I actually think that this move is bad for flyers because Dougie will be more inclined to act in a manner that satisfies investors over that of employees and the AA customers. He will obviously see a huge short-term gain as he reduces headcount from 100k to 80k, but then he will have to implement draconian Smisek-like enhancements to satisfy the earnings-hungry shareholders.
Well, this is the CEO's number one job - to create shareholder value. Employees and customers be damned! Gordon Bethune and Herb Kelleher took a different approach and put employees first, which had a positive trickle down effect to the customers and - eventually - shareholders.
That being said, Doug learned some good lessons after the HP-US merger about the perils of jumping over quarters to save pennies. Hopefully he hasn't forgotten how to create shareholder value and continue to operate the airline with decent performance/service stats, which should lead to happy customers and employees.