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American Airlines' CEO Says the Least Important Customers Get the Worst Planes

American Airlines' CEO Says the Least Important Customers Get the Worst Planes

Old Mar 28, 2018, 3:50 pm
  #76  
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Originally Posted by cerealmarketer
Correct about PHL.

MIA / FLL. Think of the reverse. The presence of FLL siphons local traffic that would have originated in the north metro - plenty of DL/UA options there - it also served to dampen the market overall - one of many challenges Eastern faced. Not as much of an impact as a DAL, HOU, DCA, or MDW which are all closer to the city center, but MIA would be an even better operation for AA without FLL.
Agreed. The other challenge is MIA's location only really makes a worthwhile hub for flights to Caribbean, Central and South America. Hubs like CLT and ATL make excellent north-south and east-west hubs. DFW makes one of the better east-west mid-continent hubs. All of this based solely on geography and not based on the strength of the carrier serving said hubs. Obviously, the presence of other carriers in the market (DFW and ATL) can impact revenue performance of the hub as can landing fees, lease costs and a whole litany of fixed and variable costs.
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Old Mar 28, 2018, 4:11 pm
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Not really sure what the problem is. If you book a flight in J on an 787 to LHR for example its 30-50% more adjusted for mileage compared to MIA-LIM. And while I think it is a ridiculous that Y has no personal IFE on the 767 (and the electrical excuse is a flat out lie), many trans-con flights similar in flight time don't have in seat IFE or power either, so LATAM is not being singled out here. Sorry but how many passengers complaining about the 767 would actually pay more to fly on a newer aircraft? Not many.
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Old Mar 28, 2018, 8:02 pm
  #78  
 
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Really stupid thing for a CEO to say. Doesn't matter if it's right (of course it is) - wonder if someone will say his brain was hacked.
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Old Mar 28, 2018, 8:47 pm
  #79  
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Hes been saying some other, er, interesting things in these employee town halls.
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Old Mar 29, 2018, 6:11 am
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Originally Posted by CloudCoder
Every airplane must pass a regular, stringent inspection to get an airworthiness certificate. If a plane were truly a junk heap of bolts, it wouldn't be allowed to fly. Some are nicer than others, but all are operationally sound.
No one suggested that. However just because they're safe to fly doesn't mean it's operationally sound plane to operate. I loved the 747 that DL just retired. However by the end of their service operationally they could not be counted on. They would break down and you had to worry constantly about multi hour if not day long delays. It doesn't mean the plane was unsound to fly. In same regard the FA seemed to be alluding to fact that AA 767s are having the same issue.
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Old Mar 29, 2018, 8:02 am
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Originally Posted by SOBE ER DOC
In a shining example of what NOT to say to earn the loyalty of your customers, AA's CEO stuffed not one, but both feet in is mouth recently by admitting that AA intentional places crap planes and certain routes and that he has never had the pleasure of the sardine can known as the AA 737 MAX.

American Airlines' CEO Says the Least Important Customers Get the Worst Planes

Can't say anything in this article really surprises me given what I've witnessed on AA of late. Maybe Parker is banking on the fact that UA will keep messing up enough to make AA look better. It's a shame that Parker's version of "Going for Great" appears to be all about money and not about creating a (profitable) brand that is the envy of the industry.
In Tennessee they have a saying: "Thank God for Alabama." AA has a similar one" "Thank God for UA."
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Old Mar 29, 2018, 8:30 am
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Originally Posted by SOBE ER DOC
This is not a correct statement, PHL and MIA are both fortress hubs for AA. HVCs living in MIA are not big fans of driving the 30 miles to FLL to fly with a LCC. In PHL, the closest LCC hub is 80 miles down the road at BWI. Yes, there are LCC flights out of PHL but AA dominates the market.
Yet, AA somehow is leaking HVC to B6 at FLL due to mint. And it's yield has dropped in recent years due to pressure from FLL.

As for PHL, there are a lot of people between EWR/PHL that can choose between the two airports. On the other side, there is BWI airport who can pick off passengers. Although the leakage is a lot more severe for people between NJ and PA. ATL/CLT/MSP/DTW/SLC don't have anything like that to pick off passengers. So they simply can't dominate their local market as those airports.


Delta's hubs are not uncontested. ATL, MSP and DTW all have far above-average fractions of connecting passengers. While it gives them scale it shows Delta's restricted ability to gain outsize profits from locals. A route xxx-ATL-yyy competes with xxx-yyy non-stops as well as every other one-stop offering xxx-zzz-yyy. BTS data show that two of the top five operating carriers at DTW are Spirit (#3) and Southwest (#5). Delta fights B6 at JFK and with UA for the #2 position overall in NYC. SLC fights with DEN for inter-Mountain traffic. LAX...
due to their massive scales, they have very low CPE, making the connections very efficient. And while they compete as connecting hubs, they also allow them to dominate O&D markets. Even if only 60% of traffic is O&D, they are going to make a killing off that traffic when they control 99% Point of sale. In NYC where they can't control point of sale, they also don't make money. Those DL hubs are the envies of every carriers in the country.
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Old Mar 30, 2018, 2:07 pm
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Originally Posted by diver858
Horton was forced in to the bankruptcy route when labor was unwilling to accept concessions required to keep AA solvent during the last financial crisis. At the time, AA was the ONLY full service carrier not to file Chapter 11 to shed its pension responsibilities, labor left no option. Parker was well positioned, quickly worked out agreements with labor and investors, and the rest is history.
From this perspective, I have NO sympathy for AA labor, who have reaped what they have sown.
If only labor would have agreed to work for less than their contract (which AA management agreed to by the way), AA wouldnt have gone bankrupt. Management has no responsibility in this of course.
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Old Mar 30, 2018, 2:14 pm
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Originally Posted by Proudelitist
Yeah, they go to WN where a MAX is the best you can do. Funny how that's considers AA's "worst".
Except the WN Max is much better than the AA Max in Y.
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Old Mar 30, 2018, 6:26 pm
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Originally Posted by Cledaybuck

Except the WN Max is much better than the AA Max in Y.
Then don't fly in Y.
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 9:04 am
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Originally Posted by kb9522


Then don't fly in Y.
Or don't fly AA. Y is where the majority of passengers are.
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 9:12 am
  #87  
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Originally Posted by Danwriter
In Tennessee they have a saying: "Thank God for Alabama." AA has a similar one" "Thank God for UA."
In the movie "Annapolis" the saying was "Your my Mississippi"
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 11:03 am
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Originally Posted by Cledaybuck

If only labor would have agreed to work for less than their contract (which AA management agreed to by the way), AA wouldnt have gone bankrupt. Management has no responsibility in this of course.
Horton was attempting to negotiate terms favorable to those imposed after BK11, avoid impacts to their pension plan; for example, relaxation of rules to allow smaller jets (up to E175) to be flown by AE, which were already in place at DL, UA and US, putting AA at an competitive disadvantage. As the economy has improved, labor has won back more than the original compensation concessions, which would have occurred under Horton; unfortunately for us all, they did a deal with the devil, for which we are all paying dearly.
Labor has undermined AA CEOs, going back to Crandall, reasonable to expect it to only get worse under someone like Parker.
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Old Apr 20, 2018, 9:40 am
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If Doug Parker is speaking the truth, then why do passengers on CLT-SFO route get crappy dirty 321's with old seats and no IFE? I have flown this route for a couple of weeks and have seen nearly full planes, 90%+ F seats sold at RT fares exceeding $1500. Connecting # 2 and # 3 banking centers in US has to be an extremely lucrative route, yet it gets the same planes that I see flying from PHX to BNA.
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Old Apr 20, 2018, 10:04 am
  #90  
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Originally Posted by Proudelitist
Yeah, they go to WN where a MAX is the best you can do. Funny how that's considers AA's "worst".
Same seat, the Rockwell Collins Meridian. 30”pitch on AA, 32”on WN. I don’t recall if WN has the mini-lavs, suited to the Keebler elves, in their 7M8s. AA originally proposed 29” pitch for the 7M8, and AA 787-8 coach seating has gone 150 to 160 and now 172. Note WN has no first class cabin, and has 172 seats in their -8 cabins. Under Project Oasis, this coach seating will be extended to all 737s and A320 family aircraft.

It’s not the aircraft type - BA has all J seating in their transatlantic A318s, Iberia has the nice Business Plus in their mid-haul A319 - it’s what the airline chooses to do with the cabin interior. AA has gone from MRTC 34” in coach to MSTC - More Sardines Throughout Coach - because it’s truly “Going for great”. But all other factors being equal I’ll choose WN coach and more flexible ticketing if it’s a straight coach choice.
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