American Airlines Ethical Issues

Ethics Ethics is defined by Merriam-Webster as “Rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad (2015).” It is said that ethics affects every aspect of an individual’s life, considering that decisions must be made regularly on how a person shall behave and reflect themselves upon the world. Business, which are considered individuals in many situations, are also required to observe ethical behavior in their everyday lives through their decision making and actions. Unfortunately, however, business sometimes fall short and do not make decisions that are best ethically, but instead best for the company. An example of this in recent years is the airline industry. Over the last few years, several airline companies have found their ethics compromised through decisions they have made, and found that this has adversely affected their company as well as their customers. This …show more content…
An example found on CNN from 2008 expresses that the company received 7.1 million dollars in fines “…because American Airlines was aware that appropriate repairs were needed, and instead deferred maintenance (American Airlines fined $7.1 million for safety violations, 2008)…” Once again, the company received fines in 2010 for the same reasons as in 2008 again inconveniencing thousands of passengers with cancelled flights (Koenig, 2010). The unethical decisions made multiple times by American Airlines negatively affects the company business and its customers through fines, loss of business, and missed opportunities. Putting profit above great service and customer safety is the highest form of unethical business practice. These unethical decisions also lead to price increase, avoidable accidents, and customer unsatisfaction. Additional repercussions in this case is evidenced by the 2011 bankruptcy of American Airlines (FlyersRights Attends FAA Diversion Forum,