I noticed the same thing, it's a perfect example of middle management being a problem, and shows how on board they are with Parker's plea with them to make cultural changes. Just freakin bureaucrat's, nothing more...

AA must be full of them, only conclusion I can come to. Hoping Parker/Isom clean house.

I'm thinking about applying for the flight ops internship next year for AA. Should I even bother applying for it or should I just focus on getting all of my flight hours completed? I'm not sure if there is even a point of doing the internships because of the coming shortage in the next decade.:confused:

Both would be nice, but flight hours should be your priority.

My advice is to definitely apply. I'll be starting as a Flight Intern in January here and I can already tell the experiences I will have will be incredible, both in the Flight Academy and traveling with the flight benefits. If you have your commercial and some volunteer experience on your resume at the time you apply, you'll be very competitive. Try for a GPA north of 3.3, too.

The internship is fun, however it is time away from flying and unpaid, as I am sure you already know. I did mine quite some time ago and was able to Jump Seat and work in the Chief Pilots office in my home town. This allowed me to closer examine what it is to be an airline pilot. Many AA pilots tried to steer may away while sitting Jump Seat. I stayed the course and am happy I did. This has been a tough lifestyle yet a rewarding job, eventually. I know many have gotten the interview from being an intern, however I and many others have not. It’s a tough call, but if you can afford the time me off, I would do it. You might have better luck scoring an interview from off the street to AA. Also, go to an AA WO to insure your investment. Despite what many think, AA does hire from its WO from Off the street. If you plan to go military, skip the internship.

They are....slowly.

Another AA intern here that never heard a darn thing, no TBNT letter, 10+ years at Eagle/envoy, etc. Personally, at this point in time, I wouldn’t bother with an internship.

The internship gives great insight into the airline world, especially if that's your end goal and have had no previous exposure. I interned about 10 years ago and enjoyed every day of it. If L.S. is still running the program she is great, so are all the other interns you'll get to spend time with. There are paid internships in Flight Ops Technical, the other positions such as in the CPO are unpaid. I interned in FOT.

Whether or not an internship will be worth it given the future hiring landscape is for you to decide. IMO, 3 months of not flying but learning a whole lot and meeting great people at AA will not set you back in your career. YMMV.

As for me, I was eventually at Envoy after the internship for about 7 years as well as being in the ANG. Interviewed outside of the flow and got the CJO at both AA and another major. I chose the other major for a variety of reasons. I know of at least a handful of interns around my year group who were offered interviews at AA as well.

Good luck.

One thing to clarify is that it is now a paid internship, and it's a pretty high wage for being a college student. In my interview they seemed to really like that I was planning on going to Piedmont once I hit the regionals.