I am somewhat stunned at the lack of nominations for choices of Airline of the Year.  That said, I did manage to spend quite a bit of time thinking about the subject.

Domestic airline of the year isn’t hard and withour further ado, I name:

American Airlines

Believe it or not, it was a touch call.  I did consider Southwest Airlines as well for the obvious reasons of its own moves throughout 2011.  However, I think that American Airlines was more consistently in the news for both good and bad reasons.  The airline spent 2011 managing its problems, announcing poor financial results, trying to come to agreements with its labor groups (and sometimes failing), buying a new fleet from both Boeing and Airbus and, finally, announcing its bankruptcy.   Southwest Airlines was in the news quite a bit as well but more inconsistently overall.

For International Airline of the Year, it was harder.  A number of airlines made heavy news at one point or another.  Most recently, QANTAS had quite a thundercloud around it with its shutout of labor.   Lion Air made noise with its Boeing 737MAX purchase committment as well.  LAN and TAM airlines were prominent as a function of their tortured merger needing approval in 2 different South American countries. 

 But there is one airline who did make more noise as a function of its creation and how its managed its brands.  For International Airline of the Year, I name:

International Airlines Group (IAG), operator of the British Airways and Iberia .

IAG is perceived as an airline holding company but it really isn’t operating like that and for proof look no further to Willie Walsh and his prominence in answering Iberia’s labor problems late in the year.  They are two brands that will operate and are already operating quite closely together.  They’ll harmonize more over time but IAG is “the airline”. 

In addition to operating as an airline in 2011, Willie Walsh’s prominence on issues regarding both brands and aircraft purchases, IAG also managed to snatch the purchase of BMI right out from under Virgin Atlantic (though the deal still has to be approved in the European Union.)

Over the next many days, I’ll be doing my traditional year in review for 2011 on what has happened and what will happen with airlines in 2012.

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It’s been revealed that American Airlines had been engaged in preparations for bankruptcy weeks in advance having engaged Rothchild’s as a financial advisor in the process.  AA is now asking its bankruptcy judge to retroactively approve Rothchild’s services for the course of its reorganization.

Some may think this shows a darker side to what led up to the bankruptcy but it really comes as no surprise to me.  The mere fact that American did file for bankruptcy was proof they were preparing for it as it is no trivial process and requires answering a lot of “what ifs” if you plan to do it right.

American Airlines would likely need financial advice during the process and having a heavyweight like Rothchild’s on its side makes for a smoother discussion with a variety of creditors.  The judge will approve Rothchild’s and Rothchild’s will earn its money over the course of reorganization.

However, the success of the reorganization remains in the hands of the executive team at American Airlines and that’s as it should be.

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Southwest Airlines and Airtran flight attendants have come to an agreement on merging their seniority lists now and it smells like a similar deal to what the pilots enjoyed.

SWA flight attendants, 10,000 strong, receive enhanced job security and seniority while Airtran flight attendants get an Atlanta base and better wages.  I would not be surprised if Atlanta is “fenced off” as a flight attendant base for former Airtran flight attendants for a period of time.

Both unions have to vote to ratify the agreement but expect that to be done quickly as there is no incentive to try to wait things out if the pilots’ negotiations are anything to go by.

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Last week, the FAA issued its new pilot fatigue rules and I’ve expected airlines to decry the changes because there will be some impact to the productivity that many are taking advantage of based on the current rules.  The FAA recognized that no one rule would necessarily address the problem and therefore came up with a system to guide just how long a pilot may be on duty.

The system takes into account night flying, duty hours as a whole and, most importantly, the need to provide a real opportunity for a pilot to get a real 8 hours of sleep.  For example, under current rules a pilot rest time can be as little as 8 hours and it starts when he/she walks off the aircraft.  That doesn’t take into account the very real needs to A) transport oneself to a bed, eat, bath, and transport oneself back to the aircraft at duty reporting time.  In the real world and under the existing rules, a pilot’s real rest time could often be reduced to as little as 5 hours of sleep.

Now, a pilot gets a minimum of 10 hours of “rest” time and I think that’s a good thing. 

The impact to the airlines may be real but it also is level set among all the airlines.  Costs will likely go up some and, if they do, you can bet air fares will too.  The incremental increase in costs, however, should be fairly minimal. 

Cargo carriers are, apparently, being given the opportunity to opt out of these new rules.  On the surface, this may well seem like a bad idea since their flying is predominantly night flying.  However, the cargo carriers do have significantly different circumstances under which they fly.  In general, their flying is less stressful and less prone to delays and more straightforward.  Today, I can’t find a real objection to allowing a carrier to opt out of these although I suspect the unions for these carriers would disagree with me.

As with all new rules, it will take a while for the consequences to shake out and reveal themselves.  I honestly can’t fathom just how this may impact union contracts but I suspect there will be some things that will need to get renegotiated in the near future. 

Will this prevent incidents based on fatigue?  Yes, on the surface, it should help with the number of fatigue related incidents.  With that said, I should also point out that the fundamental responsibility for following these rules and managing fatigue continue to lie with both the airlines and the pilots.  In other words, there is much more opportunity here for pilots to manage their fatigue but it is also the pilots who must use that opportunity to actually get better rest and benefit from the rules.

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Virgin America flight attendants have voted to remain a non-union shop with 223 voting for unionization and 324 voting no.  Under the both the new and old rules of the NMB, Virgin flight attendants would remain a non-union group.

It’s interesting to me that despite new airlines growth into larger and larger organizations and despite the perceived job protections and benefits afforded several labor groups at highly unionized airlines, these new airlines labor groups are generally all voting no to union leadership.

That makes me wonder if the perceived value of union leadership is just that diminished or are the airlines themselves simply doing a good and proper job in the way they treat these labor groups?  What is telling is that no one at these non-union airlines is suffering when it comes to work conditions and none are being fired arbitrarily either.  In fact, one could argue that at least one airline, Delta, treats its flight attendants generally better than most and particularly so for the most junior segment. 

These are curious times for unions as all have failed to gain ground and some have lost ground in these labor groups.

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A startup airline calling itself Odyssey Airlines has ordered 10 Bombardier CSeries aircraft to use on a startup venture providing business class service between London (London City Airport) and New York City (JFK) in direct competition with British Airways who currently provides such service with A318 aircraft.

The airline says that by using these aircraft, a stop in Ireland wouldn’t be necessary. 

I’m scratching my head over this.  The CSeries is planned to offer as much as 2800nm of range and that route is about 3500nm in distance.  Granted, reducing the seat count makes for a lighter aircraft and stretches range but this still feels a touch pie in the sky at this moment.

In addition, how many seats can you fly and will it really make sense on a trip cost and per seat cost basis?  I’m going to guess that, at most, they’ll manage a 2-1 aisle configuration and no more rows than the BA A318 (8 rows) giving just 24 seats vs British Airways’ 32 seats.  That doesn’t feel warm and fuzzy either.  Yes, BA has to stop in Ireland on the way to NYC.  It also has the infrastructure there to do that with very small incremental costs. 

Furthermore, British Airways has a business class brand and the infrastructure in both London and New York to make the business class traveler feel pampered.  It’s a trusted service product and I don’t think you can pop up and attract travelers to your business without lowering prices substantially.  The truth is, these flights aren’t sold on price anyway.  They’re sold on service and if others can’t beat British Airways service, what makes Odyssey think they can?

This is a stinky plan, in my opinion, using the wrong aircraft (which *will* need ETOPS to do this by the way) and I don’t think it gets off the ground in the long run.  If the demand is actually there already, British Airways would serve it with more frequencies using more A318s.  They might not have anymore in the fleet but sourcing a long haul A318 isn’t exactly hard to do since anyone who owns one is generally looking to sell it.

I do not see this taking off, pun intended, and I think it’s more publicity related than anything else since you don’t need 10 aircraft to do the London-NYC run from London City Airport.  One wonders if there is another agenda going on with this startup that hasn’t been revealed yet.

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Wow.  So far, I’ve heard nothing but crickets chirping on my solicitatioin for suggestions on Airline of the Year choices.  You can read that post HERE.

There is still time.  Make you best suggesetions!

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By now, most of you have heard of the choice little asset listed in American Airlines’ bankruptcy that is a house in London potentially worth $30 million or more.  The townhouse has been used over the years as a place to stay for executives and has occasionally hosted AMR events as well. 

To say that most found it objectionable would be an understatement.  American points out that it bought the place for considerably less and many years ago.   All very true but considerably less was apparently $13 million and it does point out a disease that many companies and especially airlines often get.

There has been a growing opinion that airline executives are underpaid compared to other industries and that is quite true.  What doesn’t get spoken very often is that one could argue that those other industry executives are likely *overpaid*.   It’s thought that talent follows the money and while I think there is a grain of truth there, I would argue that talent chases the challenges far more than the money.  Airlines present a set of challenges that are addicting for the management executive.

Here is my objection.  No company, airline or otherwise, needs to own a townhouse in London for occasional use costing millions.  Just as no company really needs to own Gulfstream jets.  $13 million can pay for a lot of nice hotel suites for executives and for a lot of hotel banquet area for events.  To have continued to own that property prior to bankruptcy or even prior to 2002, really is insulting to both shareholders and employees. 

What’s more, it makes one wonder what other dirty little secrets there are about extravagance with company funds.  I’ll point out that $30 million can almost pay for a 737-800 at the prices American was paying.   Furthermore, it lends credence to labor unions and their claims of executives lining their pockets.  Where that is true, or not, isn’t the point. 

Owning that property wasn’t very transparent or responsible on American’s part.

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Delta Airlines, not unexpectedly, made a big announcement last Friday about its plans for New York City upon consummation of its slot swap deal with US Airways.  That announcement included a number of bold statements including Richard Anderson offering that Delta intended to build a hub.  So far, no surprises.

Where it gets interesting is Delta announced plans to introduce multiple daily round trip flights to other airline’s hubs.  American Airlines gets to defend against them on routes from New York La Guardia to Dallas / Fort Worth and Miami.  These are major cornerstone routes for American and its cornerstone strategy for its existing hubs.

United Airlines sees encroachment on routes to Houston and Denver.  Both cities are fortress hubs for United and both will be defended strongly.  US Airways gets to fight off Delta on routes to and from Charlotte although generally only with smaller Bombardier 70+ seat jets. 

From a personal point of view, I’m glad to see Delta enter the DFW-NYC market.  I’m glad to see American Airlines get the competition it should have on those routes because the prices on those routes are exorbitant.  Frankly, I had hoped that we would see Virgin America or JetBlue run the route but I’ll take Delta.   The timing is good for adding those routes because it will be 2 more years before Southwest can run that route non-stop and American Airlines now has to pay attention to reorganization under bankruptcy for the next 18 to 24 months.  Delta has a rare window of opportunity to exploit those vulnerabilities.

It’s also notable that Delta isn’t just investing in La Guardia but intends to transform its JFK operations into a focus on trans-continental and international long haul flights.  This, too, is an attack at the heart of American Airlines’ operations.

The greater picture is more interesting.  I’ve long felt that the SuperLegacy airlines would eventually arrive at the conclusion that to grow, they would have to start exploiting each other’s weaknesses at other hubs.  To me, it seemed inevitable but I also thought that the airline that would really get picked on would be American Airlines because of its higher cost structure.  It the lowest hanging fruit from that perspective.

I wasn’t wrong.  In a way, American Airlines isn’t just getting picked on with respect to two routes.  Those two routes represent a war cry of sorts.  However, the major expansion that Delta is about to engage in at La Guardia.  Delta makes it clear that it intends to own that market and owning a good portion of New York City is a profitable thing.

The problem for American Airlines is that, right now, it has higher labor costs, less efficient aircraft and little maneuvering room to fight off competition.  They’ll be fixing that and they are likely to come out with similar labor costs to Delta and United.  However, they are still a long way away from having the benefits of a relatively efficient fleet.

Another problem is that Delta (and other airlines) now have probably at least 18 months to attack American Airlines on its home turf secure in the knowledge that they can do so without too many consequences. 

It’s also interesting to me that Delta felt it was possible to encroach on two airlines’ (US Airways and United) mainstay routes with success.  That’s where the hub mentality comes into play.  To be a hub, one must have those mainstay routes.  Typically, New York City generally doesn’t serve as a hub in the form that we see in Atlanta, Chicago and DFW.  Delta wants to make it more like that and it’s clearly willing to invest heavily to make it happen.  It’s notable that Delta is *able* to invest heavily to do that.  It’s the only airline that can right now.

I’m pretty sure we’re seeing the dawn of a new form of competition among US airlines and I’m pretty sure it gets pretty bloody in, perhaps, 5 years or so.  I think the smaller airlines and the low cost carriers are going to be shocked at the vicious nature of the competition that is about to take place.  The cost structures are far more similar than ever before in the US airline market and the advantages are slim.  But the war chests to fight will be big among the largest airlines.

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I thought it would be interesting to name an Airline of the Year much in the manner of Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.  That meant criteria would be needed.

Keeping things simple, here is what I came up with.

1) The airline chosen would be a newsmaker and this award would not be chosen based on positives or negatives achieved in the news over the last year.  It’s notoriety in the news period would be the determining factor.  For example, that means a bankrupt airline could be the chosen airline or the airline who managed an industry coup with an acquisition might be a good choice.

2)  Nominees who were in the news simply because of their own PR efforts would be excluded.  Henceforth, we’ll call this the Ryanair Rule.  Sorry Michael but announcing Porn on a Plane won’t qualify your airline for consideration.  Spirit Airlines should note that their PR efforts are also excluded.

3)  Because I’m US based and US focused, I will choose a US Airline of the Year and an International Airline of the Year.

Now, I would like to make this choice on or before January 1.  Actually, I would like to make this choice and announce it sooner than that.  With that in mind, I would like to ask you, The Reader, to make suggestions based on the above criteria via the comment section of this post. 

Here is what I want:

1)  Your nominee(s) for US Airline of the Year and/or International Airline of the Year.

2)  A reason why you think the airline was a worthy nominee based on its notoriety in the news

If I don’t hear from you, I’ll just make my own choices but I would like this to be driven by readers as I think some input will remind us more of what was going on in the airline industry in the first half of the year as opposed to the airplay airlines have seen in the past few months.

I invite you to encourage others to visit the site and offer their own suggestions.  The greater the participation, the more interesting this gets.

I’ll ask for you comments to be in by midnight CST Friday, December 23.

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The FAA has just given approval to American Airlines to use iPads in the cockpit at all times including during take-offs and landings.  This would be the same device that just got Alec Baldwin into hot water on American Airlines for use during time at the gate and/or taxi.

I’m not defending Baldwin.  To the contrary, I think that, once more, a celebrity has gone too far in their denouncement of an airline.

Use of these devices probably should be limited during those times.  On the other hand, if there is good reason for their limits for passengers, I can’t fathom a reason why it is OK for pilots.  Particularly since pilots happen to be at the pointy end of the airplane where all the electronics are located.  

disclaimer:  I work for a major aerospace company and I *know* that interference from electronic devices has been experienced and is a risk albeit a very minor one.   There is a reason why we take extra precautious during take-offs and landings.  Those are the two very critical moments for danger when it comes to airliners.  They are more at their limits than at any other time.  Something causing even a minor problem can be a real risk at those moments.

And it’s a risk that can be easily mitigated.  Do we really need to have our devices on at *all* times during our trip?  No, really don’t.  And acting like children because you were asked to shut them off just makes you look silly.

But granting the authority to use them in those very same situations to pilots makes the FAA look awfully silly too.

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The Communications Workers of America have filed with the NMB (National Mediation Board) to have an election to represent American Airlines passenger service agents.  The NMB will decide who should represent the passenger service agents and then set an election.

American Airlines says it respects the rights of its workers to organize and points out that it has excellent communications with this work staff. 

I rather suspect that what American Airlines would like to say is “Give us a break.” 

No doubt the CWA senses it has an opportunity here in that American can hardly afford to fight this battle very well during bankruptcy and I’m sure the CWA becomes a much more attractive choice for passenger service agents who probably feel pretty strongly that they would like to have a seat at the table when it comes to AA’s bankruptcy reorganization.

I’ve already pointed out that AA’s major unions all won a seat on the unsecured creditors committee and when you have such a seat, you have a major voice in who and how the airline is run during reorganization.

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Lufthansa has announced its intention to use the A380 on flights to Houston next year in August.   The airline currently uses the 747-400 for a once daily service between Houston and Frankfurt.  That’s an increase of capacity of at least seats.

It’s difficult to guess whether or not that is justified but I suspect that this might be more about retiring 747-400 aircraft and an A380 can provide the lift for the same costs. 

Lufthansa is also a 747-8i customer and I think we’ll see that aircraft used on routes like that as it is introduced into the fleet.  However, it is possible that United and Lufthansa will engage in a strong codeshare and funnel more traffic onto the Lufthansa flight.  United (Continental) currently flies a 767-400 on the route and it is quite possible they’ll reduce that flight to a 767-300 or even a 787.

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JetBlue is coming to DFW. 

I’m rather surprised that they could not find one more Caribbean island to start service to but here we are:  JetBlue is coming to the DFW area too.

Now, it’s not a real deep commitment.  It’s 3 daily round trips from the Dallas / Fort Worth area to Boston and they’ll be using their Embraer E-190 100 seat aircraft for those flights.  The aircraft itself isn’t bad, particularly on JetBlue where minimum seat pitch is 33″ and the seat widths are just a hair wider than what is found on the typical A320 aircraft.   That said, it’s one inch less seat pitch than the standard JetBlue A320 and JetBlue’s main attraction, in my opinion, is the level of seat comfort offered.

I’m always pleased to see new entrants in the DFW area and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these flights showed up a  week after American filed bankruptcy.   I also expect to see others swooping in to pick up business on high fare American Airlines routes in the near future.  This is one moment in time where American can’t hit back and many airlines will see significant opportunity. 

I fully expect that the guys at Virgin America are having numerous conversations about both Dallas and Chicago.

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As a result of the October snow storm delays that occurred at several Northeast airports, the FAA is moving to address those delays rapidly as it finds itself entering the Winter season.

Does this mean more punitivie measures against airlines?  No.

The delays experienced a month ago were the result of diversions to airports that overwhelmed the airports’ abilities to deal with the aircraft and passengers.  Boston refused additional diversions, for instance, due to problems they were experiencing and that caused Hartford to become more overwhelmed than is usual. 

How will they do it?  By bringing those diversions airports into teleconferences and planning sessions when those areas are about to be affected by weather.  Oddly enough, this isn’t done much to date.  But if airlines and airports are part of the discussion as to what is happening at what airport, they’ll be much more aware of conditions at airports they are considering for diversions. 

For example, if airlines had known that Hartford was becoming overwhelmed, they likely would have chosen any number of other airports in the Northeast to divert to.  And if those airports knew they were becoming the airport of choice for diversions, they will be much more likely to manage themselves appropriately including communicating earlier on when they are becoming overwhelmed.

It’s a good, practical solution and fairly easy to implement.  The people involved from the FAA to airlines to airports are all professionals and capable to making rapid decisions based on changing conditions.

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One of the things to come out of American Airlines’ bankruptcy filing is that they intend to ask permission to get out of 24 aircraft leases.  That would be 20 very old MD-80 series aircraft and 4 Fokker 100 aircraft. 

All are currently parked in Roswell, NM. 

American has had those Fokker aircraft parked for a very long time and never found buyers or lessors for them.  The MD-80 aircraft are just plain worn out and too costly to fly. 

It’s not a stupid move on the part of AA with respect to its costs.  It will, however, no doubt anger lessors who were earning quite a nice revenue stream on parked aircraft.  It isn’t always wise to anger the leasing world when you have big plans for fleet renewal.  If it remains only these aircraft, the damage to reputation will be miminal at worst.

I think, however, this is just the tip of the iceberg.  I suspect we’ll see many, many more MD-80 series added to that list for no other reason than they have little or no value to AA when they can get shiney new, efficient airplanes from Boeing and Airbus.

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So, WestJet has confirmed that it was the winner of one bundle of La Guardia airport slots in the recent auction (as a result of the Delta / US airways deal) and some sources say that JetBlue won the other two bundles. 

I find this disappointing.  If JetBlue was the high bidder, I have to ask how we’re better served by an airline already fully entrenched in the North Eastern corridor gaining more of a foothold in two strong markets? 

On the other hand, how often can Southwest afford to make low ball bids to enter slot controlled markets?  (Presuming it did bid and I feel sure they did.) 

Yes, I wanted Southwest to win those slots.  I wanted to see pressure on airlines such as JetBlue and United to get with the program and start competing more aggressively again.  I think both airlinese have acted to consolidate their positions without attempting to actually, you know, really grow into new markets.

The trend of entrenchment isn’t going to serve any public interest.  It will stave off bankruptcies for SuperLegacy airlines and even allow them to earn fair sized profits.  I’ve nothing against profits but I’ve seen the results of entrenchment first hand.

I live in the DFW area where Southwest is entrenched at Love Field holding a death grip on regional flying and where American Airlines has a stranglehold on national flying.  Let me tell you that it is neither fun nor affordable when an airline is entrenched into a market to the exclusion of every other airline.

And that’s what we have going on in the Northeast Corridor.  Delta (JFK and La Guardia) is gaining step by step in the New York area with JetBlue (JFK and now La Guardia) the incumbent (and rather lazy) LCC carrier.  United Airlines has a death grip on Newark Airport.  

In the Washington DC Area, we have dominance by US Airways (National) and United Airlines (Dulles).  This isn’t good.  We aren’t promoting healthy competition and we aren’t allowing the most efficient airlines to serve these routes.

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Two commenters in the media caught my attention.  First, Gordon Bethune, the former CEO of Continental Airlines who said:

“This is the inevitability of an irrational workforce.”

Certainly true but it struck me that Bethune chose not to comment on the lack of leadership at American Airlines when it came to finding an agreement with the workforce.  I cannot say that I have seen good leadership.  Perhaps American Airlines has proposed good and decent contracts but they, and particularly Gerard Arpey, seemed to treat those negotiations more like arranging financing for an aircraft than providing a mutually beneficial agreement for their employees.

Leadership is something that Bethune understands and perhaps he even did comment on it but it sure never made the press.  And I think it would have.

Second, Robert Crandall didn’t miss his chance to offer his strong view that some sort of re-regulation of the airline industry was necessary.  I’ve always been in violent disagreement with this.  I think that the real problem is that we chose to deregulate the market side of the airline industry without doing so on the labor side.   Airlines got the markets deregulated but never were allowed to rid themselves of the legacy union contracts under the Railway Labor Act. 

Instead, airlines have had to fight far more than they should have to just manage a holding action against labor costs.  Bankruptcy became the only way for an airline to “deregulate” itself from those costs.  It is notable that every airline that has gone through bankruptcy reorganization has managed to not only right itself but actually earn fairly substantial profits in what has been arguably one of the worst decades ever for the industry.

The markets handled services well enough.  Those cities who justify it, generally get it.  (Yes, there is the exception of Essential Air Service subsidies but that really is paltry in the grand scheme of the industry.)  Mere small size doesn’t mean that service goes away.  The fact that Waco TX is just 100 miles from DFW airport but still has 6 daily flights to two different major airline hubs is evidence enough that if there is demand, the city will be served. 

Finally, a thought on choosing Tom Horton to be CEO and Chairman in Gerard Arpey’s place.  He is free to prove me wrong.  That said, I think American Airlines badly needs new leadership and leadership from someone outside the company.  Choosing Mr. Horton feels like inbreeding to me.

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Update:  For those sending me private emails, no, this will not change a thing with respect to travel on American Airlines today or even next year.  If you have a ticket, it will be usable.  This is not a liquidation but, rather, a reorganization.  AMR (American Airlines) has enough short term cash holdings to exist in its present state for at least 3 years barring a dramatic change in the airline economy.  Even if there was a dramatic change that ate up cash faster, AMR could survive in its present state for at least 2 years.  Its current situation will be fundamentally different in 2 years with respect to costs as a function of labor and fleet. 

Original Post:

It’s not entirely a surprise but it isn’t entirely expected either, is it?

American Airlines has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection and Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey is “resigning”.

Digest that for a minute.

We’ll be seeing some people say “they knew all along it would happen now” and we’ll be seeing others expressing deep shock.  If you followed American Airlines, you knew this was a possibility.  I think few of us expected this to happen this month, this year or in the next 6 months.  Not really. 

But it isn’t the *wrong* thing to do.  By doing this now, American gets its house in order and they do it while there is ample cash holdings to accomplish it.  This isn’t being done because American is out of money or can’t meet some obligation. 

It’s being done, primarily, to break labor contracts and gets its costs aligned with that of the other SuperLegacy airlines.

By doing it now, American gets to be in control of its destiny much more than by waiting to until cash holdings become somewhat critical and creditos get antsy.  Want proof of that?

Look who just got named Chairman and CEO of American Airlines:  Tom Horton.

My first reaction is that Tom Horton is *not* the person to be put in charge of reorganizing American Airlines (and AMR).  My second reaction is that maintaining the executive corps and the status quo is *not* what you want to be doing at this point. 

American isn’t having a tougher and tougher time of things simply because of what pilots earn.   That’s part of it and labor costs in general are a big part of their troubles.

The biggest problem?  American Airlines increasing irrelevancy to the consumer and its exceptionally decreased value to that consumer when compared to both SuperLegacy and LCC carriers. 

Evolution in AA leadership is going to be very unsatisfying.  A little more Revolution is what is called for.  Tom Horton & Company aren’t that, I believe, but they are free to prove me violently wrong.

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The airline passenger rights organization, FlyerRights.Org and its founder, Kate Hanni are now advocating for a institutionalized dress code among airlines.   They think what is and isn’t appropriate should be spelled out by airlines themselves.

Given the inconsistency we’ve seeen among airlines and, in particular, airlines crews who are the current governors of what is and isn’t appropriate, it isn’t without merit. 

But what’s appropriate?  I tend to travel dressed in business casual of some sort but I do that because it’s often the most comfortable dress for me and it permits me to leave an airport and go directly to a variety of things such as meetings or family gatherings without looking inappropriate in those environments.

Do I necessarily approve of wearing pajamas or sweats on aircraft?  No, I don’t.  On the other hand, while I wouldn’t regard it as appropriate for me or my family, I don’t think such dress necessarily steps so far over the line as to require airlines to demand a change of clothes.

Let me add that if a man shows up dressed in nothing but lingerie, I would expect airline staff to put an end to the notion that he’s getting on the airplane before changing into something more appropriate.  I’ll also point out that no dress code is needed for that judgement decision.

We’ve seen two separate incidents of men wearing “saggy” jeans/pants onto aircraft and being removed from a flight.  Personally, I find the style a bit silly and if you expect me to take you seriously, that isn’t going to help you.  Yet, it is an urban hip hop style and it really isn’t something someone should be removed from a flight over. 

Do you seriously want me to believe that an entire aircraft is going to be distracted or upset over someone sitting in a seat with such pants on?  Let’s get real and admit that even if someone was “offended” by the style, they’ll also be quite able to get over themselves.  The airlines need not protect themselves from such styles.

Is such a dress code going to address safety?  Because once you start down that path, you may well find your lawyers advising you to do so.  I see a quite a few people wearing horrific footwear for aircraft.  Open toed shoes, sandals, and synthetic fiber made shoes are all bad when things go wrong on an airplane.  Ladies heels are a bad idea. 

Natural fiber clothes (cottons, wools, etc) versus synthetics are better because natural fibers don’t *melt* on you in a fire.  Leather shoes are far better than Nike’s latest styles because, again, leather doesn’t melt on your feet.   See my point?

Are we going to start requiring people to cover up tatoos because someone else might be offended by skin art?  You can see how this becomes a slippery path.

I really don’t think institutionalized dress codes are needed for airlines.  If you’re unaware of how to dress for an airline flight and show up in clothing that is clearly over the line, you’re easily identifiable and I really don’t care if you think you’re entitled to be an offensive idiot in an aluminum tube for 3 hours.  You aren’t. 

On the other hand, I’ve long since past learned to ignore most of the stupid going on in clothing styles and you should too.   Airline employees are, by and large, in possession of common sense.  Just let them exercise it and get over yourself.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
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