Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for March 2020.

American Airlines Flight Attendants Risk Discipline For Wearing Protective Face Masks

by Gary Leff

Mar 21 2020

American Airlines won’t allow flight attendants to wear masks. They also still give ‘points’ which count towards discipline and termination for a flight attendant who calls out sick unless they’ve actually tested positive for coronavirus.

Flight attendants with mild symptoms who haven’t flown internationally still report being ineligible for testing. And calling out sick when you aren’t is a firing offense.

A voicemail is making the rounds from this past Tuesday when a flight service manager called out a flight attendant for wearing a mask on a trip, and suggested they just ‘use sick time’.

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American Airlines Denies They’re Preparing To Announce 2-3 Week Total Shutdown

by Gary Leff

Mar 21 2020

The usually very reliable JonNYC, who has a lot of inside sources at major airlines but especially at American Airlines, relays a rumor that American may announce a complete shutdown for a period of 2-3 weeks.

American Airlines can’t really front-run their bailout requests with layoffs now. And since it’s in American’s interest not to shut down completely pending a government bailout, I’ve assumed the rumors are false.

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Leadership Lessons From American Airlines Past

by Gary Leff

Mar 21 2020

Gerard Arpey led American Airlines for 9 years up until the carrier’s bankruptcy. However he lost the trust of employees half way through his tenure. That’s odd, in a way, because by insisting on pulling every lever possible to forestall bankruptcy the airline underperformed the industry financially for years, while delaying changes to employee contracts that would eventually come through Chapter 11.

The biggest area of controversy with employees was Arpey’s (and management) pay. Another piece of irony is that his pay was mostly in stock, the bulk of which he held to the end losing much of its value when the airline finally did enter bankruptcy.

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TSA Screeners Can Go Home, Get Paid For 14 Days At A Time “No Questions Asked”

by Gary Leff

Mar 20 2020

TSA screeners are calling out from work by the hundreds, in a challenge that’s expected to get significantly worse, after the agency announced that screeners are now allowed to take paid time off, no questions asked under “weather and safety leave” if they feel at all uncomfortable reporting to work. In fact, it’s expected that thousands of screeners will begin calling out from their jobs.

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One Elite Benefit That Would Help Bring Back Airline Passengers

by Gary Leff

insideairplane
Mar 20 2020

When I first started flying United regularly in the mid-1990s, all elites had a benefit known as middle seat blocking. When an elite frequent flyer picked a window or aisle seat in coach (in a row that was at least 3-across), the middle seat next to them would be blocked.

As airlines have empty seats, and customers place a premium on social distancing the offer of space available empty middle seat could drive real share shift.

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How Frequent Flyer Programs Will Save The Airlines

by Gary Leff

airplane seats
Mar 20 2020

Airlines will be able to lean on their loyalty programs both for short term cash, and to put butts back into airline seats as soon as fear subsides.

They have a history of turning to their loyalty programs as cash cows – either spinning off the business or pre-selling 9- and 10-figure dollar amounts worth of miles to their co-brand credit card issuing banks. They can sell miles at a discount now to passengers who will redeem them later. And there’s never been a more effective marketing vehicle than the frequent flyer program for influencing consumer behavior, just as soon as behavior can be influenced again.

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