A seismic shift appears to be coming to American Airlines as the carrier looks to shift its focus towards customer experience and premium products. The carrier announced the creation of a “Customer Experience” organization in a memo to employees.
American Creates a Customer Experience Team
According to the memo, American has made great strides in fortifying its operation and developing an updated commercial strategy. This included gutting the carrier’s corporate sales team, ripping out IFE screens on narrowbody planes, and cramming more seats onboard to create an “Oasis” in an effort that went so poorly First Class had to be redone.
American’s profitability has lagged behind its rivals, Delta and United, after former CEO Doug Parker confidently stated that the airline would never lose money again. While the memo to employees didn’t highlight some of the items above, it does indicate that the airline is ready to announce the next phase of its journey.
Unsurprisingly, American’s competitive advantage has eroded significantly over the years and it appears the airline is finally ready to make a change. The memo acknowledges the fact that customers are “choosing their airline based on experience and premium products” and that American wants to be their carrier of choice.
The carrier has emphasized the need for a cohesive team that can help transform how passengers engage with the airline. This new “Customer Experience” team will “advocate on behalf of customers” and look at everything along the customer journey, “from booking to bags to inflight experience.”
Scoop: American Airlines just internally announced the creation of a “Customer Experience” organization.
— JT Genter (@JTGenter) February 11, 2025
The group will “advocate on behalf of customers and provide a holistic view of the entire customer journey — from booking to bags to inflight experience to customer feedback” pic.twitter.com/fQ0dGu6mWf
While details are still scarce at this point, I’m optimistic about what’s to come as the airline is finally acknowledging it needs to create a better, more premium experience for its customers.
My Thoughts on American’s Pivot
As a former American frequent flyer, spending more than 100 flights a year on American planes, I’ve seen the steady decline from the only U.S. airline to offer a true international First Class product to one that ripped IFE screens out of its planes and neglected the interiors of its aircraft.
Eventually, I’d had enough and walked away from American, choosing to fly Delta and United instead. This is despite the fact I was based in Dallas/Ft. Worth and now call Austin home. The inconvenience was worth it since I knew I’d have modern technology, friendly crews, and a comfortable seat on an airline that would be able to get to where I was going with as little disruption as possible.
In some ways this news from American feels like validation. When flying, you truly vote with your wallet. I walked away from American, and I’m sure many others did as well, in favor of airlines that prioritized the customer experience and onboard product instead of just its route map.
I’ll be watching closely to see how and when the airline implements these changes but, for now, I’m glad to see that they are making some changes. As more updates come out I’ll be sure to report on it.
Summary
In a memo to employees, American Airlines leadership announced the creation of a Customer Experience organization that will advocate for passengers. The carrier appears to be indicating a shift back towards premium offerings after years of cuts to its onboard product.
I’m cautiously optimistic that this will be the beginning of some real changes at the airline but, we’ll have to wait and see just how far this goes.
I’m the opposite of you, a Delta refugee who moved to American. Even as a clear eyed American loyalist it’s tough to take AA’s statements at anything resembling face value. Ever since the merger the Board at AA has handed the keys to the company to one inept nincompoop after another. Isom has recently said that employees should not spend one cent more than necessary to make things better for the customer. That flies in the face of becoming the more premium airline American needs to become in order to justify their higher costs. It would be nice if American made a complete change and started doing things to make flying them better but I’m not holding my breath. Talk is cheap, whiskey costs money.
I started flying AA with regularity after moving to DFW in 2017, by 2021 I was on to greener pastures at Delta and United. All three have their flaws and I still fly AA when necessary but they had a bunch of penny pinchers in control that completely decimated the product. Now, they find themselves in a massive hole as their bet airlines would shift away from premium offerings backfired.
AA needs to get their house in order. First, they need to have their planes take people where they are going and driver their bags with them.
Still an AA Executive Platinum for many years, I now avoid AA if possible because I value getting where I’m going on time. It seems less certain that AA can do that based on recent experiences.
AA international flight at one of their hubs
delayed by a mechanical problem for 14 hours without even an apology isn’t a premium experience.