Good for him, I don't find fault with him for being glad to be back either. What I fault is that when the history of the company's actions is brought up, it gets looked upon like it's a negative thing when clearly it is nothing more than recognizing a trend that AA has used repeatedly in this mess.
I hope it doesn't happen. However, AA has added a lot of flights out of Chicago, Dallas and Miami, in November no less. By the end of March, as is the norm, they will know exactly how many of those newly added flights will be worth keeping. After all, the bulk of them were "panic" additions in an attempt to stay ahead of other carriers who either are coming, or have expressed a desire to come to the same markets that AA is in. If the people express bunch prevail in those markets, then of course, AA is going to cut those FA's loose again.
Everyone has to face the fact that in order to compete with the low cost carriers, AA is going to have to cheapen itself as an airline. Things are starting to look just like they did prior to de-regulation. After de-reg, the smaller (what we today call low cost carriers) were gobbled up in mergers taking place left and right. Now, they are slowly coming back, and the big boys don't have the $$$ to gobble them up this time. Therefore, it won't be long before those LCCs start hearing employees talking about unions and such, as the airlines continue to bite into the big boys' balance sheets, the employees are going to want a bigger piece of that pie and when they find that their airline is unwilling to share, they'll end up with the same union woes that AA believes they have.
Recalling history isn't a slap in anyone's face, by all means, return to work and be happy about it, but don't be so happy you forget to watch your back. Recalling history is simply a recognition of what has happened, and could most likely happen again.
