American Airlines Flight Attendant Apathy: Poised To Strike, 71% No Show Leadership Vote [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • American Airlines flight attendants have been without a new contract since 2019. They’re threatening to strike. Yet 71% didn’t vote in their union elections.

    There is a run-off election in progress, because no candidate for any office received a majority of votes cast. But does the union’s leadership have any sort of mandate? And what does that say for their ability to represent all of their members, so that a contract they do finally negotiates represents something that flight attendants will want – and vote for?

  • Is someone trying to cause planes to crash? and does that explain the extremely unlikely downing of two Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777s in quick succession?

  • When the American Airlines Admirals Club bartender knows you’ve had too much to drink, even before your first drink. And you think the problem is the bartender.

  • Even imaginary tipping is out of control

  • Layout of the new, premium American Airlines Boeing 787-9 that will deliver later this year.

  • The Jones Act is really dumb, episode 6,452:

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. A union is only as strong as its membership.

    No wonder there isn’t a contract, the rank and file have once again played themselves.

  2. This is a concerning revelation about American Airlines flight attendants. Apathy among such an essential group can have far-reaching consequences. Let’s hope for positive changes and a more engaged workforce soon.

  3. Re: Jones Act: Americans LOVE high costs. It’s one of the most notable attributes of our society. We love high shipping costs, high sugar costs, high healthcare costs. The idea that we have a limitless ability to absorb high structural costs screws us repeatedly. Eventually we will be Argentina, but at least they seem to have hit bottom. The only thing that appears to be low cost are AA flight attendants because their union gets in the way of them making higher pay.

  4. With so few voting in the union election, no wonder there is no strike. If the union voted for a strike, there is no certainty that members wouldn’t cross the picket line and become scabs. Then if the union tried to punish the scabs, the scabs would join rank and decertify the union, getting rid of all of the union leadership. It would be interesting to see the vote of the most junior members and the most senior members. Where is the base of union support? My guess it is the senior members who have written rules that give them the ability to make good money while screwing the junior members.

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