American Airlines flight attendants have a status conference with the National Mediation Board this upcoming Wednesday over whether the federal government will allow them to strike.
And flight attendant social media is lighting up over an incident on board a flight from Dallas to Denver this week where the airline’s Senior Vice President of Inflight and Premium Guest Services, Brady Byrnes, was traveling with his family and reportedly wrote up the crew for failing to deliver proper service.
Flight attendants say the allegations are false and petty, and their claim is stoking anger at the carrier at a crucial moment. In a nutshell, Byrnes lodged a complaint despite his family receiving their choice of beverages during turbulence when the captain had restricted service. As one of the crewmembers being called in to explain themselves tells it,
- The captain instructed flight attendants to delay the start of inflight service and once they were able to proceed protocol was not to provide hot beverages.
- All passengers, including Byrnes and his family, were served. (“Brady, who traveled with his family, asked for Coke Zero and cranberry for his children and he even asked the crew to pour cranberry for his daughters.”)
- Yet Byrnes reported them for not doing service. “We all got emails at 4am about it and the company needed an explanation to why.”
- And they noted Byrnes was friendly and solicitous to their faces, didn’t express any concerns with them, but once he was off the flight he triggered an investigation.
The union expressly voted ‘no confidence’ in Byrnes in particular in October 2023. And whether there is more to the story than being reported by the individual crewmembers or not, this is stoking anger at him, and therefore at the company, as a symbol of how they’re mistreated and disrespected.
Aviation watchdog JonNYC was first to report on the incident Friday, though it’s been sent to me along with greater detail by several employees as well.
drAAma: (Gucci guy, remember?) pic.twitter.com/DBMKXFSnad
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) March 8, 2024
Byrnes has been the focus of a great deal of flight attendant ire recently. In the fall their union’s President others confronted Byrnes at corporate headquarters, and a security alert was sent out across the Skyview campus for which the airline later apologized.
Photos of the confrontation went viral, and his Gucci attire has come to symbolize among cabin crew how out of touch he is. He almost always talks about his roots working as a flight attendant, but he’s a Gucci-wearing Senior Vice President while Boston-based second year flight attendants are eligible for food stamps.
Indeed, Byrnes comes off as aloof and out of touch. Two years ago, when a flight attendant reached out to him with concern over a trainee being dismissed, he chided them and reported them to their supervisor suggesting it was out of line for doing so.
He should have thanked the employee for their concern, shared that he appreciates their looking out for a colleague – that’s a great instinct – but he hopes they can understand that they do not have all of the facts, and that he’s not at liberty to share more about a personnel matter.
Brady Byrnes is in charge of both inflight and premium services, and these are both areas where the airline lags competitors. Naturally he was promoted from Vice President to Senior Vice President.
@ Tim Dunn thank you so much for this lead. I just read a great article about the history of the NW mechanics. The article I read said the company hired 1,200 replacement workers. Considering there are 25,000 FAs, this is a big difference. The planes can not go without us on them. Since Covid, all of AA flights operate with the minimum crew that the FAA will allow so they can’t cut back on us without disabling the operation. Thanks again, I learned a lot:)
“Onboard spat” sounds totally false and misleading. According to the article, no “spat” occured “onboard”, but the bad review and it’s aftermath happened well after the flight ended.
There’s no need to accept the version of the truth that the FA’s or Byrnes ascribe to. Just have the company contact several of the passengers in F/C and coach to see if a service was provided.
On another note, there is no way the company wants the NMB to release FAs. As soon as that happens people will start booking away. Of course then AA would have to get serious. But if they want to lockout the union, I say go for it.
Brady is kinda on a perch, doesn’t like when people below him try to reach out to him directly. Unlike Jill (who a lot of us regret losing) who would make an effort to respond professionally to any and all correspondence. Current leadership, as mentioned in the article likes to push those below them away and even write them up.
I’ve personally had two serious inquiries that could not be handled on a local level, so on both occasions, I reached out to him. The first time, I was referred back to local level management who subsequently reached back out to upper management for an answer. In the second instance, I reached out to him, and the response received was from my supervisor at the time, basically stating that Brady had “bigger things to deal with”. Of course, in this instance, the issue reported was swept away and forgotten.
Good upper management take the time to listen to the concerns of those below them. Great upper management will respond appropriately. Bad upper management will push away, and do what Brady does, not addressing issues or concerns brought up by the workforce.
@Bella
I responded that the regulations governing airlines may be different from other unions but Gary killed the comment for some other stuff I guess. There would be temporary pain with scheduling and the company would have to plan in advance, unless the FAs strike first. The paper mill planned for months which made using management and replacement workers easier. I really don’t think there’s much strike danger as both sides would lose.
There is a good reason that Delta flight attendants are the only NON union flight attendants in the U.S.
The company treats them well and it shows!
He sounds like a keyboard warrior. Tough guy at his keyboard and wimp in person. What a coward.
Byrnes doesn’t control FAs, nor AA itself. FAs in essence work for their unions. AA FAs see Byrnes, AA, and passenger as their adversaries. This is the sad reality.
@bella
If the amount of time NWA replaced licensed mechanics, they can run accelerated classes and replace AA attendants. In Jan 1988, NWA attendants voted to strike and the airlines ran 2-3 accelerated classes.
ASAP reports are for pilots to self disclose errors to prevent any action being taken by the FAA. It is not used to report turbulence or any issues with service.
The Railway Labor Act does not prevent an airlines from replacing strikers.
A college degree use to be required to be hired as attendant. Now, there is no level to show an education level. There are no skill requirements either.
After attending 3-4 weeks training with the airline, they make you think you are highly trained.
In training, you show you can open and close the aircraft door, do basic CPR, one day in a swimming pool you get in a life raft and run over some drills and then you are called a Flight Attendant.
Most FA’s cannot afford not work so they will cross the picket line and join the SCAB list. In reality, they will not strike and thru the years they will end resign, quit, or get fired.
@bella
If your contract has expired, the company can lock out all attendants. If a new contract is signed, it would include strikers and replacement workers.
The company could be training new attendants behind the scenes, lock out the attendants and bring in replacement workers.
@timdunn
You have a point with AA past the point of recovery regarding the FA’s. With the merger of USAir, America West and AA, there is such a divide in attitude, professionalism, and work ethic.
I could see AA locking them out and starting over. It is a much needed and drastic step for AA to take. It would also boot out the senior ones in DC.
It’s nice to be on the same page, Gene. 🙂
I look forward to finding commonality on the interwebs.
I’m ok with accepting Delta’s top pay rate as the measuring stick as long as there is a rider that provides if there are pay increases at Delta then AA would match them.
The prevailing attitude I see on this subject is that the flight attendants are greedy and undeserving of even a modest pay increase yet no one seems to mind when upper management is awarded pay increases and more stock options. Basically it seems to be thought that, “We’ve upped our salaries, now up yours.”
@gene you’re a snake. Hope you have the day you deserve
@steve
FA’s receive pay increases each year in accordance with their contract. The FA job position does not require language, educational skills or aviation certification for hiring? Most FA’s skills are playing on their phone, eating/hiding in the galley behind a curtain or arguing with customers. How does this compare to a pilot or management?
There is no comparison for compensation or pay increases.
Folks need to realize that a senior line management person is looking out for the shareholders, not the employees, no matter what corporate-speak all-company emails rosily proclaim about how much the company values their employees. Basically, employees are a line-item cost, and reducing this cost against revenue is what they need to optimize to keep their jobs. This means that salaries, benefits, etc. are costs to be minimized, and many corporate senior management thinks that the best way to optimize the revenue/cost ratio per employee is to squeeze the cost until the employees start to cost revenue. Workers either need to be in a union, or in an employee-owned company if they want to be anything other than a line-item cost.
AA has been trash for over 30 years and this just reinforces how their leadership just doesn’t care. As long as they get paid their cushy salary, they’re happy. AA used to be my goto airline, but 30 years ago, they stole over 20k of airline miles from me (miles that were to have NEVER expired because they were earned prior to their changing the mileage program) and when I questioned them about it, their answer was ‘too bad so sad’. I was gonna use them to take a trip to Europe but AA decided ‘we’re not gonna give you a free flight’ – schiesters
So many of you do not understand how the corporate circus really works at AA HQ. Losers like Mr. Byrnes keep their jobs for a reason. Use your imagination. He does not care one iota about the passengers who pay his salary, perks, bonuses and benefits.
Not all of the flight attendants fail in their mission to provide excellent service to the passengers who pay their salaries. The majority really care and go out of their way to go the extra mile and leave a positive impression for the customers. Unfortunately, they have a shoddy product to provide and no support from the Inflight management team. Most of the managers are hired off of the street at very low salaries because the competent, experienced flight attendants do not want the job nor want to directly work for such an untrustworthy person as Mr. Byrnes.
If he does not care about the passengers and the product, what makes you think that he cares about his managers or flight attendants? This guy is a textbook malignant narcissist.
There is a sadistic edge to everything that this guy does. He has no hiring standards, does not enforce image or service standards. This most recent incident is something that he enjoyed because it speaks for his immature personality and whatever else is going on in his head.
The complete lack of service and standards falls squarely on Mr. Byrnes and only him. Yet, his bosses refuse to do anything about it. There must be a reason.
He needs to be shown the door, replaced with a competent Director who will clean up this mess called American Airlines Inflight Service. The trust is completely gone and Mr. Byrnes caused the current breakdown in his department. His own managers despise him.
Until he is gone, passengers will continue to suffer the misery from his office. Bottom line, he hates everyone and does not understand the responsibilities of his position.
Before you throw the entire flight attendant group and the union under the bus, think about what Mr. Byrnes has done to destroy the AA brand and image. He needs to go….yesterday.
We have not received raises in many years. I am making the same pay as in 2003. Back then, salaries were slashed when AA declared bankruptcy – which AA funded themselves to be able to gut our contracts,. lowering our salaries immensely. That’s why now we have worked our way up to 2003 pay scales. Upper management has received many, many raises along with huge profit sharing all years. Flight attendants received 1.1% of their 2023 wages this year at AA – my profit sharing was about $700, while other work groups and other airlines get at least 10% per year and higher salaries. Most years of my long career, we didn’t get any profit sharing. Flight attendants used to be paid comparable salaries with EMT, Police, Nurses, etc. We were coveted and invited to join the airlines’ lounges and enter in our uniforms – passengers loved being with us. Not anymore. But please remember who will save your life up in the air, along with diffusing so very many problems. We can’t call the police, or authorities while up in the air. We are the only ones that can help you. Many people have said we should have the first responder designation. Teachers are now up for that designation, and they can call 911 for backup. Up in the air, we are the only ones that can respond and take care of you…. I’ve been flying about 46 years with 5 airlines. We used to be so much more respected. When we switch from one airline to another, we start over at bottom pay and bottom seniority. unless a merger. Flight attendants used to carry white gloves, now we carry handcuffs. Everybody please realize that a lot goes behind the scenes that you never see. About 40% of all flights are delayed or cancelled for many reasons, but weather isn’t included in statistics. We must be extremely flexible and be willing to pivot our lives and plans for our passengers, and to keep a job that used to give us more flexibility for our willingness to be flexible to the company. Appreciation is greatly appreciated (along with pay and good work rules).
https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2024/03/11/delta-air-lines-ceo-explains-how-employees-always-come-first-despite-business-challenges