American Airlines Wants To Be The “Premier” U.S. Global Airline—As They Take Aim At Delta And United

American Airlines has a new claim for what it’s trying to become: the premier global airline based in the United States. That’s how Chief Commercial Officer Nat Pieper described their ambition at oneworld’s Loyalty Summit on Tuesday, where I was speaking. American Airlines is coming for Delta and United. During a featured interview, Henry Harteveldt asked Pieper about Delta CEO Ed Bastian’s comments that his airline belongs alongside Singapore Airlines and the best Middle Eastern carriers. Was that something American aspired to? Pieper said American “wants to be the premier global airline based in the U.S.” That doesn’t elicit the sorts of chortles that Bastian’s comments do. American has a lot of work to do to get there, but they’re setting themselves the task of beating their actual competitors. And it’s such a change for the airline to articulate that goal. American’s big media event with a dedicated preview flight on their reconfigured Boeing 777-300ER makes more sense in that context. The plane has 70 business class suites. But the event was about more than a new seat, similar to the one they’ve already been flying for a year on new-delivery Boeing 787-9s. It was a coming out party of sorts for the airline’s broader shift into premium, from soft goods to overall attitude. They’re trying to give customers reasons to pay more to fly American. Customers need to believe the better experience extends beyond a particular aircraft. Employees need to understand what the airline is trying to deliver, too. A premium strategy has to reach the people who deliver the last mile of service. Pieper seems to get that selling the vision is part of making it happen. The message has to reach flight attendants and gate agents who actually provide service – and who in the past have been confused about whether American was positioning itself to compete against global airlines or Spirit Airlines. American is years behind in investments, and investments take years in the capital-intensive, supply chain-restricted, heavily-regulated airline industry. But they’re moving quickly on projects (albeit slowly on retrofits for new seats and screens). They haven’t articulated how they’ll differentiate themselves to actually be better than Delta and United, other than insisting with some evidence that the AAdvantage loyalty program is better (though I think not as good as it was a few years ago, largely thanks to limited availability of awards on partners and elimination of the upgrade award chart). But it’s plausible that they can catch up, since United isn’t as premium as they say they are and Delta has been slipping. Topics on this page