I must give the leadership at American Airlines’ pilot union credit for an extremely measured yet clear message to management…
American pilots highlight management’s systematic failures
American CEO Robert Isom isn’t a popular guy among any of American’s stakeholders at the moment, with the exception of the board of directors, who seem to have no issue with him. We’ve seen American flight attendants issue a historic vote of no confidence in Isom, and we’ve seen American’s pilots write to the board and demand decisive change.
American pilots deserve credit for how reasonable and constructive they’ve tried to be. For example, in early February 2026, they simply requested a meeting with the board of directors about management’s failures, and the response was… for Isom to say he’s happy to meet with the union.
Isom’s message was essentially that the airline would do more of the same, and he didn’t actually concretely lay out what the plan was to change things, other than his typical “things will get better soon” narrative.
Well, after being ignored beyond that, the leadership of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American’s 16,000 pilots, is back with another message, which is completely fair (thanks to JonNYC for flagging this). You can find the roughly four-minute video below, but just to highlight some of the important points:
- About a year ago, the pilot union leadership met with Isom, when he promised that 2025 would be a turning point for the airline, only for that not to be the case, with management now promising that 2026 will be the turnaround year
- The union claims that management has blamed the shortcomings on everything except leadership failures, and they expect the same in 2026, with excuses about high oil prices, and a labor cost disadvantage (which doesn’t explain the gap in performance between American and its competitors, of course)
- 48 days after the last message, the board of directors outside of Isom has refused to meet with union leadership, and Isom has refused to include any board member other than himself in any discussions
- I think this is the most interesting point — “we still await a response from the American board, and if they refuse to hear this message directly, we will begin to take it to all American stakeholders”
Kudos to the unions for keeping management accountable
I think most reasonable people can agree that American’s management has failed employees and customers in recent years, and Isom doesn’t have much to show for his tenure as CEO. So whether you generally like unions or not, the message they’re delivering is clear and constructive.
Both customers and employees want the same thing — a good, strong, operationally reliable airline. So I appreciate that American’s pilots aren’t backing down. I think the way the video ends is the most interesting part, and I look forward to seeing how pilots plan to bring this message “to all American stakeholders.”
I do hope that some of American’s board members finally agree to meet with pilots, and if they do, I look forward to hearing what is shared with them. And if they don’t meet, then let’s see where it goes from there.
What a sad state of affairs when the biggest “message” that employees can rally behind at an airline is just how poor of a job management is doing.
Bottom line
Several weeks ago, American’s pilots asked to meet with the board of directors to discuss management’s failures. The response was for the CEO to meet with them, only to tell them more of the same, and how things will get better because… things will get better.
The union representing pilots isn’t backing down. They’re once again demanding to meet with the board, and they claim that if they refuse to meet with pilots, they’re going to take their message to more stakeholders. This should get interesting.
What do you make of this message from American pilots?
