American Airlines to Focus on Customer Service

American Airlines is the 2nd major US airline company to announce that improving customer experiences is a top priority. TOP. Priority. USAToday article.

Warning: There's some cynicism that follows.

So, as a last resort, after trying everything else...you're going to make the customer your top priority. TOP. T...O...P. Top. Top. King of the mountain, the pinnacle, tip of the spear, leader of the pack...TOP. That from the airline who was among the first to charge customers for speaking to their employees.

Interesting. Let's see if they get rid of those charges for having the audacity to call to speak to a live customer service rep.

AA's SVP of Global Sales announced that they were going to make sure next summer is better than this summer was...

Wooo. Easy,tiger. Going out on a limb there, are you? This summer's air travel for all airlines was the worst on record. By far. And your corporate goal is to make next summer...better. Y

ou've kept the bar low enough that you may be able to achieve it unless you have thunder storms in Dallas in the summer. Yes, that was one of the reasons blamed for the terrible experiences customers had with AA this summer.

( Why...I've never heard of thunderstorms in Dallas in the summer, said Ms. DuBois breathlessly as she thanked another stranger for their kindness. When you're a customer of US airlines these days you WILL depend on the kindness of strangers...)

Surprisingly, neither had AA's planners, either.  Which makes one wonder if that's the cause of your problems...then are you comfortable making such an audacious claim? That implies you can control the weather. Weather's a bit more difficult than passengers on your planes sitting on the  tarmac for hours...or being diverted 'round the gulf coast as one of those abberant weather patterns in the South in the summer, aka, thunderstorms...occurs.