American Airlines Reviews in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Area

Pros

Flight benefits, fair health benefits

Cons

Impossible to get promoted from non-menagement level to the lowest management level even with an MBA. Discrimination towards foreign nationals. Very unhealthy morale and excessive backstabbing.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote real talent from within and don't pick a candidate for a new position, then post a job and waste other people's time by inteviewing them and then rejecting them. Respect your low level people who do most of the work. Observe how little your haigh paying middle level management does. Stop preferential treatment and be more objective when making promotion decisions. Give the hard working people the chance to excel and succeed, don't make a big show on how diverse this place is and how you support diversity! You don't support diversity in real life! Take a look at yourself and how you treat others! Making bif bucks and having a plush corner office doesn't give you rights to abuse power and treat others poorly.

Pros

Great travel benefits, when they can be used. A lot of good opportunities are given to people in the MBA Program and career advancement opportunities are OK considering that it's a shrinking, money-losing company (see below) but mostly because people leave. Junior and middle management are analytical and smart and for the most part know the industry, at least for the people who've been there for a while. People are down-to-earth, respectful and smart. Some politics, but not out-of-control for a company this size.

Cons

Below market pay. Above average risk of bad things happening (bankruptcy, buyout, etc.) No growth opportunities other than people leaving, which happens a lot and creates a lot of disruption. Inability of senior managment to really fix what's wrong with the company - poor labor relations, terrible IT department and systems, questionable marketing strategy (give away everything from corporate discounts to FF miles to upgrades just to keep people using your dirty, unfriendly airline). Any good idea to address big problems are generally prohibited by labor contracts. Any positive benefits would probably go to organized labor anyway, who hate management regardless of the fact that they're the highest paid labor groups in the industry and are basically killing the company.

Advice to Senior Management

See above.

Pros

Flight benefits, obviously, with the ability to take your family on visits throughout the world. Flexible work schedules. Public contact. High energy. Opportunity to work in various locations. Benefits are above average and affordable. They train you.

Cons

Very seldom get weekends or holidays off. No tuition reimbursement. No pay for knowledge; only seniority. In general, the skills are not transferable. Very difficult to advance; on some positions, they'll pay more for an outsider than to hire within.

Advice to Senior Management

Seniority is great but there should be some availability for agents to be able to get weekends and holidays off, such as 4-day, 10-hour workweeks, rotating shifts (days off), etc. I know some who've been there 25 years and still get Tue/Wed off. Also, some tuition reimbursement would be nice.

Pros

Work Schedule, travel, and hope of retrirement pension.

Cons

management/employee ratings are low, red tape bureaucracy, losing money without true goals of profit, Spend it or lose it budgets, too many chiefs not enough indians = heavy mid management.

Advice to Senior Management

Do what you say, stop talking from the side of your mouth, lead with example.

Pros

The flight benefits, which you can use for about a week in January, a week in April, and maybe in September. Otherwise, the flights or full or you can't even get the time off.

Cons

Everything is a downside these days. The morale of the employees sucks, there is strife with the labor unions and the agents. The equipment is old and outdated. The worst thing is there is no opportunity for advancement unless you are part of the "club" which is usually the most incompetent and cocky folks out there. Certain managers have had issues and problems which are obvious..but guess what, they get PROMOTED!

The upper airport management says they will develop all employees skills, but again that's a bunch of crap unless you are in their club. The managers that don't complain about that are the ones who hide in their office, drinking coffee and reading the paper until it's time to retire..there are very few that actually know the operation and care about the employees. Those of us who do give a crap and try to help.....we are the ones that are told we have a problem and are threatened with "disciplinary action" and a little "PPC"

Advice to Senior Management

Develop employees for their skills and not favoritism. You've got some absolute jerks running places/departments/regions and these jerks are driving good managers away. You all could learn alot from Southwest and Airtran. I know countless managers that have gone on to work for other companies. Not for the money so much but to feel valued.

Pros

Benefits. Flexibility of work schedule. Co-workers. Some areas are self-managed.

Cons

Limited opportunity for growth and advancement. Heavy workload. Constant threat of layoffs. It's a rollercoaster of an industry. Think twice about the aviation field. I would suggest legal or medical. American has a proud legacy, one that is filled with labor strife, unfortunately.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat people as assets, not liabilities. Follow Southwest Airlines model of people management.

Pros

Decent benefit package, collaborative peers, friendly, casual atmosphere, work life balance easy to maintain. Good performers will find it easy to move around laterally within the company and it's strongly encouraged.

Cons

Emphasis on MBA track so difficult for aspirational non-MBA peers to progress in their careers. Completely useless annual evaluation that changes metrics/focus every year. Great place to work if you don't mind the lack of career advancement opportunities. The company has a reputation for being the industry's training ground and it's well deserved as high performers who can't advance can be found at every competitor airline.

Advice to Senior Management

Ensure advancement and development opportunities for high performing non-MBA analysts. They tend to be the "knowledge-keepers" and responsible for developing the MBA's that step on them on the way up.

Pros

A well-run organization in terms of fiscal responsibility; a renewed focus (though ineffective) on employees; management's heart is in the right place, but the execution is lacking

Cons

Senior managment is out of touch with its rank-and-file groups; promotion opportunities--even for top performers--are inadequate; salaries fall way behind market. Free (or reduced-rate travel) is a nice perk, but it doesn't pay the mortage.

Advice to Senior Management

A world-class airline is within your reach, but you've got to execute on all fronts, including properly addressing your labor issues. Granted, labor's demands are usually unreasonable, but you must address the underlying groundswell of employee discontent. Until you do, you'll never be a world-class carrier because the employees make the travel experience an abysmal one.

Pros

Travel benefits, work/life balance, some great people; Rotational leadership development program: rotations between functional departments is encouraged and people are open to discussing career advancement. Alright medical/benefits; MBA pay-scale is decent.

Cons

Horrible time off to start off (14 days/year), terrible politics which weigh in on hiring decision making, very vertical - no visibility with senior management; field operations are a disaster and employees who face the customers are just disgruntled and do a disservice to the product.

Advice to Senior Management

Improve your labor relations immediately; eliminate some of the distance there is in this vertical organization; eliminate the internal politics, the gossip and have people depend on one another a little more.

Pros

Standard airline benefits such as flight concessions. Interesting industry to work in. One of the larges airlines in the USA and the world.

Cons

Little growth, so little advancement opportunities. Hard to get promotion if not connected to the right people. Little collaboration amongst different departments. Very hierarchical.

Advice to Senior Management

Make movement easier