American Airlines Chief Customer Officer Alison Taylor is retiring. Her departure will leave the Fort Worth, Texas- based carrier with no C-suite executive whose sole purview is customers.
Taylor’s duties at American will be split between Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja and Scott Laurence, the carrier’s senior vice president of global partnerships and international, the airline said Friday.
Taylor, who joined American in 2016 from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, is credited with a number of customer facing improvements. One of her latest were the new premium cabins for the airline’s Airbus A321neo and Boeing 787 aircraft. While flyers won’t see the product until 2024, the project will see the carrier significantly boost the percentage of premium seats on both planes — taking advantage, in part, of the surge in premium leisure travel the industry has seen since the pandemic. Taylor is also credited for upgrades to American’s facilities at airports, including the new concourse at its Washington Reagan National hub that opened in 2021.
“Alison’s career has been nothing short of legendary,” Raja said. She lead “the work to create a world-class experience at every step of the customer journey.”
Taylor and her husband plan to move back to their native Australia, American said. She will continue in an advisory role at the airline.
Tags: airlines, american airlines