American Airlines held its annual media day last week. And there, American’s management team gave some insight into the future of the airline. In short: change on the horizon at American Airlines.
As many of you already know, I have a lot of anger and frustration with American Airlines today. American used to be my go-to airline, and then US Airways came in and ruined it. Even when top-tier elites began defecting en mass, the airline didn’t flinch. They were too busy copying their competitors and making themselves the worst legacy carrier to fly, though United didn’t help themselves in that regard. But now, the tune appears to be changing at American with a promise to change.
The Good News
- Like Alaska Air and Delta, American will rollout free in-flight chat services. The service will work over the Go-Go network on iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. And like Alaska and Delta, the service will not support photos, videos, or SMS messages.
- Main Cabin Extra passengers will have access to dedicated overhead bin space and free drinks beginning in “the first half of 2018.”
- American is continuing to invest in faster, satellite-based wifi, albeit slowly.
- Casper brand sleeping products will be available in premium cabins on certain routes.
- American finally acknowledges that award and upgrade availability is an issue. And, guess what? They’re promising to make improvements. However, how and when these changes will occur has not been announced.
- The A321 may be replacing the ancient 757s on Phoenix-Hawaii routes.
- They won’t fly the 737 MAX or A321neo transatlantic.
- In-seat power will finally make its way to the legacy US Airways fleet. But…
The Bad News
The promise of in-seat power will likely be realized when American renovates its fleet. And that fleet renovation will come at an enormous cost. During its media day, American executives announced that the Airline would be retrofitting its entire fleet of Boeing 737-800s and Airbus A321s with new, thinner seats and a reduced pitch. As a result, the economy product launched on the Airline’s new 737 MAX aircraft will spread throughout the rest of the domestic fleet. So beginning in 2019, American passengers can expect seats with less padding that are closer together (30″ pitch, down from 31″), no seatback IFE, and more seats per plane. But, at least you’ll have in-seat power and, maybe, quicker wifi.
So beginning in 2019, American passengers can expect seats with less padding that are closer together (30″ pitch, down from 31″), no seatback IFE, and more seats per plane. This means your flight will be less comfortable, you’ll have to bring your own device for entertainment, overhead bin space will be at more of a premium, and boarding/deplaning will take a little longer. But, at least you’ll have in-seat power and, maybe, quicker wifi.
The Stupid
- American will not update its app to allow native, in-app bookings. They think forcing their customers onto a mobile version of their website for reservations is still acceptable. Uh, no it’s not. American’s app is significantly slower at booking a flight than Alaska’s, or even Hawaiian’s laughable app.
- Doug Parker believes that with these changes, American will never have a loss again. That’s a really delusional statement if you ask me. This is especially true since the Airline has abandoned its Going for Great slogan a while ago, but hasn’t launched a new one. This, of course, makes it harder to tell what the Airline’s direction is. How will it better itself over the long-term? Service continues to be an issue with American, from what I hear, but there is no clear message on how that will be improved.
Change on the Horizon at American Airlines Final Thoughts
I’m glad American is finally fessing up to the fact that they’ve screwed up AAdvantage. However, I’m still extremely skeptical about the future of the program and the airline. Doug Parker and crew, from the very beginning, has lied and has prioritized lower cost at the expense of everything else. So while I’m slightly hopeful, I’m not holding my breath and will believe the change when I see it. Further, none of these changes are enough to bring me back to American. Alaska Air is still the superior airline in my opinion and will continue to receive my business. And American will continue to serve as a backup for me, only to be flown when Alaska, Hawaiian, and their partners can’t get me to where I need to go. That is contingent, of course, on American continuing to offer reciprocal benefits with Alaska Air.
It’s really amazing to see how far American has fallen. Like you, it used to be my go to Airlines. I have 3 million miles flown with them and Platinum for life. But I try to avoid them now. Alaska Air is so good that I always try to fly them first.
On the occasions when I want to use American to use Milesaver awards, they NEVER have any. Their availability is so impossible without using a ton of miles. They used to be very good with this but now it’s impossible.
Hopefully they really do change as I’d love to fly them more if they really do get better.
It’s sad, isn’t it, Earl? And hearing this from lifetime elites such as yourself just goes to show how far they have fallen. Yet, American’s management doesn’t see the issue.
And I totally agree. Recently I was pricing award flights between Hawaii and the West Coast. No sAAver awards, of course, and the going price was 90,000 miles RT. Forget it. I can get a better deal with Alaska or using Ultimate Rewards points on Alaska or Hawaiian. Now I’m just trying to figure out how to best burn the miles I have left so I can be done with AAdvantage. Unless, of course, by some miracle Doug Parker and crew realize the error in their ways and make real, material change to make AAdvantage a good program again. But I doubt that’ll happen.