# American Airlines and a new CEO?



## Palmetto (Oct 5, 2019)

There has been some speculation that American Airlines CEO will step aside, given the dismal performance of the airline in recent years. Most recently, a partnership with LATAM was wrested right out of the arms of American by Delta.

Speaking of Delta, some are wondering who could possible replace American CEO Doug Parker. Richard Anderson's name has surfaced, some thinking he's had it with Amtrak--which is pure speculation AFAIK.

I could see it happening. It'll put him back in a much more familiar business milieu than the one he's in now.

Thoughts?


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## Bob Dylan (Oct 5, 2019)

Palmetto said:


> There has been some speculation that American Airlines CEO will step aside, given the dismal performance of the airline in recent years. Most recently, a partnership with LATAM was wrested right out of the arms of American by Delta.
> 
> Speaking of Delta, some are wondering who could possible replace American CEO Doug Parker. Richard Anderson's name has surfaced, some thinking he's had it with Amtrak--which is pure speculation AFAIK.
> 
> ...


A great idea! Then the New President ( Amtrak Joe??) can appoint a Real Railroader as Amtrak CEO!!


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## railiner (Oct 5, 2019)

I read thru the article and the comments that followed...

A huge difference in opinion's on Doug Parker, probably based on whether the commentor was a partisan of AW, US, or AA....
And an interesting list of comments on the proposed successor's...

I have not been following the airline news lately, so was somewhat surprised at this....


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## Dakota 400 (Oct 5, 2019)

Bob Dylan said:


> A great idea! Then the New President ( Amtrak Joe??) can appoint a Real Railroader as Amtrak CEO!!



If I could "like" this more than once, I would do so!


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## railbuck (Oct 5, 2019)

Anderson could be quite successful at AA, having headed DL and NW. My first thought on seeing the thread title, though, was the fear that Doug Parker might come to Amtrak.


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## bretton88 (Oct 6, 2019)

railbuck said:


> Anderson could be quite successful at AA, having headed DL and NW. My first thought on seeing the thread title, though, was the fear that Doug Parker might come to Amtrak.


We'd all be begging for Anderson to come back if that happened. Being that the current board is largely the same board that brought Anderson in, they will will probably hire someone in that similar vein, or just promote Gardner, lol.


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## jis (Oct 6, 2019)

Until the Board changes drastically, and I don't mean with Trump appointees either, it will almost certainly be Gardner who will get bumped up.


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## Qapla (Oct 6, 2019)

They could hire me for the job at Amtrak ... don't think I could do any worse than the way it is now!


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## railiner (Oct 6, 2019)

I was wondering about the appointment of the Amtrak board of director's, and found this explanation that may be of interest to those not familiar with it...
Of note is the rule that no more than 5 of any political party can serve...
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/24302


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## Anderson (Oct 6, 2019)

True, but _that _sort of requirement is subject to all sorts of fudging. For example, how do you declare the political party of someone from a state without party registration? Also, each major party arguably has minor parties that could act as stand-ins to work around that, to say nothing of someone claiming to be an independent.


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## jiml (Oct 7, 2019)

As a lifetime AA flyer, I belong to a couple of their forums similar to this one where a potential Parker departure has drawn little or no attention. There may be no fire to go with the smoke, so possibly too early to find his replacement.


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## Palmetto (Oct 7, 2019)

I belong to a few airline forums, too, and at least one of them is just itching to see Parker go. I'm in that camp. He's done nothing but downgrade the customer experience in the last several years.


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## jiml (Oct 7, 2019)

Palmetto said:


> I belong to a few airline forums, too, and at least one of them is just itching to see Parker go. I'm in that camp. He's done nothing but downgrade the customer experience in the last several years.


I agree with you and wasn't trying to imply Parker was popular at all; just that I've seen almost nothing on this latest rumor of his demise - except here.


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## MARC Rider (Oct 8, 2019)

Palmetto said:


> I belong to a few airline forums, too, and at least one of them is just itching to see Parker go. I'm in that camp. He's done nothing but downgrade the customer experience in the last several years.


The experience of the airline industry over the past 40 years has shown that as long as you provide low fares, the passengers seem to be able to tolerate the degradation of the customer experience. From the point of view of the airline management, as long as people are still buying tickets and the company is profitable, who cares about the "customer experience." This is particularly true when it seems to be that the downgrading of the customer experience is why the business is profitable in the first place.

The American people have become poorer over the past 40 years. They're more interested in saving a buck (because they have to) and at least getting to fly over having some sort of enhanced customer experience that they can't afford. 

Looks like if anyone wants an enhanced customer experience, they'll have to be super-rich. Welcome back to the 1800s, folks.


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## Anderson (Oct 29, 2019)

The point has been made that American has the worst performance of its airline business overall (at least, of the big four). Most of the time they actually don't make money flying planes, they have the smallest market cap of the four, and there's a case that if any of the big four are going to get in trouble at the start of the next round of difficulty, they're at the top of the list. And the current mess in Latin America basically adds to (negative) speculation about longer-term prospects.


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## adamj023 (Oct 30, 2019)

Palmetto said:


> There has been some speculation that American Airlines CEO will step aside, given the dismal performance of the airline in recent years. Most recently, a partnership with LATAM was wrested right out of the arms of American by Delta.
> 
> Speaking of Delta, some are wondering who could possible replace American CEO Doug Parker. Richard Anderson's name has surfaced, some thinking he's had it with Amtrak--which is pure speculation AFAIK.
> 
> ...



Doug Parker is not going to be forced out and is not responsible for the ongoing labor issues at American Airlines. The Airline industry in general has always historically been problematic. American Airlines is doing as well as they can and the Executive leadership is not the issue.

People continue to fly American Airlines and their DFW hub for instance is as busy as ever.


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## jiml (Oct 30, 2019)

Count me as a long-term AA flyer and supporter. Since Don Carty left many years ago I haven't paid much attention to the executive suite and these latest revelations are no different. In the 32 years since I switched to them I can count the bad experiences in almost 2 million miles on one hand, and the number of times they've exceeded expectations greatly exceeds those. One of my best friends works for the competition and his airline is always in the news in a negative way. I'll take American any day.


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## adamj023 (Oct 30, 2019)

Agree. American Airlines is adding back flights it had to cancel due to the Max issues and its marketshare in hub airports is significant. Approximately 40 million passengers from March 2018 to February 2019 alone at DFW airport. If people weren’t flying American Airlines, these passenger numbers all over would be much lower. People keep bashing Doug Parker but he is doing everything correct by running AA as a business. The mechanics were slowing down jets back into service but it only affected OTA figures not business revenues.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 31, 2019)

Lately I've been flying American because AA's nearest hubs are closer than Delta or Alaska, you can book specific legroom unlike Southwest, and...it's not United. Other than that flying American feels just like flying any other airline. Sometimes they've been mildly helpful, but other times they've sold me questionable connections, left me stranded without recourse, and swallowed my points without explanation. Their premium economy service is okay but the need to double-upgrade (Basic > Main > MCE x4) just to get a real quote is annoying and tedious.


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## adamj023 (Oct 31, 2019)

Due to M&A activity, Airlines essential control their fortress hubs. There isn’t much competition for flyers and in some cases, none at all.

With that being said, AA has a decent product overall. I think United has been improving and I would not have a problem flying on United either. 

I wouldn’t fly on a small amount of airlines like Spirit and Frontier for instance. Not too fond of Delta and Southwest Airlines but would fly them.


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