In a leaked memo shared by View From the Wing, American Airlines has revealed that it plans to drag managers out from behind their desks and get them on the front lines in airport concourses in a bid to address common passenger niggles like catering shortfalls and dirty airplane cabins.
For years, the Fort Worth-based carrier has boasted that its schedule is the product and that an on-time departure is more important than anything. Unfortunately, the relentless focus on the schedule above all else has taken a toll on other so-called ‘touchpoints’ that passengers really value.
While rivals like Delta and United Airlines have made a concerted push into the premium travel market, American Airlines has been left lagging, unable to command the kind of ticket prices that the airline needs to improve its lackluster financial performance.
Chief executive Robert Isom has long argued that a reliable, on-time operation is key to improving the passenger experience, and while he’s right that passengers truly value departing on time, Isom is learning that efficiency can’t come at the expense of everything else.
As part of a wider shakeup to move the dial towards a more premium experience, American Airlines says it now has a new vision for its main hubs like Dallas Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare and Miami, which will see managers moved out of the office and into airport concourses.
The idea is that managers will be able to address common issues before they impact the passenger experience – whether that be airplane cabins that haven’t been cleaned properly or catering shortfalls that leave passengers going hungry.
Central to the project is a new team of ‘subject matter experts’ who will be armed with tablets to “troubleshoot operational challenges,” while a team of ‘performance specialists’ will be deployed to make sure flight attendants are offering consistent service.
Passengers will, however, have to wait a little longer for these changes to kick in as the teams will only be deployed from June 9, and it could take some time for the project to start having any significant impact.
It also remains to be seen how American Airlines plans to compete more actively with Delta and United, who have unveiled a slew of passenger-pleasing initiatives like Tattinger Brut Champagne in some premium cabins, improved catering, and onboard amenities, as well as free Wi-Fi.
Of course, both Delta and United have also leaned heavily toward equipping their fleets with seatback entertainment screens, while American Airlines opted to go in the exact opposite direction and ripped them out of its short-haul fleet.
For now, there are no plans for American Airlines to reverse its hated ‘Project Oasis’ retrofit project, although a new era of Business Class seats on long-haul jets and a small sub-fleet of single-aisle airplanes will at least go some way to bring the carrier more upmarket.
So now American wants managers to go out and manage? The idea is appealing. Would this apply to the top brass as well or would they continue to be isolated from the actual workings of the company they purport to run? The CEO flying coach to go to some outstation to handle luggage for a few hours would do wonders for both morale and provide insight for management about what needs to be addressed in the airline.
Sounds like it’ll work wonders for at least flight attendant morale. Just when things were looking up after a long contentious contract battle, the ‘performance speicalists’ will save the day !
Are you listening, airlines of America? Are you listening, Lufthansa? Yes, we are looking at you.
About those terrible meals, hard seats, and so much more going wrong?
The principle (business school 101) is to align authority with operational responsibility.
There! Saved the airlines billions. And made millions of butts hurt less in decent seats., fed them proper meals, and cleaned the aircraft.
Next problem?
American Airlines and British Airways competing with each other in the race to the bottom.
A few sticking plasters like having these buzz word positions of “subject matter experts” and “performance specialists” armed with their tablets, won’t change anything at American unless they address the fundamental problems, and replace Isom with someone more competent.
I thought Sean Doyle was doing this at BA, after the mess that Cruz left it in, but recently things have started to take a downturn, based on the so called “customer feedback”
It’s a shame as, in my opinion, OneWorld is better than Star Alliance & SkyTeam.
At least there’s still good carriers in OneWorld, such as Qatar, Cathay & Finnair.
Robert Isom, CEO of AA, earns over 30M per year, and is worth only 39M, per a google search. So what does he do w/his earnings? Doesn’t sound like he’s personally very fiscally responsible! If you drive passengers away w/crappy service, food, amenities, then you’re doing the same as private equity firms, or Pan Am, which had how many CEOs prior to their FINAL bankruptcy filing in 1991? Doug Parker was a loser, Dp we even want to talk about Bob Crandall? Either run the damned company, or go elsewhere… Despite not being AA’s fault, how much will the lawsuits due to the DC crash cost? Dave Siegel, I believe, was the CEO who eliminated pension plans for US Airways pilots in 2003 and machinists and F/As in 2005. They all seem to make out just fine, even when their employees get screwed over. It eliminated over one BILLION in employee costs – and THEREFORE employee’s compensation. This was under the BUSH – i.e. Republican, administration. Wonder if they actually give a crap about passenger experience w/another GOP in the Oval Office, or if this is just an attempt to pretend they care? What ever ever happened to customer service? My husband is an AA pilot, and recently went out of his way to show someone where to go in the airport, and showed up late for his trip by 5 minutes. Someone was not happy, but he did his job. Complaints about F/As are ubiquitous – maybe they’re just tired of nasty terms of employment, nasty, and greedy management, and nasty passengers!
Worth 39 million when he makes 30 million a year? Sounds like a scratch off lottery ticket addiction.
Jokes aside, Isom has proven to be a pretty awful CEO overall. He’s making the right mouth noises now but until he – personally – flies coach to OKC or TYS or similar to work as a gate agent or load bags in the rain he and the rest of the management group will not understand the practical issues that customers and employees face on a daily basis.
Correction: AA did not rip out screens just from the “short haul” fleet, but also from the aircraft that serve transcons including the almost 7 hour (6:51 to be exact) Miami to Seattle flights.
AA is a visibly shoddy airline.
The management team at AA came from the worse rated airlines in the country and have no clue on how to run a first rate airline. From minimum staffing issues, bad or no food service to seats in coach that are very uncomfortable. We keep rewarding managers with big bonuses and fail to listen to their customers and employees at what’s wrong at AA. They need a guy like Crandall back who appreciated a good product you could be proud of. Hire managers who have actually who either have flown or worked at an airport. Most flight attendant managers have NEVER FLOWN.
Whoa, things must be getting really bad if they are going to make managers actually work. In The past , if they ever came out into the concourse, they usually tried to micromanage and just fouled things up even more. Break out the popcorn , because this show is about to get interesting.
Whoa, things must be getting really bad if they are going to make managers actually work. In The past , if they ever came out into the concourse, they usually tried to micromanage and just fouled things up even more. Break out the popcorn , because this show is about to get interesting.
Noticed that the plane arrived late in billings from Dallas. About 30 minutes late arrival. I noticed that once passengers were out of the plane and then incoming passengers were immediately on board. It got me wondering about the deep cleaning to disinfect with the dirty germs all over the seats and windows. Leaving uncleaniness which can cause illness and flu. Is it coming from the dirty planes? You do not want to put people in hotels to save time cutting down the cleanliness and including the bathrooms!? Leaving bad taste in my mouth and stomach.