An American Airlines flight attendant new hire was caught snoozing (supposedly for a few moments) on a training flight while properly seated in a passenger seat. A working crewmember photographed the trainee and sent it in to management. As with the two United flight attendants union officials caught maskless, and like everywhere else in society, virtually everything that happens in public gets recorded.
The new hire, a foreign-language speaker, was fired just a couple of days before graduation. And this has been highly controversial among American Airlines flight attendants who say it brief naps happen all the time.
- They don’t like snitching on colleagues. The story I’ve heard is that the ‘snitch’ used to work for Emirates which is regarded to have a ‘snitching culture’. And there are threats of retaliation, with other flight attendants claiming to have photos of this flight attendant breaking rules in uniform.
- There’s general sympathy for the new hire (which surprised me). Training days are long and there’s reportedly a medical condition that may have contributed to the brief snooze. Since the trainee wasn’t a working crewmember on the flight no safety rules were broken, though certainly company rules were (even if I see working flight attendants ‘resting their eyes’ quite frequently).
One flight attendant wrote (very respectfully) to Brady Byrnes, American’s Vice President of Inflight, and his response is going viral in ‘flight attendant social’. He’s instructed that she be given a talking-to for her email to him.
I have three general takeaways,
- The fired almost-flight attendant was a trainee, any violation can lead to being bounced.
- Crewmembers should not assume any solidarity as union members. They snitch on each other, and retaliate against snitchers.
- Byrnes offered exactly the wrong response. 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. And end by emphasizing what a testament is that they’re so caring at work, please continue to be and continue to take equally good care of customers.
As a former Teamster, I can confidently say this is Union business as usual. The fact that this new hire, is not a primary English speaker makes them an easy mark for the union bosses & snitches…. I wonder what their skin color was? What Union boss did they ignore?
Prob less grouchy than the ones who don’t nap
How pathetic, as this reads like a gothic horror story. What motivates people to act so petty? It’s as if their parents were allegedly with the French or Dutch Resistance during the war, but actually informed on those who fought the Nazis.
Reminds me of years ago when I took the Acela in First from NYC-Baltimore. After serving breakfast, one of the crew curled up in an open seat for a nap. He looked so disheveled in his ill-fitting shirt and tieI told him on the way out at BAL that “you can’t hoot all night with the owls if you’re gonna soar with the eagles the next day…”
The best advertisement for staying away from unions
Maybe the new hire tried to do PDB service and the senior flight attendant didn’t like it.
The snitch proved that he/she is likely not be someone to be counted on to make good common sense decisions under pressure. If the snitch’s coworkers have pictures of he/she breaking any rules at all turning them into management is the correct thing to do. Not for the mistake but for the snitch’s hypocrisy and inability to work effectively as a team member.(The snitch should have simply confronted the new hire themselves)
Most finger pointers /Karens or whatever you want to call them tend to have more faults than the people they are pointing fingers at…. I know I know, i’m pointing fingers at the snitch!
Don’t be surprised if that new hire who got fired for allegedly dozing on the job during a training flight ends up learning something about affiliate marketing and becomes an online millionaire. Then that person will have the snitch to thank for, in motivating them to start their online business and become a future Internet millionaire. Goodness comes in all shapes, forms and sizes. 🙂
Respectfully, Brady Byrnes seems like a dick.
33-year International Purser here who just worked a trip from Delhi, India to New York with a new hire. Contrary to the stereotypes of senior flight attendants, I consider myself a hard-working, conscientious worker who cares about the service I provide to my customers, and always groom myself so that my uniform is immaculate, my hair and shoes appropriate for my role as a crew member. When I started with AA, we called it being “regulation.”
I know a lot of people think that the new hires are cute, enthusiastic about the job and people prefer them to the more experienced people like myself, but I’m finding that the exact opposite is true in many cases. This new hire sat in a jumpseat the entire time she wasn’t on break, not once getting up to check on the passengers or answer call lights. She watched a movie on her phone with ear buds on, in full view of the passengers while I did walkthroughs every 15 minutes, refilling drinks, and helping people with whatever they requested. This was probably five or six hours that she remained seated in the jumpseat. Maybe at one point she got up to go to the lavatory, but I was too busy to notice.
When we started the mid-flight meal service, she put on her winter uniform overcoat and proceeded to work in it while serving passengers in the business class cabin because she said she was cold. When I told her that she looked inappropriate in the aisle in a heavy coat, she said that I was bullying her. So this is the type of mindset you’re dealing with.
to the snitch
what goes around comes around
Always wondered what happens when they close the curtain in the galley after service is done. Could be watching a movie, reading a book, or shutting ones eyes.
If Doug (or was it Robert?) said that the 80/20 rules applies to AA’s flyers vs the revenue they provide, I’m squarely in the middle. When I sit on my 15-20 trips per year, I look on with contempt toward the (yes, stereotyped) more-tenured FAs who either think that the service guidance doesn’t apply to them or are so mad they can’t see straight and take it out on every pax they can find.
I owe them an apology. If I had to work under B. Byrnes after reading that email, I wouldn’t care either. I’ve sent many emails where I *wanted* to convey contempt, and they weren’t nearly as tone-deaf as that one. That’s just sad. How did he make it out of B-school, much less to VP of a US3 airline???
@AAnonymous I don’t care for the new younger flight attendants either. Keep snitching!
used to fall asleep in the tail cone of a dc 9 on final all the time. throw up the belt to keep pax away and listen to the drone of the engine and ka poof. even woke up to a dark cabin once when the crew ditched me as a junior FA.
Seems like discretion and forethought could have been used all around. From the tired trainee, the snitching FA, and the management team/individual.
Now it’s being played out in public with very few people knowing all the facts and perspectives.
@Gary – You really seem enamored with the word snitch. Why not mix it up a bit by using Quisling or traitor?
While the company response may have been a bit tone deaf, sleeping on the job while training is a pretty justifiable reason for termination. If that’s what she was doing when lacking union protections, it bodes ill for future behavior and AA did the smart thing by cutting their losses before further problems occurred.
Strikes me that the poor FA who wrote that message to Byrnes has even more talking coming his way now that he released the response publicly. No way the guy’s going to take that gracefully. Unless they let the jerk go before he can hurt the FA.
I am also a more senior purser with American Airlines that still enjoys what she does. I have had the pleasure of flying with some very polished junior flight attendants, and some that need a little work. But I’m sorry, if a flight attendant thinks that he or she is going to work in a premium cabin with me with an over coat, they can call it bullying, but I am well within in my rights for the sake of the service to trade them out of that position. We are all adults, and this is a job, and I expect us to be professionals, and to look like professionals. I am sorry that happened to the young lady, and I have no comment that is fit to print about any one else.
Once again,…Leff is long on sensationalism and anti-AA Rhetoric…but short on facts here. The fact is, this was a new-hire TRAINEE–and they do not have the benefit of union representation. In fact, they do not have full union protections until they successfully complete a 6 month probationary period.
And secondly, why the hell is a self-appointed “industry expert” relying on second-hand, salacious gossip about a flight attendant trainee, that has no real-world consequences for anyone but that person, for an article? Oh yeah–that’s what Leff does. He the hAAte is real. He has become ridiculous
I’d have the snitchs’ tits or balls (or both) tied to a trailer hitch and floor the gas pedal. ‘HITCH FOR SNITCH’
Never, ever snitch on a coworker, there are other avenues to take that don’t involve the company, including giving them a personal tongue lashing. I hope this snitch gets reported for an infraction down the road, for we are ALL guilty of breaking the rules.
Sigh…this happened when I was flying for US Airways. I was a new flight attendant in the 80’s and was working a B-727 red-eye from LA to Pittsburgh. A few hours into the flight one of the senior flight attendants working in the back fell asleep in the jumpseat. I didn’t see it, but two other flight attendants did. Unfortunately, one of those flight attendants was a supervisor. Falling asleep while on duty is immediate grounds for dismissal. When we arrived in PIT the flight was met by more supervisors and the sleeping flight attendant was terminated. She had 10 years with the company at that point. It was a mess and the union couldn’t help her. I will add this flight attendant was African American and eventually got her job back.
Miss purser of 31 years SHUT UP! This is not about you nor the narrative you’re trying to create. Half of you don’t have a clue what you’re doing on that flight it’s all about the hours. If you claim the flight attendant had on a winter coat to do service, which I highly doubt it true. Then as the professional you claim to be you should have warmed up the cabin because it meant the customers were also freezing. But chances are you had the cabin set to the temperature you wanted and could have cared less about the customers or crew. So when you’re out here spinning your web remember without new hires you will be back on reserve! Best not complain when it happens.
What Thing 1 said…..
@AAnonymous and @Kimberly Chandler
I am also a senior Lead FA that deals with the new hires on both domestic and Intl flights . Words cannot describe the mentality and lack of work ethic that the majority of these new hires show . To be honest , there are some who are quite good as new hires but they are mainly in their 30s , 40s and some even hired in the 60s . These ” older ” people / new hires seem to understand , respect and try to adhere to all policies and regulations they learned in initial training .
By far , it’s the “younger ” new hires , many in their early 20s and from my conversations with them , this is their first job ! They are cute , handsome and typically look great in the uniform , but simply have no respect of time , responsibility and team work . Months ago I asked a younger new hire to please help with the trash pick up and she said ” you are not my supervisor ” . I took a breath and said on this flight I am purser and organize , choreograph and say when we as a TEAM do service . I added that part of our service is sharing the trash runs .
She was cold , rude and never looked me in the eye until I said ” We have a medical in seat 22B (not actual seat # ) and I need your help to do ” blah blah blah,etc… She moved like a snail , never called the flight deck ( as I found out later ) along with other “SAFETY RELATED DUTIES ” that she was trained to do yet never completed .The story ends with I had no choice to share with her that she was not compliant with blah, blah, blah in the FAM , etc… and I was left with only one option …To speak with my sup (along with documentation ) on the serious ignorance and attitude .
She is no longer employed by my airline. I am getting ONLY positive support from fellow FAs , some I know and some i do not know …
Finally , for us as safety professionals to continue to be just that , we as senior crew must , in our own way , encourage , show the way , repeat the directives for all new hires . I stand equally as strong that if we are confronted with attitude, non compliance , laziness , breaking FARs or anything directly or indirectly that could be a possible safety risk on our flight that we speak the truth to them and management sooner than later .
Thank you for those of you who persisted and read this lengthy comment . Fly Safe ..
@Thaddeus- I didn’t snitch on her, I just spoke to her about her watching movies on her phone and wearing her winter coat in the aisle while serving passengers. It took all I had not to blow up, because we’re not getting paid to watch movies, we’re paid to look after our customers.
Her response was “What did I do to you to have you picking on me?” She obviously doesn’t get it. In what job is it acceptable to ignore your customers and just do whatever you want?
And yes, I have seen flight attendants treat passengers very badly, they speak to them in a manner that I never would. There’s a way to be diplomatic in every situation. I’ve seen flight attendants of all seniorities be very rude, and it makes me cringe.
@AAnonymous
You are exactly right that all seniority of FAs are rude to customers and to each other . Like you said ,, we are there to look after them, including safety situations . I firmly believe in our work being work , nothing less . Part of work is to get along with our peers but this becomes difficult when presented with any seniority FA being rude , lazy and/or diplomatic .
Hang in there !! I plan to do just that !!
Fly Safe !
@Robb- becoming a flight attendant was my very first job after four years of college and back then, when I got on the plane, I felt like I was there to learn from my senior peers and I had respect for their experience and knowledge of the job. I relied upon them to learn from them, and it was very different in the late 1980s! If you got a senior trip to Europe, I felt like not only did I have to be a good flight attendant, but I also wanted to prove myself to my senior co-workers to gain their respect in return. I didn’t want to have a reputation as a slacker!
The senior flight attendants I flew with were really elegant, started in the 1950s-1970s when it was still glamorous and they had class! I have always held myself to their standards, most of them have long since retired or sadly passed away. But I’ll never forget them and I cherish my memories of flying with them to Europe, the Caribbean and South America. The stories they had to tell of flying back in the day were incredible!
You should write a book about those stories AAnonymous! Don’t let them fade to oblivion please!
Wow, did not know that AA was becoming an Authoritarian police state…
@AAnonymous
We (literally) are a dying breed of FAs from the era when flying as a FA was a respectable career . Like you I have so many fond memories of those days . I do make every effort to understand the actions /or not of the younger new hires along with their actions ?or not of performing in flight duties per the FAM , company policy or regulation .
I have come to realize that all I can do and will continue to do is project professionalism and work rules per training . I will not allow myself to slide down hill with my standards . Hopefully , some of those just hired will appreciate my actions ( not perfect at all here ) , and they might continue to project some of the better qualities of what a flight attendant truly should be . This is a time when time will really tell as most airlines are hiring in masses for the FA position .
In a few years those that are hired today will show what they learned today .
Fly Safe !
So getting a Lil shut-eye is a big deal?
If it’s not safety-related, drink water and mind your damn business.
When you applied to the FA position, I know you said in your interview *Team Player* then ACT LIKE IT. could’ve pulled the trainee one side and given them a Lil briefing, but no snitching is the trend. Lmao, girl, WE ALL DONT EVEN GET PAID ENOUGH AND YOU OUT HERE SNAPPING PEOPLE PHOTOS EXPECTING A RAISE OR RECOGNITION. their goes your senority
So getting a Lil shut-eye is a big deal?
If it’s not safety-related, drink water and mind your damn business.
When you applied to the FA position, I know you said in your interview *Team Player* then ACT LIKE IT. could’ve pulled the trainee one side and given them a Lil briefing, but no snitching is the trend. Lmao, girl, WE ALL DONT EVEN GET PAID ENOUGH AND YOU OUT HERE SNAPPING PEOPLE PHOTOS EXPECTING A RAISE OR RECOGNITION. their goes your senority
36 year flight attendant here. What some may consider a ‘dinosaur’, too old, or don’t ‘look so good’ anymore. But I’ll tell you this. I’m the one smiling at you at the boarding door. I’m the one answering your call bell in a timely manner. I’m the one who is in the aisle to assist as you’re boarding. I’m the one who is standing and ready when you visit the galley for a stretch or a refreshment. In the meantime, many of my younger coworkers are on their phone. Watching a movie. Adhered to their jumpseat, not answering your call bell at all, leaving you sitting with your rubbish on your table or your glass empty.
Here’s how it is; As a trainee/new hire they should be the best of the best. If you are already not following company policy (sleeping, not performing services, attitude, etc) it’s better for the company, fellow crew and passengers to part ways with them now rather than when it’s a lot more difficult to separate them from the company.
Based on the facts this seemed more like a racially motivated snitch because that is not the common culture to snitch at AA. Given the bad (mostly true) rap of DFW FAs being bitter, worn out from being such a senior base (lifetime reservers) and bigoted, snitching from this base is not unheard of by any means. I had a junior FA friend of mine get fired from pics a DFW crew had sent to management of planted minis in my friends purse. DFW needs to crackdown on the hatred coming from its headquarters and do better with diversity training because mark my words, the racists won’t win at the end of the day. Plenty of lawsuits with AA already going on from racially motivated termination.
Brady Byrnes should be terminated immediately! He’s such a freaking bully
Some clarification on VP Brady Byrnes comment regarding contacting the writers Service Manager:
It’s standard corporate policy for senior management to keep local management in the loop. Brady was not stating that her manager would be talking to her because she wrote to him in disagreement. Her manager would be contacted to reach out to her so she could have a personal conversation and express her concerns. It was not a retaliatory move.
Since the trainee was fired/released after graduating seems to indicate that there was some history there as training managers and instructors were involved in the decision. The sleeping issue may have been just one of many issues that caught their attention. As anyone in today’s management environment knows, employee issues must be documented before action is taken. AND those records cannot be shared with other employees.
Personally, I would have handled the sleeping trainee situation differently than the “snitch”. I would have simply woken the trainee, giving him/her the benefit of the doubt. The trainee may have not have slept well the night before as he/she worried about being prepared, may have been under the weather but knows the training flight is a FAA requirement, etc. The trainee’s reaction to being awoken would have effected a decision to follow up with management or not.
The trainee screwed up. The proper training is to be in the galley, on your phone, ignoring all pax. Not sleeping and ignoring the pax!
The newby was probably pleasant to passengers…..the senior mama’s don’t like that.
@AAnonymous, @Kimberly Chandler, @Robb & @Carrie – thank you. As a PAX in your care, I appreciate your dedication to both customer safety and comfort, and your important role as ambassadors of goodwill for the airline. A cheerful, hardworking, professional FA goes further for me in giving me a good impression of the airline than just about any other point of contact – and a surly, lazy or rude FA does the inverse. I wish there were more like you, and when I come across a friendly, hard-working, professional FA who goes above and beyond, I try to make a point to tell them I noticed the excellence in service and to express gratitude. Sadly, my experience for the last several years has been that your caliber of professionalism has been the exception rather than the norm from AA. I am DFW based, and I did not realize until reading the post above by @NOT DFW based that DFW based AA crew have a negative reputation in this regard. Is that true or universally perceived ? If so, maybe that explains my AA experiences seemingly weighted toward the lower end of the spectrum of FA service.
@PettyBetty- yes, this flight attendant was wearing her winter coat in the aisle. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt with the vest for the service, I don’t wear the topper/apron in the aisle in premium cabins, because we used to wear a serving jacket in first class and business class back when we were more than American Airlines in name only. The cabin temperature was set at 73/74 degrees and the touch screen was accurate. Sometimes on the 777 the touch screen will say that it’s a comfortable temperature, but there’s no way that it’s the temperature shown, either too hot or too cold.
Your comments are typical of the entitled junior flight attendants who never received any food service training. Not all junior flight attendants are bad, but this one was incredible.
Now we understand why the inflight service is so horrible at American. Brady Byrnes is the factor to the moral issue that trickles down to the horrible customer experience. A few days ago I was on flight from BCN, boy my expectation as an EP Aadvantage member is zero now and at this point its probably nonexistent. When you have so called leaders like Brady rho believe they are high and mighty the people under you dont perform and in this business it’s a direct link to your bottom line. While it most often is true employees don’t have the full story, an employee should never be shut down. Brady should be glad people are willing to voice their concerns so he hear it straight from the horses mouth and can find solutions quickly to counter disgruntle employees. Shame on you Brady, don’t expect to know when the walls are crumbling down until it actually does because no one will be coming to you or lower management since you just set an awful tone. In fact, Brady should be fired since he is the one responsible for tge awful pitful service we as EPs are experiencing more and more each flight.
Brady has only been in senior management for a short period so your remarks are not informed. He is the third VP since the merger. His remark that the flight attendant’s manager would contact her was not retaliatory. It’s standard procedure for senior management to ask an employee’s direct supervisor to reach out to the employee to have an opportunity to express his/her concerns to a manager in person.
The flight attendant work force is basically an unsupervised work group of over twenty thousand and the management of the group is rather unique and difficult. Such that rumors, opinions and misunderstandings tend to run rampant.
While I can’t defend the quality of service you received on your flight, rest assured that it wasn’t the service flight attendants were trained and required to provide but decided to ignore. Too many today want to rush the service and turn off the lights and close the window shades so they can start their breaks (international and long haul).
I remember when I did my training we were told not to sleep, even occupying a passenger seat after we had done our IOE (Initial Operating Experience). I could have very easily been in this crew member’s shoes had I fallen asleep, and there had been someone eager enough to tell management.
My first trip, while on probation, I accidentally overslept my alarm and had to take the next available ride to the airport. My crew and the agents covered for me since I was on new hire probation. Although I was in the wrong, they took care of me and it never happened again.
The person who did this to the trainee could have just as easily shown compassion by waking them up, but chose the less honorable path. Now apparently he is paying for it.
The email response is not at all surprising, given my experience in trying to express concern and ask for accountability from management, particularly over the handling of irregular operations. Unprofessional at best, tyrannical at worst. Now the world can see it for what it is. New leadership is desperately needed.
I hope the person who shared management’s response is also safe from retaliation, but I fear otherwise.
The snitch needs some thump therapy. We used to say snitches need stiches. How petty and the VP sounds lijke an asshole. Probably never worked a day on a plane. Both of them will get theirs someday.
The America West FAs are so good they can “be there for your safety” even when they are asleep.
/s
It’s a real shame this became public and a topic for debate and derision. As one well-informed person said, decisions to terminate a trainee are not taken lightly. The company has invested time and money into recruiting, housing and training them. But if there are things that call into question whether that trainee will meet company standards and requirements once graduated, it’s far better to terminate the training than to take on someone that could be an ongoing problem.
This whole story seems to be less about the termination of a trainee (not an infrequent occurrence) and more about the idea that someone “snitched”. Well, as part of those trainee flights, the working flight attendants have to certify that the trainee met all requirements. So did they “snitch”? Or were they actually ensuring that what they sign their name to is accurate?
And while Mr. Byrne’s email could have been more carefully worded, he is simply looking out for the department that has been entrusted to his leadership and care, and holding people accountable. Believe me – it is one of the tougher jobs in this industry. In my many years at various airlines and roles, I have rarely found a front line worker or flight attendant who had positive things to say about their senior leaders. Unfortunately, unions only exacerbate this division.
Isn’t there a phrase, “snitches with stitches”?
I can see both sides of this and the truth probably lies squarely in between the extremes. As a trainer in a different industry, I (gen X-er) have the opportunity to train many millennials and zoomers. To say that those groups act smugly without proving anything or exhibiting an entitled attitude is an understatement. However, there are good apples in the bunch as well so there are still some decent parents out there. In this situation at AA, I hope that this decision didn’t originate from a single lapse in judgement.
Without knowing all of the details, I am loathe to place this on the doorstep of a trainer being a snitch. Due to my reputation of “salvaging” some of the trainees with rougher edges, I often get the retreads of others or the outright difficult people from the start of their employ. When I first noticed this pattern and complained about it, I was told that it was a compliment because I was being trusted to do a difficult task just like the best doctors should be handling the toughest cases. I bought into it initially as it made sense. The stress of having to be the bad guy got to me eventually and one of my leaders told me in confidence that my truthfulness was where my value with the company was with regards to training. If I gave an appraisal of the trainee, they knew it would be fair and honest. They also knew that I was likely NOT to be able to save many of the people sent to me so it was a preemptive decision that anticipated separations down the road for which they needed my accurate documentation. It is tragic that a lower-level employee has to be the one with cojones instead of the leaders for this type of situation.
Snitches & back-stabbing crewmembers need to reconsider their actions.
The reality is all flight attendants train for safety/medical related emergencies and we hope we never have to put into action these very skills. Unfortunately, there is always the chance that we, ourselves, experience a person medical emergency or have to prepare the cabin for a crash landing that could potentially result in serious injury to ourselves. The one given is that we as crewmembers will be there for each other, have each others’ back, take care of each other. We can’t expect that the passengers are going to save us.
Well, if you’ve snitched on me or got me into trouble, can you trust that I will now have your back if you are having a personal medical emergency or are injured during a crash landing? If I can’t trust you, can you trust me?
Then again, there’s always the chance a snitch could just so happen to wind up with a few minis in their bag at the end of a trip when the company just so happens to decide to do a bag check at that moment. Hmmm!
So, yes, we as crewmembers do take care of each other. But the question for snitches is, how as a fellow crewmember would you like to be taken care of?