American Airlines Reviews in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Area

Pros

- If you have a strong education, you're encouraged to move around company and be promoted
- Colleagues generally love the industry - it's addictive and contagious

Cons

- Once you've been promoted about 5x, after that you have to wait for someone to retire

Advice to Senior Management

Be more aware of what's going on in the ranks - there is still an extraordinary amount of fat to cut
Pay more attention to customer service so employees feel more pride for the company
Don't offer severance packages to everyone - you lose more good people than the ones you'd want to let go

Pros

the job itself , the days off , travel, and connecting with people , isn't half bad.

Cons

Corporate culture is: the executives are all important, workers all unimportant. it's pretty bad when the VP of HR says "if you don't like it, leave!." disrespect from management at all levels. not a sincere thank you since 9/11. they'll cut your pay and benefits, and tell you you're not working hard enough. at the last stockholders meeting Arpey said Flight attendants are the LEAST productive group. only thing is, our schedules are created by management. so who's fault is that?

Advice to Senior Management

Cutting workers pay then giving yourselves 25% raises and multimillion $ bonuses while reporting operating losses is so hypocritical. Treat your employees like HUMANS and not just numbers on a balance sheet. You have lost all respect from about 90% of your employees.the 10% left is upper management.

Pros

travel benefits
mutual respect, and enjoyment of co-wokers

Cons

since 9-11 the salary and benefits are about 21% lower and the work rules have become somwhat inflexible, with longer days.
It's like a hospital ER....conditions and schedules always in flux, sometimes chaotic...if you adapt to constant change well...its a breeze.

Advice to Senior Management

some of the f/a work rules seem to be: thoughtless, ....better collaboration between management and flight crews might solve this!

Pros

Crew Scheduling was wonderful and tried to work with all FA's

Cons

Some management personnel acted jaded. Some may have worked in the industry too long, and just lost enthusiasm for the job.

Advice to Senior Management

Occasionally new blood would do good. FAs that have been FAs for 20-30 years may be a little harsher than a newer recruit. Newer employees will be a little more gung-ho to advance the company's public persona.

Pros

Variety of jobs available. Upward movement with appropriate compensation. Excellent benefits package.

Cons

Due to large company, raises are not individualized. You are not rewarded on an individual basis.

Advice to Senior Management

Get your hand out of the company till - protect your employees and retirees

Pros

Great flight benefits for myself, my friends and my family. Easy hours, very much a 9-5 job. I am well respected by my peers and I have easy access to senior management.

Cons

The beurocracy can drive you crazy. It is a very large company and sometimes you feel like a small cog. You need to work to get recognized, but in looking around there are many people that do the bare minimum to get by.

Advice to Senior Management

Monitor management productivity and performance with the same effort as used to monitor front-line employee productivity. There are many over-staffed workgroups due to weak workers forcing more work on others.

Pros

The only good thing left is the free flights, when you can get on a plane....

Cons

The upper management of this company has let it go down the toilet.

We don't have enough employees to do the job at hand. A small 1-5 minute delay causes an absolute war of finger pointing between departments as to whos "fault" it was. 45 minutes to unload passengers and bags, clean, get F/A's onboard, do a security check sometimes and then load passengers and bags is not enough. If our employees don't get it done we are told "WRITE THEM UP!" "DOCUMENT THEM"..come on, people!!

Less people working is not going to help the situation any. We are forced to "WRITE UP" good employees, for one mistake. No one is perfect. Who's fault is it that in 110 degree heat that someone may move .1 of a minute slower, or an agent god forbid should take more than 2 minutes to open an aircraft door because thought they'd get 5 minutes to take a pee break..but the airplane showed up 25 minutes early...WRITE THEM UP!! A ramp crew member passes out while cleaning an airplane because of the heat...but no one wants to hear that..if they don't work fast enough "WRITE THEM UP". A ticket agent gets a "bad letter" becuase they were "rude" enforcing a rule that the company made..."WRITE THEM UP" A ramp crew member wants to wear a light colored hat to protect their head ( OSHA advice, wear light colors)..instead of the "regulation" blue... "WRITE THEM UP".. its absurd.

Mid managment can't make any decisions about anything without "consulting" someone 1 or 2 levels up. By the time you get an answer, it's too late.

The middle level airport management is a discouraged group, we feel powerless to change anything and it's getting worse by the day.

Advice to Senior Management

wake up and face the music that the personnel cutbacks aren't cutting it. Stop playing the blame game on why our dependability is in the toilet and do something about it besides asking for "bullet points'' and a powerpoint presentation for ideas that don't cost money. The rank and file employees can only take so much abuse before even your best get discouraged. Seeing them discouraged makes mid management (us) that way as well. Managers that were friends are now enemies because someone got "thrown under the bus" for the delay blame game. It's really sad, and I don't know how it can be turned around. It seems no one listens.

Pros

Flight benefits - they are a very effective psychological hook for retaining employees.

Cons

Low salaries. Incompetent management at all levels within the IT organization. The organization is characterized by an excessive level of political correctness. For example, my unit had a tradition of contributing money to buy Christmas gifts for poor Hispanic children. Management decided we needed a more non-denominational approach so we dropped the Christmas gifts and our donations went instead to the local food bank.

Advice to Senior Management

I'll bet your stockholders wish you hadn't wasted that $2.8 billion dollars buying TWA.

Pros

Excellent flight benefits, challenging work, lots of great employee organization groups, high involvement in community and charitable activities, daily communications with all employees re: industry and company in particular are helpful

Cons

Below market pay even if you calculate in flight benefits, advancement, uncertainty of job security, short term shareholder valued over long term, union and management posturing, stock price has plummeted, some employee morale issues

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees, lessen bureaucracy, provide greater pay parity, look more to long term values and stand up to short term investors, find ways that employees can pat each other on the back more, not just customer feedback

Pros

Travel benefits and work-life balance. Medical and other insurance benefits are outstanding, with very low premiums and everything offered from legal to life insurance and more. Employees are friendly and professional.

Cons

I agree with a previous reviewer that the MBA Program is hurting the company. It created a disparity in compensation and opportunities between the MBA 'class' and other employees who also have very valuable skills and talents. Pay is well below average for jobs outside of the airline industry, but everyone knows this up front and takes it in exchange for travel benefits.

Advice to Senior Management

Revamp the MBA Program; and listen to the employees that are 'on the ground.'