What a rough week for American Airlines.
Starting a week ago we learned of at least three occasions where rows of seats came loose from the floor on American flights, forcing unscheduled (emergency) diversions to alternate airports. Then just a few days ago an American flight departs Dallas and is forced to return because of a jammed forward landing gear, compounded by the fact passengers were told to assume the crash position before landing.
As a result my email inbox has been flooded with questions asking whether or not it is safe to fly American Airlines.
Regardless of the screaming headlines, flying American is just as safe as it is to fly any other U.S. airline and I would have no problem taking my family on a trip, flying American Airlines - I just would not do it now.
I am not concerned with safety from American, but reliability. They continue to have labor issues with their employees and just this week pilots are taking a strike vote. For an airline limping through the bankruptcy process, they have more than their fair share of challenges and it is all of their own doing.
For whatever the reason, American Airlines management and unions have never been able to work together well. Labor contracts expire and then years pass as the two sides try to hammer out a new contract. It’s a repeated process and one which has hamstrung a once-great airline and has transformed it into one simply trying to survive.
It is that inability to work together that is causing a drop off in advance bookings and the airline desperately needs the revenue derived from future reservations. The employee and maintenance issues with the airline are causing many travelers to seek refuge in a more reliable airline, one without the glaring issues we see each day from headlines from across the country.
American Airlines management and labor groups need to get their act together and soon and both sides need to recognize the severity of the situation at hand. If they continue down the same worn out road the name American may go the way of Eastern, Pan Am, Braniff, and so many other airlines which simply faded into the sunset.
The clock is ticking and time is not on the side of American Airlines.
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Jay Ratliff has served as 700WLW's Aviation Expert since 2002, calling upon his 20+ year in the airline industry as a former General Manager for Northwest Airlines.
After being born in Frankfurt (that would be Germany, not Kentucky), Jay's family moved to Vandalia, Ohio where Jay spent his time learning to play the greatest game ever (baseball), by smacking the daylights out of fastballs from his next door neighbor Roger Clemens. (Disclaimer: At 9 years of age, this would have been a pre-steroid era.)
During his high school years at Carlisle High School, Jay spent most of his free time at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Center helping his Dad to build the condominiums at the course for a variety of Cincinnati sport's legends like Nancy Lopez, Ross Browner, Tom Seaver and others. In 1981 he watched his father build the ATP Tennis Stadium for the likes of Connors, McEnroe, Lendl and Borg.
Jay's passion for baseball continued thru 1983 when he was invited to tryout for the 1984 US Olympic Baseball Team. A torn hamstring six weeks before the tryouts ended his baseball dream. (He was able to write about the greatest game ever played for Reader's Digest, winning their Editor's Choice award and having it read by more than 88 million people worldwide.)
It was then Jay's attention turned towards the airline industry, where he loved the daily challenges of cancelled flights, delayed luggage (they weren't referred to as 'lost' until they were MIA for 90 days), weather problems and the always-wonderful Sunday after Thanksgiving! Cities Jay worked at included Monroe (LA), Florence (AL), Cincinnati, and Dayton. It was also during these years Jay was able to serve as the Travel Coordinator for the Detroit Lions - spending his Sunday afternoons on the NFL sidelines!
Jay continues that adrenaline rush by educating travelers with information specifically designed to help them find the cheapest of fares, resolve complaints, and having multiple options when flights are cancelled.
Jay lives in the Dayton area with his wife, Sherry and their two boys, and his older daughters serve as nurses to Dayton area hospitals.
If you have any questions, you can contact Jay through his Day Trading website - he is an avid Day Trader and teaches others on his system. (www.daytradefun.com)
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Mornings on Jim Scott's show
