American Airlines has actually gotten much better than you think. Fixing underinvestment in the airline industry takes a long time, but they’ve changed even more than I realized over the last year and a half.
Ever since I reported exclusively at the beginning of last year that American Airlines was planning to reverse its decade-long strategy with a pivot to premium, working to deliver a product that customers would willingly pay more for, they’ve made a tremendous number of changes across the business – on the ground in the airports, in the air, and with more customer-friendly policies.
I don’t think they actually get enough credit for what they’ve done in the last 18 months. Turning around an airline takes a tremendous amount of time. Delta has a 20-year head start, and in some ways has stagnated and even begun to slide. United has been at work improving itself for a decade, ever since Oscar Munoz became CEO and spent time across airports visiting with employees and convincing them that the carrier had a bright future.
And American hasn’t really offered a clear vision to tie together all of the changes they’ve made. I sometimes think in philosophical terms. John Locke’s ‘proviso’ for how someone could morally take something out of the ‘commons’ and turn it into private property was involved labor mixing, and leaving as good and as much for others. But the late Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick argued that mixing your labor with something doesn’t change its fundamental character. If you pour a glass of orange juice in the ocean, the ocean doesn’t turn orange.
I’ve felt like American has made a huge laundry list of changes, but without a clearer narrative that says ‘we spent too long chasing Spirit Airlines and Frontier, and we’re fixing that, here’s who we are and what you can expect – a vision for employees, customers, and shareholders to rally around – the changes they’ve made haven’t stuck enough in the public consciousness. They’ve seemed like pouring a glass of orange juice in the ocean.
But when I go and actually look at the things they’ve done, many of them were low hanging fruit and much of what’s been delivered was underway before the premium pivot. But there’s quite a lot here, and a pipeline of more things to get excited about flying American in the next couple of years.
Lounges, Airports, and Ground Experience
American Airlines delayed work on its Philadelphia business class Flagship Lounge because of the pandemic, and it turns out to have been worth the wait. In the interim they changed their design language completely, moving away from the very institutional aesthetic that had dominated since 2017. Their new lounges are absolutely gorgeous.
The Philadelphia Flagship Lounge and Admirals Club in A-West opened on May 22, 2025. Together it’s 25,000 square feet. There’s a swing space behind check-in that connects the two, and I believe long-term the space should grow to be all Flagship. It was their first business class lounge with sit down food to order.
They’ve opened a new lounge concept in Charlotte called ‘Provisions’ that follows what United has done with its Club Fly, offering grab-and-go sandwiches, salads, and snacks. I don’t like that on my recent visit I was limited to just one item – I understand cost controls, and that some guests can go overboard, but that wasn’t super premium. But universally Admirals Club members rave about being able to have food and drink to take away onto their flight. I expect that they’ll expand the concept.
Charlotte will also get a Flagship Lounge and larger Admirals Club, which are desperately needed. The main club is antiquated, still in US Airways style and busier than any others in the system. (Charlotte has two Admirals Clubs, while Dallas has five even before opening the new terminal F!).
Miami will also be getting a new Flagship Lounge, and the existing Flagship space will allow expansion of the D30 Admirals Club there.
Chicago O’Hare gets a new expanded Concourse L Admirals Club, more than 10,000 square feet. At Washington’s National airport they announced the renovation of the Concourse D Admirals Club, more than 10,000 square feet with about 50% more seating, and best of all that means it’ll be in the same new style as the fanastic club on the E concourse.
My home airport in Austin is getting a new, larger Admirals Club at the west end of the main concourse, more than 12,000 square feet, doubling the current footprint and adding American’s first open-air lounge terrace.
Nashville will also get a new larger Admirals Club on the airports Concourse A build, with about 17,400 square feet which is nearly triple the current lounge size. It will have outdoor terraces and an indoor balcony.
There are also now more ways to access American’s Admirals clubs, as the new mid-tier cobrand Citi AAdvantage Globe card and Citi’s premium Strate Elite card now both come with Admirals Club lounge passes.
American’s largest hub at DFW airport is getting a new terminal F. The original plan for it was bare bones, because that’s all American would sign off on paying for. You’d have to check-in and clear security at another terminal, taking a train to and from the new gates. They’ve reversed course and the roughly $4 billion plan will mean doubling the originally planned gates; premium lounge space; and new check-in, parking, and customs facilities.
New York JFK terminal 8 also has a new concessions program that’s recently opened, though this was being planned for years before the premium pivot. The refresh was needed.
Overall there’s been a significant amount of capital investment in airports – not just modest tweaks, but spending real money in ways we haven’t seen in a long time from American. For years, American was closing lounges rather than opening and renovating them. And more lounge announcements should be coming this year.
Lounge Food, Coffee, Champagne Wine and Beverages
No airline has improved the way that United Airlines has over the past decade. It’s hard for many people to remember just how bad they were for so long, and how much worse they became under CEO Jeff ‘Changes You’re Going To Like’ Smisek. The first thing Oscar Munoz did when Smisek was forced to resign over federal corruption charges was to change the coffee and the snacks in coach. That was symbolic – everyone hated the coffee, and it was a way to say things were going to get better going forward.
American Airlines was still serving the same coffee (‘Fresh Brew’ often derided as Fresh Poo) that United ditched way back then. United went with Illy, American has now gone with Lavazza both onboard and in its lounges. That’s both much better coffee and symbolically important. They’ve also upgraded their champagne to Champagne Bollinger.
But it wasn’t champagne that needed the most work. It was the wine, which was undrinkable onboard. They’ve began to fix that just in May, with Truchard Chardonnay and Decoy Cabernet on international long haul first and business clas and Migration Chardonnay and Justin Cabernet on premium transcon in first and business.
Food in Admirals Club is better – still not up to what competitors are offering, but certainly better than it was a few years ago. Meanwhile, business class Flagship Lounge dining has introduced QR code à la carte options, revitalized its culinary action stations, and added cheese and charcuterie carts.
Onboard Food, Beverage, Amenities, and Entertainment
Coach buy onboard and snack boxes were refreshed and the new items are much better. Most passengers travel in economy, so while premium cabins get most of the attention this is the area where small improvements go the farthest. There are better sandwiches and the snack boxes are a lot better, too. (And, of course, coach benefits from better coffee as well.)
American would say that it’s an improvement that you can now redeem AAdvantage miles for onboard food and beverages, and I suppose more options are better, but I wouldn’t redeem miles this way. If you’re a genuinely infrequent flyer with orphaned points, by all means go ahead.
We’ve seen the introduction of mini burgers and fries as a pre-order option, and route specific meals – the Pecan Lodge barbecue on Dallas – New York flights.
Some would argue that nonalcoholic beverage choices have improved (Athletic Brewing Free Wave NA IPA, Q mixers, Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix, and various LaCroix flavors). Afternoon tea was tested on inbound London and Paris flights across cabins, though it wasn’t offered when I flew London to Dallas last August.
Granted this was something American was testing even before the premium pivot, but they finally pulled the trigger and stopped requiring premium cabin headsets to be returned during the flight. Cabin crew often used to insist on collecting them an hour before landing. That dates back even before US Airways management took over. And they finally put a stop to it. (American actually has good Bang & Olufsen headphones in business and first class on long haul international, long haul Hawaii and premium transcon routes).
They’ve improved business class bedding with mattress pads and pajamas, and greatly expanded the routes where they’re offered. Amenity kits were refreshed several times, this year’s bags are better but still lack key items. It’s certainly an improvement over what the airline was offering two years ago.
Inflight entertainment has more options, too, with Bravo, Audible Harry Potter content, podcasts, a FOX One partnership as well as limited-time sports especially around FIFA World Cup 26, U.S. Soccer, and championship football.
I don’t love everything but the point is they’re doing stuff.
Seats, Cabins, Aircraft, and Connectivity
American Airlines introduced free high speed wifi for AAdvantage members this year, covering all narrowbody and two class regional jets. Sadly most widebodies are still on Panasonic which is expensive and performs poorly. American’s wifi is already better than Southwest and United (where they haven’t rolled out Starlink yet).
They’ve announced Starlink for over 500 narrowbody aircraft with installations beginning at the start of next year. This is going to cover their Airbus narrowbodies. Unfortunately we don’t yet have a commitment for Boeing narrowbodies or widebody aircraft. Inflight Starlink – which is quickly becoming the standard – is better than what most people have at home. With low earth orbit satellites, there’s zero latency. You click on something and it is there immediately.
While United, Southwest and Alaska will have Starlink as well, this helps put American ahead of Delta – which committed to a partial rollout of Amazon Leo starting a couple of years from now. It’s an unproven technology and it’s unclear when it actually deploys. And, like American, there’s not yet a full fleet plan. Honestly, I expected American to follow Delta’s lead with Amazon for a cheaper price and sponsorship of inflight entertainment content, but they made the smarter investment.
Perhaps just as consequential are American’s new cabins and seats, though the design work on those began six years ago. American’s new premium Boeing 787-9 entered service last year with 51 Flagship Suites with doors, 32 Premium Economy seats, a redesigned coach cabin and the product is just gorgeous.
The premium economy seats also are a huge step up from American’s prior version that lacked footrests.
The Airbus A321XLR entered the fleet and is a narrowbody aircraft with business class suites with doors and premium economy. These are used on premium cross-country flights and short transatlantics from the Northeast.
They are retrofitting Boeing 777-300ER planes to this new standard (sadly losing first class) and will retrofit Boeing 777-200ERs as well.
They’re also putting Airbus A319 and A320s into service with an additional row of first class, larger overhead bins, and a redesigned cabin. These are denser in coach, and there’s less space for flight attendants to work, but overall they’re nice planes. Regional jets also got high speed wifi and more mainline-style interiors.
Improved Policies, App, and Disruption Handling
It’s not just product, it’s better policies. American reversed its policy of not allowing most customers to add themselves to the standby list within 45 minutes of departure and to not let agents do it for customers (requiring self-service). And they went a step further opening up standby to allow travel to nearby airports even with checked bags.
They’ve redesigned the mobile app and it’s now more functional for upgrades, seats, bags, changes, wheelchair assistance, and rebooking during flight disruptions. They’ve improved rebooking through the app, and now do more to offer natural language explanations for irregular operations (following United’s lead). They’ve also improved the functioning of their airport kiosks, which are now faster.
They’ve rebanked Dallas – Fort Worth so that it’s more of a rolling hub, which means gates are more likely to be available when you land and delays don’t cascade throughout the system. This is giving them fewer delays, fewer misconnections, fewer gate changes, and better checked bag performance (and happier customers).
And they’ve rolled out connection-saving technology, similar to United’s ConnectionSaver (initially at DFW and later Chicago O’Hare) holding flights for delayed connecting passengers when it won’t disrupt the operation to do so.
They’ve added Apple Wallet auto boarding pass support, Google Wallet flight updates, and Samsung Wallet boarding pass integration, too.
Here’s one where American and I disagree. They highlight as an improvement starting boarding 5 minutes earlier. I don’t think that’s better. Less time on the plane is better, but now it’s important to queue up at the gate to avoid losing overhead bin space. I do give them credit for deploying technology at the gate to enforce boarding group order, though.
Another one where I part company from American, but where they’d argue improvement is electronic boarding gates at Dallas – Fort Worth. I’m an old line civil libertarian and don’t love the expanded use of facial recognition. Many of you think it’s cool, however.
While it hardly distinguishes American from competitors, they also rolled out TSA PreCheck Touchless to 60 airports including all their hubs. Opting into biometrics for security screening cuts you to the front of the PreCheck line.
They’ve also piloted One Stop Security for connecting passengers between London Heathrow and Dallas – Fort Worth, which is honestly the best way to fly, and you no longer have to collect bags and recheck them for connecting flights after Sydney – Los Angeles.
AAdvantage, Cards, Partnerships, and Redemptions
AAdvantage status and reward thresholds stayed unchanged for the 2025 and 2026 program years. 2026 was the third year in a row with unchanged requirements. In today’s world, that’s a win.
They’ve added Loyalty Point Rewards choices, including food and beverage coupons, New York Times, and a partner Loyalty Point bonus increase from 20% to 25% (this is not an unequivocal win).
I wouldn’t spend miles this way, but AAdvantage got more non-flight redemptions, including gift cards, onboard food and beverage, cruises, and FIFA World Cup tickets. I wish they’d focus on value from core flight redemptions, and working with partners to ensure seamless award availability. I view these non-air redemptions as a distraction. But as long as they don’t take away from the core value of the program, fine.
Meanwhile, Fiji Airways adopted American AAdvantage as its loyalty program, and American has run a few award promotions (including domestic redemptions from 5,000 miles one-way and transatlantic from 15,000 miles one-way), and a promotion to confirm business class upgrades on nearly every flight when buying premium economy travel.
They renewed their Mastercard partnership and launched a mid-tier cobrand (Globe) that offers 5,000 bonus Loyalty Points towards status every four flight segments up to 15,000 Loyalty Points.
And AAdvantage Business added (very modest) elite benefits that include fare savings and Group 5 boarding as well as a dedicated service desk, which is a far cry from when they refused to provide live customer service for the program at all.
Network and Premium Capacity
They rebuilt Chicago O’Hare aggressively after ignoring the market coming out of the pandemic – they retired too many planes and lacked the aircraft and pilots early – and refused to be pushed out by United. They’ve added premium capacity to Tokyo as part of their Japan Airlines joint venture and Australia capacity with their Qantas joint venture. They’ve reached 100 destinations in Mexico, Caribbean and Latin America.
Fighting for Chicago, in particular, is a repudiation of the old way of thinking at the airline that shied away from competitive markets – and which caused them to cede share in New York and Los Angeles, and therefore relevance to customers who spend heavily in those important cities on cobrand credit cards.
They weren’t making money narrowly on flights in these markets, but they failed to understand how flights in a market were tied to their cobrand performance (which slipped from number one in charge volume to third place). They now expressly do see that connection and it’s a reason they articulate internally for becoming aggressive to preserve their place at O’Hare.
That’s not just good news for Chicago customers. It also underscores how the airline is now thinking differently and more holistically about their business.
Negative Changes, Cuts, And Devaluations
For all of the fast progress American has made, it hasn’t been all roses and unicorns for customers and there have been mistakes in business judgement.
The airline stopped awarding miles and status credit on Basic Economy fares on December 17, 2025, and eliminated elite seating and upgrade benefits on those fares for tickets purchased May 18, 2026 onward.
American has been leaning heavily into AAdvantage because it’s all they had and because it was generating billions of dollars in profit even as the airline overall failed to make money last year. Honoring elite benefits on basic economy fares recognized that business travelers are leisure travelers, that the customer buying long haul business class for work during the week might be price-sensitive over the weekend to Florida with their family, and that the most effective loyalty engines treat people as valuable with every interaction.
Meanwhile, they viewed basic economy as an introduction to the airline and the program, a way to capture future valuable customers into their database and sell them Citibank credit cards. The miles earned on a basic economy ticket were cheaped, expired anyway without additional higher margin activity, and were a customer acquisition tool.
No doubt American thinks they get the names of these customers anyway by requiring AAdvantage membership for onboard wifi, but they didn’t wait to see how those customers convert compared to members signing up and earning their first miles, and a smarter play anyway would have been to still at least honor basic economy mileage-earning for a first flight.
Checked bag fees have increased, and they even charge more now for checked bags on basic economy fares. Award holds were cut from up to five days to 24 hours last year. They eliminated mileage upgrade awards, which could offer strong value to members, and now just let members spend AAdvantage miles to cover the cost of a paid cabin buy up (at a little less or a little over one cent per mile). These were even eliminated for upgrades on British Airways and Iberia.
What Remains To Be Done
American Airlines needs a premium vision consistently articulated by the CEO and sold to employees so they know what kind of product and service they’re supposed to deliver, so they buy into providing it, and so they understand that doing so is linked to the success of the company (they’re in an important battle) and for profit-sharing. Middle management hasn’t had the incentive for a decade to sweat the small details of product. The frontline hasn’t been told that the service they offer matters.
They need widebody aircraft, having retired international-capable Boeing 757, Boeing 767, and Airbus A330s during the pandemic in the name of ‘simplifying’ the fleet – and lost out on the boom to Europe as a result. Just offering service to South American, joint venture partner hubs, and summer seasonal Europe isn’t enough and doesn’t give members the flights that inspire them to spend on card either.
The airline still has too few premium seats to sell – because premium isn’t just business and first class. Delta, United, and others use their fare ladder to get customers to buy up not just all the way to the front cabin but also to extra legroom coach. American doesn’t have nearly as much extra legroom coach, and it’s often tough to get (especially for families with children who aren’t exit row eligible).
The airline lacks seat back entertainment screens on its domestic fleet, and indeed is taking out the remaining ones they have on legacy American Airlines Airbus A319s and A321Ts. They saw screens as an unnecessary cost, whereas passengers love them and see airlines without them as downmarket. What United and Delta learned was that they’re also portals to sell passenger attention to partners. It was the perfect example of American’s focus on cost to the detriment of revenue.
American needs to extend Starlink plans to its widebody aircraft and its Boeing narrowbodies, and fix policies like same day confirmed changes not allowing use of their extensive hub system and refusing to through-check bags on separate tickets (at least for elite members who don’t pay bag fees anyway) when United still does this on all Star Alliance partners.
If they’re going to push biometrics, then allow CLEAR in terminals they control like Miami, New York JFK and Chicago O’Hare. Just because they don’t own a stake in the business like Delta and United do doesn’t mean that their customers shouldn’t have this option.
They need a plan to retrofit business class on Boeing 787-8s and 787-9s delivered before 2025 so that those offer the standard business class suites and improved premium economy.
And they need to fix the broken seats that have been allowed to fester in the fleet, though they’ve been planning to do this over the summer. Cabin maintenance is a revenue problem, not a housekeeping problem that requires overnight line maintenance and accountability for cabin condition.
Reliability has to be defined more broadly than on-time departure. It includes baggage, wheelchairs, seat condition, and involuntary denied boardings.
And then they need an aggressive strategy to go after coastal markets – there’s been discussions of a closer tie-up with Alaska, which is good, but Alaska has been pulling back in California. They need New York slots. The Sun Belt isn’t going to give them the premium demand and credit card spend that they need.
At the end of the day, American needs to embrace a coherent premium identity and run the airline around it. There are still problems with the fleet, brand, and leadership.
I Like What I See So Far
For the past decade, I’ve frustrated leadership at American Airlines. They have felt like I criticize them too much, and unfairly. I’ve actually been a fan of what American Airlines could be and have written often that there’s no airline with greater potential to be better than it’s been over the last several years.
I’ve spent so much time, energy and focus writing about how this would be possible that I’m personally heartened to see the direction they’re headed, although I’d like to see a clear articulation of the vision to know that it’s real.
And I’m glad to know that American’s leaders, who have criticized my takes for years, are finally doing the things that I’ve been asking for for so long. The criticisms weren’t unfair, after all!
TL;DR. AA is still awful. First AA flight experience in 8 months ended as typical for AA, with a cancellation and rebooking onto Delta for 6x cost out of my pocket.
A FEW MONTHS AGO I FLEW BUSINESS CLASS FROM LONDON TO LOS ANGELES. THE MEAL CHOICE, WITHOUT A MENU, WAS A PLATE OF MICROWAVE CHICKEN IN CORN-CREAM SAUCE AND A BUSINESS CLASS BURRITO. I COMPLAINED ABOUT THIS LEVEL OF SERVICE ON A FLIGHT THAT COSTS $8000 ONE-WAY, AND ALL THEY OFFERED WERE 10,000 MILES, THE EQUIVALENT OF $100. SO, THEY ARE NO BETTER NOR WORSE THAN THE OTHERS (NOTABLY BETTER THAN UAL’S “POLARIS” OVERHYPED NOTHING SERVICE), BUT LET’S NOT PRETEND THAT THEY OR THEIR COMPETITORS CAN PROVIDE ANYTHING BUT BASIC SERVICE, AND SOMETIMES NOT EVEN THAT (FLEW FROM DALLAS TO AUSTIN IN MARCH. IT IS 183-MILES YET THE PILOT HAD NOT BOARDED ENOUGH FUEL AND SO THAT FLIGHT RETURNED TO THE GATE AND CANCELED AND SO I MISSED MY INTERNATIONAL CONNEXION. WHEN I APPLIED FOR UK261 COMPENSATION, BRITISH AIRWAYS AND AMERICAN COMPLAINED THAT THIS FUEL ISSUE WAS REALLY A WEATHER ISSUE AND SO CHEATED ME OUT OF MERITED COMPENSATION. GOT MY SUITCASE 32 DAYS LATER, TOO. WHY OH WHY DID THE GOVERNMENT NOT SUPPORT PAN AM WHEN THEY HAD THEIR TROUBLES IN 1991 BUT INSTEAD SUPPORT CRAP COMPANIES LIKE THESE? IT IS BAFFLING TO ME.
@Derek
wow. Calm down. all caps makes you look crazy. per the meal, AA was in the middle of a transition from rat-food catering to DoCo. They didn’t keep the rat food catering though some others on LHR-LAX still do it
Propaganda is strong with this one.
@gary
the industry always needs someone to pick on.
AA has had positive items for months but AA refused to market anything.
AA had high speed wifi across their domestic fleet while Delta was still installing and UA had no plans but AA refused to market it.
AA had consistent cabins while AA and UA were flying around with 717s and Smizek LOPAS — AA did nothing to say something about their cabins because seat back screens were too important to some.
AA is, by far, the most consistent aircraft out there.
If you fly Delta mainline you could have: No wifi, some gogo wifi, or free high speed wifi but the average consumer would never know based on marketing: Delta markets then assumes their failures won’t catch attention — and they don’t. It’s usually someone like me noting that Delta claims wifi but still offers zero wifi across the pacific and Gogo on their 717. Most bloggers just cling to DL press releases and mention the inconsistencies in some small paragraph on paragraph #5
United is the same. I appreciate the starlink marketing– they have to. UA wifi is and has been abysmal for years vs AA and UA so why not market the future.
DL was picked on during their NW merger struggles. UA was picked on for most of the 2010s. AA is the new whipping boy by most website owners because there always has to be one — but it ignores where AA is far ahead competitors to create that clickable perception.
I avoid American because DFW and CLT are horrible. There isn’t much American can do to change that.
AA is moving in the right direction but has a ways to go, particularly operationally.
However, coach is coach and no airline is really spending the money to make coach more comfortable. The ROI is just not there. AA could probably use another row of MCE on narrowbody aircraft outside the A321s.
The real head scratcher is PHX when it comes to the clubs. I think AA would do better to make the high A AC a grab and go. Getting a seat in that club is a total joke. A FL is a fantasy. Although no hub does a better job with CKs than PHX.
Operationally, AA has a long way to go. It is all over the map when it comes to on time performance, and a lot of it is maintenance related, as I have experienced on a few long haul flights in the last 12 months. The 77Es are aging, and their dispatch reliability is not as good as it was previously.
The XLRs are an interesting study. They look gorgeous inside and out, but they feel cramped in the Flagship cabin. The PE product on this plane though is a standout.
Overall, American is pivoting in the right direction but the proof it is all working will be seen in employee morale, operational reliability, and revenue increases from upsells. Delta didn’t have a 20 year start. It simply went on a path and never looked back. American could have done the same when it merged with US, or earlier, and opted to compete with Spirit and Frontier instead.
Thx for the detailed discussion, Gary. But the bottom line for me remains AA’s relatively reasonable award redemption rates for first and business class. As long as they retain those (which we use for leisure trips), my wife and I will also book AA for most of our (work and occasionally leisure) revenue flights (in business and first), use our Citi AA cards, etc.
As a.higb end EP, using my real name, I am most frustrated by the lack of consistent service depending on where I fly. The easiest thing to fix? Pre flight beverages. You now have to ask on the MSP-PHL routes. It’s ridiculous. But the worst is that my flight was canceled recently, with no notification or text, and PHL staff could not help me and somehow a guy 3rd on the wait list got waived ahead of me while I was in line and two pilots slipped on too. No explanation. Only the flight was closed . What the fudge? So feeling blue AA.
@Steve
it really is about the only thing consumers can do to punish Delta and United mileage punishments. Unfortunately, what usually happens is that AA holds out while DL and UA diminish their mileage programs to the extreme then the street convinces AA to do the same.
If your average consumer realized the absolute worthlessness of Delta miles and, to a continuing degree, United miles… that could change but right now the industry direction is driven by DL and UA — not for good reasons, but for an absolute decimation of consumer value — that’s what sTD should be proud of but what he knows but refuses to publicly say — Delta leads, but it’s only in customer value destruction off marketing.
It”s a small item in the overall scheme of their operations, but I agree that allowing CLEAR in the AA controlled terminals/airports would be beneficial to their patrons.
Delta is right in AA’s crosshairs, vulnerable with a no value add loyalty program
Some of it is localized yes, but I am happy when i get a fare lower than Delta with AA on the same destination but cringe at
1) Lousy check in experience with long lines in my small airport
2) You can count on a 50% delay rate
3) Inconsistent polices regarding same day changes
Things will continue to improve at American Airlines after the mess Parker (Former CEO) left. It will take more time for AA to return to a great airline it was before the arrival of Parker/Isom and the USAIR guys.
Great post. I do think AA is trying really hard and I do love their new clubs. The biggest negative for me are their Flight attendants. Many are just completely uncaring. Nearly all of them RUSH through announcements as if speedreading. Now the pilots are doing it too. Giving announcements so rapidly, you almost wonder how they are breathing.
When I fly One World partners on international trips (like Japan Air, Qatar, Cathay Pacific), it is a pleasure hearing the professional flight attendants and pilots giving verbal announcements and not speedreading. Somehow AA FAs are so unhappy, they bring the rest of the experience down.
Of all the airline lounges in LHR T3, American is probably bottom of the list. Of course you can go to any of the oneworld lounges in the terminal but the VS Clubhouse is directly above and is a wild contrast.
When that is your first interaction it’s generally downhill from there.
All I know is if I need to get somewhere on time I look at DL then UA. Only WN or AA if DL/UA is unavailable.
@Gary –> Of the roughly 700 flights I’ve taken in my life, 11% have been on (mainline) American, with 2% prior to 1970. That means American ranks 4th in terms of total flights.* Meanwhile, living in California, Southwest is 3rd at 15%, Virgin America is 2nd at 20% and Alaska is 1st at 25%. But since AS joined oneworld, I’ve flown AA more frequently, to places Alaska doesn’t (e.g.: the connecting second leg of a flight, or using points for a trans-oceanic flight in J on points). Other than the occasional surly FA, I’ve been content at a minimum or pleased with AA in the air. None of the Admiral’s Clubs I’ve been to have been refreshed, and so they’ve felt tired and disappointing — save for during IRROPS and the need to get re-booked.
@Robert –> I completely agree that DFW and CLT are horrible. During a two hour layover, my departing flight moved to a different terminal FOUR times. DFW is also the only place I’ve ever missed a [tight] connection. I’ll throw in PHX due to — like CLT — the long walks between gates can be a nightmare. While admittedly there are times when I can’t avoid passing through those three airports (not counting when Dallas is my destination), I do try to avoid them as much as possible.
Fantasy World: it would have been much better if American had taken over USAir rather than the other way around. America West was awful, and they brought USAir and, subsequently AA, down to their level.
_______________
* FWIW, United ranks 5th with 61 flights, and Delta is well out of the Top Ten.
The food is still absolutely disgusting, on both domestic and international First Class. I don’t much care about the lounges- i spend 45 mins there max. I spend 3-10 hours on board and the least the could do is make the food edible. Currently you would get better food in a prison. It’s shameful.
Is American in the same class as Delta, United (and dare I say Alaska)? No. But at the same time the improvements have been incremental but significant. I still agree about the no seat back screens, as well as the general (non-)service culture but at the same time, I see you say this:
“I don’t think they actually get enough credit for what they’ve done in the last 18 months.”
…and can’t help but how often you slag on AA.
For the record, I used to share your home airport of AUS for 30 years, AA used to be the standard until they decided to try to beat WN on $ and DL took aadvantage (ha!) of what American forfeit.
They’ll never truly break out until the entirety of the US Air disaster execs are gone, but give credit where credit is due.
AA is very weak in New York and Los Angeles and a distant second in Chicago. It hubs from one airport totally unsuited for hub ops (DCA) and one so brutally overloaded it is criminal (CLT). Serving Lavazza doesn’t fix the fact that it is awful in the big markets and dreadful in key markets it does dominate. Its award costs are too high considering the (until recent) impossibility of moving bank points to AAdvantage.
So it’s still third in a three-horse race.
It’s gotten harder and harder as a Bay Area flyer to love AA. The steady loss of destinations and frequencies, the downgrading of aircraft even to hubs like ORD and JFK, and basically the lack of interest in the entire west coast and its flyers—- I’m still as loyal as I can be, but it’s hard. Gone are the days of widebodies, of nonstops to Hawaii, of regional destinations just far enough away that flying for a one-day trip is justifiable, of convenient frequent and reliable Bay Area-LA Area flights, and so many other “enhancements” (terminal downgrades, the end of usable VIP upgrades and 500-mile sticker upgrades, Alaska lounge access restrictions, poor european, caribbean and south american connections, and a general tightening and lack of usability of AAdvantage miles from SFO).
I’ve even gotten status on UA for the first couple of years in about 10, due to AA’s reduced relevance. As they say in politics, “I didn’t leave them; they left me.” As I head into retirement soon, with AA lifetime status once really useful in keeping my loyalty and now worth only a pittance, and I look forward to all the free time to travel that we will have, I shake my head at how AA has managed to bobble my loyalty over decades just as I look forward to spending on what will be perhaps 90% front-cabin trips.
If AA wants to migrate into the premium space they need to start with less hateful, uninspired, lazy, passenger-hostile employees who seem to have forgotten who is funding their paychecks. Their employees are a disgrace. As long as you put your employees’ comfort before the comfort of the people paying the bills you are destined for mediocrity.
Nice try, Gary.
@Derek McGillicuddy:
(1) Stop shouting. Your post was unreadable in full.
(2) What is a “business class burrito”? Is there an economy burrito as well?
I think Gary believes AA will finally give him Concierge Key back if he talks about the new lounges enough. Until AA rolls out seatback IFE across their entire fleet (which is the standard on DL/UA), then they will never be in the same premium league. Until AA allows SDFC utilizing any routing to get to your destination like UA does, they will never be in the same preferred league for business travel.
A mllion words after Gary’s epistle and he and no one else seem to grasp that the point is for people to pay for the service you provide.
AA does very poorly among the big 3 in that regard; for all the “but they have failed” non-sense, DL still far outranks AA and UA in revenue per seat mile.
AA is guiding to very strong increase in revenue which says they might have figured out how to get back the revenue they lost – but the journey is still out on that.
and the biggest clue if AA turns the corner in EARNING premium revenue is when it starts cutting loyalty benefits. Some people still can’t grasp that no profit-motivated company gives away more of its product than it has.
AA, for now, says it will have a more generous loyalty program than DL and UA – which is an admission it can’t earn the revenue those two and esp. DL earns.
Hard to see the improvements when AC maintenance issues and on-time reliablity are still sub-par. I would say that 75% of the flights I have taken in AA in the past 3 months have been delayed for mostly non-weather related issues. I don’t know if it’s “pilots working” to rule to oust Isom or it’s poor maintenance or just lack of caring by pilots, ground crews and management about getting a plane out on-time. They pad the flight times so much now, it’s so they can celebrate when it’s on-time by saying they arrived early. FA’s are still the worst in terms of customer interface and service. AND by the way, the new APP really sucks. Harder to find flight information and glitchy updating and minimal information and more screen space taken up by Advertising.
I don’t give one cr@p about airport lounges, I don’t willingly go to the airport to hang out in their lounges and even though I have access to a couple different providers, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have actually utilized them. I want to spend as little time possible in the airport as possible and when things do go wrong, I’ll just find a decent restaurant in a terminal to relax in. AA should focus on their “on time” departures and arrivals, good service in the air, bring back seatback entertainment screens, and train their FA’s to be anything but nasty drones who clearly don’t care about customer service (for the most part). I spent almost 5 years pursuing status at AA from 2016-2021 and finally just gave up out of utter disappointment and exasperation in the service and reliability (or complete lack thereof). Then came the “turn everything dull grey color” and the hideously drab cabin experience. Then they removed the seat screens, delayed my flight yet again, and I had enough. I avoid AA unless I absolutely have no other choice and will not use them again until it gets way better. In my opinion, they are a bad option.
I think you’re overall being way too charitable. American won’t really change until The Board installs an actual capable CEO that doesn’t have deep roots in ULCC’s and has leadership ability. Neither has been evident since the merger. Isom can make some basic changes and make a lot of promises about what will happen someday but as an American loyalist I’m not seeing much at all that makes me want to stay loyal to the airline in the past couple of years.
@Derek McGillicuddy — THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
Platinum two million miler here. 18 months of splashy improvement doesn’t erase 18 years of active neglect. Consistency going forward will be key to restoring passenger trust.
#AAowngoal