Dozens of American Airlines flight attendants held a protest outside the company's headquarters in Fort Worth, calling for CEO Robert Isom to step down.
The protest comes shortly after the board of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) issued a vote of no confidence in Isom. They said American has fallen behind the competition in profits and service due to mismanagement.
"We have given him more than enough time to turn this airline around, to be profitable, to be competitive with United and Delta and we are not seeing a plan or a strategy to make that happen," Julie Hedrick, president of APFA, told KERA. "We want to return to being a premium airline again — one that we were for a very long time — and we don't see that happening with Robert Isom."
United Airlines had a pre-tax profit margin — an important indicator of a company's efficiency — over 7% last year, Delta's was nearly 10% and American's was just 0.3%.
"Reclaiming American’s reputation as the world’s premium global airline is our mission and we are relentless in that pursuit," American told KERA in a statement. "The foundation is set and the plan is in place for us to deliver for our customers, shareholders and each other — and we will do that as one team."
Hedrick said the company has focused on operational reliability but forgot about the customer experience. Sanford Smith, an American flight attendant, told KERA the company has a "terrible product."
"We've taken out the screens on our aircraft, the interiors of our aircraft are not up to the same par as United and Delta, our offerings on the aircraft aren't up to par," Smith said. "Right now they're relying on us, the flight attendants, to be the product and we can only do so much."
He also said the January winter storm that forced American to cancel 9,000 flights was the final straw.
Miguel Mejias, an American flight attendant for over 30 years, told KERA he was left stranded for hours and got de-icing chemicals on him during the storm.
"I was exposed to fumes, and later I was exposed to chemicals because the cabin wasn't compressed correctly," Mejias said.
The Allied Pilots Association, the union that represents American pilots, has expressed similar concerns about American's profits and competitiveness. They called for a meeting with Isom in a Feb. 6 letter.
"Our airline is on an underperforming path and has failed to define an identity or a strategy to correct course," according to the letter.
KERA has reached out to the APA for further comment and will update this story with any response.
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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