AAL Briefs FAs On Focus Group Results

What does service with a snarl get you? Fewer passengers, if you're not careful.

That was the message American Airlines recently sent in a letter to flight attendants, after conducting focus groups with some of the company's top customers, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The letter was sent to thousands of flight attendants in the Northeast, detailing some of the focus groups' chief complaints:

Flight attendants weren't enthusiastic, friendly or helpful.

Flight attendants complain to customers about pay cuts and work conditions and blame poor service on cost cutting.

"We are afraid of your flight attendants and afraid to ask for anything, as they seem annoyed when we do ask for something," one focus group attendee said.

Another said, "You are making it very difficult for us to make our people fly AA because of your poor service."

In fact, some respondents said the only reason they stuck with American only because of the airline's schedule and its frequent flyer program. The letters went to crew members stationed in New York, Washington (DC) and Boston.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants represents American's FA's, with 25,000 members (6,000 are on furlough). Union representatives say they indeed got the letter, but won't comment further.

"What we're trying to do in the future is be a little more open and direct and honest with our employees," said Roger Frizzell, vice president of corporate communications and advertising. "We're not going to sugarcoat the news to them."

He said the new open-and-honest approach reflects the ascension of Gerald Arpey to the AAL throne, succeeding CEO Don Carty. Carty was shouted out of his job after winning a billion dollars in cost cuts during high-wire negotiations with American's unions. The day after union leaders agreed in principal to the cuts, news reports revealed the existence of a secret, bankruptcy-proof executive compensation fund.

Since Arpey took the controls at American, the company has instituted a bonus plan for employees, based on on-time performance and customer satisfaction surveys. In the two months that program has been in place, however, not a single bonus has been awarded.

FMI: www.aa.com