During my time in the United States, I took a journey with American Airlines. In my previous article I talked about my trip to the United States; the flight from London to Las Vegas as well as the return flight from Los Angeles back to London which were both with British Airways. However, the flight with American Airlines from Las Vegas to Los Angeles was a short flight lasting just over an hour that we took on 3rd December. In this flight we had standard economy seats as opposed to the premium economy seats we had on British Airways.
Airport and Flight
At the airport, the first part of the journey with American Airlines, the check in was fairly routine with no problems. However, there were many passengers with lots of luggage boarding the plane. As a result, the flight did not have much space as there were many people with a lot of bags filing the overhead compartments as well as under the seats. Clearly American Airlines does need to pack all the seats it can given the loss it made in its third quarter financial release.
Considering this, one can see therefore that the fact that my journey with American Airlines was a bit packed on the plane was understandable. However, in this case there was also a lot of baggage so perhaps more leg room in economy class is needed. Nevertheless, the fact remains that profit decreased considerably in the third quarter 2023 when compared to the same time period in 2022 from a multi-million dollar profit to a multi-million dollar loss. This occurred despite the fact that revenue (total money received) in the third quarter increased by 0.1% which although it is only a modest increase, still contrasts greatly with the reduction in profit. Even though the airline did make a profit once excluding one off expenses, the reduction in profit when compared to last year is still considerable even when you take this into account. It does seem therefore that American Airlines has a severe problem in controlling its costs. Because of this, it may be the case that American Airlines is trying to cut costs in order to improve its financial performance.
Service On Board
In terms of the service on board, during my journey with American Airlines, there was no food or refreshments given as the flight was only just over an hour long. This was in fact explained in an announcement and in my opinion was understandable. It would have been difficult to distribute refreshments in the short space of time and is common practice on short haul flights. One could argue therefore that this was another legitimate way to cut costs.
On the whole therefore my journey with American Airlines was reasonable but a bit packed with both passengers and baggage. I am sure however that American Airlines will be considering its financial bottom line, and whether the steps it has taken will have improved its financial performance. We have to wait to see how this progresses.
