American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ: AAL) Blunders with the Boeing 737 Max

January 24, 2018, 14:52 pm ET, BY Simon M.- Contributor| Editor: Thomas H. Kee Jr. (Follow on LinkedIn)

American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ: AAL) flight attendants recently complained to the airline’s CEO about the tiny size of the 737 Max’s toilets as well as its seat pitch during a call over the airline’s Crew News. Flight attendants are not the only ones complaining as passengers have also raised similar complaints, which were exacerbated by the fact that the airline decided to withdraw seatback screens on its new 737 Max fleet.

Article Summary

American Airlines recently took delivery of its new fleet of Boeing 737 Max planes.

There have been complaints by flight attendants and passengers about the tiny toilets.

The smaller seat pitch and lack of backseat screens have also elicited complaints.

Here’s the trading report on AAL.

The airline’s flight attendants complained that removing the backseat screens was a bad idea as many passengers typically forget to bring their own devices such as headphones and many of them rely on the screens for their entertainment needs during the flight. The seat pitch on the new planes is set at 30” in the economy class segment, which is smaller than the standard 31” pitch on American’s other planes.

Passengers are finding it difficult to use their laptops and other devices due to the tiny seat pitch on the new plane. The smaller lavatory also makes it quite difficult to change much older babies despite the availability of a changing table. The reason why the lavatory is quite small is because Boeing has added 12 more seats to the 737 Max as compared to previous models.

American Airlines faces stiff competition from other domestic carriers such as Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL), Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE: LUV) and JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU). The airline recently added the Chicago O’Hare to New York LaGuardia route to its “Shuttle” services, which puts it in direct competition with Delta Air Lines, which offers a similar shuttle service.

Given the aggressive competition between airlines in the US, it is only a matter of time before passengers find better alternatives to the terrible options offered by American Airlines. The 737 Max experience goes against the airlines tagline of “Going for Great” as it seems that all the airline cares for is going for great profits at the expense of its passengers.

Finally, there are several risks facing AAL that are likely to impact its performance this year. As an investor or trader, it is important to time your stock entry and exit points accurately in order to minimize risk and maximize your profit potential.

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