Since I work for American Airlines in my full-time career, I often hear from friends and family - and sometimes from people in the blogosphere - about their thoughts and feelings when something that may be unpopular is announced by my highly-visible organization.
I'd like to make a few comments to address the latest brou-ha-ha that seems to have flared up over today's announcement of additional baggage charges, effective with tickets bought on or after June 15th.
First, and most importantly, people must remember that American Airlines is a business. And like every other business in the world, it has a strong and prevailing interest in making enough revenue to cover the costs of doing business. No one wants to run a business that consistently operates at a loss, but over the entire history of airline travel, there have been more years of loss than gain.
Second, and important to me, is that people have to remember that I work for this organization. I'm not in executive management; I don't make decisions on pricing or capacity or route planning. But I can assure you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the people that are making those decisions are very highly educated and very thoroughly trained. They didn't just fall off the turnip truck - the average seniority of AA senior management is greater than the average age of my friends. And, drawing on my experience in delivering leadership training to individuals who are just starting down the path towards leading, I can tell you this very important fact: a good leader doesn't make popular decisions; a good leader makes correct decisions no matter what popular opinion may hold.
And ya know what? There's a lot of criticism in the newsmedia that the salaries earned by our executive leaders are undeserved. (Pronounce with me, folks - undeserved in this instance should have three syllables.) Well, I'd have to respectfully disagree. Compared to other industries, including companies who are also facing dismal financial futures, our executives are compensated far less. And compared to people at my level of management, our executives do deserve to earn far more. By virtue of the unique wisdom and very, very hard work they bring to our organization...plus the constant headaches they face in conducting business in today's challenges...they deserve every penny they get.
Do I wish I made more? Sure. Who doesn't? But realistically, I know that my salary is on line with what the airline can afford to pay me for the work I do within the organization. Could I make more elsewhere? Sure. I could and I have. But there's something about the company culture here at American that just inspires me to stay and do my best to positively impact the future.
Do I wish that ticket fares were cheaper and fees nonexistent? Sure. I'm the original cheapskate and I hate for friends and family to have to open their pocketbooks even wider to afford travel. But I also know that the same gas prices that are making me shudder when filling the 20 gallon tank in my SUV are doing far greater damage to the companies who run vehicles - airplanes - that burn more gas than that per minute.
We could all start pointing fingers, here, and perhaps some people would take gratification from that. But instead, let's look realistically at the entire financial landscape and realize that we're all of us going through tougher times than before. Tough times don't last forever, though. We'll all pull through. Along the way to brighter times, hard decisions may have to be made, but if they're made in good conscious, I believe we'll only see far greater possibilities in the future.
To read a great WSJ article on the state of the airline industry, click here.
Keep in mind, as always, that when I make reference to my full-time job and place of employment or make remarks about the industry in which I'm employed, I am not purporting to represent any opinion other than my own.
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