American Airlines just announced an upcoming organizational shift, aimed at refining its customer service approach, which will result in the layoff of hundreds of employees. On Monday, the major U.S. carrier revealed plans to lay off 656 employees, equivalent to 8.2 percent of its 8,000 customer service-related roles.
"Today, we announced updates to our contact center organization that will help us better serve our customers. As part of these updates, we are creating a new Customer Success team that will be dedicated to providing more convenient, elevated support to American Airlines customers with some of their most complex travel needs," the airline told USA Today in a statement.
"Unfortunately, this means some current positions will be eliminated. We’re working closely with impacted team members to support them through this transition including providing exclusive access to job openings throughout American Airlines, outplacement services and severance."
According to reports, the affected employees are non-unionized workers located in Phoenix (335) and Dallas-Fort Worth (321). Currently, their primary functions consist of assisting AAdvantage loyalty program customers and helping passengers with lost luggage complaints.
Carolyne Truelove, American Airlines Vice President of Reservations and Service Recovery, told Dallas News, "We are laser-focused on improving your customer experience," adding, "With that focus is digging deep into where we have customer pain points."
As things stand, passengers need to reach out to separate American Airlines customer service teams to address their various issues. But, the new structure will consolidate customer assistance employees into a single team, which will most likely work to support passengers facing such challenges as flight disruptions due to weather conditions.
To handle less complex issues—what it called "lighter-touch" problems—American Airlines plans to outsource customer support services to international contact centers that operate 24/7. This strategic move is expected to reduce call volume by 20 percent, allowing the airline to address customer needs more efficiently.
Those who are being laid off will continue working in their current roles until March 30, and are being given first crack at applying for one of the 135 openings on the new Customer Success team. Alternatively, they can explore other available positions among the 800 other job openings within American Airlines. Otherwise, laid-off employees will receive severance packages and job placement support to ease their transitions.
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