I must give the leadership at American Airlines’ pilot union credit for an extremely measured yet clear message to management…
In this post:
American pilots highlight management’s systematic failures
American CEO Robert Isom isn’t a popular guy among any of American’s stakeholders at the moment, with the exception of the board of directors, who seem to have no issue with him. We’ve seen American flight attendants issue a historic vote of no confidence in Isom, and we’ve seen American’s pilots write to the board and demand decisive change.
American pilots deserve credit for how reasonable and constructive they’ve tried to be. For example, in early February 2026, they simply requested a meeting with the board of directors about management’s failures, and the response was… for Isom to say he’s happy to meet with the union.
Isom’s message was essentially that the airline would do more of the same, and he didn’t actually concretely lay out what the plan was to change things, other than his typical “things will get better soon” narrative.
Well, after being ignored beyond that, the leadership of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American’s 16,000 pilots, is back with another message, which is completely fair (thanks to JonNYC for flagging this). You can find the roughly four-minute video below, but just to highlight some of the important points:
- About a year ago, the pilot union leadership met with Isom, when he promised that 2025 would be a turning point for the airline, only for that not to be the case, with management now promising that 2026 will be the turnaround year
- The union claims that management has blamed the shortcomings on everything except leadership failures, and they expect the same in 2026, with excuses about high oil prices, and a labor cost disadvantage (which doesn’t explain the gap in performance between American and its competitors, of course)
- 48 days after the last message, the board of directors outside of Isom has refused to meet with union leadership, and Isom has refused to include any board member other than himself in any discussions
- I think this is the most interesting point — “we still await a response from the American board, and if they refuse to hear this message directly, we will begin to take it to all American stakeholders”
Kudos to the unions for keeping management accountable
I think most reasonable people can agree that American’s management has failed employees and customers in recent years, and Isom doesn’t have much to show for his tenure as CEO. So whether you generally like unions or not, the message they’re delivering is clear and constructive.
Both customers and employees want the same thing — a good, strong, operationally reliable airline. So I appreciate that American’s pilots aren’t backing down. I think the way the video ends is the most interesting part, and I look forward to seeing how pilots plan to bring this message “to all American stakeholders.”
I do hope that some of American’s board members finally agree to meet with pilots, and if they do, I look forward to hearing what is shared with them. And if they don’t meet, then let’s see where it goes from there.
What a sad state of affairs when the biggest “message” that employees can rally behind at an airline is just how poor of a job management is doing.
Bottom line
Several weeks ago, American’s pilots asked to meet with the board of directors to discuss management’s failures. The response was for the CEO to meet with them, only to tell them more of the same, and how things will get better because… things will get better.
The union representing pilots isn’t backing down. They’re once again demanding to meet with the board, and they claim that if they refuse to meet with pilots, they’re going to take their message to more stakeholders. This should get interesting.
What do you make of this message from American pilots?
Undoubtedly, this post will be as unpopular as a ham sandwich would be at a Muslim wedding, that is with some of the business administration types who may read it. My take on the current situation with AA, can actually be traced back to the turn of the last century. Yes! Back to 1908. That was when Harvard University introduced the Master of Business Administration (MBA).
The MBA has evolved over the last century...
Undoubtedly, this post will be as unpopular as a ham sandwich would be at a Muslim wedding, that is with some of the business administration types who may read it. My take on the current situation with AA, can actually be traced back to the turn of the last century. Yes! Back to 1908. That was when Harvard University introduced the Master of Business Administration (MBA).
The MBA has evolved over the last century to become the most irrelevant qualification which can be conferred upon any student of learning. One is yet to meet a real and successful business leader, who prescribes to the doctrine. The MBA syllabus removes the requirement for leadership and replaces it with self preservation. It advocates self interest over labour relations, targets and presentations over humans and customers alike.
An MBA doesn’t make someone a good manager. There is no substitute for industry experience, humility, emotional intelligence or ethical standards. Finally, as is the case with AA …. Communication skills. If the AA management team will not talk to the workforce, then AA is doomed to failure!
American has failed its customers? News to me. UA often has inedible food and an obnoxious boarding process. DL has a garbage miles program. AA has by far the most rewarding miles program and is the easy winner for me.
Even if not hub captive, I image you would still primarily fly AA due to your war chest from planting trees, and a very likely massive Amex-HA-AS transfer.
Surely their poor on-time stats is failing their customers?
Curious what is obnoxious about UA’s boarding system. Preboards and six boarding groups, along with an app that not only tells you what boarding group they’re on and exactly how many passengers have boarded.
UA Polaris food is also improving. I’ve enjoyed all meals on my last four flights on them.
I'm glad you found a way to cover this because I was in a coma by the end of that video.
Is this actually Mateusz, or someone impersonating him/his site?
I wonder at this point if there's grounds for a class action shareholder derivative suit, where all shareholders sue the board of directors and CEO for causing harm to the company. Clearly the board and CEO are all unfit for the job, and management has failed to act.
I’ve never understood shareholder suits - they just wipe out shareholder value.
Ultimately the airline’s problem is union labor costs, given AAdvantage is the only profitable part of the organization - and I’m not sure what legal arguments you can make against the unions under current law.
Thank you Super, you have summed up the world wide challenge with most governments, “Clearly the board and CEO are all unfit for the job, and management has failed to act”.
If one substituted; Government, President, Prime Minister, etc, in the appropriate manner it could be applied to any country.
The comments could well be more interesting to read than the subject article …. thanks again Ben …. :-)