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Overseeing our vendors
Safety and reliability aren’t just about our own facilities.
We need to be able to track operations across our
supply chain to ensure equipment and services are up
to our rigorous standards.
• Vendor audits: We perform safety audits of domestic
and international codeshare partners to ensure they
meet high safety standards for our customers.
• Quality guarantees: We also have a quality assurance
program for our maintenance providers.
• Vendor training: Airport vendors, including regional
affiliates, fuel vendors and cleaners, complete safety-
training courses twice a year.
American’s CARE team is called to serve
All across the world, members of American’s Customer
Assistance Relief (CARE) teams are ready to deploy at a
moment’s notice. CARE volunteers are there to help employees, passengers and their families in situations ranging
from minor incidents to major accidents. There are 2,000 active CARE team members across 100 departments,
with 10 percent of employees at each station trained as CARE volunteers. CARE team members speak 75
languages.
Reliability and dependability
Once safety is secured, our employees can focus on other important aspects of the customer experience, including
operational reliability and service quality. We continually collect and monitor reliability metrics so we know just how
dependable our services are. By identifying challenges early, we can react quickly to ensure the smoothest travel
experience possible.
In 2015, American took major strides toward being the most dependable and reliable airline among its peers. The
percentage of flights completed without interruption remained strong throughout the year, with many days showing
a 100 percent completion factor. When customers do encounter delays — whether because of weather, air-traffic
congestion or a reason within our control — we have the team and structures to keep them fully informed and get
them on their way quickly.
We continue to enhance our ability to minimize customer disruptions and maintain dependable service during
adverse events, such as severe weather. For example, customers can now use our website to make changes to
their reservation in advance when significant weather events are expected. In all of our largest stations, we have
implemented technology that allows our employees to more proactively assist customers making connections
with managing their itineraries. And at our Integrated Operations Center (IOC), a dedicated team proactively
communicates with impacted customers in order to provide appropriate directions and alternative accommodation
options.
The logistical challenges of integration have historically had negative effects on the reliability and dependability at
other airlines. Our reliability in 2015, however, was relatively stable compared with our performance in 2014. The
percentage of scheduled flights that were completed held firm at more than 98 percent. And the percentage of
flights arriving less than 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time, also known as on-time performance, was 80.1
percent. That was an improvement of more than two percentage points over 2014.
We know we have more work to do with regard to improving our baggage handling, and we are making capital
investments in new baggage-handling technology. We saw a slight increase in the rate of mishandled baggage in
2015 versus 2014, a trend we intend to reverse in 2016.
Be an Industry Leader (continued)
For an airline, security and safety go hand in hand
American Airlines Corporate Security ensures the security of our passengers,
aircraft, facilities and employees. Security oversight is integrated into our
corporate SMS to identify and mitigate security threats and issues. American uses
a robust risk-based security system focusing on geopolitical risk and its mitigation.
Our Corporate Security department works closely with the Department of
Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), other law-enforcement agencies and
host government regulators to keep passengers safe, while minimizing any
inconvenience. As part of our security efforts, we are collaborating to expand
access to the TSA’s PreCheck expedited screening process, which is now available
at more than 150 airports.
A safe, smooth trip is the main thing our customers want. When their flight and bags arrive on time, our
customers are more likely to value all of our other amenities.