United Airlines CEO Says American Airlines Promised Him Their Top Job—Then Fired Him

Scott Kirby says former American Airlines CEO Doug Parker took him to dinner, gave him a date when he’d retire, and promised him the CEO job. Three months later, Parker changed his mind and fired him. American wound up paying about $13 million to send its president to United Airlines, where he became CEO before Parker finally left American’s top job. And this year Kirby tried to buy the airline that had fired him. In a new interview he explains why he’s described his 2016 dismissal as a betrayal: “Three months before I got fired, Doug took me to dinner, down in the Design District, to say he was going to retire on a certain date, and I would be CEO on that date,” he said. “One day he walks in, stands in the doorway, and says ‘I’ve changed my mind, and you and I can’t work together anymore.’” That’s a much more specific account of what I’ve written about for years, including earlier this month. My read has always been that Parker wanted more time at the top. Kirby was ready to be CEO and wasn’t going to wait indefinitely. Robert Isom would stick around. American’s explanation was that it couldn’t retain all three executives. But Parker controlled which two would remain, and he kept himself. Isom took Kirby’s president title and waited until 2022 to become CEO. Kirby took the president job at United and became its CEO in May 2020. (The United transition was likely delayed by the April 2017 David Dao passenger dragging incident, because that delayed Oscar Munoz from taking on the Chairman’s role.) According to Kirby, Parker had already agreed to make way for him. This wasn’t just a subordinate getting impatient. I’ve also written about an episode from 2020, when Parker was embracing Black Lives Matter following George Floyd’s killing and thinking about his legacy. The staffer working on Parker’s legacy suggested he relinquish the chairman title while remaining CEO, with a Black board member becoming chair. They were subsequently fired. American compounded the decision by paying Kirby severance. There was no non-compete. Parker and the board never felt that a good investment, so instead they financed an executive’s departure to a competitor that could use his knowledge of their business. Kirby says he was “extremely motivated to prove something.” Kirby does attribute being fired to much of his sucess today. “I’m a better CEO of United than I would have been CEO of American. There were things, particularly about how to bring people along. … I don’t know if I would have learned them. I might not have if I’d have just stayed at American and never had to go through that.” Kirby helped run American during its early post-merger years. He owns much of that record, cutting first class meals in 2014, selecting seats with tighter pitch and no entertainment screens for the domestic fleet. No major U.S. airline has improved more over the past decade than United. Parker’s decision gave United someone who knew American’s weaknesses, wanted to beat them, and says he learned from the experience of being pushed out. Kirby says he’s reconciled with Parker, and considers Isom a friend. But Parker’s American descended but Kirby’s United improved, and that’s evident in the financial results of the two airlines. Topics on this page