United Airlines announced that they had placed a large order for 270 new planes and also announced plans to retrofit existing planes with seat back video screens. American Airlines spent the pandemic actually removing seat back video screens from planes. American is the only one that has less equality, as Delta already invests heavily in screens.Alison Taylor, Chief Customer Officer, referred to United's plans to install screens on planes in April as "gussying up older planes". United's fleet will get new screens and planes.One of the airline labor leaders is fed up after years of cost cutting. The President of the Los Angeles flight attendants union sent an email to President Robert Isom and CEO Doug Parker on July 2. It has become a viral message within the company. Below, he cites Taylor's comments.Gentlemen, I'll be truthful. This company has been a nightmare for me. It is clear to me that the upper management has effectively destroyed this brand after months of flying on broken planes and offering a sub-par product. You have not only destroyed the brand, but you are still tone deaf and refuse to listen to those at the front who truly want to see this airline succeed in its quest to be a rival to United and Delta. Crew News last month featured a case in point where a flight attendant inquired about United's plans to offer seatback IFE on all aircraft. The woman, who spoke in a British accent and was supposedly involved in the decision-making process regarding on-board entertainment, gave one of the most disengaged answers I have ever seen from management. She stated that management enjoys streaming the content and then left it at that. Real managers would add, but we are always looking at other options. Instead, her insulting response shut down all discussion. This is indicative of our intransigent, uninterested and tone-deaf management. It's no wonder that our product is so low-end. This company has made me more ashamed than ever to work for it.I warned US Airways customers that they were hungry when the US management overtook American. American cut meals in September 2014. The backlash was intense. Doug Parker stated that he was shocked people care so much about food. In August 2015, the inflight food investment was partly restored.However, the pandemic was seen as an opportunity to relaunch inflight food service. Executives planned to ensure that the old order would not return.Doug Parker, CEO of US Airways, stated that he believed they could manage without having seat power on planes. This is why legacy US Airways planes are still flying around with no seat power.The schedule is the product, this management has always believed. They did not even make a mockup for their new interior before rolling it out to the fleet. This is why they ended up having to go back to retrofit planes to correct problems with seats being added to aircraft and installing thinner, more comfortable chairs.American is willing to sacrifice many elements of service in exchange for on-time departures. This has happened even before the recent summer 2019 meltdown.Jermaine Sight, spokesperson for American Airlines, responds to the leader of the flight attendants union.Customers have been extremely positive about our high-speed Wi Fi and inflight entertainment options. Our customers use their own devices to bring along with them. They also have free access to our 600+ titles of TV and movies. American is the only U.S. carrier to have more aircraft with high-speed Wi-Fi and will have power at all seats this fall. Customers can stream content from their devices, which allows them to offer new and varied content that is frequently updated.It is not true that more than 90% of customers take their own devices onboard. This simply means that most passengers are using cell phones. Tempe can be taken out of management, but Tempe can't be taken out of management.
