An influential labor leader at American Airlines has called out management over AA’s onboard product in a leaked note that has caused an uproar within world’s largest airline.
Infighting: Union Leader Has “Had It” With American Airlines
Delta Air Lines has long been seen as the premium U.S. airline and United Airlines announced intentions to pursue a more premium offering last week when it unveiled a plan to retrofit the interiors of all its mainline single-aisle jets to include new lighting, larger overhead bins, faster wi-fi, power plugs, and screens at every seat.
With that subtext, John Nikides, the Los Angeles Base President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, sent a note to management (CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom).
Gentlemen,
I’ll be honest. I’ve had it with this company. After months of flying around on broken airplanes, offering a less-than-mediocre product, it is obvious to me that upper management has effectively destroyed the brand. Not only have you destroyed it, you remain tone-deaf, refusing to listen to those on the front lines who really wanted to see this airline succeed as a competitor to Delta and United.
A perfect case in point was last month’s Crew News, where a flight attendant asked about United’s plan to add seatback IFE to all planes.
A woman with a British accent, ostensibly involved in decision-making with regard to on-board entertainment, answered with one of the most unengaged answers I have ever heard from management. She said that management likes the content we offer via streaming and left it at that.
Real managers would have added, “but we are always examining different options.” Instead her insulting answer shut down all discussion. This is symptomatic of our absolutely intransigent, uninterested, tone-deaf management. No wonder our product is at bargain basement levels.
Never have I been more embarrassed to work for this company than now.
In some sense, my first reaction to this note is “don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.” As the late Donald Rumsfeld once said:
“You go to war with the Army you have not the Army you might wish you have.”
And there’s certainly a degree of truth in that: flight attendants must work with the tools given to them and complaining about a management decision to stream IFE instead of use seatback TVs in such harsh terms seems a bit counterproductive, as does complaining about a British accent. It serves to create an even more toxic environment than currently exists on AA.
On the other hand, you cannot help but admire the tenacity of addressing a concerning trend of AA management being tone deaf to customer and employee demands and indeed seeming to waffle on a strategic vision for the airline emerging from the pandemic: how will AA compete in our changed world?
Thus far, it seems, the answer will be more of the status quo. Responding to the note, an AA spokesperson told View From The Wing:
Feedback from customers on our inflight entertainment options and high-speed Wi-Fi has been very positive. More than 90% of our customers bring their own electronic devices onboard with access to our library of 600+ titles of movies and TV for free. American has more aircraft equipped with the highest speed Wi-Fi than any other U.S. carrier and will have power at every seat this fall. Empowering customers to stream content on their own devices allows us to provide fresh, diverse and innovative content that is updated frequently.
Yes, we all have smart phones these days. But when we cannot watch a movie because there are no power plugs, it is not very helpful…hopefully that part will at least change. I’m also not sure why seatback screens would prohibit American Airlines from providing “fresh, diverse and innovative content that is updated frequently.”
CONCLUSION
American Airlines does find itself in a difficult situation and this scathing note nicely highlights it. As AA emerges from the pandemic, it must assert a vision and then defend that vision, even if it is not what most employees want. There are valid commercial reasons not to follow United and Delta and install seatback screens. But engaging with employees instead of snippy responses is key to rallying flight attendants and pilots to support the airline, which will translate to better service onboard. It’s all about leadership.
I guess the real question is how far off is this particular union leader? From my experience ( pre covid) on AA they are fairly accurate with the planes for the most part dirty and aging. I remember flying them to HNL there was duck tape on one seat in FC as well in the lab. Parker at his best.
I have said so many times, that Doug Parker is the scourge of the industry. He has a vision for AA – ULCC service at full service prices. This should not comes as a surprise to anyone. I constantly think back to the days when Parker was dismantling US Airways, when he tried to charge for soda in coach – long before there were LCC carriers (I don’t consider Southwest a true LCC). He failed miserably, but it should have become clear to everyone how he intended to destroy the customer experience, which he did at US and has now done at AA. I have no doubt that Parker only wishes he could retain the COVID era practice of zero food and beverage service on board. Alas, the industry has survived corporate raiders such as Lorenzo and Ichan (just to be clear, Parker is not a corporate raider) and I suppose it will survive the Parker era at AA.
+1
Having seen AA’s new “First Class” domestic food offerings “CrAAp In A Box”, I agree with the union on this one. Just another aspect of the bare bones overall AA domestic product.
I used to fly AA all over, all of the time: Europe, South America, the Caribbean and Mexico as well as throughout the US. It was a consistently pleasant, punctual and drama-free experience and nothing beat seeing “American” on the fuselage after weeks overseas. Last time I had to take AA it was a shell of its former self: boarding was chaotic, planes were crowded, not too clean and the crew were gamely going through the motions without enthusiasm. Rather than being frustrated I was saddened that a once great brand had slipped so low.
I was a top loyalty program (Chairman’s Preferred) US Airways flier for many years and, for the most part, was happy with the product. When the “merger” was announced, I anticipated enhanced service with access to a much larger network.
We’ll, it was not to be. The condescending disregard for the customer – and the frontline staff – became quickly evident. Doomed then by inexplicable decisions such as jamming even more seats into the 737’s and removing the seatback IFE.
And, of late , strange route changes such as eliminating MIA/CDG.
My plan is to requalify for my AA elite tier (using the just announced shortcuts) and then switch to Delta as my airline of choice.
Unlike the pilots, flight attendants , ground personnel and others, i do have choice.
It is puzzling that the AA board of directors allows an alcoholic, serial drunk driver like Doug Parker to run their business into the ground. The only AA Doug should be associated with involves 12 steps.
AA was after all taken over by US Air. Please reflect upon that. AA back in the day was a NAZI run company. Now it is blended with the low class UA Air. WOKE serial drunk driver Parker is there only to loot shareholder equity and keep the ponzi scheme running as long at there is any equity to steal. Then is will be bankruptcy.
Apparently, most airline customers really don’t care that much about having built-in entertainment. And I’m guessing few even have an opinion about it. The only people who seem to care are those who regularly comment on airline blogs. On Alaska Airlines’ investor presentations, the cabins look almost exactly like American’s – but I rarely see anyone whine about Alaska’s service on airline blogs. Hmm …
Your comment, “In some sense, my first reaction to this note is “don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.” ” is apt. I was fired for essentially doing the same thing. My situation was one of using carelessly euphemistic language, not an intent to bash. But my boss, the owner of the company, didn’t like what I said and fired me the next morning. I’m not suggesting that Mr. Nikides should be fired for his conduct. I just know I was – and my boss had some justification, as he felt my actions reflected poorly on his business. And after all, it was his business.
One overarching point needs to be made. Airlines are in the transportation business, not the entertainment business. Southwest Airlines, the most consistently profitable carrier in the U.S. over the years, doesn’t have in-seat entertainment. Which also begs the question: When did it become a crime for airlines to have different business models?
Parker and crew do not understand that in order to make money, you must spend money to improve. Customer satisfaction. They have no idea what. Customer satisfaction is and I was a US Airways Chairman for many years and I have been an EXP ever since the merger. Mileage tickets have skyrocketed which means diminished value. If the elites formed a union to decide and force value or we’d depart, AA mgmt may get the message. Parker is under the old MBA business model which means do not spend money but increase costs to make more money. Parker and crew needs to be educated on what Customer Satisfaction is and how to make it better.
I’ve been Platinum then Executive Platinum with AA for 16 years. Business travel requires that I fly mostly domestic, but also internationally. I’ve watched AA flush itself down the toilet and ever since US bought them, I’ve looked for an opportunity to switch over to DL. As the article states, it’s true, Charlotte to Vegas… in First Class… generally has no power and no screens. Well, CoVid did that for me as I had five First Class tickets cued up for future travel across the country. Mainly because my clients demanded that we fly First because they wanted us to have the seat next to ours blocked. AA was the first to drop that policy. So I quickly made status on Delta and it’s a significant change.
A poor carpenter blames his tools. If this union rep really cared about AA, he’d implore the employees to be respectful to customers and provide good service.
American Airlines sucks! United is taking over as the premier carrier and the flagship US airline as Matthew has reported on. Delta has had the best product to date, but by 2025 United will have the best product and United already has by far the best route network so they are set up great to be the best airline.
That is why the world views AA as a meme stock.
Good for short term trades, bad for long term value.
AA is quickly trying to take the place of United as the worst of the US Big 3.
This is old US management talking. US was they only carrier who for a while charged for water, who flew beat up old Dash-8’s that other carriers dumped years earlier. AA management is cheap oriented, it’s in their genes from when they were at US.
On the one hand, he’s right. AA is, at best, a mediocre airline, and management deserves to be called out on the carpet for it.
On the other, can you think of a more textbook example of the pot calling the kettle black? It was AA’s unions that begged Doug Parker to take over AA, actively undermining Tom Horton’s administration to force a takeover by US Airways. Now they want to complain that the CEO best known for running airlines as low-cost carriers is – running AA like a LCC?
I also find it slightly ironic that he rails about a “product at bargain basement levels” while his elected leader, Sara Nelson, is out there demanding permanent mask mandates and the service cuts that come with it, but I digress…
Sara Nelson has nothing to do with AA or it’s FA Union. AA is APFA (independent) NOT AFA-CWA, AFL-CIO!
What people need to consider is the current AA is nothing more than America West on steroids, pure and simple. When AW and US merged the Consumer saw what Parker and His AW Management Team did to US…..they focus on CHEAP. USAirways under Stephen Wolf was a good, solid Airline….under Parker, nothing but a dumpster fire. Parker only took the USAirways and now the American branding to further his poor business practices. AA will NOT Improve until the Leadership changes. My Biggest Question is “Boy wouldn’t I like to know why Parker was shown the Door during his first career stop at AA when Robert Crandall was the President/CEO?”. Parker needs to Go and The Board of Directors need to give Him a Swift Kick Sooner rather than Later, the damage has been immense.
I live near Phoenix. And have lived here for over 45 years. I had nothing but pleasant flights with America West. It wasn’t perfect, but the service was usually good, the flights were usually on time, and the people usually treated me well. I can still tell when an American crew has America West people working on it. They don’t tend to have the sense of entitlement their colleagues who once worked for American and US Airways seem to exhibit. Based on my experience, the more American becomes like America West, with employees who really seem to care about their passengers, the more I’ll like it.
Actually, if you dissect John’s email, it is clear that his note is on behalf of the customer. I know of John personally and if I recall correctly, has an approximate 37 year career with AA.
At one time, AA was a premier carrier. Most complaints made by employees are, in fact, customer focused.
Employees are mortified at the decline of the carrier’s current state and the lack of the product and the service that was once offered. The question I would pose would be, How could any (AA) employee have Pride to work for the company when we have clearly observed the drastic decline of the airline ? The embarrassment can often become overwhelming by decisions made by upper management. Employees effortlessly inundate management with pleas of reality and make useful and realistic suggestions in order to gain customer retention and confidence. Unfortunately, they fall upon deaf ears. Last I recall, AA’s ratings are #1 when it comes to lost baggage and DOT complaints, and in the bottom or lowest when it comes to overall satisfaction.
Mr. Parker, from what I understand, “apologized” for running the airline like America West. With my
almost 34 years in the industry, my first “piece” of advise to Doug would have been to no to attempt to
run a global airline like HP or US. For what seems to have been obvious, was clearly not.
UA has improved, in my opinion, substantially since Scott Kirby has overseen (UA). I’m not sure of what Scott’s true motives are. Anyone who knows the history of airline executives know of Scott’s time spent with AA. In my personal opinion, Scott has a personal agenda for vengeance towards AA; specifically Doug. It just seems for the moment to be beneficial for UA.