A group of American Airlines pilots have thrown down the gauntlet: it time, they say, for CEO Doug Parker to step aside.
15,000 American Airlines pilots are represented by the Allied Pilots Association (APA). Each pilot domicile has its own sub-organization. Pilots in the APA’s Philadelphia base have now publicly called for Parker to step down. The base has 1,400 members.
In a resolution adapted Tuesday, APA Philadelphia said:
It’s in the best interest of the American Airlines shareholders, employees, communities it serves, and the traveling public for Doug Parker and his management team to be replaced..
Pilot have lost confidence in Doug Parker and his management team’s ability to successfully lead and manage American Airlines and have lost faith in their ability to provide long term job security for the employees, consistent financial returns for its investors, and most importantly enjoyable, reliable service for our customers.
The national APA organization was not willing to go quite so far. A spokesperson told Forbes:
“This is the Philadelphia pilots showing frustration that exists across the system.
“For now, our national leadership is calling for the repair of American Airlines and our relationship. That is why our current negotiations are so important. Our passengers deserve a better airline and so do our employees.”
CONCLUSION
You could say this is just one subgroup of one organization which has a vested interest in shaking up management in order to extract the greatest concession in the midst of ongoing and protracted contract negotiations. But to do so would downplay the tensions that undergird practically everything at American Airlines right now. That does indeed have a spillover effect in operations, customer service, and ultimately profits.
> Read More: A Reasonable Threat From American Airlines Pilots
image: American Airlines
My recent 4 segment trip:
1. Delay by 1.5 hours on a 42 mins flight
2. Tow bar broke, 1.25 hours delay
3. IFE screen not worked
4. Delayed, delayed then cancelled and AA flew us to an airport 5 hours from our final destination.
That is not the AA I grew up with. Doug Parker is a disgrace to ANY managerial position.
3.) should read… IFE screen did not work
The pilots are the ones who wanted Discount Dougie in charge in the first place-it was their collective temper tantrum, more than anything else, that led to the AA we have today.
The pilots are the LAST ones who should be crying over their own spilled milk.
Please remove Doug and reinstall Kirby. This would be a great news for me and maybe some UA Frequent Filers.
The best thing to happen would be a complete removal of all legacy US/HP managers from AA. I’m a Chicago based flyer and ORD flights are, well, OK. Nothing more, nothing less. But the few flights that have touched legacy US hubs were a joke – CLT especially. Entitled, lazy FAs that were seemingly recruited from a North Carolina trailer park, poor punctuality, and overall bad attitudes. I understand that old AA screwed itself by not filing for bankruptcy sooner but Douchie Doug was anything but a savior on his white horse in Tempe. I get that people love to have United – people love to hate ALL airlines. But Oscar has made HUGE strides in getting United to where it should be and, sadly, AA continues to split away.
At least somebody at that lousy company wants to ditch that drunken buffoon
Considering that the pilots’ union (among others) actively colluded with Discount Dougie to engineer the America West hostile takeover in the first place, I’m busting out the world’s smallest record player to play them “My Heart Bleeds For You”.
Sadly true, although everyone except upper management is paying the price for that unholy marriage.
Hey Matthew – I submitted an inquiry to award expert a couple of days ago and have not heard back. Can you have someone contact me?
Union is suppose to fight for welfare of members or employee. Not determining who sit as management. This is a company. A corporation. Not a democracy. Its stupid. Its shows greediness and stupidity.
Just fly the plane. If you aren’t satisfied with your income, either work harder or work somewhere you’re appreciated of what you deemed fit your contribution.
Very stupid…..
James. The union has a major stake in the longevity and profitablity of the company. Incompetent management comes and goes. Aviators are usually working for the same company for decades. Further, many airline professionals have more leadership and expertise than the clowns in the Boardroom.
If your goal is to denigrate unions, you are way off-base. AA pilots were the first organized group to question the incompetence at Boeing. They are more than qualified to comment on Parker’s buffoonery.
“Incompetent management comes and goes.” So does Union management. Just like this.
@Ex- 1K United
We could only wish/pray…
but with Oscar stepping aside, Kirby is looking more and more like a permeant thorn
They are just mad because they didn’t get a payout like the Delta pilots.
AA is not the same airline Dougie took over. I think we all ( customers) hoped he would raise US Airways to AA (then) higher standard. It is a downgrade version of US Airways. Think Ryan Air for Customer Service but without the cheap prices. He treats the employees terribly and they are now taking it out on the flying public. I fly from an airport that is only served by Envoy/AA subsidiary and it only connects at DFW. Though it will not be as convenient, after 10 years as an AA EP, I am switching to Delta. Being treated like cattle for flying 100K miles a year and now also paying 15k for the privilege of not getting but a few “ unlimited” upgrades in 88k flown last year, not being able to use SWU’s I accrued, and being treated poorly by FA’s and GA’s (yes, it has now filtered down to them), coupled with no longer being allowed to work with the EP agent who has booked every one of those EP miles, I quit. When my brother-in-law who works for AA started flying Delta instead of for free on AA- that says a lot. No, it says everything.