American Airlines' Titanic Deck Chairs

The following commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet's guest contributor program, which is separate from the company's news coverage.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- As I read about the troubled American Airlines' restructuring, the old joke about rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic came to mind.

Three things...

1) What golden parachutes will the top executives receive? (those who ran it into the embarrassing status it is now).

2) What makes American Airlines(AMR) think folks from the same culture, same thinking, same tutelage and mentorship from the ousted (sorry, retiring execs) will have the answers to turn the ship around?

3) How can the newly announced execs possibly take on more and more areas of responsibility effectively, let alone efficiently? (they all seem to have never-ending titles of this and that)

We all know the entire airline industry is akin to the U.S. Post Office in its dependability, pricing and outcomes. Save a couple of relatively new names in the industry, the older dinosaurs only seem to be eating other dinosaurs to survive. Eventually all the dinosaurs were extinct.

Wake up, American Airlines and America. The same ol' same ol' ain't gonna cut it!

New blood, new ideas and common sense should be the mantra for AA (and other carrier giants) to get back to basics -- not airline basics, but business basics.

That means challenging cost and profitability of routes, labor contracts, administration customer service, technology, pricing schemes, etc. It also means simplify, simplify. The more steps, policies and procedures, the more confusion, complexity, chaos and cost.

Simplify!

Darwin observed the cockroach's adaptability was its success over extinction. Stop being T Rex... Think cockroach, AA!

And turn this ship onto a new course -- you're taking on water.

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