Passengers holding their dog Neko, check in for a flight with an American Airlines agent at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas, Texas.

Matt Nager Photogrpahy | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Earlier this year, American Airlines executives were batting ideas around about how to reach its more than 120,000 employees. They quickly settled on a podcast format.

"Tell Me Why," little bites of corporate wherefores, generally no longer than eight minutes, debuted in January, in response to an internal survey that found employees wanted to hear more from the company. Topics have included American's rationale behind adding certain routes, the introduction of no-fills basic economy fares, or why it decided not to hedge fuel even as costs rise. Other subjects have included more workaday issues that would be familiar to many employees at a large company like contributing to a retirement fund and wellness rewards.

The podcast is meant for employees, but Ron DeFeo, American's vice president for global communications and the host of "Tell Me Why," said the team decided to post the show publicly as a podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud, in addition to the company's intranet, called JetNet, because such company information tends to make its way to the public anyway.

"There really is no such thing as internal communications anymore," he said.

On Monday, the company is planning to unveil its new rules for passengers bringing emotional-support animals on board its flights on its 19th "Tell Me Why" episode. The show features a company executive, and Albert Rizzi, an advocate for accessibility for the blind and founder of My Blind Spot, an advocacy group for the blind that has been working with American to help make its platforms more accessible for the blind.

American's competitors Delta Air Lines and United Airlines announced stricter policies for bringing an emotional-support animal on flights earlier this year. Such animals have proliferated in cabins, and airlines, their employees, and passengers have complained about soiled cabins, allergies and even faced injuries, prompting questions about whether these animals are actually trained to provide support.

American said the customers transporting their service or support animal on board increased more than 40 percent from 2016 to last year.

Source: American Airlines

An episode of American Airlines' "Tell Me Why."

Starting July 1, American Airlines says it will restrict certain kinds of animals, like insects, hedgehogs and goats. Passengers traveling with a support animal will be asked to sign a waiver that states the animal can behave in both the gate area and on board, said Suzanne Boda, American's senior vice president for Los Angeles, said in the latest episode. American also said passengers must notify the airline 48 hours ahead of time if they are traveling with a support animal.

American also plans to train its customer service agents before the new rules are implemented "because it is a very delicate situation," Boda added.

The airline, which said it consulted with groups including the the Association of People with Disabilities, Paralyzed Veterans of American and the American Council for the Blind, in addition to My Blind Spot, said isn't making changes to its service animal policies, it said.

Rizzi, from My Blind Spot, who appeared on the show with his guide dog Vaughn, said he applauded the new policy, saying it could help individuals who have trained service animals fly safely.

"It's hard to discern the difference between people passing off a pet as an emotional support dog versus a legitimate support animal that's there to mitigate a disability," he said.

On message

DeFeo, who said he is not a big consumer of podcasts, grew up listening to talk and news radio, including New York's 1010 WINS. He said collects questions from employees for the show and has a full pipeline for more than two more months.

Podcasting isn't new for corporations, but the format of American's and its release to the public is "very uncommon," said Rohit Deshpande, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School.

The company is effectively saying: "We don't want to employees say things that are different than we are telling our customers," he said, adding that internal and external communications are often siloed groups and that "Tell Me Why" is "blurring the lines."

"Most corporations in aviation I think are pretty conservative and like to control the message," said the host of Airline Geeks podcast, who goes by the nom de pod Max Flight. "Podcasting and even social media in general … they're kind of wary of it."

Still, there are many issues that "Tell Me Why," which features whose guests include executives from human resources to route planning, doesn't touch, usually of the more sensitive variety, such as from negotiations with pilots, to disputes over new uniforms, which flight attendants said made them sick.

The airline has town hall-type meetings with its employees, audio from which it doesn't make public. In a recent meeting, CEO Doug Parker received a complaint from a flight attendant that the airline's new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft was too cramped for flight attendants.

"If you gain an ounce you're not coming down the aisle," said the flight attendant, according to audio heard by CNBC. Another executive said the airline has slowed down the water flow from the lavatory to avoid splashing from the small sink.

DeFeo said that "I don't think we'll ever" get into some of those debates. "I think right now it's seen as a straight forward, educational platform from leaders to hear about news and events at the airline and learn a thing or two and hear from leaders they don't see on a regular basis."

American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said the "Tell me Why" episodes are played on average, about 12,000 times, 2,000 times externally.

From new support-animal policy to new routes, American Airlines tries explaining why in a podcast

On message