Pilots at American Airlines have criticized the Texas-based carrier over a slew of new issues, including the fact that the airline refuses to reimburse them for trips between the airport and their layover hotels using Uber Black – described by the rideshare app as the “ultimate stylish ride,” which uses professional chauffeurs who “deliver a truly elevated experience.”
The latest dig from the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents thousands of aircrew at American Airlines, came in a new internal memo that was obtained by trusted airline source JonNYC on X.
The memo came just days after American Airlines announced it would relaunch non-stop flights between Chicago O’Hare and Tokyo Narita as it seeks to better compete with United Airlines out of the Windy City, a decision that APA welcomed but with some important caveats.
“AA can lead and win with the right leadership and the right investments, but most importantly, with the willingness to confront the operational reality our pilots see each day. For too long, our daily experience on the line has stood in sharp contrast to the C-suite’s characterization of the operation,” the memo explained.
“AA cannot achieve lasting competitiveness through route announcements alone,” the memo continued. “Growth, fleet investment, and network ambition all matter. But the airline will not reach its full potential if those responsible for execution continue working with broken or unavailable tools, inconsistent support, and short-sighted decision making that undermines the customer experience.”
The memo then reeled off a list of ‘issues that ‘gaps’ that contrast the airline’s official take on improving its ‘premium’ positoning that the reality that pilots face. These include:
- Replacing an internal website for pilots, which is now more “cumbersome to locate, less functional, and more difficult to navigate.”
- Removing pilot access to an internal computer system used by gate agents to see how many connecting passengers are still to arrive, reducing pilot “situational awareness” and preventing them from being able to “advocate for passengers when operational pressures conflict with the mandate to take care of people on their journey.”
- Downgrading the quality of hotels that pilots stay in during layovers, “in the name of cost savings, while corporate overhead remains larger than that of many of our peers.”
- Introducing new cabins and better seats on some airplanes, but “accepting inconsistency in the cabin product, the operation, and the Company’s ability to deliver a premium level of service.”
- And “reassuring crews to accept substandard or potentially unsafe transportation by denying Uber Black or equivalent reimbursement.”
In the case of being allowed to claim for Uber Black, one of the rideshare apps’ most premium services, the Allied Pilots Association says that American Airlines is refusing to cover costs even when this is the “only reasonable option available late at night after a diversion.”
Last year, Hannah Nilles, Uber’s Head of Safety for the Americas, admitted that the company faces an “enormous” challenge in keeping every Uber rider safe, but claimed that with “more than a billion Uber trips happening every month, safety incidents will happen too, even if they are exceptionally rare.”
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 2, 2026
Nilles pointed to internal company data that showed that 99.9% of trips end without any issue and that it was her belief that “Uber is one of the safest ways to get from A to B.”
Uber had been accused of hiding data on 400,000 sexual assaults that occurred on its platform between 2017 and 2022, but Nilles says this represents just 0.0006% of the 6.3 billion Uber rides taken in the United States during this timeframe. The most serious incidents accounted for 0.00002% of rides.
Relations between American Airlines and its pilot workforce have, however, been strained for some time. In February, APA said it had “lost confidence in management’s ability to correct course” and that “decisive action” was now required to get the airline’s “house in order.”
APA requested an urgent meeting with AA’s board of directors to discuss their concerns, but rather than accepting that request, the board decided to offer up Robert Isom, the airline’s beleaguered chief executive, who was subject to a unanimous vote of no confidence by the flight attendant union earlier this year.
The pilot union has, though, been careful not to take part in its own vote of no confidence in Isom, saying it wants to work with management to restore American Airlines to its premium positioning. The latest memo would suggest that APA is still very much sceptical of the carrier’s strategy to do so.
For “professionals” who earn an average of $400,000 to $1M+ annually and only work typically 10 to 14 days a month, pilots do complain a lot.
Whiney little brittles.
Complaining about C suite but want to be treated like them . ” crews to accept substandard or potentially unsafe transportation by denying Uber Black” … millions of people use Uber, UberXL and I;m not sure how Black is “safe” vs any other Uber method.
Just get a cab then! NYC cabs are anything but safe
APA needs to exist because there are millions of people who would gladly work a line position on a major carrier for half the money. I wonder, if predominantly male pilots feel unsafe taking anything less than a limo, does that mean that the predominantly female flight attendants were also taking Uber Black???
As unusual as dog-chases-car news.