Originally Posted by birdible

I'd second all of this. AA isn't in as bad shape as I think we (at least many of us) and Kirby think. There are a lot of strong parts they've lucked into or have from previous, less bad leadership. They could turn things around in 5 years and be competitive with DL and UA in 10. But, that does require the board and C-suite doing something about it. It does seem if they don't do something, they'll start to fall so far behind that in 5-10 years they'll truly be boxed in and have a hard time recovering.

Two things I think have been highlighted but need emphasizing:
1. I've had the best soft product flying and the worst. The inconsistency in service is their biggest problem. Like, many on here, I flew over 80 segments on AA last year, and am at over 50 this year. About 1/3 of the flights are some of the best service I get. About 1/2 are neither good nor bad. But that remaining portion are truly, truly terrible experiences. They need to raise the bottom up and then push for consistency.
2. There's reason to possibly be optimistic - Nat Pieper brings a unique perspective from his time at Oneworld about how actually decent airlines run. If Isom actually lets him implement changes, like he did Vasu, we might start to see more careful, forward thinking changes. Or at least changes that stop the bleeding and turn AA in the right direction.