American airlines covid19 measures insulting
Opinion
Today American Airlines sent an email to its loyalty customers advising of measures to protect the traveling public from the coronavirus outbreak. We couldn’t believe our eyes and ears!
Sadly the measures fall far from the mark and appear to be penned by airline bean counters more concerned about revenue than the safety of passengers.
For example, American says its is following CDC guidelines as much as possible for social distancing measures. Yet, in offering spacing options to passengers, it is only blocking half - that’s right, half - of all middle coach seats on any given flight. And changing seats is at the discretion of gate agents.
To add insult to injury, Kurt Stache, AA VP, Customer Experience, says in an online video: “Of course there may be restrictions and this is not guaranteed.”
We ask. If AA wants to retain the loyalty of its passengers, as well as help the industry to coax the traveling public back to the skies, shouldn’t it be going that extra mile? Shouldn’t it, for example, be blocking all middle seats in order to preserve social distancing?
AA has also announced reduced food and beverage service “to help customers and team members practice social distancing.”
There’s additional Admirals Club closures and service change, and a temporary suspension of checked pets (in-cabin pets and emotional support animals are still allowed).
In the widely-respected Skytrax customer survey, AA had a rough landing near the bottom in terms of food and beverage, inflight entertainment, seat comfort, staff service and value for money.
One travel journalist we contacted on this story had this to say about the airline: “I stopped flying AA years ago when they severely botched a South America trip I was on. I was stranded 3 times in 3 different cities over a bathroom flood, a missing co-pilot and general incompetence. I also almost got mugged in Guayaquil having to return from the airport at 2am to beg for my room back. AA is fun all the way!”
The US airline industry - which has taken heavy losses - will be the biggest recipient of a new emergency, taxpayer-funded stimulus package bill. Passenger airlines such as AA qualify for $25bn in loans, and another $25bn in grants. Cargo carriers will be eligible for another $8bn, divided between loans and grants.
A piece of free advice for AA: at a time when the major US airlines are begging for taxpayer-funded bailouts, and when it’s ratings are in the tank, now is not the time to shortchange the American taxpayer or the traveling public.
Kurt Stache, AA VP, Customer Experience