DoctorORD

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/ne...-the-year.html

To celebrate, all AA employees being given 2 confirmed roundtrip tickets anywhere in the network (NRPS), upgradable at the airport if inventory exists. Don't worry elites, they will likely be "UPGE" on the PALL list which is lower than all SWU and mileage upgrades. Still, an amazing gesture for its employees! (Unless you're already a managing director and above, which already comes with free PS travel...)

josmul123

Notice they say "stakeholders," not "customers." :P

cedric

Well done to AA and it's employees.
I believe that AA set the bar in terms of executing a merger without major hiccups.

controller1

In business-speak, stakeholders include customers which is why PR departments overuse the word.

C17PSGR

I get the stakeholder distinction .... and many of the changes have certainly not been customer friendly (but some have). However, the integration of the two airlines has been remarkable from integrating the reservation systems to the flight operations system, passengers have hardly seen the impact. In fact, I'd be surprised if there are those not on FT who know its actually still three airlines.

deeruck

I'm on FT, and I don't know it's three airlines. Are there parts that are still not integrated? I thought once they got the single operating certificate, that was it.

Edit: I see that I've forgotten the timeline, and the reservations integration happened afterwards. Anyway, what's the point about there still being three airlines?

Super80Fan

Um, how come they didn't give Flyertalk members 2 confirmed roundtrip tickets anywhere in the network?

It's like they want us to pay for their services or something...

DataPlumber

Were the editors not flying last summer when the operation was in the toilet and cancellations were high? It is as though I've warped into an alternate universe.

golfingboy

I believe that ended in Jan 2015 with an unified CBA for the pilots.

However, I think the unified contract negotiations for flight attendants are still ongoing. I notice with DL/UA the FA contract took a long time. UA just finally accomplished this feat last summer.

Nonetheless - I think AA did an incredible job integrating the airlines from the back end. My experience with AA integration of US has been very good compared to DL/NW and UA/CO - I flew over 60-80 flights a year with them during their integrations. It is the customer facing decisions thus far that have left me very disappointed, particularly with standardizing the product, making it easier for me to better leverage the combined network for my travel needs and enhancing the front end technology to empower me to make travel decisions on the go without having to depend on an agent.

TPJ

Merger was indeed smooth, but they should do something with still bad operational performance. Anyway - congrats AA!!!

Super80Fan

All jokes aside, I think (in my humble opinion) they did a pretty good job with this merger. Flew on both AA & US right before the merger, during, and the new AA right at the end/after the integration and everything was running smoothly throught the process. Can't say the same about the mess that was the UA & CO merger.

Dallas49er

Pasture Pancakes and Dog Pooh Pooh. Coming from the Financial Services industry, a "Stakeholder" is nothing more than a fancy new name for shareholder or bond holder. In other words, someone who has an financial interest in profitability.

PR and marketing rarely has any knowledge of their "product', doesn't use it, and will NEVER actually talk to an end user.

(Sarcasm on): As a Passenger (REVENUE), I am truly looking forward to an even lower upgrade clearance rate going forward, as I must now compete with even more employees (EXPENSE). I know what it says, but my experience is ... different. YMMV. (Sarcasm off)

formeraa

I believe that the integration was very smooth, compared to others over the past 3 decades. Kudos to the AA employees -- particularly those behind the scenes who get very few accolades!!

That said, it is now time for AA to work on operational performance and in-flight service. Both of these areas need significant attention.

jordyn

Indeed. I'd give AA credit for "Best Airline Merger" but the result is nonetheless not a very good airline. Still, pulling off the merger successfully and with minimal pain to customers was a good result worthy of recognition even if the name of the award ("Best Airline") doesn't seem quite right.

Always Flyin

There remains no integration of the AA/US/HP flight attendant groups.

Legacy AA flight attendants are restricted to legacy AA flight attendant bases and work under the legacy AA scheduling system.

Legacy US and HP flight attendants are restricted to legacy US/HP bases; however, the legacy HP base at PHX is treated separately. If a legacy US flight attendant transfers there, they work under the rules dedicated to that base.

There is no date set for full integration. And AA doesn't seem to be in a rush to implement full integration.