stant

Curious if anyone has any personal / forum experience that would indicate if there are any upper level executive contacts for AA to give specific employees 'attaboys' that might result in something positive for the staff in question. If so, who should I reach out to?

Case in point, every once in a while Ive been inspired to write to execs about specific personnel over on the marriott side of travel. I have written to the current ceo, the current VP of loyalty, but the only letter I ever wrote that seems to have done anything was writting to the former ceo Arne Sorensen.
not only did he contact me back and we had a little chat about my ambassador, but my ambassador let me know that Arne reached out to him and his supervisor about my letter with an attaboy added to his personnel file. Has that level of interaction ever happened with AA as far as anyone knows when someone goes above and beyond?

TIA

fly747first

Are you talking about a flight attendant you want to recognize or? Most large employee groups at AA are unionized so you writing a letter to AA's executives won't really yield much for them. I don't know if AA is still doing it, but when an employee is given a certificate of excellence I think they get entered into a raffle to win something but that's about it.

PHL

I still have some "Above and Beyond" certs that expire on 3/31/24. I don't know if they're giving out more to elites. But I've handed them out to FAs when their service seemed, to me, to go above and beyond their normal duties. I have only 1 or two left. If you are wanting to commend an employee that is unionized, it's a nice gesture but I don't think it will do anything for their career at AA unless, maybe, they want to some day apply for a non-union role and that letter is in their file showing their dedication to the company and its customers.

LowValueCustomer

yeah the US carriers' FA groups all pretty aggressively discourage exceptional service (especially by younger FAs) as it's regarded to be crossing the proverbial picket line when you begin accommodating customer requests.

stant

both a pilot and a FA.
I know the 'certificate of excellence' things you are talking about. ive never kept them because id feel like a tit giving one out. 'here you go - a little scrap of paper maybe might possibly get you something if you are very lucky'. it seems worse than your grandma giving you a nickle when you were 10 (in context - in the mid 80s) and telling you to get something nice with it.

Any other ideas if a letter wont do anything?

fly747first

I truly appreciate your good intentions, as it's important to recognize great employees. Unfortunately, both pilots and flight attendants are unionized so writing a letter on their behalf will not do anything to help them. For example, AA's corporate management can't even get the flight attendant union to agree to have Pursers/Inflight Managers with the authority to supervise and discipline fellow flight attendants the way that Pursers/Inflight Managers do at airlines in Asia and Europe. And, on the other hand, AA can't get the flight attendant union to reward members that received positive feedback from passengers.

Some flyers buy expensive chocolates when they travel in case that they get an amazing crew that they can give the chocolates to as a tangible way to recognize their hard work.

WannaTheater

I get the impression that these do have value. A few weeks ago I gave a FA one, and she was very appreciative (she seemed to be a regular on this particular route, as many on the flight knew her). She said she purchased her washer and dryer with her collection. On Sunday I gave another one. I asked if they are worth anything, and the FA said yes, once you redeem them. She stated that she has about $2K worth that she had to redeem.

I too have several expiring at the end of the month, so I've basically been handing them to the nice ones that are working.

tennessetom

I usually bring all of my above and beyond certificates and give them to the gate agents at my home airport, the first year I had them and didn’t want to toss them so I gave them all to the gate agent that happened to be working the flight when I brought them, he was very thankful and said all the agents liked them and they were kind of a game between them so could he share, I said sure, so while I am not sure they have huge value they are appreciated

I also filled out the survey and wrote how much I appreciated the effort of the gate staff, next time I flew the station manager came over and thanked me so I guess the comments are passed on, finally I wrote a complements form letter about a crew and how the took care of a medical emergency, I was called by American thanked for taking the time and told the crew would be informed

all this is to say that the regular methods of acknowledgment seem to work just fine

stant

Darn it. in this case, do you think there is anything I can do. for example do you think I could go talk to the local station chief at the airport and see if they can follow up with the crew's home airport and maybe have them forward on a gift certificate for a nice dinner or something? any ideas, even if they are pie in the sky / wouldnt have a huge chance of success, would be most appreciated...


darn it #2. i didnt know these thigns had an actual value, I thought, like was said earlier, they were just for a lottery. Ive probably let 100+ of them go to waste.

DataPlumber

You can send a compliment via the feedback section on aa.com. With sufficient detail (flt. # and date) It will eventually get back to the folks that helped you.