Originally Posted by coke cans and winglets

Great points being made about culture, I think that would solve a lot of issues on its own especially with frontline employee attitude and passenger treatment. Below are some other things I'd do if I had full control.

Don't fly more than you can handle. I think it's very acceptable to cut flying in certain places to increase reliability especially in some places that are really congested and just outright dysfunctional nowadays. CLT is a great example of this where it used to be a fine airport like a decade ago but is now insufferable because of how ridiculously overcrowded it always is plus the taxi times. Things at CLT are also just an operational mess and there's just too much going on there right now to have a well run operation. There's places like CLT where I think it makes more sense to decrease frequency and emphasize larger aircraft to not flood the airport with more aircraft movement than it can realistically handle. I'll also be really interested to see how the new DFW bank structure will run this year.

Premium push, that's where the big dollars are. You aren't gonna be printing cash like Delta and United are with the Vasu Raja El Paso strategy as convenient as it is for a lot of people including myself. Premium markets are really important, I'm glad to see them finally fighting back at ORD but time will tell if it's too little too late, I hope they do well at ORD as Chicago is a city that needs hubs from both AA and UA. They've retreated a bit in LA and NYC, as for LAX, I'm hopeful they bring some stuff back once they're back at full capacity from renovations, I remember Delta out of there was a dumpster fire when T2 was being renovated but it was very much short term pain and they're excelling out of LAX now, I hope AA can find similar success. NYC is a little harder since it's slot restricted and management has made a lot of poor decisions there, I don't have a solution on how to fix that problem in the present day, but they at least need to serve every important destination they can in the short term even if the schedule options aren't as robust as Delta and United, but more on that in a minute.

Bring back TV screens. I absolutely do not think these are a necessity and I'm perfectly fine with the streaming system I can hook up to my iPad and I don't need an actual screen. What if you don't have an iPad though? You can use your phone and the device holders and it's not the end of the world, but that's also not a very big screen. You can use a laptop, but it's kinda inconvenient for a laptop to be using up your tray table the whole flight for that in my opinion. If I didn't have an iPad, I'd survive with one of the other two options, but the reality is these IFE screens are seen in the US market as a premium offering. Delta and United can have TV screens and everyone will be foaming at the mouth over it, yet the consumer will dog on American because they don't have it. The consumer here fails to mention that the United NEXT cabin on a lot of planes is almost the exact same thing in the back as an American 737-800 or MAX 8. They have the same seats, same legroom, etc. American actually has 3 power ports for each row though while United only has 2. Why are people head over heels for the United cabin though with basically the same specs? United has TVs. First class also has the same legroom on both carriers and one could also argue that United has the worst domestic first offering in the country when it comes to soft product, but the TVs make that big of a difference to the average consumer. The average consumer might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but the line "the customer is always right" actually stems from a point of consumer preferences, and consumers vastly prefer having TVs instead of a streaming system.

The AAdvantage program. Well, this one I actually would be careful with, there are tons of people who fly AA because they have the best loyalty program of the big 3 and feel like they get the best bang for their buck with it. So this isn't exactly something to make major changes to, but you can build on it. The crazy status chasers aren't what AA is making money from though, you have to do the stuff above and then use AAdvantage as a marketing tool. If they did this, they could not only have a solid product, but they'd have a strong loyalty program to match it which I think could easily win over some big spenders. If they added screens, went more premium, and had a culture shift, it would solve a lot of issues and attract customers, yes, but how do you plan on winning over Delta and United customers by offering similar products as them? They aren't going to want to go through the hassle of switching airlines if everything is vastly the same. Keeping AAdvantage as strong as it is while building on it could be a slam dunk opportunity to win people over when SkyPesos is the laughing stock of the big 3 loyalty programs and when MileagePlus still has some great things about it but United is quickly playing a game of "how can we copy Delta in the worst ways possible?" which is currently also happening with how MP is being treated nowadays. This also helps in places like Chicago and NYC where American doesn't have as strong of a schedule. If the program is that good on top of having a competent, well rounded product, it can be a driving factor in winning people over in these big markets. You have to have both though, AA has a relatively very strong program as is, but for most of the big spenders, it's not enough to compensate for the other flaws. The program and the domestic network to an extent plus some small extras are really the only things that could drive someone to AA nowadays.

The marketing. This ties into everything here. AA's marketing has been horrific for years. There's a lot going on at AA that I truly think is actually better than what UA and DL are putting out right now. The loyalty program, the new long haul cabins, the new lounges, you name it. The problem is that AA cannot market any of these positives to save their life. When AA actually tries to be good at something, they do a really good job from my experience. For example, I love the new Admirals Clubs, the new Flagship at PHL is small but I think it's really nice, and I was completely blown away by the 78P in J when I flew it a month and some change ago on a long haul. I really thought it was way better than any long haul product UA or DL has right now and it was really my favorite flight of 2025 because of how much my expectations were surpassed and by how it was by far the best long haul flight I've had on any US carrier. AA does an awful job marketing any of these things though and it's to their own detriment.

I said a lot here, but these are what my main priorities would be. Would love to know what others' thoughts are on this.