American Airlines flight attendants haven’t had a raise since 2019. At the end of that year their contract became amendable, and the value of their wages has been substantially eroded since then by more than 20% inflation.
- A new contract was delayed first by the pandemic
- The process of negotiating all the myriad details is a long one. The current agreement (that flight attendants didn’t even approve) runs over 325 pages. And that doesn’t count a separate 15 page attendance policy and 18 page uniform policy among others.
- Plus, union politics (effectively needing to wait for incumbent officers to be re-elected) meant further delay.
Boston-based first and second year American Airlines flight attendants are eligible for food stamps. American Airlines even gives newly-hired flight attendants a letter attesting to their poverty.
The letter states that a new flight attendant will have a “projected annual salary [of] $27,315 per year before incentives and taxes” and concludes, “Any courtesy you can provide would be appreciated.”
The actual letter AA gives new FAs when they move to NYC, Miami, Boston, Dallas etc.
byu/containment-failure inamericanairlines
Here’s the flight attendant pay scale from the current contract. Their last raise was in January 2019.
Here are some key things to understand about this pay.
- The lineholder minimum guarantee is 71 hours per month. A flight attendant working reserve is guaranteed 75 hours per month. Many cabin crew do work more than that.
- Those are hours from push back to arrival. Those hours do not include time at the airport, connecting between flights, or boarding planes.
Flight attendants can make more than the minimum in the American Airlines letter, but 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. Those were some of the best times of my life! Lower incomes can be fine with roommates, without unexpected major expenses, and if you’re not trying to support a family. Many flight attendants do side work, though a second job is tough since they don’t have consistent schedules month-to-month.
American Airlines introduced a profit-sharing program for its employees, including flight attendants, in 2016. This decision was part of an effort to improve employee relations and align the company more closely with industry standards, as other major carriers like Delta and United already had profit-sharing plans in place. American’s CEO had argued that flight attendants don’t contribute to profit so shouldn’t get a piece of it.
In April 2017 the airline announced unilateral wage increases for pilots and flight attendants. This decision was outside of the regular contract negotiation process and was intended to correct a pay disparity with Delta and United.
American could, on its own, do more now (or at any time in the past few years). They learned with their mechanics that this makes it harder to reach a new contract. Giving out raises without getting a contract done means there’s less to give in the contract, so employees have less reason to agree to one. Mechanics didn’t wind up striking, they wound up engaging in an illegal work action that crippled the carrier in summer 2019.
With Southwest flight attendants getting a record-breaking contract and non-union Delta then handing out unilateral wages, American’s flight attendants will get a better contract. In some sense, the longer senior flight attendants wait the better off they become (especially if, like Southwest crew, they receive make-good payments for the time it took to get to a deal). Junior flight attendants though suffer from much lower wages, having to live closer to hand to mouth, the longer they wait. The incentives of junior crew are very different than more senior flight attendants.
The very fact the AA is giving out those statements means they recognize the issue. They are also aware that they need to protect the airlines bottom line in dealing with the Unions. The union isn’t the issue, their position is to get everything possible for membership. I knew a Jetblue flight attendant who was work as a substitute teacher on her off days to make ends meet – the reality was she made more as a substitute cash wise than as a FA. It can be hard for many to understand how expensive it is to survive today – my some makes more than $40k but struggles to support his family. Giving a living wage to the FA’s really means just pennies on a ticket price.
Notable that you put pictures of female minority flight attendants in a poverty article. Says a lot about you as a person.
You take these jobs knowing what the salary and work hours entail. Millions of people get lower pay than FAs. After 14 years you’re making $68 an hour now and probably $80 after the new contract.
Here’s an idea, decertify the union and get a better deal like Delta.
@Bob, so you criticize Gary for being inclusive? I’m sure you’d also ding him for only using white flight attendants. Nice. You’re last name Consistency?
Well played @roundtree. Well played.
Inclusive marketing in a positive way — but also the double edged sword of reinforcing stereotypes.
I guess I was thinking the article referenced Boston-based FAs — and we all know, Boston ain’t the most diverse city in the world 😉
The quote about Doug Parker saying that FAs don’t contribute to the bottom line is sooo AA these days (even with him gone). They don’t give a s*** about inflight service and think that it doesn’t make a difference to customers, so long as the “schedule” is good. Im based out of NY and LA and can expense domestic F for work… have been Plat/Plat Pro for 10+ years with AA and did a status match to DL last year. Guess who I’m choosing more often now due to better service?
Then don’t take the job. What the hell is wrong with these people?
McDonald’s pays like shit too. Don’t take that job either.
Following Walmart I see, “The High Cost of Low Wages”, tax payers picking up the slack for greedy corporations.
For an elevated, inclusive, and thoughtful experience in the sky, choose Delta.
Sorry, “The High Cost of Low Price”.
@Matt
Yeah. Thanks. I’ll pass based on my experience. Never seen so much unprofessional ridiculous flirting by FAs as I have with delta in FAs
@CHRIS (and everybody else reading): The problem is, though a base starting salary is posted and is readily available to anybody who cares to search for it, new flight attendants (FAs) hear about that pay being “only base” with the option of earning much more. AA (and I would guess other carriers) emphasizes the opportunity to earn more; including the fact that per diem is paid; they can pick up trips, that there are other incentives for additional income (the much hated credit cards, for example), which all make it seem to new FAs that they will only ‘start’ at that base pay. But be able to earn more. They also learn quickly that they will automatically get a pay raise every year on the anniversary of their hiring, which immediately follows completion of training and graduation. Once they are in the job they then realize that additional income might not be as easily earned as they felt was implied. Add to that a drastically different job than what they envisioned (there are a myriad of reasons for that, like it being more difficult to pick up extra trips than they thought, reserve ((being on call)), very difficult trips ((multiple boardings and flights in a single day)), increasingly difficult passengers, negativity from AA themselves ((a punitive attendance policy, upper management attitude that is, shall I say, crappy, and more)) and other negatives associated with the job that nobody AND I MEAN NOBODY can fully understand unless you’ve flown as a FA before). With all those things in mind, the job is far different than what is expected and the starting low wages quickly become more of a limitation than they were lead to believe. So no, they actually do not know what the actual income is before they start flying.
Look, it doesn’t matter whether it’s well known or not that AA FAs are paid sh*t. The question is should they be paid a livable wage, and the answer from any non-contemptible person is yes. FAs are a pillar of safety and that’s a domain we shouldn’t accept cheapness.
Fair pay for an FA in NYC would be $60,000 at a minimum. That would only qualify them for the sh*ttiest apartments in eastern Queens and they’ll still need roommates. The good news is LGA and JFK are both in Queens, technically.
Realistically:
– No man should sign up to be an FA on AA or any airline. This isn’t a career. Men should be in manly careers. I make no apologizes for my regressive views on gender roles.
– Women signing up to be an FA should either have, or have the capability to have, a well-compensated spouse. At least director level at an ad agency (~$200-300k) in NYC.
Shame on the FA union for letting down its members for years and years. The very fact that an agreement had to wait for their internal election is proof they are negligent. They (the union) also regularly advises it’s membership to “act out” against customers and “not to do a single thing above the minimum”. No wonder the flying public is not on the FA’s side in this.
Why the *u*k would anyone that absolutely didn’t have to, fly these guys? You’re supporting this. Yeah, I know. Some will say It’s all of them, and cherry pick, but no. It’s not. These guys have a history of this behavior.
The APFA are the only ones denying AA flight attendants more money. They got it in their head that they should be paid like pilots.
Picking up flights would help but the senior are scarfing up trips to maintain high lifestyles. Real lack of unionism. The junior FAs really do suffer. If they envisioned a different job than what the reality is, it’s cause they watch too many movies. “Paris, international, first class”. Give me a break. APFA is the bad guy here. AA has told them they’ll match the highest pay i.e. Delta. But APFA won’t take the win and move on.
This looks like a standard income verification form letter you’d need to rent an apartment or for child support or any number of purposes.
The unions contracts are designed to benefit those in power and who have been they’re the longest… Not new employees. New employees have no say in the contacts, have no power…or are Hired after the contacts were put in place. Poop rolls
Wages aren’t all at the sole discretion of American Airlines. At least American Airlines acknowledges the situation and gives out a letter. Where is the one from the union?
Honestly, you can make more than 27k as a first year FA. Just work more hours.
-FA that made 65k with first year pay.
It’s not hard, people are just lazy.
Translation: senior AA FA’s over 13 years on the job have not had a pay raise since 2019. They’re the ones screwing over the junior FA’s for a myriad of reasons. One primary reason is the “I had it bad back in the old days and now you should too” mantra many subscribe to.
As others have mentioned, they’re doing the bare minimum at best and acting like petulant children on and off the job. Makes it really hard to root for them.
Walk a mile in my shoes
AA is giving out those statements to show that the union is making it so that younger employees are getting the shaft from the contact that the Union dictates. It is not AA that forces the Senior FA get paid when the doors close rather than hours worked.
First and Second years are put on the short flights since they will be paid less. The Union is MAKING It difficult for them to earn a decent living. Thus it is the UNION”s FAULT not AA . The union is FORCING AA TO under pay.
The Union can change the contact so that all FA get paid once they board the plane until they exit the plane. They can get paid for time waiting between flights. etc.
I just will never understand the whole thing about only paying them once the doors close and they push back. The pay would be fine if they counted time in the airport.
@tomri You’re 100 percent correct. While AA management is not blameless the union is a big reason for this current situation.
Maybe the yearly rates have been locked in since 2019, but each years step rate goes up around 8 pct. You don’t stay in a rate more than a year. SO raises are built in, not indexed for inflation since then, but in 12-13 years wages almost triple. Many people in other jobs get nowhere near that percentage. Maybe hours are low, but money seems good per hour and with more hours someone can make great money and get great benefits. If they get health insurance, vacation and other things-this scale seems like a phenomenal one to me. Look at many other jobs and I’d bet none have regular increases like this step per year yields. Stop complaining.
The average flight attendant makes $68,370, which is a lot for a job that doesn’t require college.
The issue is pay-for-seniority, which ensures that the early hires are.paid at poverty levels, while the old ones make a fortune working a few days a month.
You don’t believe me? Check out https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/flight-attendants.htm
Yet another example of a “successful” US company literally relying on government assistance to pay their employees, rather than actually implementing a sustainable system that doesn’t require taxpayers to pay for their shortcomings. How about this: if you “can’t” pay FAs a reasonable wage, trim the CEO’s (as well as other highly-paid upper management’s) salaries so that FAs can be reasonably paid without having to rely on poverty-level benefits. Cut the CEO’s current 4.89 million dollar salary to a “shocking” 3 million a year, and redistribute it in order to pay the employees a living wage. Wild and crazy, I know.
Are these people indentured servants? No? So they have the freedom to seek employment elsewhere? Ok. So how do you twist reality to believe that this is a problem?
I work as a pilot for a charter company flying out of southern California. Our cabin attendants make a minimum of $65k a year and it would be my opinion that the working conditions are a lot better than at the airlines as described in this article. Maybe some of these airline FA’s could look around a bit for other options that get them flying but treat them a little better? Travel to Paris on a Gulfstream with a half dozen folks in the back isn’t a bad way to go!
As an asian FA for a major Asian airline is this amount just the base salary or does it include the allowances?Its ridiculous that theyre not paid the moment they report for flight.
I started in 1984 and my base pay was just $300.But with all the allowances added in as a starting FA i was able to make $5000 a month.That was alot of money back then.When i retired my base salary was $2000 and the allowances dropped significantly due to the shorter flight patterns but i was still able to draw in a monthly salary of about $6000.And i live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Isn’t this ironic, the month of May is Mental Health Month…..this is putting a toll on a lot of flight attendants at American Airline, trying to make ends meet, some paying school loans off, trying to put a descent meal on the table, having rent or mortgage payments, etc. the mentality of the CEO and shareholders is unfathomable. While Robert Isom gives himself $31 million, how does this greedy individual sleep at night, knowing there are New Hires getting food stamps? It all boils down to Isom not having any empathy, sympathy, and most of all he couldn’t care less about Flight Attendants. So, back to my point of Mental Health……the stress of getting a descent contract for American Airlines Flight Attendants is crucial, otherwise it’s their healthy that gets jeopardized.
Come on ! New hire starts at $30 hr ok ?! $30 just pouring the coke that’s a lot. You are more than welcome to pick up trips on your days off.
2 schools of thought. Why would anyone take a job that works you to the bone, yet qualifies for food stamps? Secondly, does any board member or executive hang their head in shame?
As a fleet service clerk ( ground crew ) welcome to our world same thing is happening to us, tell your boyfriends the pilots to share the wealth.
A bunch of these comments look like they are from people who have zero clue how the airline industry works. “Don’t take the job”
“they’ll be making $68 an hour in 13 years”
Well morons, do you need a bachelors degree for this job? No. Find another entry level job? Must have 4 years experience XYZ and a masters degree.
$68 a year that’s a lot! Well no, it’s after 13 years, and unfortunately they don’t get paid from when they are on the clock, sure would be nice to get paid that much from sign in to end of the day, but no. I tell people all the time to divide the numbers in half to get a 40 hour a week ‘normal’ person pay rate. Most can only fly between 75-90 hours a MONTH. So yes we may work 12 hour days, but only get paid for 6.
The fact that they’ll make a lot in a decade shows why people want these jobs. What does that do until they get that pay. What people should be more upset is by American providing the letters, American is perfectly happy to let the government subsidize their low starting pay. That is where the outrage should be, the tax payer is subsidizing a private business so they can pay lower wages.
This is not an AA problem. This is a Biden/Democrat problem. How I miss those affordable, peaceful, safe, and prosperous Trump years.
Start upping the service then we can talk about me supporting more money for them. Until then…..SCREW!
$68 an hour at top pay. Never an increase of 8% a year after that. That’s if you are there 13 years or 45 years. Also. It’s not really $68 an hour. Checkin for trip 1 to 1.5 hours prior for trip so on the clock- $0 pay. Board the aircraft and passengers- $0 pay. Plane starts to move, called block out at start of flight, block in at end of flight. Have a weather ir mechanical delay fully boarded, not moving? $0-pay. Block out-$68 hour starts, flight is 2 hours including taxi, take off, inflight, land, taxi to gate $136 pre-tax,deductions,etc. Sit on ground 3 hours before next flight? In our station, $0-pay. Next flight 3 hours. Repeat above steps. $340 for total day. You get on the clock at 0700. Your release time is 2000. 13 hours “on duty” for your day. Pay $340 for day, divided by 13 = $26.15 pre-tax per actual hour you are on duty. Before taxes and deductions. That’s the highest pay at 13 or 45 years. So “KING”, your comment is ignorant. When I started my base pay was $700 a month for 72 hour guarantee.
Supply and demand. If people stopped voluntarily taking these jobs, the wages would go up in order to fill them. So many people want to be flight attendants that they’re willing to work for nothing in order to be able to do it.
FYI….don’t forget every senior flight attendant lived at poverty wages early in their careers too. In other words they paid their dues. I started flying in 1990 making 11K year one (and was based in NYC)!
FYI….don’t forget every senior flight attendants lived at poverty wages early in their careers too. In other words they paid their dues. I started flying in 1990 making 11K year one (and was based in NYC)!
@Bob – This is a standard stock image, the FACT that you INCORRECTLY perceive racism in something so simple says A LOT more about YOU as a person than the AUTHOR!
The AFA is a very “pro administration”. The current administration is the direct cause of the runaway spending and the current runaway inflation. One can’t argue that fact nor blame it on previous administrations. Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago? This is the “here and now” fact. Now, the union members are having to pay for their union’s continuing to feather their own nest with the outrageous dues paid…PAID for by these flight attendants. When will the flight attendants figure this out? There’s the old adage that you can fix ignorance but you can’t fix stupid.”
Pro tip: Don’t use the American Airlines flight attendant poverty letter when you apply for financing a home in Boston. In April 2024, the median listing home price in Boston, Massachusetts, was $960,000, trending up 3.3% year-over-year. The median listing home price per square foot was $908. The median home sold price was $750,000.
why did the union agree to such low pay for 1st and 2nd year members? is the same leadership still running the union? do starting FA’s only work the minimum hours?
So American Airlines is asking American taxpayers to cover food costs (via food stamps) for their employees? I say no. Take away executive bonuses and lower salaries to pay your people for chrissake.
AA provides FAs a publicly available wage scale and sticks with it. It’s the ultimate pay transparency. How many other jobs pay everyone the same rate for a given role and can tell them how much they will make a decade from now? In so many other companies, two employees may do the exact same job, yet one makes 25% more due to stronger negotiation skills or different “business conditions” at the time of hire.
In the employment marketplace, AA’s approach is the equivalent of an award chart while most other jobs serve up dynamic pricing.
Response to Marci Stalhman.
It was not like this before USair merged with AA and their management are the ones who have the reign now. American Airlines was a first class airline before the take over.