How to fix AA

[Lloyd Grey]

Better to come out fighting. Screw Doug Parker and the USAir merger idea. We still have the assets to win the game if we can just shed the Horton clown club and get real leadership into headquarters.

 

[Buck]

I think to fix AA, this country needs to institute tax reform with the Fair Tax

 

[AC Tynker]

I think to fix AA, this country needs to institute tax reform with the Fair Tax

Ok I'll bite, how would that fix AA?

 

[topDawg]

You need happy front line employees to deliver a good product to your customers, she says. And in the case of an airline, that product needs to be safe. "Every day people are deciding whether or not to board that plane and every day they can make different choices. The American board and top management need to take this incredibly seriously".


http://www.cnn.com/2...deas/index.html



The airline industry is famous for "barrowing" ideas that work from one airline to the next. But it seems as though AA has never gotten around to looking at the good relations that SWA has with their employees.

Having company friendly work rules with high pay is OK, but having low pay and bad work rules makes for an unhappy workforce.

from an outsider looking in........find a CEO that isn't a complete idiot when dealing with people. I strongly recommend that if your going to bend employees over and tell them to get ready.....the CEO should be the first one.

oh and going to in BK pretty much *just* to screw the employees is no way to make friends......AA's BK has been about the biggest joke i have seen.

 

[eolesen]

How to fix AA #3.

1. Fire all of upper management. (this seems to be a given)
2. Hire eolesen. He knows all, sees all, (ask him) and can run AA better than what we got.
3. I suspect that he would be happy to be back at AA.

Nope, no interest whatsoever.

Guys like you are are a cancer, and no money or management team in the world can fix that.

Guys like you have blamed management perpetually for all the problems at AA. If AA were to swap out for WN's or US's management tomorrow, I could guarantee that within two years, you'd be pissing and moaning about that management team as well.

Sorry, but AA's tried to fix it. They might still manage to sell it, but the buyer would be better off if they'd just tank it.

 

[1AA]

Better to come out fighting. Screw Doug Parker and the USAir merger idea. We still have the assets to win the game if we can just shed the Horton clown club and get real leadership into headquarters.

Bob Crandall

 

[eolesen]

Bob Crandall

Sorry, but he's also said "NFW" multiple times in private and public.

 

[FA Mikey]

Here is how Bob Crandall respaonds to a pilot about the American situation

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2012/09/robert-crandall-responds-to-a-pilot-about-the-american-airlines-situation.html/

Here’s the bottom line on “Respect”. Every employee – from fleet service to chairman – deserves the respect of every other employee. Respect requires courtesy, and any employee, or any employee group that speaks ill of another renounces their own claim to either. And finally, respect implies a willingness to settle disputes within the context of the protocols of law and process that free societies from the grip of anarchy. ​

You go on to observe that “the pilots of American are highly skilled, trained professionals directly responsible for the safe operation of over two thousand flights daily. Their contributions merit a plan which includes them as part of a solution to what ails American”. I find nothing in that statement with which I disagree, nor with which Tom Horton or other senior executives would disagree. But I’m not clear about why you think the pilots do not have a major part of the plan going forward. The pilots, as you well know, recently voted down the Company’s LBFO. That proposal, if approved, would have awarded the pilots a generous piece of equity, would have allowed the pilot group a substantial voice in the governance of the new company and did not – so far as I know – impose conditions materially different from those in effect at other major airlines. Thus, I was and remain mystified as to why the pilots – having turned down an agreement materially better than the company’s original proposals, are now angry that alternative proposals are being implemented. Wasn’t that always the clear alternative to approval?​

As a first step, I think everyone has to give management a shot. Tom Horton has been in charge for only 10 months. He cannot be held responsible for every decision and action taken during the last decade. He’ll have to earn your respect, but he deserves a chance to do so.

 

[WorldTraveler]

.
Sorry, but AA's tried to fix it. They might still manage to sell it, but the buyer would be better off if they'd just tank it.

those are pretty powerful words... and I'm not sure are totally accurate.

I'm not sure that AA mgmt has done all it could to restore a better labor-mgmt environment. Other companies within and outside the airline industry have managed to regain labor's confidence, even after years of toxic labor relations.

I'm not giving anyone a pass... but I also certainly don't think AA mgmt has done its part to turn things around.
The fact that the pilots are gaining some level of response for their demands to reconsider cuts shows that type of confrontational style of labor relations does produce some level of results - and won't change as long as mgmt continues to choose to operate in that environment.

on another note, Ted Reed says that AA is not like EA as many have compared it but in some ways is more like PA. Not sure if there is any salvation since both are long gone but his insights are interesting.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11731631/1/american-is-no-longer-the-best-airline--but-it-isnt-eastern.html

 

[777 / 767 / 757 Love]

Nope, no interest whatsoever.

Guys like you are are a cancer, and no money or management team in the world can fix that.

Guys like you have blamed management perpetually for all the problems at AA. If AA were to swap out for WN's or US's management tomorrow, I could guarantee that within two years, you'd be pissing and moaning about that management team as well.

Sorry, but AA's tried to fix it. They might still manage to sell it, but the buyer would be better off if they'd just tank it.

I think this about sums up why the employees have no respect for mangement (and btw, I'm an EXP, not an employee):

http://www.examiner....d-indiscretions

Want to fix AA? Hope that B6 gets in the mix, and its the B6 team that winds up taking over, with the AA team being completely cleared out.......is that a perfect solution, hell no, but a hell of a lot better than Parker taking over.

Course, JetBlue wants no part of that merger, so guess its Parker and company followed by BK #2 for AA within 36-48 months.

I should add that Horton does deserve a chance, he did a great job at ATT and I know bottom employees as well as a former senior executive who says that place runs great, especially in the area of mangement / employee relations. I just think this 757 fiasco and blaming soda and stuff reminds me too much of the old management team.......


Cheers,
777 / 767 / 757

 

[DNTULSA]

Nope, no interest whatsoever.

Guys like you are are a cancer, and no money or management team in the world can fix that.

Guys like you have blamed management perpetually for all the problems at AA. If AA were to swap out for WN's or US's management tomorrow, I could guarantee that within two years, you'd be pissing and moaning about that management team as well.

Sorry, but AA's tried to fix it. They might still manage to sell it, but the buyer would be better off if they'd just tank it.

I love it when you talk dirty eieio!

You don't work for AA, but you come across as knowing everything!

How did AA let a treasure like you get away?

They must have had a lower opinion of you than I do...

 

[eolesen]

Say what you want about me if it makes you feel better, and blame management as the antagonists, but the fact still remains that the largest employee groups declared war on AA in 2005, and haven't done anything productive to improve the working relationship with management in the past seven years.

I'd love to see JetBlue come in and take over, but they obviously see their culture as being worth preserving. If AA's employees were indeed desirable, they'd hire more of them. Instead, they're being pretty selective. The day Bob Owens gets hired there, I'll retract this...

 

[DNTULSA]

Hey Eric,

Do you work for Jetblue?

 

[strikeforce]

Say what you want about me if it makes you feel better, and blame management as the antagonists, but the fact still remains that the largest employee groups declared war on AA in 2005, and haven't done anything productive to improve the working relationship with management in the past seven years.

I'd love to see JetBlue come in and take over, but they obviously see their culture as being worth preserving. If AA's employees were indeed desirable, they'd hire more of them. Instead, they're being pretty selective. The day Bob Owens gets hired there, I'll retract this...

about time you admit that AA management needs to get booted........thanks E.

 

[jimntx]

but the fact still remains that the largest employee groups declared war on AA in 2005, and haven't done anything productive to improve the working relationship with management in the past seven years.

Leave it to you to put a pro-management spin on the situation and leave out the most telling facts--namely that the relationship started down the tubes when management took the concessions money that WE gave them in 2003 and awarded themselves bonusses instead of using the money to fix the problems. Remember the April 15th when we announced a loss for the first quarter of the year in the amount of $324 million and the same day the executives accepted $9 million in bonusses. Bonusses are for exceeding expectations, not for just not quitting and not dying. Oh, and buying a $20 million townhouse in Mayfair. Now there was an essential need if there ever was one.

And, spare me the argument that their contracts required them to accept the bonusses. Not buying that one. They could have simply said, "No, thank you. We lost a lot of money last quarter. I really couldn't in good conscience accept a bonus."