Omnivorous

How would you describe the organizational culture at American? Not a facetious question, I’m looking for honest opinions. Not trying to stir up any union/mgmt stew, either. Simply looking for pilots’ takes on the company culture and how it works (or doesn’t).

Thanks.

full of luv

Hey as an outsider, if you would have told me that APA was going to get profit sharing, contract improvements and raises outside a prolonged negotiation/ threat of strike back in the 90's, I'd said you were out of your mind.

So as far as APA/mgmt relations, from the outside they seem to be at an all-time-high.

MarineGrunt

Aside from so called “contract improvements” that are yet to be seen, APA had nothing to do with profit sharing or the pay raise last year.

Floobs

It's "ok". I think the company is doing things to satisfy us but just enough to get 50%+1 to support them.

It's not bad, it's not great, Its "ok" and that's just fine.
It's just a job nothing more nothing less. If you're looking for a "google" style culture then you're in the wrong industry. Even the wunderkind southwest isn't like that anymore.

cactusmike

I will take a stab at this. I come from the west side of the merger with 18 years dealing with Parker and the former AWA management style.


Management does what it needs to do to keep the wheels turning. Having said that, they will do the absolute minimum to keep the wheels turning. Pay raise, profit sharing both outside section six. Impressive on the surface but looking closer you see that the actual numbers are still behind and far behind our peers. Look for this in section six. We should have a long and detailed laundry list of contract improvements. Management will devalue these and cost them at an astronomical sum to show that they “can’t afford that”. There is no effort to improve things, only to bandage what they have and move the ball another two yards down the field. No long balls here.

Look at customer service. If you or a customer have a problem at the gate who has the authority to fix the issue? Is it the front line employee? Or is it a clipboard carrying supervisor who only wants the door to close and push early? If you have an issue will the chief pilot back you up over a gate supervisor? I think we’ve all seen the results of that survey. Nothing that interferes with a rigid door close policy is allowed. No room for common sense, no allowance for many years of flight experience that tells you when the operation is about to go tango uniform if things are not changed.

AA still has a cumbersome middle management layer. Not many departments communicate with each other effectively. I will give them credit for trying to keep us informed, Jetnet and company emails do give us lots of information. Yet simple things like fleet planning and aircraft allocations are changed constantly, sometimes within weeks of announcements.

This is still an airline firmly planted in the past. I do believe it will change but sheer inertia will prevent anything more than incremental improvements.

Omnivorous

Great comments. I appreciate your thoughts and time.

Frip

"If you want a friend, buy a dog" still very appropriate.

Come to work, do job - well, don't stir up any trouble, go home and you'll never hear anything from anyone. If you screw up, fix it, fess up and someone will say don't do that anymore - unless you get crosswise with HR for harassment or prejudice type issues - then you're in deep kimchii.

It's a great job. The company is data and especially bonus driven. You are a cog, and thst is what is expected of you. You are not going to make a difference, globally speaking.

Take care of your flight, your passengers, your crew and yourself.

meyers9163

Let’s rearrange that. Take care of yourself, your crew, your flight and passengers next. This company doesn’t want to put you first or your crew so you have to do that.

FlyPurdue

I spent 5 years at HDQ1, in roles across the commercial organization, and am now flying for one of AA's WOs.

If you read the 10K's for DL and AA, you can see that while we have near parity on our absolute CASM, it's our TRASM that lags behind DL. DL has built an extremely reliable operation, and consistent passenger experience, and has done a phenomenal job in marketing their brand as a premium brand...and if you review DL's financial statements, you will see they take a yield (average fare) premium to the industry...that is unheard of in the airline world, as we (as an industry) have unfortunately taught passengers that a seat is a seat is a seat...but not Delta.

AA leadership (and Wall Street) are absolutely aware of this gap, and are working with all employee groups to address; but because these gaps between AA and DL can fundamental in nature, the corrections take a long time to decode and implement, and may even feel backwards at times.

This 'gap' to DL, does effect overall morale (at least what I witnessed firsthand at HDQ1) and I believe is the cornerstone of our mediocre corporate culture. But as this industry is cyclical, I am optimistic that it wont be long until the industry has a gap to AAG, and every pilot (and employee) feels empowered to make global changes and improvements.

I am hopeful that I will one day be an APA pilot, and hope to use my experience at HDQ1 to better the career for all pilots.

chignutsak

Sigghhhhhh. Googoo eyes. Bats eyelashes.