It was just a couple of days ago when I said that American Airlines has been on a roll with improving its onboard experience. The latest was when American announced tequila as an onboard option starting next month, in addition to expanding the buy on board menu and snack baskets in premium cabins.
They’ve also introduced free Wi-Fi, afternoon tea on a few transatlantic flights, and other expansions to its onboard menu, all in the past couple of months. I’ve been trying to be optimistic about all of these changes just because American is my main airline, but there does seem to be a deeper vision change behind the scenes.
Gary from View from the Wing flagged some interesting quotes by American’s Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden regarding its customer experience and delivering a more premium product. This was from American’s Tell Me Why podcast, one that’s aimed at its employees but is shared publicly anyway.
The following is what stuck out from her:
“We know that customers expect more, we know that premium has become incredibly important, even in today’s uncertain economic environment, premium demand has remained solid. And we also know who is flying us now. We have a lot more younger generations flying us than we used to. More than 55% of our customers are millennials or younger, and the younger generation enjoys experiences, they value them more, and they’re willing to pay for them.”
And she’s right. Despite most airlines pulling guidance after the first quarter amid economic uncertainty, all airlines noted that premium and international demand have remained strong. It’s also no secret that Delta and United offer a far better “premium experience” than American.
Add the fact that the airline is not a low-cost carrier, but a full-service carrier where passengers have to pay more to fly with them, and American’s cost-cutting approach just doesn’t add up. At some point, it seems inevitable that the airline will be forced to reset its vision on customer experience, and these words from the Chief Customer Officer make me hopeful in that regard.
She also noted something to look out for towards the end of this summer regarding this renewed focus on customer experience.
“We have spent a lot of time meeting with others, talking internally, about what we want our vision and philosophy to be. While we’re not ready to talk about exactly what that looks like today, I can promise you that we will have something to talk about soon.”
“So for our customer vision and philosophy, we’ll probably start rolling that out once we get through the summer, maybe a little bit before. I think it’s important that we’re really thoughtful about that.”
Something’s going to change at American. Although they aren’t ready to talk about what all of this means, I’m happy to hear that these conversations are happening.
I Want American to Perform Well
Full disclosure: I’m rooting for American, and have been so since I was a kid. They’re my most flown airline, and I’ll most likely hit 1 million miles at some point. I want them to do well, but they have to invest in their product in order to do so. I feel like American has fallen into this weird space between low-cost airlines and its fellow full-service airlines, while its price to fly them is still that of a full-service airline.
All of that said, change seems to be coming at American. It’s not going to happen overnight, and they have a very steep hill to climb in order to catch up with Delta and United. But the Chief Customer Officer seems to have the right vision, and many signs and conversations point towards the airline wanting to become more premium and customer-focused. I’ve been pleased to see the changes and new additions over the past couple of months, and we’ll see what comes about as we go on with this summer.
All photos taken by the author.
