Flight attendants at American Airlines, frustrated by lack of progress on a new contract, have gone online to commiserate and share how much they’re struggling day to day with a raise. Some don’t have money for gas to get to the airport, or to pay their bills and buy food so they make up for it pocketing snacks from the first class snack basket. Some of the stories are heart wrenching.
American Airlines Flight Attendants Haven’t Had A New Pay Deal In 9 Years
Cabin crew flight attendants have been working under an agreement that ran December 2014 through December 2019.
This was the agreement that went along with the acquisition of American Airlines by US Airways. It was the default agreement if union members didn’t vote for a negotiated contract. They didn’t, so this agreement was imposed, though American Airlines voluntarily gave higher wages than they were required to.
The contract became ‘amendable’ in December 2019, right before the pandemic, and that delayed negotiations. But those negotiations have now dragged on and flight attendants are frustrated. They asked the National Mediation Board to release them from negotiations into self-help, allowing them to strike. This would have meant a Christmas strike. But the Board, dominated by Biden Administration appointees, sent them back to the bargaining table instead.
Cabin Crew Are Sharing Their Struggles – And Confessions – Online
The airline’s flight attendants have been sharing stories online about how tough they have it under the current contract, which is now nine years old. Inflation has eroded the value of their wages around 16% since December 2019. Here are some of their stories.
Our FAAmily- Our Times of Struggle
I completed a 3-day domestic trip last month with one flight back to Dallas. We were coming in late that evening and once we arrived at the gate and deplaned, one of our New Professional Flight Attendants working the trip appeared to be in a state of distress with tears in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong? Did something happen? He shook his head for no.
He then went on to say that when he started the trip, he barely made it to the employee parking lot because his car was nearly empty, and he did not have any money for gas. He then went on to say that he had not eaten at all during the trip besides snacks from the airplane. My heart immediately sank! I asked him why he did not say anything on our layovers? I thought he was just a slam-clicker and didn’t want to socialize. He shares a place with some people that he is renting a room from in Dallas, that is an hour’s drive away from the airport. He did not want to sleep in the crew room at the airport and was too embarrassed to ask for money for food and help.
He was crying and let me tell you I cried and my heart completely broke. I told him once we got to the employee parking lot, I would follow him to the nearest gas station, and I filled up his car and then I gave him money for food for a few days.
I would like the Nation to know, THIS IS OUR REALITY here at American Airlines.
This is the HARSH REALITY of 5 years (9 years since the last contract was initiated) without a significant RAISE, mixed with outrageous crippling inflation and the sad toll that it is having on our FAAmily.
We have been waiting for a NEW CONTRACT and have been in negotiations since 2019 when our contract expired. What corporate is doing by dragging out these negotiations, is absolutely maddening and disgusting to say the least. I am so hurt and beyond that, I am ANGRY at the way this company is treating their largest workgroup and the face of their airline, the Flight Attendants.
What American Airlines is carelessly doing is having a great effect on the mental, emotional and physical health of our FAAmily; more than people know.
I want to let the public know, how cruel American Airlines is and that something needs to be done NOW to stop their blunt mistreatment to their Flight Attendants.
Flight Attendants sleeping out of their cars, having to go find 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet and applying for government assistance is an outrage. None of these things should be happening. Our job is not part-time. This is a FULL-TIME JOB. This is modern day employee slavery.
We are a FAAmily of 28,000 Flight Attendants.
FA’s sleeping out of their cars, having to go find 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet and applying for government assistance is an outrage…Our job is not part-time. This is a FULL-TIME JOB.
If it weren’t for my husband’s second income, I would not be able to survive. The fact that I’ve been at this job for almost 8 years and I’m still struggling is so ridiculous. I feel so bad for these new hires! it’s unlivable wages!!
I’m a year and a half in. I’m 50 years old and can’t afford to live on my own. I rent a room with wonderful people. I’m truly grateful. But I work 3 jobs just to pay my bills. I struggle and I should not struggle at this time in my life. ..We deserve a worthy contract to be paid for our worth. I’m tired of working multiple jobs just to live. I would have to work 5 jobs to live on my own. I don’t have a husband…I have barely been able to buy anything for Christmas…just a little present for my kids and my parents and it’s not much.
I flew with a newbie that looked so tired and hungry. Literally. She had holes in her shoes. She was working another job along with being an FA and told me she has to pick between paying her bills and food. I fed her every leg I could and the crew shared food with her. SO MANY FA’s are STRUGGLING. A couple dollars to their name after they pay bills. Selling their cars, moving in with parents etc.
I had to call out sick on reserve on month because I didn’t have money for gas and toll to get ot the airport or to get any groceries to make food for the trip. Snacking from the first class basket has helped, but only does so much.
Working As A Flight Attendant Can Be Rough
Working as a flight attendant can be a rough life. Here are 9 reasons why, 8 of which aren’t even the pay.
- Currently American Airlines flight attendant pay ranges from $30.35 in the first year, $54.75 after 10 years, and tops out at $68.25 after 13 years.
- APFA wants $41 – $92 per hour.
There’s no question that it’s tough to live on $30,000 a year at the start. In inflation-adjusted terms that’s what the $21,000 I made right out of school is worth today. It’s fine if you’re not trying to support a family, but there’s not a lot of space for luxuries. Many flight attendants work a second job.
If you live somewhere other than where you’re based, things are tougher. You need to chip in for a shared “crash pad” so that you’re available at your ‘base’ city when you’re scheduled to work, especially when you’re on reserve.
But It’s Not ‘Modern Slavery’
Let’s dispense with the notion that this is ‘modern day slavery.’ Working as a flight attendant for American Airlines is 100% voluntary. It’s not even indentured servitude, crewmembers can leave whenever they wish.
Any ‘lock-in’ effect in the job is the result of union-led seniority. A flight attendant can’t just go get a job as cabin crew at another U.S. airline without taking a pay cut, since they’d start at the bottom of the seniority list.
Crewmembers take the job knowing what the pay scale is, and can leave for other work. A flight attendant job at a U.S. commercial airline will never not be tough financially (as many jobs are tough financially). One binding constraint is that the value of the wage can’t exceed the value of marginal product.
- Knowing what the pay scale is, I’m not sure why someone is surprised by what they’re making eight years in
- Or why doing the same tasks at the same job will mean materially more money in the future
Much of the allure of becoming a flight attendant is seeing the world, not high wages, though for some it’s better pay than they’d get elsewhere. But the overall pay from the job isn’t likely to materially change.
This Won’t Suddenly Become Lucrative Work
The main value add to their employer is that they satisfy the 1:50 regulatory requirement, that an airline can’t fly without at least 1 flight attendant per 50 seats on their aircraft. That’s not true everywhere! Service can drive a revenue premium, but that’s not how American Airlines is set up.
And there are long lines of people interested in becoming flight attendants, even at these wages. Airlines frequently say they’re more selective than Harvard when it comes to getting into a training class (though I wonder how good a job most airlines do at the selecting piece).
The Best Bet For Improved Pay Is Realistic Expectations
I wonder if flight attendants realize that their employer has offered them a contract that would equal top pay in the industry already?
Every day that negotiations drag on is costing them money, since they won’t get a pilot deal with an up front bonus equal to all the back pay they would have earned as if whatever final deal they reach were effective the day their contract had become amendable. (The longer a deal takes, the more money the airline saves.)
With flight attendant union officer campaigns in full swing, their leadership cannot appear to be soft on the company and cut a deal for less than members have been told all along to expect.
And American Airlines, the financially weakest of the large U.S. airlines, isn’t in a position to pay more than peers.
A Path Towards Better Pay At American Airlines
There are basically two ways to get paid more as a union worker at American Airlines. One is to wait until other airlines pay more, and engage in pattern bargaining. That’s more or less what happened for pilots. And the American Airlines union could wait to see what kind of deal United flight attendants get. But they’d be delaying any raise in the interim, and improvements are likely to be marginal.
The only way to actually transform the pay structure is to deliver more value to the company. A starting place is to ask why American Airlines is financially weakest? They have high costs and low revenue. Unlike Delta, people don’t pay a premium to fly their product. The airline needs to be better.
For years American kept saying if they could become reliable that would solve everything. But their reliability has improved and their financial performance hasn’t. Reliability is table stakes, necessary but not sufficient.
American actually should pay flight attendants more but they should get something in return. It shouldn’t be more pay for the same people to do so the same (or less) work. They should insist on accountability in executing service standards, and those standards should be higher than they are today, so that customers enjoy the product more and are more willing to pay a premium to get that product over others.
That’s how flight attendants can create more value, earn more money for the company, and justify higher wages.
Sorry limited compassion. I know people with double masters that are paid less than your starting wage and have student loans on top of living expenses, without the travel perk of working for a major airline.
Mass walkout, to hell with the union. Three days of grounded planes should get you a reasonable hourly that starts when you punch in and ends when you punch out. Maybe… $15-20/hour? Then you are right back where you are now but on past with everyone else in an entry level job. Yeh years later though, the double masters people will still be struggling and so will you… Oh… Wait… That’s the way it works.
American Airlines Reality Check for misinformed reader.
*$30.35 per hour
FULL TIME! NEVER PART TIME
*75 paid hours per month as reserve
*75-90 hours paid a lineholder (average awarded hours per month)
*Work 7-15 hours a day BUT paid 5-6 hour only
*1 to 1.15 hours hour required clock in before flight UNPAID- FREE
Ex: 10am flight , fa required to be at airport and sign in by 8:45 or 9:00am depending on destination, but its UNPAID.
*BOARDING- (35-55 mins) UNPAID
* Delays, Cancelation, UNPAID
* Sit time ( time between trips, 1 hour to 4 hours) Unpaid
* No Crew Meals on all Domestic Flights
* No Crew Meals on International flight unless you are base in Phl,Clt,Phx (US air base as they retain this deal)
*Deplaning (30-45mins) UNPAID
Working hours pay day: 7-15 hours
Paid Hours per day : 5-7 hours
Now do the math.
Gross pay: $2400-2700
-Minus
Tax: federal tax Medicare Tax, social security tax
State tax: depends on address
Uniform: not free
Health Insurance: not free
Life Insurance: not free
Dental: not free
Eye: not free
Injury or Disability:Not free
Dependent insurance: not free
Union dues: not free
401k: 5.5% match only
Net: $1,600-1,900 a month
First pay 15th: $1,100- 1,200
2nd pay 30th: $600-700
Normal bills: rent, phone, car, car insurance, utilities, food, CRASHPAD or (sleeping pad to crash sleep in work base), gas or uber or train/bus, daily essentials, medicine, clothes, etc.
1,600 to 1,800 a month cannot keep up in these generation and inflation.
Yet company needs you to work and available for tye whole month otherwise if your out of base during reserve day, youll get fired right away.
Yes they have days off, but after working 7-15 hours a day for several days, dont your body need some rest?
Cant you spend time with kids or family?
The prices a decade ago is not the prices now. Yet their paid is almost a decade expired.( 2014)
They are giving their full time for work but they are only getting paid half of the time they work. So the $30.35 or more per hour has a value of less than half of it and its below poverty margine of this country.
No leftovers of first class food most of the time. 20 pax = 20 meals per flight.
No more or sometimes less if catering mess up. But never a spare.
And not all flights has food meal in first class. Mostly biscoff and pretzels and snacks. Who wants to eat them everyday all the time??
What an awful union. It’s drawn its workers into poverty. This is what happens with unions. Everyone loses – and it’s all done on the backs of the workers. Unions should be banned except for the most dangerous of jobs.
I am a little confused by the math. $30 × an average 40 hour week is $62,400 not $30,000. Then tops out at $141,960. 10-12% COLA since 2019? Not judging, just a little confused about people starving and living out of cars.
@Joseph
But being a flight attendant IS the most dangerous job……or at least they’ll tell you that.
I guess Walter is the new Troll on View from the Wing. At least he is good at answering each and every comment made toward him in a timely and organized manner. Lol.
The same with Etihad, the extremely reach Gulf airline. No pay rise in 20 years. The salary is the same since they found the airline, but they have plenty of money to waste on anything else but not their people. Terrible work and environment.
Say “slavery” and you lost your audience. I was an elementaty school teacher, full-time, taught after-school sports 5 days a week, community college 4 nights a week and 5 hours on Saturday, ditto for Summers…for 33 years. No whining from me and no ear for whining FAs.
Yes, Gary, I thought the same thing that Vazir Mukhtar stated. US Airways acquired American Airlines? I would think that someone who blogs about the airline universe would know the difference between a merger and an acquisition. Do your research. Especially when you’re referring to the absolute worst business decision that AA ever made. It has been even lousier than expected to be managed by mostly USAir “leaders” that don’t know how to run an airline. Speaking to our Executive Platinum and Concierge Key customers on flights, I have never once – not one time – heard anybody say one positive word about the changes that came as a result of the merger. Not. A. Single. One. It has ruined a once-respectable airline. And it was not an acquisition.
People don’t understand the way that flight attendant pay works. Basically take that $35/hr. and divide by 2. $17.50/hr for the normal work week of 40 hours is $700/ week.
Im reposting what another commentor stated. It is important information that was not mentioned in this article amd that happens to basically each and every F.A. Other’s comment here obviously do not have these facts as thsy were not place within this article.
The prices a decade ago is not the prices now. Yet their paid is almost a decade expired.( 2014)
They are giving their full time for work but they are only getting paid half of the time they work. So the $30.35 or more per hour has a value of less than half of it and its below poverty margine of this country.
No leftovers of first class food most of the time. 20 pax = 20 meals per flight.
No more or sometimes less if catering mess up. But never a spare.
And not all flights has food meal in first class. Mostly biscoff and pretzels and snacks. Who wants to eat them everyday all the time??
@An Actual AA Flight Attendant – in practice US Airways leadership took over American Airlines, and it was really the creditors’ committee in the American Airlines bankruptcy making the decision rather than American Airlines management.
This is so important to Understand taken feom a prior post that has the truth attached that many reader and the author of this article did not msntion.
Lexus says:
December 18, 2023 at 10:14 pm
American Airlines Reality Check for misinformed reader.
*$30.35 per hour
FULL TIME! NEVER PART TIME
*75 paid hours per month as reserve
*75-90 hours paid a lineholder (average awarded hours per month)
*Work 7-15 hours a day BUT paid 5-6 hour only
*1 to 1.15 hours hour required clock in before flight UNPAID- FREE
Ex: 10am flight , fa required to be at airport and sign in by 8:45 or 9:00am depending on destination, but its UNPAID.
*BOARDING- (35-55 mins) UNPAID
* Delays, Cancelation, UNPAID
* Sit time ( time between trips, 1 hour to 4 hours) Unpaid
* No Crew Meals on all Domestic Flights
* No Crew Meals on International flight unless you are base in Phl,Clt,Phx (US air base as they retain this deal)
*Deplaning (30-45mins) UNPAID
Working hours pay day: 7-15 hours
Paid Hours per day : 5-7 hours
Now do the math.
Gross pay: $2400-2700
-Minus
Tax: federal tax Medicare Tax, social security tax
State tax: depends on address
Uniform: not free
Health Insurance: not free
Life Insurance: not free
Dental: not free
Eye: not free
Injury or Disability:Not free
Dependent insurance: not free
Union dues: not free
401k: 5.5% match only
Net: $1,600-1,900 a month
First pay 15th: $1,100- 1,200
2nd pay 30th: $600-700
Normal bills: rent, phone, car, car insurance, utilities, food, CRASHPAD or (sleeping pad to crash sleep in work base), gas or uber or train/bus, daily essentials, medicine, clothes, etc.
1,600 to 1,800 a month cannot keep up in these generation and inflation.
Yet company needs you to work and available for tye whole month otherwise if your out of base during reserve day, youll get fired right away.
Yes they have days off, but after working 7-15 hours a day for several days, dont your body need some rest?
Cant you spend time with kids or family?
The prices a decade ago is not the prices now. Yet their paid is almost a decade expired.( 2014)
They are giving their full time for work but they are only getting paid half of the time they work. So the $30.35 or more per hour has a value of less than half of it and its below poverty margine of this country.
No leftovers of first class food most of the time. 20 pax = 20 meals per flight.
No more or sometimes less if catering mess up. But never a spare.
And not all flights has food meal in first class. Mostly biscoff and pretzels and snacks. Who wants to eat them everyday all the time??
“Currently American Airlines flight attendant pay ranges from $30.35 in the first year, $54.75 after 10 years, and tops out at $68.25 after 13 years.
APFA wants $41 – $92 per hour.”
Air waitresses can’t survive on these “slave wages”? Somebody needs a reality check, or move on to greener pastures nobody is holding a gun to your heads. Unions are nothing but organized crime in the workplace and they are out for one thing, making themselves rich.
Rather than trashing AA FAs or the company, the real discussion should be a prediction of when AA and its FA union will settle on a contract and how much different it will be from what DL is paying its non-union FAs right now.
All of the discussion in here about AA FAs not receiving board pay simply provides opportunity to note that AA has agreed to implement boarding pay – copying DL which led the US industry in adding boarding pay – when it is clear that boarding pay will help the lowest seniority and lowest paid FAs the most.
No union can admit that they can only bring home a contract that is as good as a non-union company and THAT is why it will take months if not years, to the loss of AA FAs, to get a contract.
WN and UA FAs are in the same position.
@JennD. Your confusion is because you assume they are being paid for 40 hours a week. In reality, they are only being paid for 75-90 hours per month.
The FA position is not one for everyone……many come into the job seeking the freedoms of the position, ability to travel and live what looks like a carefree lifestyle. Problem is that it takes MONEY to survive the position the first several years and many of the candidates attempt to live the lifestyle with previous debt (college loans/ reckless spending & debt/ and a Wish List of goods that would make a Kardashian blush). I have worked in the Industry 40 years and can tell you that I have seen EVERYTHING. Many live well beyond their means and they create their own struggles. Many have champagne tastes with limited cash to finance it. The position certainly has its challenges when you begin but it sure as hell is rewarding once you establish yourself. Sacrifices do need to be made and one of the biggest problems is living within your means. Many of them want it All Day One or what I have after putting in 40years.
Vazir & “An Actual AA FA”,
You’re being a bit petty. Technically, AA took over US (it was definitely an acquisition, not a merger like UA & CO.. The AA Leadership fought the acquisition hard before US won)… but it was only after the AA Creditors/owners agreed that the US plan to take over AA was the better one and chose the US team to take over AA. Though, you’re right… in technical terms, after that decision was made (and the agreement with APFA was signed by the Union with US Leadership), then the US team took over AA and “took over” US Airways.
Gary is write in terms of what actually happened though not the semantics of how the US takeover of AA happened.
Way to go Gary. Being the typical uncompassionate & uninformed MORON that you are! The Senior people no longer work for travel benefits. We typically buy tickets since AA stripped the Senior employees of valuable Seniority in traveling Standby. When a new hire can bump a 50 year employee down the list because they hit the checkin button quicker is BS! I didn’t choose to commute. After 33 years AA made my life a living hell making it mandatory to sit reserve 2-3 months a year, resulting in a pay cut. Now it is hell trying to commute to work with Junior Flight Attendants bumping me out of a seat/jumpseat at 38 years.
We are tired of AA’s stripping us of everything we have been fighting for. They chip away at our dignity, leaving us struggling to even smile at work anymore. The sick policy is stressful & most employees have a FAKE FMLA to just not get fired for Attendance. However, New York and CA employees can’t be fired for attendance due to their state laws. They also get short term disability pay that we were stripped of & have to pay for it ourselves on a volunteer basis.
You mentioned having to comply with consistency and make the service better. What a concept Gary. If only we were given the proper tools to do the proper service! I’m tired of making Jet Fuel out of soda water! Flight Attendants always have to be creative because we are not given enough or the proper tools to do “the proper service”.
Now AA managed to give our Pilots a HUGE raise, where many are making half a million a year, for working the same schedules & we rarely get crew meals as the Pilots always do. We run on empty because there is no time to eat between flights or the flight is so long we survive on pretzels. So we pack our feed bags with junk, if one can afford it. I’m not saying we deserve the equivalency as Pilots……but spread the damn wealth to the front line employees that should be in peak Performance mode. The Pilots even got hundreds of thousands in back pay……and they can’t pay us a decent wage.
I don’t even want boarding pay. That’s a waste! We started this job agreeing to be paid for flying time. The minute they give us boarding pay? It comes from somewhere in the contract, leaving Seniors with a pay cut, since we work the longer Flights and typically far less boarding than the Junior Flight Attendants.
To the person that says you know people with masters making less and paying student loans off. That’s their choice. The majority of Flight Attendants have a college degree and also owe student loans. We took this job many years ago under lies and deception of the opportunities it offered. Then when you are fully vested into staying? They open the trap door. We can’t just move on to another job. Many, as myself, started this job in a 2 income family. Sh** happens and many of us become a single income. We have fought many battles and the airlines just keep padding upper management’s retirement funds with our blood, sweat and tears. We are the front line employees, that love our job & we used to smile until AA took that smile away. We only hope that we can live off Social Security. Only legacy AA and US have pensions…..
“SHOW ME THE MONEY AA”
Nothing but a couple of “hard luck; empathy seeking, blame someone else” sob stories that deflect the genuine issues. (1) Like a herd of cattle, they are being led off a cliff by an impotent and dysfunctional union taken over and run by the cabal of self-seeking incompetents that were inherited from USAir who never could get contracts done. 2) Individuals who obviously cannot handle their personal finances and freely work in a job that cannot sustain them. 3) They have been dealing with a senior management group who have been able to take full advantage of the chaos and confusion to stonewall any contract for half a decade.
As an AA fa myself, parts of this article are off, causing some of the comments to be ignorant. First, we don’t get paid till the door closes, and we’re off the clock once it opens at destination. $68.25/hr sounds high, but we don’t get paid when we get to the airport, or when we check in, or when we get on the plane, or even during boarding time! As a result, 70 hours of flying PER MONTH is the same time commitment as a 40 hr per WEEK job. I have to fly 105-110 per month to make it in this economy. I’m rarely home.
Second, you mention we should provide higher levels of service that people will want to pay extras for…funny. In 43 years in this business the 1 things that’s proven is people want CHEAP. Bottom line is A-to-B CHEAP. Years ago they went to cheap airlines that offered nothing and delivered on it and the rest of us had to downgrade our product to match their cost of operation.
Hope this better educates whoever reads it.
Babs – “When a new hire can bump a 50 year employee down the list because they hit the checkin button quicker is BS!” — do you even see the arrogance and bad attitude with that, and why your colleagues are saying GFYS to the seniority system?
You are the problem.
Pilots got a huge raise? They are highly skilled professionals. You… are not.
Its also very frustrating that the ones who deal with the passengers the most, the customer service agents, have also been waiting for a new contract. No one cares. We work alllll the hours and they finally shoved a proposed contract at us were most of us will now make just a dollar or two over minimum wage. It gets tiring that most people think flighf attendants do soooooo much. Half the time they barely want to give you a drink anymore. They arent rebooking mile long lines of mentally imbalanced people for hours with no breaks. We are. Never understood why they make all the money.
SHAME
ON YOU AMERICAN AIRLINES AND THE REST’ IT OF THE AMERICAN GREED CORPORATE.. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.. HOW DARE YOU TREAT YOUR EMPLOYEES THE WAY THE MAIN SOURCES OF THE ONES THAT THRU THEM YOUR HAVE YOUR PERKS AND THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS YOU POCKET IN YOUR POCKET … WHO ARE AT FRONT LINE REPRESENTING YOU YOUR COOPERATIONS …. HOW DARE YOU ?? JUSTICE BY THE UNIVERSE WILL BE DONE.. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE,, THE SYSTEM WILL REWARD YOU FOR YOUR GREEDINESS AND SELFISHNESS OF YOUR ACTS.. SHAME ON YOU!!!! WAKE UP WORLD!!!
For those having a problem with Walter I suggest letting it go. Although I may be wrong, I actually think Walter is the Troll Loretta. If not, they could be related. Walter is rude, hateful, angry, bitter and full of pain. Let him continue to be a crow. I’m an Eagle so will fly above and move on. I have a houseful coming for the holidays and am choosing not to wallow in the negativity. So many commenters on here love to push down on others to make themselves feel better. Inspiring others to do better is a free gift to give away. Peace.
I work 30hrs overtime every month. Don’t take trips anywhere. Nothing like flying for free! Lol….Bidenomics and pandemic killed off mortgages, lucky to rent! And PS a flight hour of pay totally different than eight to five 40hrs week hour. It’s flight block time, doesn’t include boarding, baggage, wheelchairs, kids, illegals, etc
@Bob
So you’re saying that if your pay were doubled, you’d provide stellar service?
I doubt that.
The purpose of the n.w.o. is to eliminate the Middle Class – in any way possible
And
Depopulate the rest of the world.
They are not far behind schedule.
Please….please….rely upon the Lord who was born in a stable and died on a Cross
So that He could raise us out of our coming graves.+✨
“Service” really has no place in the conversation since some time ago the Unions shifted to the Paradigm to “primarily on board for your safety.” The more that was peddled, the more any semblance of customer service disappeared.
I’ll fo much part and no longer fly american
I’m sorry, but cry me a river AA FA’S… AA rampers/ Gate agents start out at 17.50 per hour and top out at 32.50 per hour after 9 years and that’s starting PT hours as well! While you all top out at 60.00 per hour. If my memory serves me correct you got your contract way before ours, in fact we are in pre-negotiations already because again I’m sure the company will drag their feet well beyond the normal timeline of negotiations, like they did last time. Another thing, Ramp should start at 25.00 but I highly doubt that will ever happen, especially since fast food workers make 20-25 per hour in CA. Plus a majority have better days off, and don’t have to park at the airport.
With everything going on with the economy and continued inflation that they fail to see, half of these FA’s will be lucky if they still have jobs by 2025. You can thank Biden for inflation and your adorable union for pretending like they actually care about you while you still pay them every month, that’s what ,500.00 per year in dues? . Y’all are really special. Keep driving yourselves into more debt and blaming everyone else for it. Going to be awhile before you get anything and hope you still have jobs next year without mass layoff as the economy continues to tank.
So sad there are so many hateful comments Gary. If you would have posted it correctly it strictly FLIGHT hourly wage (plane backs out til plane pulls in) vs assumption that all FAs get paid hourly like a full-time 40 hour employee wage, any compassion or respect wouldn’t have gone out the window!! BIG difference & you just stirred the pot so this cream of bad manners & disrespect could rise up. Doesn’t sound or feel good to be in any service industry when there’s self-inflated trolls out there. Corporate greed off the back of its workers sucks in ALL industries so thanks for adding to their misery. Shameful in every way.
@Mr Nonrever, if you work for an airline then you know that F/As don’t get paid 40 hours per week. How many hours per week do rampers/agents get paid for?
Dear Walter,
You have zero clue! Front line employees are what brings return. Is it Junior Flight Attendants that you want boarding and deplaning while sitting and texting in a First class seat? I’ve seen Flight Attendants in galleys on the internet putting off service for over an hour. Is that what you want? Or perhaps those Flight Attendants that blockade galleys with straps to keep passengers out of their space? If this is what AA continues to hire, and trying to get the good, no…. GREAT Flight Attendants to quit from being treated like something off the bottom of their shoes, then enjoy your next Flight. Remember that old saying Walter….YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!
With Seniority comes the better Flight Attendant that has fought for a better Airline. So yes in a Seniority driven occupation (Every airline), AA is the only airline that continually strips employees of our benefits & seniority.
Thanks all for the information. And wow eye opener. I did make the assumption of a full work week. Maybe the argument should be for paid hours as well since so much time is spent not being paid yet working. Unpaid labor should not be legal as it is not a volunteer position. This would bring you up to and above a lot of other normal paying jobs. I won’t comment about the lack of benefits or taxes because since we are all in that spot. I hope things get better for you all and for the others working the crowds at the gates.
To all the unhappy flight attendants, we are tired or your whining & b****ing about everything. YOU ARE NOT A TREE. YOU ARE NOT STUCK. YOU HAVE A CHOICE. All the jealousy and comparing yourselves to pilots..we are not the same! Go to flight school and earn your degree get those flight hours. They are hiring pilots everywhere. You are a dime a dozen. No one cares about your job title. Get a high paying job and don’t hold on to that job title if you complain about everything. But of course it’s easier to whine and hate and b**** about everything than better your lives right?? Bunch of haggard whiny clowns
Babs – you continue to demonstrate your entitlement and irrelevance. I don’t care who brings me my drink. That’s worth five bucks an hour.
You’re not.
Now get back to your complete lack of service. Don’t you have a galley to block? Or a pilot to suck?
Wow Walter sounds like a perv . The guy who nobody wants to sit next to. FA major function is safety, and with all the fighting and nasty customers I don’t blame them for feeling burnt out. It used to a prestigious position. But it just seems like a thankless job.
Former 31 year AA HDQ employee here. It was not a merger in any sense. It was a hostile takeover and a race to the bottom. Senior Management that stayed were selected to stay and they ran out everyone that questioned anything on both sides.. The combining of USAirways/American began the real us vs them but it was already a shitshow prior to 2014. AA had pretty much turned every work group against each other.
With regards to pay, American does not care 1 bit about anyone except the pilots. They drive the bus and without them they are dead in the water. But to drive the bus, you need teammates. Sadly those teammates are treated like garbage, work in some pretty lousy conditions with hostile work environments. Americans thoughts are that everyone is replaceable and by keeping the pay so low, they prove it day in day out. There are some great employees from all work groups who have been pushed to the limit and have no more to give so they start mailing it in. I left in 2021 and I have never been happier working at my new airline. I am actually paid a lot more, the company cares about the employees and backs it up, but they dont brag about it.
I wish the AA employees good luck and better pay but I dont think that is in the cards as I can see another BK coming soon as they spend like drunken sailors, but hey the 3rd one will be the charm for those at the helm.
I think it’s tough for all but especially flight attendants this economy does not pay well enough if there where housing for them then may things could be better why can’t the company have an airport shuttle driver for them
The lack of sympathy by the author of this article Gary, and alot of commentators to me is appalling. So I want to set some things straight. First of all, the fact that you Gary make millions or however much you make off of your blog really gives you the right to talk about what it’s like working in a job like that. While you rest easy off your overinflated bank account these people are slaves! A job isn’t a charity or volunteer work. It’s to put food on the table and it needs to cut more than even. 20,000 after taxes in Modern times living in the USA is a joke. And yes these people are slaves! What other options do they have? Kill themselves? Plenty already do that! And for all the unempathetic commentators here saying well I chose to be an npc and go to college like a good boy while putting myself 360k in debt because everyone deserves an equal education, congrats you chose to shoot yourself in the foot. That is correct modern societal pressures aren’t the smart paths to take if only you chose to think for yourself a little back in highschool instead of letting yourself be brainwashed by others, that college in the USA is somehow smart and not a complete scam. And yes I’m qualified to talk my dad went to MIT on a scholarship and ended up being a lawyer anyways working for law firms or the modern equivalent of 19th century sweatshops. Just like most of the dead corporate world. And unions are super important! Not in protecting corrupt cops from facing justice but in protecting us from the raw power of corrupt corporations! Which in case anyone still lives under a rock or with their head up their own butthole is just about every single corporation nowadays. The bigger and more powerful the corp, the more corrupt and ruthless as a general rule of thumb. Want an example? Easy take the flight industry. Pre-pandemic years flying was once upon a time a place that encouraged healthy competition between competitors. That’s why you could find bargain deals and get good relative prices for a flight. Well in the past few years airlines banded together in secret and said well if we can’t fix prices for our own profits and all raise our prices because thats completely illegal, let’s just all agree to cover different routes so we can all individually raise our prices. That’s why my brother was flying Boston to Memphis a 2 hour flight with only one option at 600$ which is outrageously inflated. Modern companies are extremely corrupt and face little repurcussions for it if any and in some cases are almost always incentifized to do so. Wake up Gary, I don’t fear the facts.
Oh and awaiting moderation Is just Gary censoring through the comments he likes and doesn’t, like this one. “Awaiting Censorship” lmfao
Any idea about other Airlines are doing Delta ? United?
@Yonah
You. Are. Deranged.
You should be allowed anywhere near an aircraft because you are a security threat.
Now. As for “What other options do they have? Kill themselves?”…..how about getting a better paying job. Even teenagers have figured that out.
Don’t you have a protest to be at?
Albanypark – wow, you sound like an illiterate idiot. FA major function is safety? OK bootlicker. Prestigious? HAHAHAHAHA. Mommy slept with a pilot recently? Or was that you?
Alex – “if there were housing for them”? Why? They have a job. That they chose. You want housing as part of the job? Try the military, not airborne waitressing.
Yonah – a) blahblah. b) Jealous of Leff much? c) Line breaks are your friend.
No doubt there is need for a new contract and better pay. But the fact of the matter is, I know senior top-end pay scale flight attendants earning well over $100k per year. Yes they are flying more than 75 hours a month. Our ‘thought leader” author omits the facts about incremental premium pay for different qualifications and trips. (or he just does not know. Definitely this would be shared in a well-balanced report but balanced reporting is not red meat for the readers and hence not $$ in the blogger coffers)
Anyone with less than 13 years is still getting incremental raises each year. So “haven’t had a raise in 10 years” is a prevarication of the truth. Furthermore, while I can feel some empathy for the Juniors at the low end of the scale, the best practice is to learn everything about a job before pursuing it. Ive known new hires who will brag about $300 shoes or drive luxury cars and then cant pay their bills. Granted, its not a lot of money in the beginning. It can be hard, no doubt, but a person has to want to be in that job and needs to use a little financial restraint until they move up the scale.
No one makes these people be a flight attendant. It is common knowledge that starting pay is low. You get a bump in pay every year until you get to the top of the scale. In addition you have the opportunity to work more if you wish to increase your income. FAs also get expense money and time away from base pay. Fly 100 hours a month and you easily clear 50k a year at the lowest step on the pay scale and make 100k at the top. If you can’t live on that the problem is you, not the job. And yes I know what I’m talking about my wife has been flying for a major for 32 years.
Gary, thank you for writing about this topic but please make it clear that the hourly pay is for FLIGHT HOUR. If we are on board with passengers and the door isnt closed, we get $0. Boarding- $0. Deplaning- $0. Delays- $0. Time in between flights- $0. New-Hires are making less than 30k, and thats working nights, weekends, and holidays, being at the company’s beck and call.
To those saying other professions also do unpaid work- yes, but those people are salaried, not hourly.
The pay used to be bearable when we at least enjoyed our jobs. Now, the morale is so so low. We work longer hours with less sleep. People think “they get to see the world!” Ha ha ha….. yes we see a lot of airport hotels. Hard to see anything with a 17 hour day, on top of the time to get to/from the airport. The only “rest” required by the FAA is 8 hours at the hotel… but we are human and need to eat, shower, wind down, and get up early enough to get ready the next day… so we are looking at 5-6 hours of sleep IF we are lucky enough to fall asleep right away.
Many FAs, like myself, go to work with the intention of helping people. That is how we derive meaning from the job. What is most disheartening is not being able to be our best selves, and offer the best service, because our most basic needs are not met (sleep, food, enough money for rent).
Happy employees and a healthy company culture provide the best customer service. I firmly believe that. While I am never rude or mean to passengers, I see a massive difference in my behavior based on if Ive had something to eat that day, and had enough sleep.
Also, I understand that delays happen, and some days Ill get home hours or even days late. Fine. But please pay me for that time. It is really hard to keep a smile on and help others when I am trying to manage my own emotions about having to work hours more, having my plans cancelled, all without any pay! I am never rude to passengers, but my heart and soul is gone. My smile is fake, because my feelings are so far from happy.
For those who say “you signed up for this!” The job was much different when I got hired just 7 years ago. I did not sign up for a merger, or this new robotic scheduling system, or all the changes that have come with new management. I, and almost every other FA, used to LOVE this job! We used to be passionate. Some of us still have a glimmer of passion left, which is why we hold on. Many, like myself, are waiting for a new contract to hopefully give us the conditions needed to love our job again. If not, we’ll unfortunately move on to work places that value us and appreciate us. Especially if we are hard workers who have valuable skills (I personally have a Masters degree, and many of my colleagues do too).
Yes, I complain, and some people get annoyed at that. But it is not empty complaining. It is with a very clear goal of educating people and eventually CHANGING things. Because this is my life, and the lives of 26000 other flight attendants at AA. Why shouldnt we care?
Thanks to anyone who read all that 🙂