It’s not the same old Halloween at American

It was a Halloween party like American Airlines had never seen.

Chief executives of other airlines (such as one in Dallas) have dressed in costume for corporate Halloween events for years — Southwest Airlines’ Gary Kelly dressed as Paul McCartney this year — but not the top honchos on Amon Carter Boulevard.

Not until Friday.

Employees at American were treated to a dance routine to Best Song Ever by One Direction, put on by its new chief executive officer, Doug Parker, and other top executives who dressed as the British boy band.

Parker has a particular fondness for Halloween, mainly because it’s his birthday. While he was CEO at US Airways, Parker dressed up in costume each year to celebrate the holiday with the rest of the corporate employees at the Phoenix-based airline.

One year, he donned Psy’s light blue tuxedo and rapped Gangnam Style and Parker had no problem putting on a fox tail and ears for What does the Fox Say last Halloween.

American’s president Scott Kirby apparently enjoys dressing in drag and continued his tradition this year, appearing as Kesha and dancing to Timber with executive vice president Elise Eberwein, who made a convincing Pitbull. A few years ago, Kirby performed to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance.

Dozens of employees joined in on the costume fun. One group from internal audit dressed as minions from the movie Despicable Me with one worker posing as Gru. Another group made their own Tetris blocks for their costumes.

This story was originally published October 31, 2014 at 6:18 PM with the headline "It’s not the same old Halloween at American."