American Airlines announced a handful of senior leadership changes this week ahead of quarterly earnings reports at the end of the month. But few left or even changed departments, does Emperor Parker have new clothes?
If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both support LiveAndLetsFly.com.
If you haven’t followed us on Facebook or Instagram, add us today.
Big Shakeup, Huge
Five changes have been announced… so far… here are the affected parties and their titles:
- Kerry Philipovitch – SVP of Customer Experience (retirement)
- Kurt Stache – SVP of Loyalty, Marketing and Sales
- David Seymour – SVP of Operations
- Don Casey – SVP of Revenue Management
- Vasu Raja – SVP of Network Planning
Legacy US Airways executive, Kerry Philipovitch is retiring in a reportedly planned move. Her job description encompassed a lot of what legacy American customers feel has gone wrong at the new American Airlines. I’d venture to say that she shouldn’t be blamed for American Airlines’ customer experience degradation as much of it appears to be directed by (at the time) Kirby, now Isom, Parker and perhaps even CFO Derek Kerr experimenting with what they can get away with. (This interview with American CFO Kerr from Inc.com is internet gold.)
Here’s where they all landed after the great American Airlines management shakeup of 2019
- Kurt Stache – SVP of Customer Experience (replacement)
- David Seymour – SVP of Operations
- Don Casey – SVP of Revenue
- Vasu Raja – SVP of Network Strategy
- Jill Surdeck – SVP of Flight Service
So different. Can you believe they moved Casey from Revenue Management to Revenue? Or Raja from Network Planning to Network Strategy or Seymour from Operations to… Operations?
Can you say “disruptors?”
Emperor and His Wardrobe
Parker goes unmentioned in the brief which is not surprising. If there is no change in his role or they want to see how these drastic changes play first, that makes sense. But who in their right mind would presume that these management “changes” even warrant a press release?
This is where Parker goes down and is emblematic of why he goes down. If he (and presumably, the board) felt changes were necessary amongst the executive team – no one would be fooled into thinking that any of these would amount in a material shift in the direction of the company.
It’s as if Doug Parker thinks everyone is just too stupid to see this for what it was. No sir, we can see you have no clothes, no direction forward, no plan to remove American Airlines from the bowels of hell from where you have delivered it.
Expecting Different Results
Moving a few people to essentially the same roles, titles, and level of management Raja has been a regular feature in an American Airlines employee podcast and is known for his insight and vision. Parker fails to see the writing on the wall with the LATAM JV, doesn’t make the strategic investment that Delta does, crashes the relationship with Alaska and then hands over the keys to “network strategy, alliances and partnerships” to Raja.
How effective can Seymour be in his same role but with a renewed focus on “operational excellence” with the same title, and Parker handcuffs from the last four years? It’s not like in his new/same role he is going to suddenly have the latitude to become Delta. Is Kurt Stache going to be able to invest in seatback entertainment? No? So, pretty much business as usual.
The point of leadership changes are to symbolically and in practice effect a sea change in the direction of the company. By appointing the same people, to more or less the same positions within the same limitations, how would anyone expect different results?
I feel like I’m on crazy pills!
SVP of Revenue Management to SVP of Revenue, SVP of Network Planning to SVP of Network Strategy, SVP of Operations to SVP of Operations – Blue Steel, Le Tigra, Ferrari, it’s the same thing!
Conclusion
The announced changes are encouraging for one reason: it reflects that there is pressure to improve. However, the changes made will have zero impact, demonstrate a contempt for the process of changing the company in a material way, and show that Parker and company believe that investors and interested parties are stupid enough to believe that this will mean anything at all. I’m also not convinced that Parker isn’t out around Q3 reporting depending on results.
What do you think? Do these changes demonstrate progress because there is some willingness to recognize the airline isn’t performing as expected? Is this a case of the Emperor having no clothes?
What’s the definition of Insanity?
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
So yes, Insanity.
Jill Surdeck from V.P. to SENIOR V.P.?????
Positively Smashing!!!
Now….can Flight Service uniformed employees get proper clothing this go-around instead of yanking a particular color off a store rack and calling it “good”?
They are not fooling ANY ONE; the fact that they believe that they have proved their arrogance. ALL of that group needs to be ousted! American Airlines needs new management and executives that are able and willing to change for the better.
Mr Parker trust no one everything within the company is scripted such as the gate agents boarding anounce the boarding call if they go off script they can be put on a level. Richard Branson once said I will take care of my employees and they will take care of the customers. Parker does not have this level of trust for is agents. Nor does he want to negotiate a contract with the ramp and Maintance. The AA/US MERGER WAS IN 2013. should have been put to bed a long time ago. The Pilot division have a vote of no confidence on Parker. Time to make big changes and listen to your employees and trust them. Having Managers overseeing people and degrading them in front of the Public is totaly wrong. I can go on and on but going to leave some for someone else
American needs to start at the top: a new board. This pack of jokers has stood by and taken zero visible oversight actions, which I believe is somewhere in their job description, while Parker and his ilk have fervently driven the airline in the wrong direction. When was the last time American did something, anything, simply because it would make for happier customers? Do these corporate types really not understand that happier customers means more customers, often willing to pay more to do business with the company that makes them happy? This in turn improves revenue and profits. It’s really not complicated. That’s what is so frustrating.
As an employee, I saw how Parker said in The State if the Airline address that in the month of June and July 80% of AA flights were either canceled or delayed! He wasted no time blaming operations for not getting the first flight of the day out on time. No Me Parker but excuse me but you should be sitting down with the mechanics and keep 5,009 jobs from being out sourced! Get a fair contract with your mechanics! A station agent then got up and said she needed more staff! Her crew couldn’t handle being Mando everyother day! She even went as far as to mention how many of her staff passes away because the stress doing this position! He demissed it ALL. BOTTOM LINE, Mr Parker only cares about himself! He has zero leadership skills and no one respects him!
They should eliminate useless CSC and make them all as regular agents to work on flights especially the oversold, delays and cancellations.
Agreed. Such a shame. I was 10 years as an exec plat, 2 million miler and got so frustrated watching Parker drive my once beloved airline into the ground. They don’t understand their best customers understand the airline landscape quite well— including what their competitors do. I’m now Delta Diamond. Couldn’t be happier. It’s night and day. Planes with TVs, friendly employees, a modern app, upgrades that clear, on-time flights, good food, consistency in product, and a quality product in all cabins (the business traveler like me flying lie-flat in a 777 will find himself in coach for leisure; 10 across on AA v 9 across on Delta, etc.).
I do agree 100% with you, we’re losing ground with every company big and small, I just flew to Medellin Colombia where America used to dominate,,they put one fly a day ,while spirit and JetBlue just came in from fort Lauderdale and they have four flights, they are destroying the brand, by offering the worst flight experience,
Interesting post Mike. I felt the exact same way. After being loyal to AA for about the past 15 years and exec platinum and 2 million miler for the past several years, I finally got fed up and left AA. I still fly them occasionally, but my opinion is they have devalued the programs so much in order to try and squeeze additional revenue, that it no longer pays to give them my loyalty. How many systemwide upgrades can you give me if they can never be redeemed? Then on top of that, I had a bad rash of delays. At some points I would rather be treated slightly better than average on multiple airlines than slightly better average on just one. I will wait until they make some real changes before I give them my loyalty again. Its a real shame. You would think they would take care of their best customers.
What a [retracted by admin]show……I can remember once upon a time in a galaxy far far away when American Airlines was a world class outfit…this is what the fuck happens when cronyism and symbolism overtake competency….put me in charge…..I couldn’t do any worse…..who knows…I just may be able to do something positive and make American Airlines translate into something other than a dirt worf
It is so sad for American employees to watch American on a sled downhill. Parker cares not for the customers comfort nor for them to have a pleasant experience. $$ is the bottom line ALWAYS. You can go cheap on certain things, but NOT AIRPLANES, nor their seats. Taking out the entertainment systems is one of the things the customer likes best—saying that people have their own is ludicrous. Many yes, but how bout the older crowd or the fact that you can’t plug anything in to charge your device anyway. Parker doesn’t care. He gets his million dollar bonuses, and “quality” is not in his vocabulary. Shame on all the board members who are doing nothing but watching Parker take this airline down while they collect their checks. They are as guilty as Parker is—we hoped You were smarter and actually would look out for the best interest of the American Airlines. SAD
I started flying AA this year, 14 round trips so far. The experience is fine until it isn’t. Terrible first line of customer service, mediocre second line, that you cannot actually talk to- email only. And if you try hard like I did and email the SVP’s directly you will get someone that has some ability to fix a problem and not just recite a script. AA, you need to rethink why someone should choose you. If we want to be abused and feel like our money is not important then we usually fly Spirit, but AA is getting closer and closer to that Spirit experience!
My perspective is somewhat removed from the comments posted,as I am an aa retiree. However, I couldn’t agree more with not only the comments,but the article as well. AA has been on life support for a lot longer than most people realize. The ” organization ” is grossly top-heavy with self-serving, duplicitous half-wits who are rewarded with enormous bonuses for no intelligent reason. The unions are nothing but paper tigers whose most frequent response to questions is ” The company can do that,brother”. The employees are starving for decent leadership,but none is on the horizon. Certainly top management needs to be shown the door ; they can console themselves with their overblown severance packages. The stone fact is that, for whatever the reason, airlines seem to attract empire-building syncophants who know and produce absolutely nothing, and aa is the poster child for all that’s wrong with the airline industry. Gordon Bethune,ex- ceo of Continental Airlines, said “We are a stupid industry run by stupid people.” Parker, you and your good old boy network should sit down and have someone read ” From worst to First: the story of an airline’s resurgence.” Maybe you’ll learn something. But I doubt it.
Change has to start from the top. It is clear the top in AA is incompetent.
Real blame is on the board here. As many boards, their intervention to replace non performing top management is too late.
As board member myself, I have never understood the reluctance to act that I see in many boards.
The largest airline in the world is being run by Managing Directors, VP’s and SVP’s from NORTHWEST AIRLINES and US AIRWAYS who completely destroyed their former airlines with their incredibly ineffective strategies and their total cluelessness on how to lead teams. They couldn’t lead a small charter airline, let alone a large scheduled one. It’s time for the major shareholders to wake up.
It’s a pretty common business tactic to shuffle around some people at the top before the head is cut off. It makes it appear less disruptive when the new CEO comes in..unfortunately this alignment of management is perfectly set up for Isom to boil to the top. Which won’t help at all..place needs a personality the employees can rally behind.
Understood, but this shuffle doesn’t even move people around, it moves them to their same role with a slightly varied title and in at least one case, no new title at all.
The only change is Kurt moving to Customer Experience to replace Kerry. Jill is in the same job but I guess for optics they needed to have one female Senior VP in the mix since Kerry was leaving but good for Jill. Jill is good. I’ve worked for her. These restructures happen every couple of years whenever someone leaves/retires whatever. They often will slightly change organization names with a new incoming Senior VP. Customer Service, Customer, Customer Experience for example are all the same department that has been rebranded. New VPs marking their territory basically.
I am sure some of them are highly competent, but the new territory marking is not the wholesale changes it will take to radically change the airline from America West+ to a Delta/United competitor. There’s not a single metric with which American leads the competition.
Jill Surdeck is good? Seriously???? I am a flight attendant for AA, for someone who is a SVP of flight service she is completely out of touch with what our job entails. I have been to meetings where she does not or more likely can not answer a question, the unbelievably archaic sick policy that she has implemented on the flight attendants is just that… unbelievable. Flight attendants are the front line exposed to more germs, sick passengers and exhausting schedules yet we are penalized (and harshly I might add) for being sick. Pilots don’t deal with this BS. Question, in what industry anywhere is a 30 yr employee subjected to a sub-par schedule and a pay cut so that a 1 yr employee can have the benefit of a good schedule and pay? NONE. I MUST BE TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!! The bowels of hell indeed.
That’s the first reference to Mugatu since I posted the video, I was beginning to lose hope that it would resonate.
An open letter to the management of American Airlines,the Board of Directors for American
Airlines, the Mechanics Union, stockholders, and employees.
If you are easily offended by the truth and have a “words hurt” mentality, then I suggest you stop
reading right now. However, if you can handle blunt honesty about the current situation of the
company then read on.
First: The (mis)management of American Airlines (ex Doug Parker, Robert Isom, etc):
First off, with the utmost respect the employess of American Airlines would like to say [redacted by admin] You
All! Since the merger of US Airways and American Airlines, the decisions made by you all have
been head scratching at best. Not only have your decisions led to the stock price of AA falling
steadily, they have led to what could only be described as the downfall of this once great
company. Our competitors are better in EVERY measurable metric with the exceptions of the
negative ones. Your leadership style and the way you communicate with your employees is one
of cloak and dagger style. It is no secret you are all anti-union, and everyone knows if you could
outsource every job in the company (except for yours of course!) you would do it in a heartbeat,
just to make yourselves a few extra million dollars (because your overpaid [redacted by admin] obviously do
not earn enough). Your constant refusals to negotiate in good faith with the Mechanics Union
led to what could only be described as the summer from hell. The fact that you didn’t even give
a rat’s [redacted by admin] about your customers or employees being put into this position shows you need to go
ASAP. Now it has come to the attention of the reservations department that in your infinite
wisdom to blame anyone but yourselves, the solution to all the issues is to get rid of the home
based workers program. You say it is due to “technical issues” and having business meetings in
“substandard” areas. Everyone knows it is all about control and has NOTHING to do with saving
money or “consolidating” your assets for a more streamlined organization. Doug Parker, you
and your group of “yes men and women” need to go so that an injection of fresh leadership can
be injected into this company before it dies.
Secondly, The Board of Directors of American Airlines:
How much longer are you going to let the obviously incompetent current heads of this company
continue to make this company a laughing stock in the industry? I understand you are all good
friends with Doug and Robert and their group of followers, but this is business. You have let
your personal feelings get in the way of doing the jobs you were put onto the board to do. My
advice to you is simple and can be done in three easy steps:
Step 1: Grow a pair, get rid of the current management at the top and inject new life into
American Airlines. I will even take the job for a lot less than you are paying Parker and his
cronies.
Step 2: If you can not do that, then you need to resign your position (and paycheck from AA)
and make room for those who can make the decision. I will be happy to take a board position
and at a discount!
Step 3: If you took action with Step 1, congratulate yourselves for taking step to save the
company (and your paycheck). If you took Step 2, know that you have made way for American
Airlines to become the airline of choice of flyers everywhere.
Simply put, [redacted by admin] or get off the pot. It is not that hard of a decision.
Thirdly, The Mechanics Union:
I am calling out the heads of this union and the mechanics who took this work
slowage/stoppage too damn far. You know who you are. You cost a lot of good people
unneeded frustration, stress, and time away from their families because you had to throw a
tantrum about earning (figures for illustrative purposes only, not actual payscale) $95 an hour
and not $100 an hour. You can claim it was all about the “fight to not outsource” but that is
[redacted by admin]. Yes, management of American Airlines has failed you all time and time again, and yes,
you were all frustrated. Every employee in this company understands your position. What the
employees do not like is when you throw a hissyfit and refuse to do your jobs in a timely
manner, and at times flat out lie about issues on a plane, just to squeeze management. Do you
really think Parker and Isom and their cronies gave a [redacted by admin]? No! The only thing you did was piss
off our customers and drove them to our competition, and piss off your fellow co-workers. Spout
out loud all you want about “Union Solidarity” but at the end of the day you still collect those nice
big paychecks, and in return due to the money you lost American a lot of amazing reservations
employees are going to be jobless.
Fourthly, The Stockholders:
You are all very brave to hold on to AA stock as its current management team plunges its price
into lows not seen since 9/11. Granted the power of the stock votes are in the hands of the
powerful few that seem to enjoy losing money hand over fist. But could you imagine a world
where the little guys buy enough outstanding stock to actually make a difference and get rid of
the [redacted by admin] at the top? Now, if you are one of the powerbrokers of AA stock and you happen to
read this, what the hell is your problem? How can you honestly enjoy watching this
management team make complete fools out of you? I can only think of two answers.
One: You are hoping that the stock price goes lower so you can buy more and use its losses as
a tax offset for your profitable stocks,.
Two: You are so far up Doug Parkers’ [redacted by admin] that you can taste Isoms [redacted by admin].
There is no reason to keep AA stock if the holders of the stock do not care about the company,
so why not just sell it, or better yet, give it to me so I can actually turn this company around?
Finally, The Employees:
Employees that are not management, this is for you. You have been cussed at, threatened,
stressed, frustrated, and pretty much pissed on ever since the merger. From the reservations
agents to the airport workers, to the pilots and flight attendants, you have endured more in the
past few years than any of your industry peers. And in that time, what have you got to show for
it? Higher blood pressures, anxiety levels, more time away from your family to cope with the
[redacted by admin], just to name a few. Your peers in the industry used to look up to you all as the airline
they wanted to join, now, they simply pity you. They laugh at American and how much crap you
all have to deal with, meanwhile they enjoy their amazing profit sharing checks and
management that actually cares. I understand most of you are unionized, but is it not time to say
enough is enough? Has your union really done what it was supposed to do? Perhaps dear
employees, it’s time for some tea to enter the harbor. Make your voices heard. Reservations,
Airport, Pilots, Flight Attendants, and even Mechanics. Come together in true solidarity, and
there is NOTHING you all can not accomplish. Parker and Isom make MILLIONS off of your
hard work and they do NOTHING for you. Just give this little letter a little time to simmer in your
mind, and lets see what can happen when you really “Go for Great, and Elevate each other!”
Signed,
The Spark of Change.
@Spark – I appreciate your passion, you put a lot of work into your response and you also have a message you want to send. I fully support freedom of speech and your right to say it, but note that there are some limitations. Vulgarity is not something we uniformly allow on the site, and I made several edits to the words but not the context of your response. We will publish your response as noted above with several choice words redacted by me, an admin of the site. However, some imagery goes a little too far for decency. I hope you can appreciate that we retain the right to approve or remove any comments from the site. You can say the same message, just a strongly without the approach you have taken and so while I will approve this one in its edited form, we will not publish comments without a modicum of civility.
I apologize. I forgot the rough draft was copied and not the new one which was edited. Again I apologize and thank you.
Was making a strategic investment in LATAM an option for American? Before we presume they dropped the ball, do we know if it was something they considered?
I ask because one of the US Big 3 (United) has a pilots deal that prohibits investment in foreign carriers.
@ Double Nate – While I cant say for certain that a American considered it, I can say that American and Delta have all bought stakes in foreign carriers, (American in China Southern, Delta… a dozen carrier maybe?) and United has a unique deal where they now own a sizable equity stake in Avianca as a result of those shares being used as collateral to back a now defaulted loan.
American doesn’t have to disclose whether they passed on the offer but I doubt that LATAM cared where they got the money from and further, the large switching costs from oneworld to SkyTeam would have to be considered by the board if an equal offer was made by American. Therefore, either American didn’t offer or didn’t offer a deal that rivaled Delta’s but when we are talking about $1bn investment (not all cash) for 20% of such a huge piece of American’s strategy, how could you not offer something compelling?
Don’t hold your breath on any wholesale changes at AA anytime soon. United might not be far behind if Scott Kirby has his way. Kirby was the worst of the bunch in the effort to degrade the AA product before he left for UA. Kirby was the one behind the removal of seatback monitors and food quality at AA that continues today. Munoz is probably keeping him on a short leash but he will turn UA into an LCC if he’s left to his own devices.
glad to be leaving this clown show…..parker and phillipovitvh have done nothing but ruin this company and treating employes like they are not important….they should sit down and answer calls or work the airport and be called nastier names than you can think of becuase you represent this airline…Shame on management, the board adn Parker.
Murray hit it on the head. And it goes for ANY business: why should your customers do business with you? And I’m writing to you ON an American Airlines plane over the Pacific currently
Lets not forget it was LAA FA and Pilot unions that got us into this mess….they stupidly believed Parker and his crew would save the day but there is a reason why DL didn’t want this trash management, hence the whole #keepdeltamydelta
How was it LAA pilots and flights that got us Parker??