Why American Airlines Is Competitively Far Behind

Background

Fort Worth-based airline, American Airlines, is a legacy carrier, and is part of the three big legacy carrier competition in the United States: American, United, and Delta Airlines. Currently, American Airlines is experiencing the worst financial results. We will dig into learn why.

Chicago

Arguably one of the most important markets globally, Chicago O'Hare has been a huge part of both American and United’s global networks and competition, being a perfect spot for a hub. It has a perfect geographic location for connections and huge nonstop demand, given that Chicago is the biggest city for business in the Midwest, provoking a lot of travel, and also has the most daily flights in the world of any airport. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, American shut down multiple routes based in Chicago and also moved its large Boeing 777 aircraft to Charlotte, North Carolina. Unlike American, United Airlines moved toward maximizing demand in Chicago. They opened routes to Japan, multiple long-haul routes to Hawaii, and several more to Europe. In 2025, American sought to recompete for market share by filing lawsuits against O’Hare for gates; they aimed to reopen routes and return to pre-pandemic offerings. American is trying to catch up, but with limited aircraft, it is falling far behind competitor United in market share. It seems that in the near future, American will not be able to reach United’s level of connectivity from Chicago due to how much United has expanded.

Nonstop services to Africa and Europe

American actively falls short of competition with airlines United and Delta due to minimal European service and no service to Africa. United actively serves six African destinations, and Delta competes with six destinations as well, making American uncompetitive. For European competition, American depends on its partnerships with British Airways in London, Iberia in Madrid, and Finnair in Helsinki for connections to Europe. Every American destination in Europe is also served by another United States carrier, leaving no room for cornering a market. Unlike American, United serves multiple destinations in Europe that no other competition flies to, giving them the corner on the market from those destinations to America. This again shows why, in Europe, a key market, American falls behind. American passengers would rather fly a U.S. carrier than a European carrier, leaving American far behind in many markets.

The West Coast Long haul travel

American is a big competitor in the West Coast competition on flights to places like Asia and Australia. They offer flights to six long-haul destinations crossing the Pacific Ocean from their Los Angeles hub. Competitor United offers thirty destinations on the other side of the Pacific from its hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Making American fall far behind in offering flights across the Pacific on its own aircraft. Competitor Delta offers eight destinations across the Pacific, both leaving American as the least competitive.

Customer Experience

It has been shown that American has lacked customer experience for a long time. With a lot of attempts to cut costs. A couple of examples are reducing drink service frequencies, changing in-flight offerings, etc. They additionally were not competing on in-flight offerings. Delta and United went and gave free internet, while American charges up to fifty dollars per flight. Delta and United are putting screens in newer aircraft, while American only is installing on long-haul aircraft. Little things like those examples add up, leading to unhappy customers.

Frequent Flier Program

American opened a loyalty program over forty years ago called AAdvantage. Competitors United and Delta also have loyalty programs for frequent fliers, allowing for rewards. American targeted their program in more recent years toward credit card spenders in addition to frequent flyers. This opened the door to a lot more frequent fliers and less exclusivity to status. Now, with Americans Executive credit card, spending one hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year without any flying earns you their highest tier, Executive Platinum. Competitor United offers the opportunity to earn status by credit card, but by spending at least four hundred and forty thousand dollars, and having at least four flight segments flown. Making United’s Highest status tier, Premier 1k, A lot more exclusive and hard to maintain. American, for this reason, is having problems with too many frequent fliers. Once on a flight from Dallas to Austin, there were more people with Executive Platinum status than people that don’t, showing why Americans program is less exclusive and competitively behind on requirements.

Looking toward the future

American recently had a strategic plan led by executive vice president, Steve Johnson, and American is working to fix its recurring problems. This started by offering free WiFi this January(2026), opening/expanding over fifteen routes in Chicago, and more to come. American is working hard to fix their competitive disadvantages, but I am unsure whether or not American can fix these problems in the near future. There is a lot to fix, but anything is possible