The first legacy American Airlines Airbus A321 – ship 930, registration N930AU – flew from Mobile to Tulsa on Thursday for ‘Oasis modification’.
That means taking domestic planes and squeezing in more seats with less spacing between them and less padding. That runs counter to the current mantra of social distancing, and misses that the tendency will be much longer lasting than many people realize.
This is a plane that was only just delivered in February 2017. They only got three years out of the current interior, and they’re ripping out seat back video screens in order to give passengers an inferior experience going forward.
The decision to do this – now – is odd on many levels.
- Only a handful of legacy US Airways planes have been modified. Those are the beaten up planes that don’t have seat back video or seat power to begin with, so there are some improvements that can be made even putting in less comfortable seats.
- American actually said they would prioritize the old ‘basket of deplorables’ legacy US Airways fleet for the retrofit, and wouldn’t take screens out of planes until the very end of the process. They’re reneging.
- The airline needs to conserve cash but they’re spending to modify planes they don’t need to fly, to add seats that passengers won’t be filling perhaps for years.
Airbus A321 interior, credit: American Airlines
American isn’t just cramming seats closer together, so that customers will have an even worse experience when they return to the skies, they’re doing it now to planes that have seat back video – even though the airline had promised these planes would be done last.
Some have suggested they’re just taking the long view – they ‘need’ to retrofit these planes, because they aren’t changing their long term plane despite new evidence the world is changing – and it’s better to do it when planes are grounded.
However they aren’t going to need their full fleet for quite some time. And the domestic fleet is going to have the Boeing 737 MAX once it is ungrounded. As far as we know American will even continue to take delivery of more planes. (They’ll offload some older 737s to compensate.)
Oasis Seats
The persistent slack in the fleet would allow them to easily put off retrofits, conserve cash, rather than accelerating. American should be reneging on plans with Collins Aerospace to take hundreds of new seats per aircraft, not doubling down – and not starting with the best domestic planes they have to make them worse.
Not for nothing, but American’s share price began to tumble right as this retrofit project took off and American’s own numbers show they’ve pushed away frequent travelers.
Of course as a soon-to-be partially nationalized airline, it has something in common now with Etihad, owned by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, which is doing massive fleet work on its grounded aircraft: 200 people per shift are replacing seat covers, shampooing carpets, and moving forward work on maintenance checks.
I was Executive Platinum for 4 years, then Platinum Pro for a year and then Platinum. Last year I only flew 17k on American. They don’t care about us so I don’t care about them.
More Room throughout Coach !
Go Parker go!
I was Executive Platinum for 5 years and then Platinum Pro for a year then Platinum for a year and last year I only flew 17k miles. They don’t care about us so I don’t care about them. May Doug Parker eat a rotten egg.
Entertaining blog, Gary, as is the norm. Cramming in more rows may make sense if middle seats will be blocked going forward. Perhaps keeping folks working on this project is needed to get the bailout relief. Having said that, it is beyond bizarre that these are the first aircraft getting the “upgrade..”
I personally think this is a big beautiful plan. Burn through your cash to show you don’t have cash and therefore need an even larger government bailout!!!
AA should reverse project oasis.
Good job Etihad.
If you’re going to declare bankruptcy, may as well go on a spending spree. From American’s perspective, they can spend whatever cash they have left, retrofit their fleet, get a full bailout, and they’ll be debt-free with a modernized fleet (by their standard at any rate). American simply cannot survive the current crisis- they make money through selling miles to Citi, not by flying, so even when the planes are ungrounded the financial hangover will certainly cut into their card revenues- meaning their best shot is to spend everything before the government steps in to stabilize the company,.
AA may soon go from a low cost carrier to an ultra LCC
It really is dumb because I will actively avoid these planes and never fly them. I can’t sit in the Oasis seats comfortably and will fly a competitor if there is no other American options at similar day / times.
Gary
Thanks for always being the source for all things that fly and those of us who do. Will we continue to “enjoy” the experience or will we be anxious? Thoughts please.
Another reason to not fly AA.
AA actions with the seats are pathetic.
@Linda Friedman – we’ll start anxious but we will eventually enjoy it again 🙂
Wish they weren’t the only game in town (CLT). I try to like them. But it’s really hard.
Parker needs to go. This is a bad joke at this point. Incompetent management.
“American Airlines: Keep Descending”
@ Gary — I would love to be a fly on the wall for these management discussions.
Everyone had better grab on to their seats and keep their snark to themselves. This is the future for all carriers. The Oasis Project is the least of the passenger discomfort issues. As a former pre-90’s cabin crew member I’ve experienced the past and fear I know the future. Delta and United are not going to add luxurious seats and expanded First Class service. Premium Economy may be the best you get.
AA showing the tax payer passengers who will funding their $$$ bail-out no love & we should do the same. I’m sure AA will have higher extra bag fees, more $$ for aisle seats, refund fees & all that when they come back. Just amazing how bad AA is run and the lack of respect for their pa$$engers. No charging ports, extra small seats, sh*t legroom and not even a 5 inch screen. No thanks.
I can’t help but think of, as metaphor, the Gary Larson cartoon in which we see the looming disaster:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2a/48/de/2a48de5f1230b8bb5000768f7ceeb870–dog-cartoons-gary-larson.jpg
Adding more seats is the effect of inflation. Fares have gone down and everything else has gone up.
I’m so glad I now have only 6 AA miles left!
American Airlines always doing a bad job. When you think they have done the worst, somehow they come up with something more stupid. They have not made a single positive change in years.
Doug Parker has to go, please i hope he gets fired soon.
IFE systems are expensive to maintain, they are heavy and become old very quickly. The three majors are doing away with most of them domestically, not just American. Southwest seems to be doing just fine without them.
The seating change also allows for power outlets in every seat as well as larger overhead bins.
It also reduces the problems experienced when the airline has to change aircraft type for a flight. Do you want to write a story about how difficult that is to accomplish when airplanes do not have the same or similar seating structure? I could probably dig up one of your complaining articles that details your frustration when that happens.
I could probably find an article of you complaining about your IFE not working or you not having an outlet to charge your device. Possibly one about no overhead bin space or old broken seats?
Project Oasis has been in the plan for three years now. The products have been sourced and purchased and the work scheduled. The airline is not laying off people so work continues as planned. Your article is not well thought out and it shows your ignorance of the business.
Aa only makes 10 dls profit pero each Pax. So just think that 200dls is actually a very cheap tickets and they merely profit from your checked luggage and those so hated fees. It is not a charity airline.
I’m a (relatively new) flight attendant for American and all I have to say is– we think it’s ridiculous they are taking the seatback monitors out. It just looks tacky, cheap, and gross. Our airline needs to clean up it’s senior management. Get rid of Dougie DUI.
@ Jack – Dude what are you smoking when you say the 3 majors are getting rid of IFEs. Delta is doubling down on seat back IFE which is one of the MANY reasons why people love Delta. If anything, they’re phasing out the planes that don’t, and installing modern, lighter and in some cases, bigger seat back IFE systems.
Everything about American Airlines pretty much sucks! I feel bad for whoever live near AA hubs and don’t have much of a choice.
I miss the pre-doug parker AA. I was Exec Plat for over a decade; a 2 million mile member. I watched that airline go from first to worst. Now, I’m a Delta Diamond and I couldn’t be happier— I had no choice but no leave a formerly premium airline that had begun to feel like I was flying Spririt. No, passengers do NOT want IFE ripped out on transcon planes or have rows ripped out. No, they don’t want to feel like sardines in coach. American crams 10 across in coach on a 777; Delta does 9. Re: Doug’s comment— Delta’s IFE isn’t heavy and can be updated quickly (unlike AA’s IFE system). The lack of IFE was the #1 reason I switched from AA to Delta. (There are lots of other reasons.) Delta’s employees seem to be happy to be there; AA’s as of late NEVER seem pleasant. I’m not sure I blame them or the management…but when you move from AA to Delta you can FEEL the difference when interacting with phone agents, flight attendants, clean and modern planes, and check in peeps. I hope Parker gets the boot. I still miss the old AA that was a premium airline. He will never run it like one.
It looks like AA is intentionally burning thru money and Increasing debt so they can make another trip to the Chapter 11 BK Court.
All the Creditors [Includes employees] better get ready for another hosing.
The famous saying “History Repeats Itself”.
@Gary, as I read this piece and stewed over the fact that you always write mean things about my planes. I came up with an idea that addresses one of your pet peeves. We are going to remove those tiny splash prone sinks from the 737 lavs, rip out the galleys. Give everyone a sanitizing wipe as the board and add 2 rows. What do you think?
@Joel let me clarify about Delta. They are using their own IFE wireless product on new aircraft and retrofitting 767. They are removing the old IFE. The big three are removing IFE and replacing it with new technology. The only difference will be on American domestic flights the passenger will use their own device and Delta will provide a seat back wireless IFE device on new aircraft. They chose to put their money in their house IFE technology and stick with that crap wifi service provider gogo. American chose to invest in better wifi technology and provide content for the passengers’ device.
If you dont like American don’t fly them. You have other choices. Feel free to use them.
@jack don’t let logic get in the way of a good story!
You’re right, Gary, that is a truly bizarre decision on their part. I honestly have no theories on why they’re doing this.
@jack what does having a choice have anything to do with this conversation the question is if they are crap which they are especially their customer service and they just look for ways to make other things worse as it’s stated here
I was Executive Platinum for 20 years and then Platinum Pro for one year. I am Platinum for life, and with the new $15,000 a year required spend to make Executive Platinum, I know I won’t make it. So, I now fly Delta, Spirit (big front seat), United and Iceland Air. I still travel all over the world but less frequently, and rarely on American. They decimated the value of the frequent flyer program and there is no incentive to be loyal to American. Platinum means very little except you get onboard in time to find an open overhead bin.
We used to fly AA, but never again. Crammed in like sardines in coach and AA’s staff seems very unhappy about their jobs to the point of being rude or completely indifferent to customers, and high prices to boot. Discovered a few years ago that Delta Comfort seats were only a few dollars more than coach on AA, and all the Delta employees we’ve interacted with have always been so nice and professional, so from now on it’s Delta for us!
Being an American Airlines employee for the last 37 years, I feel ashamed of how AA treat their customers and I apologize for that. American Airlines was a first class airline until Parker and his Tempe management team took over. They have destroyed AA, it went from first to the worse airline it has become an ultra low cost airline and almost all employees feel the same way about this US AIR management, the worse. As an employee of AA I will encourage anyone not to fly AA, fly Delta or United for sure they’ll treat you the customer much better than AA, American does not care about the customers, as long as they get your money, that’s all they care about.
The only difference between the Titanic and AA is that they had a band playing music while their ship was going down. So sad.
If they have the “extra$$” money to retrofit not just fix issuse so planes are safe. They obviously don’t need a bailout. Refuse them bailout $$. Tell them to use the extra $$ they currently are using for retrofit.
Longtime AA EXP and 2M miler. Am disgusted with what AA is doing and this downtime is the catalyst for me to finally switch to Delta.
Maybe the grass won’t be all that greener, but it definitely won’r be worse.
These guys have really F-d up this airline and continue to do so. The fact that they are asking for a bailout and continuing to retrofit these planes to a denser and much worse passenger experience is the last straw for me. Disgusting….
saves fuel ?
I have flown millions of miles over the last 56 years on several US and International airlines; in descending order of miles flown: Delta, United, British. SAS, American, Korean, (and their collective merged predecessors), plus a lot of smaller carriers around the world. I will NEVER fly with the condescending, rude, arrogant people of American airlines again. I would rather drive, bike or anything else to avoid this overpriced bad airline.
I agree AA is sinking fast. I used to work for HP and then when they acquired US all under Parker. In fact I talked to him a few times at his meetings we went to. Then he was an ok to good CEO. Now that he got his wish of being AA CEO he’s become totally separated and is running AA out of business. I work for a corp travel mgmt co now and my account they all dislike taking AA unless that’s all that’s available.
Thanks for making me feel smarter. I was booking flights BOS – LIH and the AA coach fare was 40% less than Delta. But the AA flights were A321 and B757 which meant no power IFE to Phoenix and no IFE and maybe power to LIH form PHX. So I booked Delta with guaranteed IFE and power for the full trip. Now I know I made the right decision.
Delta added 7 seats on their old A320’s.
American and Delta by adding seats, they move the toilet to the galley area. It is so small, you can’t sit down. There is no counter either at the sink.
They need to be regulated again.
This reader is old enough to remember when C.R. Smith was running AA — his first stint. It’ll never be the same as it was then, and longing for those days is, as all know, a futile exercise. We travelers are different now; we have different expectations and are less tolerant of certain types of arrogance. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Many thanks Gary for continuing to focus on American’s very unwise aircraft seat realignment! Doug Parker and his management team are very indifferent. They are definitely mistaken and misguided especially during the current coronavirus pandemic. In the future, we will be living in a different travel environment and demanding social distancing; meaning more seating space! Squeezing more seats, well beyond what is even comfortable, will not be acceptable or even safe to the flying public. I have not and will not fly American with Doug Parker in command! It’s absolutely time for a change in management leadership and long overdue!
LMAO. AA continues to go downhill since they were taken over by US Air. Sometimes we forget: it’s a business and they are loyal to only one thing PROFITS. I’ve flown close to 1000000 w them, but not much recently. The staff are great, management that’s a whole different story.
Currently more dumbfounded that AA is not concerned at all with passenger wants, much less of their needs. The decline of their services and the uptick of the ‘I really don’t give a crap of what you want’ attitude towards their passengers. Unfortunately they will survive on our taxpayer dollars. They will get their multi-million dollar bonuses (for a little while longer) and most passengers will still fly with them. Their alliances with other airlines will only show these other airlines that they can get away with it and they WILL follow suit.
The planes that are removing seat back from have AC power ports in every row already. As mentioned, these planes are very new in the grand scheme. They simply don’t want to maintain IFE and want to squeeze more seats in period. They literally made up statistics to convince themselves this was the right decision and that everyone has a device so they can just stream WiFi. The truth is you leave out segments of the population like older folks or people with kids. Who wants to buy and carry multiple devices. Traveling is already hard enough. Also inseat if you stick to a basic product won’t change terribly much. Those systems could easily fly and support it for many years. Inseat also helps for any delays by occupying time. No battery recharge needed and is available on ground. WiFi isn’t fully there yet. The last thing to consider is the fact that none of those seats can be reused. They are only certified with the systems. That means purchasing all brand new seats to replace seats around two years old, or less. Go figure. And in case you want to question my info, let me assure you, I was extremely close to this product and with AA when all these decisions were made. I know first hand. AA marketing did not want to do this, the opposite in fact. M&E made this decision with too leadership.
Airlines like AA that make social distancing impossible due to the cramming of so many seats onto the airplane should be taxed like tobbaco.
The American healthcare system should not be subsidizing the damage that American et Al, are causing to the health and welfare of America.
The tax on tobbaco is 5 times the cost of the product because the product is damaging to society and those people that use the product must pay for the damage.
Airline seat configurations are now a national health issue.
This is the plan to spend as much as you can! You get free money from the Government! There is NO incitive to spend money wisely! Where did those tax breaks go? Employees, more jobs, bonus incitive to workers? No, to the management level AND stock buybacks! Why would you ever think these thieves would do anything less than personal gratification?