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American Airlines salaries
American Airlines salary estimate
$45,470yearly
American Airlines Salary Overview
American Airlines offers a range of salaries that reflect the diversity of roles within the company. The average annual salary stands at $45,470, but this figure varies significantly based on job position and location. For example, application development team leads earn an average of $95,692, highlighting the premium placed on technical expertise. Information technology team leaders and senior developers also receive competitive salaries of $94,683 and $91,113, respectively.
Role Variations
In contrast, lower-paying roles such as parking attendants and cashiers see salaries around $27,513. This disparity emphasizes the importance of role selection within the organization.
Departmental Insights
Salaries also differ by department; for instance, the engineering department boasts the highest average salary at $87,667, followed closely by the IT department at $83,442. Customer service roles, however, tend to offer lower compensation, with averages around $33,059.
Location Matters
Geographically, American Airlines tends to pay higher salaries in locations with elevated living costs, like Washington, D.C. The company remains competitive against peers such as PayPal, where average salaries reach $128,079. This comparison highlights the varied compensation landscape within the airline industry.
Highest paying jobs at American Airlines
The highest paying jobs at American Airlines are application development team lead, information technology team leader, senior information technology developer, and senior engineering technician. Application development team lead jobs at American Airlines earn an average yearly salary of $95,692, American Airlines information technology team leader jobs average $94,683, and American Airlines senior information technology developer jobs average $91,113.
The lowest paying American Airlines roles include parking attendant and cashier. American Airlines parking attendant average salary is $27,513 per year. So while the average American Airlines salary is $45,470 there is a big variation in pay depending on the role.
Highest paying jobs at American Airlines
| Rank | Job title | Average American Airlines salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Application Development Team Lead | $95,692 | $46.01 |
| 2 | Information Technology Team Leader | $94,683 | $45.52 |
| 3 | Senior Information Technology Developer | $91,113 | $43.80 |
| 4 | Senior Engineering Technician | $86,562 | $41.62 |
| 5 | Network Engineer | $86,452 | $41.56 |
| 6 | Purchasing Manager | $86,076 | $41.38 |
| 7 | Object-Oriented Programmer | $85,558 | $41.13 |
| 8 | Project Manager | $84,088 | $40.43 |
| 9 | Data Warehouse Developer | $83,218 | $40.01 |
| 10 | Pilot | $79,812 | $38.37 |
| 11 | Analyst | $60,767 | $29.21 |
| 12 | Captain | $57,760 | $27.77 |
| 13 | Aircraft Mechanic | $56,811 | $27.31 |
| 14 | Sales Representative | $56,285 | $27.06 |
| 15 | Material Logistics Specialist | $54,643 | $26.27 |
| 16 | Aircraft Maintenance Technician | $52,086 | $25.04 |
| 17 | Supervisor | $51,480 | $24.75 |
| 18 | Crew Scheduler | $48,123 | $23.14 |
| 19 | Staff Assistant | $44,598 | $21.44 |
| 20 | Facilities Maintenance Mechanic | $44,125 | $21.21 |
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Average American Airlines salary by state
American Airlines pays the highest salaries in Washington due to higher costs of living and competition in the state.
| Rank | State | Average American Airlines salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | $52,304 | $25.15 |
| 2 | New York | $50,418 | $24.24 |
| 3 | California | $50,231 | $24.15 |
| 4 | Rhode Island | $48,610 | $23.37 |
| 5 | Illinois | $47,186 | $22.69 |
| 6 | Colorado | $46,090 | $22.16 |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | $45,489 | $21.87 |
| 8 | Arizona | $44,209 | $21.25 |
| 9 | Nevada | $43,902 | $21.11 |
| 10 | North Carolina | $42,914 | $20.63 |
| 11 | Texas | $42,903 | $20.63 |
| 12 | Indiana | $42,313 | $20.34 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | $41,021 | $19.72 |
| 14 | Florida | $39,015 | $18.76 |
| 15 | Louisiana | $38,421 | $18.47 |
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American Airlines salaries by department
Salaries at American Airlines vary depending on the department you work in. American Airlines salaries in the engineering department are the highest with an average salary of $87,667. Employees in the it department at American Airlines receive relatively high salaries as well, with an average salary of $83,442 per year. Departments that don't pay as well at American Airlines include the hospitality/service and the customer service organizational functions, with employees earning average salaries of $31,324 and $33,059, respectively.
Average American Airlines salary by department
| Rank | Department | Average American Airlines salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engineering | $87,667 | $42.15 |
| 2 | IT | $83,442 | $40.12 |
| 3 | Supply Chain | $73,003 | $35.10 |
| 4 | Marketing | $71,971 | $34.60 |
| 5 | Finance | $69,010 | $33.18 |
| 6 | Plant/Manufacturing | $59,636 | $28.67 |
| 7 | Sales | $51,684 | $24.85 |
| 8 | Facilities | $41,059 | $19.74 |
| 9 | Administrative | $40,847 | $19.64 |
| 10 | Non Profit/Government | $39,528 | $19.00 |
| 11 | Retail | $37,823 | $18.18 |
| 12 | Customer Service | $33,059 | $15.89 |
| 13 | Hospitality/Service | $31,324 | $15.06 |
How much does American Airlines pay by department?
Best paying American Airlines customer service salaries
| Rank | Position | Average American Airlines salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer Assistant | $34,283 | $16.48 |
| 2 | Fleet Service Clerk | $32,243 | $15.50 |
| 3 | Customer Service Representative | $31,030 | $14.92 |
| 4 | Support Representative | $30,458 | $14.64 |
| 5 | Station Agent | $30,152 | $14.50 |
| 6 | Ticket Agent | $28,968 | $13.93 |
Best paying American Airlines engineering salaries
| Rank | Position | Average American Airlines salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Principal Architect | $120,152 | $57.77 |
| 2 | Senior Information Technology Developer | $91,113 | $43.80 |
| 3 | Computer Software Engineer | $89,833 | $43.19 |
| 4 | Project Leader | $86,925 | $41.79 |
| 5 | Senior Engineering Technician | $86,562 | $41.62 |
| 6 | Object-Oriented Programmer | $85,558 | $41.13 |
| 7 | Devops Engineer | $83,761 | $40.27 |
| 8 | Data Warehouse Developer | $83,218 | $40.01 |
| 9 | Lead Test Technician | $82,757 | $39.79 |
| 10 | Database Administrator | $81,715 | $39.29 |
| 11 | Data Modeler | $79,200 | $38.08 |
| 12 | Web Sphere Administrator | $75,063 | $36.09 |
| 13 | Programmer Analyst | $73,030 | $35.11 |
| 14 | Analytical Laboratory Analyst | $70,793 | $34.04 |
| 15 | Operations Agent | $43,220 | $20.78 |
Best paying American Airlines hospitality/service salaries
| Rank | Position | Average American Airlines salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reservation Specialist | $38,498 | $18.51 |
| 2 | Reservations Agent | $32,631 | $15.69 |
| 3 | Flight Attendant | $31,241 | $15.02 |
| 4 | Greeter | $27,756 | $13.34 |
| 5 | Guest Services | $27,519 | $13.23 |
| 6 | Parking Attendant | $27,513 | $13.23 |
| 7 | Bartender | $27,298 | $13.12 |
American Airlines competitors’ average salaries
Average salaries at American Airlines competitors, like PayPal, eBay, and Expedia Group, vary. PayPal employees earn the highest salaries, with an average yearly salary of $128,079. The average salary at eBay is $107,595 per year, and the average salary at Expedia Group is $107,388 per year.
Highest paying American Airlines competitors
| Rank | Company name | Zippia score | Average salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PayPal | 4.8 | $128,079 |
| 2 | eBay | 4.6 | $107,595 |
| 3 | Expedia Group | 4.7 | $107,388 |
| 4 | Booking Holdings | 4.8 | $65,584 |
| 5 | General Dynamics | 4.7 | $44,173 |
| 6 | Southwest Airlines | 4.5 | $41,081 |
| 7 | Xerox | 4.3 | $40,954 |
| 8 | JetBlue Airways | 4.7 | $40,061 |
| 9 | United | 4.6 | $39,532 |
| 10 | Delta Air Lines | 4.7 | $36,132 |
| 11 | Spirit Airlines | 4.2 | $35,182 |
| 12 | Alaska Airlines | 4.5 | $34,113 |
| 13 | Frontier Airlines | 4.4 | $33,019 |
Recently added American Airlines salaries
| Job | Location | Date added | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramp Service Agent | New Orleans, LA | 06/28/2025 | $41,803 |
| Customer Service Manager, Airport Customer Care | New York, NY | 06/28/2025 | $50,000 |
| Customer Service Agent | Albuquerque, NM | 06/27/2025 | $40,989 |
| Ramp Service Agent | Windsor Locks, CT | 06/27/2025 | $41,803 |
| Customer Assistance Representative | Hartford, CT | 06/25/2025 | $34,122 |
What employees say about salary at American Airlines
Great pay and benefits if you’re a mainline employee.
The hours are not the typical 9 to 5 and there is a work schedule bid every 3 months or so based on based on flight schedules and seniority is an important factor.
The pay, benefits and free flights.
Management is non-union so they are not helpful and try to stay out of matters between employees which doesn’t make for a good working environment.
I would improve the company By expecting employees to treat each other with more respect and taking accountability for their actions. Individual employees are never called out when doing some thing wrong whether it be with their job performance or towards a fellow employee. This is something that definitely needs to be addressed.
Show that you are a great team player and would be great with customers which will be your biggest role, interacting with customers and maintaining a calm and friendly composure. You also need to be able to switch gears at the drop of a hat and learn many different duties, which mostly all include face-to-face customer interaction.
Customer service agents working at a mainline station are paid very well. I don’t know how much competing companies pay their agents, but I highly doubt it’s more than or even as much as AA agents are paid plus multitude of benefits.
There is a lot of diversity among the organization, considering the industry, which has locations worldwide. And each location needs a large amount of people to operate, which makes diversity a given.
Personally, the most fulfilling aspect of my work at American Airlines was helping the customers especially during times of duress. I enjoyed helping customers finding an alternate way to get to their destination when there were delays and cancellations. I would go out of my way to get them to their destination as quickly and efficiently as possible, rather than just book them on the next available flight, which could be a day or two out. I enjoyed the challenge, but especially enjoyed helping the customers and seeing the relief and joy on their face.
Travel benefits, if you’re lucky to find a flight that’s not full.
To many ‘chiefs’. Not much accountability within senior management.
Flexibility depending on position held.
More accountability in upper management
Lots of practice and position research
Mediocre
Highly diverse
Interacting with The employees and global environment
Airlines are perfect for me. Love the environment, people.
Customers being rude, unrealistic events we couldn't control
Travel anywhere you want to go free
Good health benefits. Flight privledges
Unpredictable salary does not support cost of living. Poor management
I had the opportunity to grow and achieve a senior management position and have a great career.
I can't think about anything negative or that I disliked at the time.
All the benefits offered were great, including flying and travel for myself and family.
I like my colleagues and that I work from home.
We don't have any work life balance and the company doesn't see this as a priority.
Flight benefits
The friendly environment, working for Flight attendants and management..
Airplanes fuel.
Weekends off, holiday pay
Fast-paced and helped me develop excellent multitasking, problem-solving skills. Customer-centric culture.
Loved working here so it's hard to say, but the schedules in an operations position are a bit tough: changing shifts and working on holidays.
Travel!
Pretty good company overall. Would recommend the company to a friend.
Working holidays ,weekends and sometimes midnight shift
Standby travel
Free flight benefits
Unsupportive leadership, the unions run the company, negative and stressful working environment
Free flight benefits
I like the office staff I work with, leadership is very understanding.
Pay does not increase to match the continually growing job description based on what the people who used to have these responsibilities get paid.
Free flights. Knowledge of how airlines work from the inside out. Always learning something new.
Something different everday
Flying for free and great health insurance
Flight benefits and international travel.
Low pay and slow upward mobility.
Cheap flights!
Travel customer care
Furlough job displacement and lack of communication between staff
Travel and customer care
Everything as group working
Non
Living good in the place of my with my earning, and my health is very good
Everything
Some lowly educated co-workers some unprofessional behavior
Flight benefits
No two days were ever the same. You are responsible for yourself and rarely interact with management. Amazing benefits and a great company to work for long-term.
It is all seniority-based. You may go above and beyond but there are no real rewards for working hard. Long days with constant changes.
Free and discounted flights for yourself and family/friends. Great healthcare insurance options and generous pay for the work performed. Meeting new people and going new places constantly.
Trust between employees.
Constant bickering over pay between management and unions.
Travel
American Airlines is a great company!
I honestly love everything about American!
Flight benefits!
Diversity Flexibility
Seniority rules every aspect
Travel benefits and experience many cultures and cities
Culture, Fast Pace, Opportunity
Pandemic has fundamentally changed the industry, our business is down 75%
Flight benefits for my family
Great company to work for.
I don’t have any complaints.
Travel Benefits and the health insurance
The people
If you pick up someone’s shift there’s a 2-4 hour gap. Instead of the next shifts being 30mins different
Flying benefits
People and benefits.
The benefits could how being better.
Travel and retirement
Helping passengers
The management In Haiti was not the best.
The Flight benefits, because I only paid the taxes.
Flexibility Is something that I cherish in the workplace.
Never home when flying full time is one thing I do not like about the job.
Traveling the world is a benefit if the job that I enjoy.
I enjoy the flight benefits and working with people to help them get to where they need to go.
The lack of flexibility and how the schedule is constantly changing with little notice
My favorite part is the flight benefits because I am able to travel to places that I wouldn't be able to without them.
Frequently asked questions about American Airlines salaries
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Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of American Airlines, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about American Airlines. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at American Airlines. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by American Airlines. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of American Airlines and its employees or that of Zippia.
American Airlines may also be known as or be related to American Airlines Group Inc., American Airlines, Inc., American Airlines Group Inc and American Airlines.