1.27.26 – While Competitors Surge Ahead, American Falls Further Behind

While Competitors Surge Ahead,
American Falls Further Behind

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Today, American Airlines released its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 earnings—and once again, the results disappointed employees, investors and Wall Street. While we are pleased American achieved a small profit, our airline continues to lag its competitors by a significant margin. This is no longer an anomaly, but rather a pattern of failure under the leadership of CEO Robert Isom and the American Airlines Board of Directors.

American’s workforce is not the problem. Leadership is.

Employees have a vested interest in seeing American succeed. Our jobs and our futures depend on it. Yet while employees deliver every day, American remains a distant third behind Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, and at or near the bottom of the industry.

While Competitors Finances Surge Upward,
American Continues to Lag

The contrast is undeniable.

These results reflect priorities—and American’s priorities are being exposed by comparison.

Wall Street Journal 2025 Rankings Show American Airlines at the Bottom

In October of 2025, we communicated concerns about American ranking dead last in overall customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power North America Airline Satisfaction Study and hoped that we would see improvements in all areas. Sadly, that is not the case.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal released its 2025 Best and Worst Airline Rankings for 2025, and American Airlines was once again left behind our competitors in almost every measured category, with performance worsening in many categories year-over-year. For Overall Best Airline, American slipped from fifth place in 2023 to last place in 2025. American ranked in the bottom three for on-time arrivals, mishandled baggage, and involuntary denied boardings. American ranked dead last in canceled flights. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

It is easy to see why employees, investors, and Wall Street are deeply concerned, and it is no surprise why CEO Robert Isom has ended all Labor-management meetings, employee town halls, Crew News sessions, and, perhaps most telling, the question-and-answer session at today’s State of the Airline.

They don’t have answers, and the excuses have run out.

Employees see the reality every day. Long-overdue upgrades to onboard products are welcomed, but they cannot make up for poor strategic decisions or an uncompetitive hard product. While we are happy to see leadership upgrade our premium cabins, our coach cabins, where many of our most loyal customers are seated, are outdated, uncomfortable, and far from competitive.

Lack of investment in the product has left American years behind its competitors, forcing employees to absorb the consequences and apologize for management’s inaction as leadership delivers the same lackluster results, quarter after quarter.

To management we ask: What is American’s plan to compete? Why are we not hearing from the Board of Directors as American continues to fall further behind?

The status quo is indefensible. The bottom of the rankings, quarter after quarter, is unacceptable. Accountability at the top is long overdue.

American’s hardworking employees want nothing more than to see this airline lead the industry, and we are ready to make that happen. But leadership has failed to clearly define our brand, articulate who we want to be as an airline, or provide the staffing, tools, and resources necessary. Quarter after quarter, executives leave employees to carry the weight of their mismanagement while American falls further behind.

For years, CEO Robert Isom and his team have solely focused on Accountability, Reliability, and Profitability, ignoring investment in our product and the overall customer experience. During that time, our competitors focused on all aspects of their airlines, while American now stumbles to pick up the pieces.

The employees at American Airlines, our passengers and the investors can no longer wait for Robert Isom and the American Airlines Board of Directors to deliver on their empty promises.

As the entire industry leaves American Airlines in the dust, it is time for new leadership and a new vision for American Airlines.