As anyone who has been following the industry knows, American has been lagging Delta and United when it comes to both customer experience and profitability. Essentially, executives at the airline lacked a vision for far too long. Or perhaps more accurately, they had the wrong vision — they believed that the key to profitability was to just deliver a reliable and robust schedule (not that they were ever particularly good at that).
In recent months, we’ve seen a vibe shift. American appointed Heather Garboden as Chief Customer Officer, and we’ve seen the airline announce it wants to become more premium and customer focused. We’ve started to see some positive changes, and that’s great. So here’s an interesting update, along those lines.
In this post:
Interesting interview with American’s Heather Garboden
American has the “Tell Me Why” podcast, which is essentially a podcast about the airline, intended largely for employees (though it’s also shared publicly). The airline has just published the latest of these episodes, and it features American Chief Communications Officer Ron DeFeo having a conversation with American Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden.
As flagged by View from the Wing, there’s some interesting commentary here, which customers should be happy to hear. Specifically, she fully acknowledges that running an on-time operation simply isn’t enough anymore, and that customer experience matters:
“I’ve been in this business for 20+ years, and for most of that time, I think customer experience was really defined as running a reliable operation and getting you to your destination on-time and with your bags. And of course that’s by far the most important. But in today’s environment, that’s table stakes.”
“We know that customers expect more, we know that premium has become incredibly important, even in today’s uncertain economic environment, premium demand has remained solid. And we also know who is flying us now. We have a lot more younger generations flying us than we used to. More than 55% of our customers are millennials or younger, and the younger generation enjoys experiences and values them more, and is willing to pay for them.”
She then hints at some big announcement coming in summer, reflecting the company’s renewed focus on customer experience. It remains to be seen what that entails, but it seems that American is finally trying to come up with a bigger vision for delivering an improved customer experience, so that employees can be aligned with that vision.
This is all very encouraging, but also quite sad
I’ve never met (or interacted with) Garboden, but I’m really encouraged by everything that she’s saying. She seems like she “gets it,” and I think under her leadership, the customer experience will go in the right direction. The American customer experience isn’t going to radically change overnight. We’ve already started to see a countless number of little improvements, and that’s all a step in the right direction.
Also, let me say that years ago I met with some of the people in charge of American’s customer experience, and some of the interactions were downright puzzling. They just didn’t get it. They thought everything about American was great, and that people loved the airline. Garboden seems much more perceptive of reality, so I’m happy to see her in this role.
While I’m encouraged by all of this, I also can’t help but be sad. For many years now, American has been pushing itself further and further into the third spot among the “big three” carriers, when it comes to service, route network, profitability, customer experience, etc.
The amount of ground that American has to make up to again be competitive with Delta or United is frightening. Worst of all, American executives are tasked with these changes while we have economic uncertainty, the airline has tens of billions of dollars in debt, and the competition is improving as well.
As someone who lives in Miami, I want American to succeed, because flying American is the easiest option. I also have a lot of history with the airline. But the task of making American more competitive almost seems unsurmountable.
The challenge is that American doesn’t just have to make up ground when it comes to its customer experience, but it has also lost market share in some important markets, like Chicago. Dominating Charlotte and Dallas is great, but that will only get you so far…
Bottom line
American’s new Chief Customer Officer seems to “get it,” which is great. She understands that running a reliable operation is just “table stakes,” and that customers want a good experience. We’ve already seen some positive changes in the short time she has been in her role, and it sounds like we should expect a bigger announcement in the near future.
Of course it goes without saying that American is in a tough position. The airline lags the competition with profitability, has a massive amount of debt, and has lost market share in important cities. Is it too late, or can American get back into the league of Delta and United? After all, it sort of is a zero sum game…
What do you make of these comments from American’s new Chief Customer Officer?
It is sad to see the state of AA. I have been a member of Aadvantage since day 1 (May 1 1981). A concierge key member for a decade; an Airpass member for more than a dozen years. Every aspect of service has declined; the level of respect for long term customers is non-existent. It has a mountain to climb out of the hole that they dug by turning a premier airline into an America West clone
People here love to bash AA FAs and gate agents. I've had some good ones and bad ones, and certainly there's much room for improvement. AA can start by treating its employees better. The article about the FA break room was appalling, well the room not the article. Give accurate up-to-date information to gate agents in cases of irregular operations. Improve technology.
I do not work for AA, as some will accuse. I simply know...
People here love to bash AA FAs and gate agents. I've had some good ones and bad ones, and certainly there's much room for improvement. AA can start by treating its employees better. The article about the FA break room was appalling, well the room not the article. Give accurate up-to-date information to gate agents in cases of irregular operations. Improve technology.
I do not work for AA, as some will accuse. I simply know human nature; that if you treat employees well, they will perform better. Treat them poorly and they'll go through the motions.
There is a reason people bash AA more than UA or DL.
It's called past experience.
American says reliability matters, and if they believe they are anything approaching reliable, in any area of operations or service delivery, then they're sunk. Period. End.
The SkyTrax 2024 Customer Survey World Rankings placed Delta Airlines at a commendable 21st.
Those who chose to berate Delta Airlines, should think twice before posting hogwash about the airline, or, others who do not like the stench of envy.
And your average brit doesn’t care about delta as much as tim dunn does
Given who you are and who your readers are, I think you are overvaluing the tiny differences in service between American and Delta and United. Candidly, the product that these 3 airlines offer is shockingly similar, to the point that most consumers couldn't distinguish between them (of course, many people do THINK they can distinguish, based on the random, unpredictable factors that they personally experienced on their last few flights). But it is definitely true...
Given who you are and who your readers are, I think you are overvaluing the tiny differences in service between American and Delta and United. Candidly, the product that these 3 airlines offer is shockingly similar, to the point that most consumers couldn't distinguish between them (of course, many people do THINK they can distinguish, based on the random, unpredictable factors that they personally experienced on their last few flights). But it is definitely true that younger passengers seem to value "experiences" more than the previous generations, so I would expect all of the airlines to increase the number of frills available to those willing to pay for them.
When you see younger kids board the plane and they say “wow there are TVs” - kids will remember that experience and will start to develop a preference. So naturally if the kids fly an airline without TVs, the parents will definitely get a small grumble.
"She then hints at some big announcement coming in summer, reflecting the company’s renewed focus on customer experience. It remains to be seen what that entails..."
Enhancements ahead!!! Devaluation and gutting to commence in 3...2..1...
Can’t Trump do something useful and introduce a new law allowing age discrimination, so that AA can dump their 1000s of ancient FAs who can’t be bothered any more?
LOL you're asking US Presidents for age discrimination?
The presidential candidates themselves are ancient.
Many a true word is spoken in jest Ronnie, thank you for the grin …. :-)
just a reminder that DL led the industry in raising labor costs post covid and AA like WN has settled w all of its labor groups for post covid contracts, something that UA has not done.
AA and WN are not generating the revenue to support those higher labor costs while UA and DL are.
you can argue whether AA is getting value from its labor contracts but they are spending the money while UA is not.
Delta also led the industry in pay CUTS to their employees during Federally subsidized pay comps. FORCED pay cuts in hours to all non-union employees despite FEDERAL subsidies to pay for those exact hours that Delta cut. Something no other US3 did to their employees under federal subsidies.
Let's just be honest about the facts.
Delta had a huge cash benefit directly from the federal taxpayer by cutting hours to their own employees. Something Delta...
Delta also led the industry in pay CUTS to their employees during Federally subsidized pay comps. FORCED pay cuts in hours to all non-union employees despite FEDERAL subsidies to pay for those exact hours that Delta cut. Something no other US3 did to their employees under federal subsidies.
Let's just be honest about the facts.
Delta had a huge cash benefit directly from the federal taxpayer by cutting hours to their own employees. Something Delta lobbied for to make sure they ALONE could gut pay to their own employees (since Union contracts usually govern Hour language but DL did not have that issue).
That language Delta wanted benefited no one else, just Delta.
Keep your Delta nonsense to yourself, Tim.
At a Minimum they need seatback TV. They will never even be competitive without it. The mobile App. snack baskets and Wifi, will only go so far.
Why?
None of AA, DL, or UA's European partners have any seatback TV on their domestic planes.
Alaska has great product scores and never has had seatback TV. Southwest never has but is widely regarded as a great inflight carrier.
AA messed up, in my opinion, when they kept wifi paid when they got rid of personal TVs. The customers they care about have their own subscriptions on their own apps on...
Why?
None of AA, DL, or UA's European partners have any seatback TV on their domestic planes.
Alaska has great product scores and never has had seatback TV. Southwest never has but is widely regarded as a great inflight carrier.
AA messed up, in my opinion, when they kept wifi paid when they got rid of personal TVs. The customers they care about have their own subscriptions on their own apps on their own phone or ipad.
They would've been FAR ahead of the industry if they'd made wifi free when no one else could (years ago). Their mistake wasn't PTVs, it was pretending that paid wifi made up for PTVs. Nobody would've cared about personal TVs years ago if they had free wifi to watch what they wanted.
This is where AA fails. The ignorance of pretending their advantage preempts others.
News to me, I can't recall a domestic Delta flight I've taken in the past 5 years that hasn't had a seatback TV. I have been on an AA flight, albeit in 2019, with no seatback screen. That's more what I expect from Southwest.
You'll really enjoy Delta's regionals or 717 product. Or the 737s they bought from Indonesia.
Delta is a fun marketing play. But their consistent wifi experience or seat-back is nothing to base an experience upon. Because delta does not care about consistent product on wide bodies or narrow bodies.
Fair enough, it's been a long time since I've been on ANY regional product, let alone Delta's, but that being said I don't necessarily expect a seatback TV from a regional puddlejumper flight. Thinking back, I think my flights in and out of RDM pre-COVID was on such an aircraft and didn't have seatback TVs. But that hardly matters because we connected through PDX one way and SEA the other, so not like they were...
Fair enough, it's been a long time since I've been on ANY regional product, let alone Delta's, but that being said I don't necessarily expect a seatback TV from a regional puddlejumper flight. Thinking back, I think my flights in and out of RDM pre-COVID was on such an aircraft and didn't have seatback TVs. But that hardly matters because we connected through PDX one way and SEA the other, so not like they were long flights. I don't think I've been on a Delta flight in the past 5 years that wasn't on an A320/21 or 757 and all of them had seatback entertainment. That covers routes to LAX, ORD, NYC, DEN, BZN, and while they are international routes they're not even long in terms of a US domestic flight, ATL-CUN and ATL-MBJ. Meanwhile that 2019 AA flight without seatback entertainment was two segments, ATL-PHX and PHX-YVR.
At least in my admittedly limited experience with Delta widebodies, it seems like product is less consistent there. I specifically chose to fly a connection last fall home from BCN because the A350 Delta flies there doesn't have a premium select product at all (ex-LATAM or some other Latin American airline A350 aircraft), so we flew through CDG instead to be on AF premium econ.
True, but that's an apples/oranges comparison. There are multiple domestic US flights that are over 4 and 5 hours in length. Flights that long intra-Europe or within the region are typically on what Americans would consider an international configured plane. And SW has a few flights that long, mainly from the US west coast to Hawaii. They can get away with it on those handful of flights. The majority of their domestic network is routed...
True, but that's an apples/oranges comparison. There are multiple domestic US flights that are over 4 and 5 hours in length. Flights that long intra-Europe or within the region are typically on what Americans would consider an international configured plane. And SW has a few flights that long, mainly from the US west coast to Hawaii. They can get away with it on those handful of flights. The majority of their domestic network is routed through their "hubs" or are short P2P. I don't personally need a monitor in the seatback, but your argument falls apart pretty quickly.
Fun misconception
There are plenty of short flights in Europe and in the US.
And there are plenty of long flights flown on narrowbodies in Europe, just like in the US.
They aren’t tough to see or find
Check flights from HEL, ATH, most anywhere in Greece, Portuguese or Spanish islands too
Many European carriers are buying the NEO variants to fly deep into 5-6 hours flights too
I'd love to see improvement in onboard service, meals, buy on board choices. More crew to give better service instead of of minimum. All those new hires just being put on reserve when you could put them on flights for better service. The same old buy on board a joke. Try offering Farmers Fridge products. See the vending machines in the airports. Bigger cheese plates with olives, meats, variety of cheeses and crackers and chocolate...
I'd love to see improvement in onboard service, meals, buy on board choices. More crew to give better service instead of of minimum. All those new hires just being put on reserve when you could put them on flights for better service. The same old buy on board a joke. Try offering Farmers Fridge products. See the vending machines in the airports. Bigger cheese plates with olives, meats, variety of cheeses and crackers and chocolate that are shelf stable like we see at the stores. Chocolate bars, jerky. Pringles chips. Large bags of mixed nuts and trail mix.
AA needs to find a way to get rid of its surly staff. Maybe hire contract killers to take ‘em out, since the union won’t allow them to be mercifully fired.
Murder usually isn't a corporate policy to fix culture issues for most companies.
AA is in an extremely dire state having lost $30 billion in market cap.
Murder for hire is an industry that for obvious reasons doesn’t exactly market its services. The acts are concealed as accidental death.
District attorneys have probably had poor enough experiences themselves with AA they wouldn’t be keen on pressing charges if the perpetrators are even found.
I'm not sure AA's investors, despite losing $30B, are interested in murder on their accounts. Putting aside the EXTREMELY loose correlation between inflight service and market cap. ;)
I can tell you those investors are interested in more money in their hands whether that happens through mergers and acquisitions or murders and executions.
You need better friends.
Friends that advocate murder are generally considered bad at math in the finance world.
No one that followed AA should be surprised by the market cap change.
I think that's how Skadden deal with challenging litigations.
They mercifully treat the witness and DA.
She might "get it" but will management be willing to invest in the product and new technology? Also, what to do with lackluster performance by crew and front line employees? Gate agents that refuse to give updated information on delays. Flight attendants that stare off into space during boarding rather than do pre departure beverages and hang coats/jackets. Systems that do not post delays.
Frequently flyers at least should know (whether they do or...
She might "get it" but will management be willing to invest in the product and new technology? Also, what to do with lackluster performance by crew and front line employees? Gate agents that refuse to give updated information on delays. Flight attendants that stare off into space during boarding rather than do pre departure beverages and hang coats/jackets. Systems that do not post delays.
Frequently flyers at least should know (whether they do or not is another question unto itself) that there is much that's outside of the airline's control. But some things like accurate and timely delay posting and information from gate agents is.
Do gate agents have access to accurate and timely delay info? I would have thought that comes from operations.
They should, Richard, but I believe often they don't. In one case the gate agent gave those of us at the gate clearly bogus information, then concluded by saying, "Really, that's what they (Operations?) told me". In another there was an announcement that our flight to LHR would be delayed 18 hours. There was no explanation as to why, and people were hectoring the gate agents for an answer. The pilot, God bless him, stepped...
They should, Richard, but I believe often they don't. In one case the gate agent gave those of us at the gate clearly bogus information, then concluded by saying, "Really, that's what they (Operations?) told me". In another there was an announcement that our flight to LHR would be delayed 18 hours. There was no explanation as to why, and people were hectoring the gate agents for an answer. The pilot, God bless him, stepped to the microphone and said that the gate agents didn't know, and that he and his crew had not been informed either.
There seems to be multiple adversarial relationships at AA. Yes, management and workers don't get along, but it seems that different work groups don't particularly get along either.
Advantage is awesome. Points actually have value. Their LATAM/Caribbean network is great. If they could get more planes flying across oceans, I think AA might actually have a pretty solid business model. I mean, someone has to have the worst product; why not just be good at everything else other than actually flying.
I'm being cheeky, but also serious. Fly United or Delta to SVG, or DOM, or PTP. Good luck. Just get those XLs...
Advantage is awesome. Points actually have value. Their LATAM/Caribbean network is great. If they could get more planes flying across oceans, I think AA might actually have a pretty solid business model. I mean, someone has to have the worst product; why not just be good at everything else other than actually flying.
I'm being cheeky, but also serious. Fly United or Delta to SVG, or DOM, or PTP. Good luck. Just get those XLs in the air and I'm OK with bad AA service, as long as I have bennies of Advantage.
I wish AA flew to SVG... but I don't think they do ;) Though I'm curious which airport you meant? AA is not normally known for their amazing network to PVG despite flying there
AXA? EIS?
Maybe SVD - St Vincent / Grendines ....
Doug Parker was awful. He set the tone for AA for a very long time. On investors day in 2017 (you can google this), he reportly doled out the new 737 seats with smaller pitch and sat in it saying, see that's not so bad isn't it... That's the way AA's been. He showed off with a slide, how the merged AA/US in 3 years made more profit than AA and US combined in the...
Doug Parker was awful. He set the tone for AA for a very long time. On investors day in 2017 (you can google this), he reportly doled out the new 737 seats with smaller pitch and sat in it saying, see that's not so bad isn't it... That's the way AA's been. He showed off with a slide, how the merged AA/US in 3 years made more profit than AA and US combined in the 30+ years before. No honey, that doesn't mean you're good, that level of profit just means you're an hypercapitalist a-hole :)
"he reportly doled out the new 737 seats with smaller pitch and sat in it saying, see that's not so bad isn't it"
You mean the same seat pitch DL and UA roll out on their planes?
DL made the 31" pitch pledge then rolled out 100+ (?) planes into their new fleet with 30" pitch. And AA was copying Delta is you look at Delta's own fleet page of their airbus retrofit
Take a...
"he reportly doled out the new 737 seats with smaller pitch and sat in it saying, see that's not so bad isn't it"
You mean the same seat pitch DL and UA roll out on their planes?
DL made the 31" pitch pledge then rolled out 100+ (?) planes into their new fleet with 30" pitch. And AA was copying Delta is you look at Delta's own fleet page of their airbus retrofit
Take a look at the UA 321NEO. Also 30" pitch in the back.
This stupid narrative about AA and their seat pitch is ignorant of what DL was already doing and what UA copied.
It's pretty sad to see how American has structurally surrendered its position as a premium carrier, especially when they had basically United's Next playbook right after emerging from bankruptcy 12 years ago before the current management team decided to turn them into a ULCC with legacy prices and neglect or run away from anywhere that wasn't DFW/CLT.
They won't have the widebodies on hand for many years to effectively compete with United and Delta...
It's pretty sad to see how American has structurally surrendered its position as a premium carrier, especially when they had basically United's Next playbook right after emerging from bankruptcy 12 years ago before the current management team decided to turn them into a ULCC with legacy prices and neglect or run away from anywhere that wasn't DFW/CLT.
They won't have the widebodies on hand for many years to effectively compete with United and Delta for the highest-yielding traffic out of NYC/LAX/Chicago. It's evident from the lawsuits they are filing that they know the industry is moving on and their best chance to avoid getting left behind is if everyone else in the industry stops growing long enough for them to pick up the pieces and fix the mistakes of the past 10 years. Maybe there's still a chance for them to execute this vision in DFW/CLT and Latin America with the MIA hub, but beyond that it's looking like this is too little, too late.
To add on to this, i find the onboard service universally terrible and the seats really tired and dirty. I usually fly business and The staff onboard are very unprofessional: they act like they are doing you a favor when serving you food or beverages. The baseline I expect these days is unfriendly but it's not unusual that they'll be rude.
Ive had so many negative experiences that I now flat out avoid flying...
To add on to this, i find the onboard service universally terrible and the seats really tired and dirty. I usually fly business and The staff onboard are very unprofessional: they act like they are doing you a favor when serving you food or beverages. The baseline I expect these days is unfriendly but it's not unusual that they'll be rude.
Ive had so many negative experiences that I now flat out avoid flying American. I would rather take a longer route than deal with the surly service and dirty seats.
Either they need to radically retrain their entire flight attendant team or fire a bunch of people because it's just *unpleasant* as a customer. Look at British Airways, Cathay, or any of the other airlines (in fact, ANY other airline) and get to that quality of courteousness and professionalism. I won't fly American until then get to that level.
The best thing they can focus on is the rude FA. I will never fly international with them again.....of course they really only want to fly domestic. I think I had two connections at DFW on one itinerary once.
AA needs to be negotiating like hell with the unions. Let us fire your bottom 30% or we’re going to hire contract killers to do the same except literally
Arps, where is Jimmy Hoffa?
All this said, United was in an awful position about a decade ago. Poorly-executed merger with Continental, mass labor disputes, corrupt executives, and bad PR incidents made the carrier not only disorganized and uncompetitive but also disliked among pax. Then Munoz came in and started to change things. It took them a decade to get to where they are now. AA won’t fix its problems overnight, but if their executives are strategic I think there...
All this said, United was in an awful position about a decade ago. Poorly-executed merger with Continental, mass labor disputes, corrupt executives, and bad PR incidents made the carrier not only disorganized and uncompetitive but also disliked among pax. Then Munoz came in and started to change things. It took them a decade to get to where they are now. AA won’t fix its problems overnight, but if their executives are strategic I think there is a path for them to be competitive again. We’ll see though.
American and United over the past decade really strike me as a tale of two airlines with opposite stories.
United was a basket case with an identity crisis after the botched merger and then started turning things around after Smisek was shown the door, with Covid being the inflection point where the efforts really started to pay off.
AA had a merger that was executed remarkably smoothly and a bunch of brand new aircraft...
American and United over the past decade really strike me as a tale of two airlines with opposite stories.
United was a basket case with an identity crisis after the botched merger and then started turning things around after Smisek was shown the door, with Covid being the inflection point where the efforts really started to pay off.
AA had a merger that was executed remarkably smoothly and a bunch of brand new aircraft with a leading hard product. It then managed to torpedo itself to the bottom of the industry.
To the AA team members who monitor social media: I was a Concierge Key for years and you lost me. For years, AA leadership focused on cost-cutting rather than delivering quality. Your network planning has been unreliable and I'm not going to book when I know a route might well be canceled or the schedule will change. And, I don't TRUST you when you offer words about change.
AA was the only airline back in 2016 demanding baggage fees to me as a OWE for bringing a bike as checked (within oversized dimensions).. just the total laggard of the network for understanding service.
Albeit still like the transcon a320s for novelty sake
USAirways and America West were both less than mediocre airlines, flying primarily short-haul routes, and an imbalance of leisure and business customers, with a heavy leaning toward leisure. Both US and HP were in survival mode long before they merged to create an even larger mediocrity. American, through the 1980s and 1990s, was the industry's bell weather, though some of its service issues can be traced back to the days when it removed an olive...
USAirways and America West were both less than mediocre airlines, flying primarily short-haul routes, and an imbalance of leisure and business customers, with a heavy leaning toward leisure. Both US and HP were in survival mode long before they merged to create an even larger mediocrity. American, through the 1980s and 1990s, was the industry's bell weather, though some of its service issues can be traced back to the days when it removed an olive from a salad and proclaimed it saved one million dollars. Not a great look. American spend the 2000s avoiding bankruptcy, while every other major airline in the US exploited it and in the end lowered its costs. Delta and Northwest outright colluded by entering Chapter 11 at the same time, to lay the groundwork for their eventual merger. United spent 5 years in bankruptcy, emerging smaller, with tired everything but its costs were finally brought under control. American faces a steep uphill climb to clean up its image and it likely will need big changes in the c-suite to accomplish it. The carrier is saddled with debt, thanks to its intransigence on bankruptcy and its massive re-fleet in 2011. It's all so sad, because American has a brand and marketing opportunity like no other. A further merger is likely to be in the cards (AS or B6) and a complete change and turnover in the c-suite. The American Airlines of today is the USAirways of yesteryear. Mediocre at best when it performs. Really bad when it is not working well.
RE: "I’ve been in this business for 20+ years, and for most of that time, I think customer experience was really defined as running a reliable operation and getting you to your destination on-time and with your bags."
I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say that was the bare expected minimum. It's no wonder the airline is in the toilet with execs that think this way.
Right? In 20+ years she didn't learn a fucking thing about customer experience. That is LITERALLY the basic expectation from the contract of carriage. What a stupid, stupid comment for her to make. She already sounds like a complete moron. Par for the course with AA.
"I’ve never met (or interacted with) Garboden, but I’m really encouraged by everything that she’s saying. She seems like she “gets it,” "
Really? I haven't read the entire transcript but from the small part you quoted it sounds like marketing pablum. I mean "we know that premium is important"? That isn't even English. Premium what? Selling premium cabins? Offering premium add-on services in main cabin? Better food? Seems more like "we'll sprinkle some premium...
"I’ve never met (or interacted with) Garboden, but I’m really encouraged by everything that she’s saying. She seems like she “gets it,” "
Really? I haven't read the entire transcript but from the small part you quoted it sounds like marketing pablum. I mean "we know that premium is important"? That isn't even English. Premium what? Selling premium cabins? Offering premium add-on services in main cabin? Better food? Seems more like "we'll sprinkle some premium on everything to make it better".
And "the younger generation enjoys experiences and is willing to pay for them"? This sounds like it's just repeating a line from a "Trends in travel, 2019" report lying around the office. American's path to profitability is not adding new for-pay "experiences" to their product line, whatever those might be. If you book a flight someplace and you have any experience other than a flight experience, there's been some kind of problem. And if there's one thing the travel market has taught us it's that (most) people are NEVER willing to pay more.
I guess it's better if they understand that things aren't great and that they have to improve versus believing that they're doing a good job. But nothing in this article convinces me that this person understands the fundamental issue, which is that American (or any airline) needs to provide a pleasant travel experience at good value to all passengers.
@ LarryInNYC -- I hear you, but I think a couple of things are worth pointing out. First of all, American has genuinely been making minor and positive changes in recent weeks. This ranges from announcing plans for free Wi-Fi, to holding more connecting flights for passengers running late, to expanding buy on board (in terms of selection and flight length).
Second of all, at least acknowledging that a premium product and customer experience are...
@ LarryInNYC -- I hear you, but I think a couple of things are worth pointing out. First of all, American has genuinely been making minor and positive changes in recent weeks. This ranges from announcing plans for free Wi-Fi, to holding more connecting flights for passengers running late, to expanding buy on board (in terms of selection and flight length).
Second of all, at least acknowledging that a premium product and customer experience are important is a step in the right direction. I mean, keep in mind that Vasu Raja's approach used to be "the schedule is the product."
Regarding experiences, I hear you, and American's key to success isn't to give things away for free. But we have seen some trends among younger generations, like leaning more into premium credit cards, and valuing lounge access more. This is one of the large parts of Delta's success -- giving people easy lounge access has been a reason that travelers choose Delta over other carriers. It's a win-win, for Delta and Amex.
"if there's one thing the travel market has taught us it's that (most) people are never willing to pay more"
LOL. Delta's entire success as a company is because they have gotten people to pay more due to their (whether real or perceived) #premium brand
@Harold
In my experience, Delta only really gets people to pay more when they have no competition. When I was flying Delta from Atlanta to Denver for ski trips, they were competitive in price to Southwest and slightly higher than United with better times than United. This past year going to Salt Lake for a ski trip, Delta was double the price of Southwest but had a direct flight as opposed to Southwest only having 1+ stop options. I chose Southwest.
I'm with Larry on this. Another BS from someone who pretends to know but is full of fluff. At least she's not Tim Dunn delusional yet.
@Harold
People didn't pay more for Delta. Delta offered more, so it’s actually worth more. They offered better time, decent network, reliable customer service when things go wrong (with exceptions on meltdown) and takes better care of customer compared to other US carriers. In short, they suck the least.
I'm with Larry on this. Another BS from someone who pretends to know but is full of fluff. At least she's not Tim Dunn delusional yet.
@Harold
People didn't pay more for Delta. Delta offered more, so it’s actually worth more. They offered better time, decent network, reliable customer service when things go wrong (with exceptions on meltdown) and takes better care of customer compared to other US carriers. In short, they suck the least.
People don't fly them because their seat have doors or Tim throwing some adjectives around on everything.
They are successful because they recognize and utilize tools and synergies they have better. They kept the margin high and cost low with efficiency not devaluation like America West or Continental. And boy if they have monopoly on their hub captives, they are milking them.
The problem is that the US Airways/American tie-up was a reverse merger, and we have now lived through over a decade of an airline which is essentially US Airways DBA American Airlines.
US Air never wanted to be premium. They wanted to be a primarily domestic carrier which could get you to FLL. They barely flew to Asia at all, they had no interest in Africa, and had a decent operation in Europe.
With the...
The problem is that the US Airways/American tie-up was a reverse merger, and we have now lived through over a decade of an airline which is essentially US Airways DBA American Airlines.
US Air never wanted to be premium. They wanted to be a primarily domestic carrier which could get you to FLL. They barely flew to Asia at all, they had no interest in Africa, and had a decent operation in Europe.
With the (large) exception of Latin America, which is a legacy AA aspect that has not gone to pieces, the new America looks exactly like that. They barely fly to Asia, they have a decent operation in Europe, they have no interest in Africa, and barely fly to Asia. But hey, if you want to fly BWI-CLT-FLL, AA has got you!
Spot-on comment. I'll never forget how close AA was to becoming the premium leader in 2013, when Horton was in charge. Then Doug Parker effed it all up.
Also, as someone that lives in BWI, why would I connect in CLT to get to FLL, when I can just fly nonstop on WN? At this point, the experience from check-in to arrival is better on WN, anyway.
Went the same way as CO dba UA. Best thing that happened to UA post-merger was getting rid of Smisek for his shenanigans. Unfortunately for AA, Doug Parker won out in the merger instead of Horton. Isom doesn't seem to "get it," either.
I'm just glad that their bringing back some food for purchase on transcon flights. A couple times I've connected from my little regional airport (with one terrible resturant in the terminal) in Charlotte for transcon flights to the West Coast. On paper I should have had plenty of time to grap a meal in the terminal but push back delays and rampers taking their time in Charlotte meant that I had to make a mad...
I'm just glad that their bringing back some food for purchase on transcon flights. A couple times I've connected from my little regional airport (with one terrible resturant in the terminal) in Charlotte for transcon flights to the West Coast. On paper I should have had plenty of time to grap a meal in the terminal but push back delays and rampers taking their time in Charlotte meant that I had to make a mad dash to my connecting gate, no time to buy a meal.
I felt dumbfounded the first time when I asked the flight attendant (on the five and a half-hour flight to SFO) what food they had for purchase and was told just almonds and pringles. Spirit and other ULLCs have more substaintal snacks! Needless to say I arrived in SFO hangry.
The second time I looked at my watch and realized I had five minutes to spare before boarding would end, so it was Auntie Ann's pretzels for dinner because of its speed. Had American had a real BOB menu I would have done that instead.