country.
So, I'd suggest that your claim of "85-90% of these calls must be answered by the USA based union" may be true for the USA operations, but it is certainly not the case internationally.
The only thing that would cause worry to me personally is if AA decided to close down their 'oneworld' reservation desk, based in the USA. On the few occasions I have had to use it, the staff have been universally well-informed, are able to solve problems quickly and easily .. and do it with a high degree of professionalism.
You can sugar coat it all you want, but people really are not as dumb as you think.
Absolutely brutal, just got off the phone with a rep on the Exec Platinum line (needed to get aa number added to a avios booking!). She was crying and was struggling to keep it together. Already such a tough job and now you have to play out your final days like this. Brutal.
Shame for AA passengers its always easy to get someone on the phone in my experience and i guess that is about to change for the worse!
Outsourcing to India where staff have no experience, probably never been in an aircraft let alone to an airport, use poorly written boilerplate responses and are not permitted to think for themselves. It would be cheaper to use AI.
This is a rude and weird take.
It’s not. Do you have any clue how bad call centres are in India ? Most staff have no clue, they don’t understand cultural differences, they don’t read complaints properly. Many companies just use one or two companies in India who handle multiple businesses. Many OTAs such as expedia use the same centres as United and Lufthansa for English language.
The quality is poor and the staff turnover rates are high. There is no...
It’s not. Do you have any clue how bad call centres are in India ? Most staff have no clue, they don’t understand cultural differences, they don’t read complaints properly. Many companies just use one or two companies in India who handle multiple businesses. Many OTAs such as expedia use the same centres as United and Lufthansa for English language.
The quality is poor and the staff turnover rates are high. There is no loyalty.
In addition there is a higher amount of fraud. Do you know where a high volume of fraudulent telephone calls originate?
This is just short term solution. Long term you will be speaking to an AI entity.
If you’re not an employee working in a unionized job? You’re always the punching bag and considered free game to continuously be out sourced. That’s the trade mark of cut throat management in the airline business.
Unless you work for Delta...
Don't you love the business-speak BS here? Basically a cost cutting move that they're trying to spin into somehow being an improvement. It won't be. AA will save money and customer service will suffer further. Oh, and the consolation prize for the RIFfed workers is that they can apply for the same existing openings at the airline that you and I can. As if a call center agent will be considered for one of those...
Don't you love the business-speak BS here? Basically a cost cutting move that they're trying to spin into somehow being an improvement. It won't be. AA will save money and customer service will suffer further. Oh, and the consolation prize for the RIFfed workers is that they can apply for the same existing openings at the airline that you and I can. As if a call center agent will be considered for one of those positions (which will not include their craft because it's being outsourced to Pakistan.
This means more jobs sent offshore and forcing passengers to use more chat. Both are not good moves. I generally only call when I need to. Now if AA improved it's online capabilities that would be different. But too many times during irregular operations I can't make changes online either because I get a flag to call or get a forced refare.
Every time you can’t get the help you need…..blame unions and the greedy pilots.
Same for when partner redemptions tank at some point this year. Gotta get that money back somehow.
Unions protect experienced staff. No protection and goodbye. Offshore cheap labour to India where the staff have no idea how an airline works. They are only allowed to use templates therefore it’s better to use automation \AI
No, every time you can't get what you need, spend your time on hold writing the note to the management team - look for the contact info after and include the PR tean. If they all get inundated, there may be some backtracking like Delta + skypesos program. One can hope.
Keep publicizing any time you can't get results oor info you need - be one of many squeaky wheels
Guess they want to make sure they get rid of the few remaining competent agents that they accidentally kept during the COVID buy-outs.
I am a director in an outsourced call center, and I can tell you this is not a good move for American. If there are changes or updates to policy or procedure, that information has to trickle down through American, to the third-party call center, then down through their management ranks to the agents. Hence, it becomes a game of telephone, and we remember how that all ended as kids. I worked for an airline...
I am a director in an outsourced call center, and I can tell you this is not a good move for American. If there are changes or updates to policy or procedure, that information has to trickle down through American, to the third-party call center, then down through their management ranks to the agents. Hence, it becomes a game of telephone, and we remember how that all ended as kids. I worked for an airline call center years ago and our attrition rate was between 5% and 7% annually. A good part of that is that the flight benefits retain top talent. There are no flight benefits in an outsourced call center and attrition rates are going to soar. The call center I manage is for a prestigious tech company and our attrition rates are over 150% annually. Therefore, your chances of getting a new, inexperienced agent are very high. Customer service will suffer but the losses won't be quantifiable on a spreadsheet so top management doesn't care.
Most employees of the actual company detest outsourced partners. They are taking our jobs. They are not “ my colleagues”. As you alluded, the turnover rates are so high by the time the employee is trained they leave and you start again. There is no experience and it’s the race to the bottom, just so the company can save money, which they don’t as the actual staff eventually have to sort out the mess made by the third party.
The idiots running AA sure do know how to drive their employees towards union membership. That airline is desperately in need of actual leadership rather than the painfully inept ULCC management from HP.
What do I make of it?
Nothing. Companies the size of AA do this kind of minor reorganizations/re-staffing/internal structure changes all the time. It's routine. And it's un-interesting.
Probably will make zero impact on the customer experience, one direction or the other.
Important point - this only impacts the non-union contact centers (handling customer relations/complaints, AAdvantage account help, and lost bags). The Reservations folks (who are unionized) represent the vast majority of contact centers, and are not going anywhere. They handle all ticket-related transactions. Notably, as part of their new union contract (literally 3 weeks ago), they cannot be let go if they were working at contract time. Very smart move! So the company’s response to the...
Important point - this only impacts the non-union contact centers (handling customer relations/complaints, AAdvantage account help, and lost bags). The Reservations folks (who are unionized) represent the vast majority of contact centers, and are not going anywhere. They handle all ticket-related transactions. Notably, as part of their new union contract (literally 3 weeks ago), they cannot be let go if they were working at contract time. Very smart move! So the company’s response to the union protection is to cut almost all of the non union centers. While there is a need to cut costs, this is a huge slap in the face.
This is a VERY important note. Thank you for mentioning that. I completely understand te business aspect of outsourcing but from a customer perspective, the second I hear "Hello, Mr. [First Name], my name is Billy. How may I be assisting you today?" in a clearly Filipino or Indian accent, my stomach sinks a bit at first hoping this isn't going to be a multiple HUCA situation because my problem is just a tad too...
This is a VERY important note. Thank you for mentioning that. I completely understand te business aspect of outsourcing but from a customer perspective, the second I hear "Hello, Mr. [First Name], my name is Billy. How may I be assisting you today?" in a clearly Filipino or Indian accent, my stomach sinks a bit at first hoping this isn't going to be a multiple HUCA situation because my problem is just a tad too complex for them to understand what I want to do. AmEx is terrible with this for me.
Any chance AA could outsource senior management? If the board was doing its job, that would have already happened!
American is the worst - mean customer service, unimaginative network, chronically making the product worse (look at the initial Max8 LOPA, popular with the c-suite only). This is the typical short-sighted move I’d expect with American: further degradation of product results in a RASM reduction that eclipses a CASM reduction.
AA is known for its terrible service and subpar product. An outsourced contact center fits in nicely with customer expectations for this airline. So sad to see the state of AA...high debt, terrible technology (website and app), horrible international network, high costs, subpar inflight experience but they do have a fantastic domestic network. When other Airlines are investing in their service and products (UA, DL, heck even Spirit), its sad to see AA cutting their...
AA is known for its terrible service and subpar product. An outsourced contact center fits in nicely with customer expectations for this airline. So sad to see the state of AA...high debt, terrible technology (website and app), horrible international network, high costs, subpar inflight experience but they do have a fantastic domestic network. When other Airlines are investing in their service and products (UA, DL, heck even Spirit), its sad to see AA cutting their way to profitability and it won't work.
this will be the first of a number of initiatives that AA will take to turn itself around financially.
They made the decision to push direct booking and lay off much of their sales staff but their profits did not recover in the 4th quarter.
Wall Street likes what AA is promising and the stock has done well over the past couple weeks relative to the rest of the US airline industry.
Also,...
this will be the first of a number of initiatives that AA will take to turn itself around financially.
They made the decision to push direct booking and lay off much of their sales staff but their profits did not recover in the 4th quarter.
Wall Street likes what AA is promising and the stock has done well over the past couple weeks relative to the rest of the US airline industry.
Also, B6 just reported earnings and they were not profitable for the 4th quarter, are not expected to be profitable for the 1st quarter and are only hoping for breakeven for all of 2024.
Most significantly, B6 is cutting capacity for 2024 with the biggest hit coming in the first half of the year.
B6 is also cutting aircraft spending, pushing aircraft purchases out to later this decade.
Those that are hoping for a reworking of the NEA with AA might be disappointed, at least in terms of B6' ability to fly large portions of AA's LGA and JFK slot portfolio unless B6 cancels other flights.
AA and B6 are both rethinking who they are and will be. AA is focusing on cutting costs while B6 is focused on becoming a smaller and profitable airline and they both appear to be committed to achieving those things on their own.
Putting on my corporate speak translator “AA to lay off the bulk of its DFW and PHX res centers to outsource those jobs to India. This will help customers because we’ll continue to provide the 24 hour res center support we’ve always had. Customers who need something more than information that was already on our website will first call India, then after 10 minutes of explaining the problem, will wait on hold until they give...
Putting on my corporate speak translator “AA to lay off the bulk of its DFW and PHX res centers to outsource those jobs to India. This will help customers because we’ll continue to provide the 24 hour res center support we’ve always had. Customers who need something more than information that was already on our website will first call India, then after 10 minutes of explaining the problem, will wait on hold until they give up or one of the 135 agents we’re not laying off in the US answers the phone.” Did I miss something?
Exactly! Talking to those people is like banging my head against the wall.
Yes, you just missed out on 30 minutes of your life.
I’m currently helping a client recover from a failed offshoring and outsourcing endeavor. Big picture having teams offshore is very difficult to manage. If you have a lot of top notch management talent it can be done. But AA isn’t know for its top notch management.
The other issue is the cost savings from moving XXX call center employees offshore is easy to calculate. What’s hard to calculate is how each negative customer service...
I’m currently helping a client recover from a failed offshoring and outsourcing endeavor. Big picture having teams offshore is very difficult to manage. If you have a lot of top notch management talent it can be done. But AA isn’t know for its top notch management.
The other issue is the cost savings from moving XXX call center employees offshore is easy to calculate. What’s hard to calculate is how each negative customer service interaction reduces load factor and revenue per seat mile as customers drift away. And then AA management can’t figure out why its metrics are so poor.
What’s hard to calculate is how each negative customer service interaction reduces load factor and revenue per seat mile as customers drift away. And then AA management can’t figure out why its metrics are so poor.
But if we, the traveling public, have learned anything in the last several year...or even since deregulation...it's that the vast majority of consumers will still choose the cheapest flights largely independent of customer service. The internet allows us to...
What’s hard to calculate is how each negative customer service interaction reduces load factor and revenue per seat mile as customers drift away. And then AA management can’t figure out why its metrics are so poor.
But if we, the traveling public, have learned anything in the last several year...or even since deregulation...it's that the vast majority of consumers will still choose the cheapest flights largely independent of customer service. The internet allows us to bitch and moan online about shitty customer service, but the traveling public largely will get over it and continue to choose shoddy customer service because of lower price.
I don't believe AA really cares about the call centre metrics (aside from total time spent with each customer) because, ultimately, it's fairly meaningless unless they start losing large corporate contracts wherein the customer(s) specifically state, "We've had a difficult time with your customer service so we're changing contracted/preferred providers."
No company is going to drop their corporate agreement because of the airline's call center, since they have their CTM company (such as Amex, BCD, Carlson) handle most problems for them. Corporate agreements are all about saving money and are often handled within the company's purchasing department, who only cares about numbers. However, employees may book away from AA if they have any leeway, though frequent flyer loyalty drives a lot of AA's corporate business.
Just another example of outsourcing.
This will put more duty on the gate agents to resolve problems.
Soon, only elite PAX will get human support, the rest will get AI chatbots which are programed to prevent service.
Yet, someone in the C-Suite will get a fat bonus!!
AI standing for authentic Indians since Articial Intelligence by default, using the logic of management would have outsourced the work as well!
Can AI outsource the management team?
Not to pre-empt what's-his-name, but one of the few things DL does that stands out is that if you must call, you get an agent who is knowledgeable and usually empowered to fix a problem. Contrast that with UA's outsourced (to India) call center, which is often clueless and will reflexively offer you a travel credit to go away.
(Case in point, UA's call center once told me I had to call a specialized desk...
Not to pre-empt what's-his-name, but one of the few things DL does that stands out is that if you must call, you get an agent who is knowledgeable and usually empowered to fix a problem. Contrast that with UA's outsourced (to India) call center, which is often clueless and will reflexively offer you a travel credit to go away.
(Case in point, UA's call center once told me I had to call a specialized desk between 7am and 7pm, but didn't know in what time zone those hours were defined.)
That said, if I have to call an airline at all, for any reason, I consider that a failing ipso facto.
Regrettably, in my experience the customer service people are the only part of the operation where I have consistently received competent, friendly service. That will no doubt be degraded. It also takes away one of the reasons for booking directly with AA vs an OTA.
Now the multi hour waits it has taken to get that service are another story.
30 plus years at American. This is simply another lowering of American’s service standards to what was acceptable at USAir and America West. The old Bob Crandall AA exists in name only. It’s gone. It’s sad. It’s long dead.
I'm a former AA employee, and it seems that the airline has fallen incredibly far. I feel bad for those losing their jobs, especially for those who are legacy AA employees.