American Airlines Is In Such Dire Shape That Unions Want To Oust Its Leadership
Usually, unions get angry because their corporate leadership cares about profit above all else. But over at American Airlines, unions are angry right now because its corporate leadership isn't doing enough to make profit. Both the Allied Pilots Association and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants have pounded the table in the last few days: the former wants the board to take "decisive action" (i.e. toss the CEO), and the latter held a unanimous no-confidence vote in said CEO. Fair to say that CEO Robert Isom is not exactly popular with the rank and file right now. Just to make that clear, the flight attendants protested outside company headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday.
The two unions, who seem to be coordinating their frustration, have a pretty clear demand: the airline should make more money. They're not asking for higher pay for their 16,000 pilots and 28,000 flight attendants, at least not directly. No, they want the company to earn more. For reference, rivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines made $5 billion and $4.6 billion respectively in 2025 on an adjusted pretax basis, per Reuters. American Airlines, meanwhile, made... $0.4 billion. While that is approximately $0.4 billion more than I made last year, it's not great for a major company.
Since American has a profit-sharing system with its employees, poor overall performance means smaller take-home pay. The flight attendants' union claims these payments got as low as $150 last year. Sounds bad! Don't worry, it gets worse. Just last month, winter storms forced American to cancel around 9,000 flights, its worst-ever weather-related performance, per the New York Times. That appears to have been the last straw, and now, the unions have had enough. Get us a CEO obsessed with money, now!
American is taking steps to boost revenue. As a separate Reuters article reports, the airline is trying to offer an array of optional luxuries, for a not-so-small fee of course. These include high-end champagne and coffee, faster wi-fi, and the only thing that actually matters in this world, lie-flat seats. While that ought to bring in some extra cash, it does seem like fiddling at the margins rather addressing the core business, like number of routes and operating costs.
In American Airlines' defense, it's tough to be in the passenger air industry right now. Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy in 2025, and separately, Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy in 2025 again. Southwest is changing towards a more conventional business model to make more money. Meanwhile, ever-longer government shutdowns force cancellations on the entire sector. Plus, slow aircraft production means that older planes are flying for longer, which has already led to fatal crashes. Still, all its competitors are facing the same headwinds, and they're doing alright. The pilots and flight attendants of American clearly want some of whatever they're having. Specifically, whatever their executives are doing.
