It's been only a few months since American Airlines' general manager at Tampa International Airport left for a job at corporate headquarters in Fort Worth. But John Tiliacos quickly found himself in the middle of a public spat with American flight attendants.
Now a regional managing director for flight service, Tiliacos sent a letter dated March 30 to thousands of flight attendants in Boston, New York and Washington outlining complaints from corporate customers about poor service on board.
He cited comments from two big clients in the Northeast that flight attendants are not "enthusiastic, friendly or helpful." Customers also don't want to hear from flight attendants about salary reductions or that they can't help with a request because of cost cutting at American, Tiliacos wrote.
Flight attendants and their union were livid. Flight attendants sent the letter to newspapers in American's hub cities. Tiliacos "seems to have brought American Airlines flight service to a new low," the union's president said in a press release last week.
American defended Tiliacos. The letter is an example of cultural change of straight talk with employees instituted under chief executive Gerard Arpey, who took the top job at the airline a year ago.
"We want to reach out to employees with all the information we can to help them do their jobs," American spokesman Tim Wagner said. "The vast majority of flight attendants do an excellent job . . . but they've got to be nice to our customers."
In a e-mail to Tampa International executive director Louis Miller, Tiliacos said he was surprised to see his name in the Dallas Morning News and USA Today. "I never envisioned I'd be in this job three months and in newspapers for goodness sakes."
