Relations with American Airlines flight attendants are about to come to a head. The company has committed to delivering an economic proposal to the cabin crew’s union by the end of the day. It is not going to meet their demands.
American Airlines flight attendants have been without a new contract for years. The airline got a deal done with its pilots, and then upped pilot pay again because pilots elsewhere were getting better deals. They did a lucrative deal with mechanics, who effectively shut down the carrier’s operation in summer 2019. But there’s been little movement on a new agreement with cabin crew.. until now.
- American has pledged to offer a competitive contract that matches other major airlines
- Flight attendants have demanded a contract that is top of the industry
- And cabin crew voted nearly unanimously to give their union leaders the right to strike, if and when the federal government allows it
The union’s wage ask is significant, 35% raises up to $95 per hour. The company isn’t going to agree to that, but the employees won’t back off of that in advance of fall union elections.
Fortunately, despite 99.47% of ballots in favor of a strike, with 93% of union members voting,
- The federal mediation process has only just begin, and no strike of any kind can legally occur into the National Mediation Board releases the parties to ‘self help’ (a strike, or a lockout).
- If ‘self help’ does come, the union has told its members that they aren’t likely to do a full scale walkout shutting down the airline. Instead they will target certain routes on certain days creating uncertainty for the company and for customers, degrading the sense of the airline’s reliability, and pushing people to book elsewhere.
The union is weak, and lacks financial reserves. Flight attendants, on average, don’t have the financial wherewithal to go without pay during a long job action. So simply walking off of certain flights allows almost all employees to take home full pay while imposing costs on the company.
The message to flight attendants – now, before union elections – is “We are fighting for an industry-leading contract and are willing to do what it takes to get an agreement” But the company has said they’ll deliver a contract that is equal to the top of the industry, not one that leads it. So they’ll be at a temporary impasse.
My bet is that we’ll get to a union leadership that’s in a place to compromise, declare victory, and recommend a contract to its members (without immediately jeopardizing their jobs) before we get to a strike. But there are crewmembers engaged in intentionally limited service on board as part of their own, unsanctioned efforts against the company.
On my recent trip to EZE in J for which I paid $6000 had a very limited service. It was obvious that this crew was engaged in very intentionally limited service. While I sympathize with them, taking this out on the passengers is not hurting the company as much as it is hurting the pax. Paying that much for the flight and getting no service is very disappointing but AA got their money!
It’ll end with some compromise between the two parties…the union won’t get what they want but they still might get slightly above top of market.
I doubt this will go to a strike. Standard union-employer negotiations, nothing to really see here.
They could get “top of industry” pay if they offered “top of industry” service. . .which a few of them do. I don’t think the pay today is fair based upon the past few years and what they have had to deal with but I would like to see SLAs added so that service is consistent and their are financial penalties for not meeting the standards. Also some of the old USAir FAs need to retire.
35% is a lot to add at one time. I wonder if AA is considering locking them out and bringing in strikebreakers as permanent replacements if all else fails. Of course, members of other unions may not fly on AA but the number of union members in the country is low and getting lower each year. Most people buy with price a strong consideration. A positive effect would be to get people more willing to serve passengers at a lower cost. That could make travel on AA more attractive in the future.
At this critical moment , the AA FA corps could sure benefit from rallying public opinion to their side. But this week alone AA FAs have: been arrested for secretly video-recording a passenger in the lav; physically struck a mom for bin-stowing a baby stroller; withheld water from passengers during a five-hour LGA tarmac hold, thrown a family off a plane at PHX for trying to fix busted seat assignments, and laid into an innocent customer at CLT for allegedly “not listening” hard enough to the exit row demo.
Yesiree, let’s pay these gems what they’re worth.
@Tom, actually I say let’s give them a pay cut. Zero raise. I mean what do they really do anyway? They haven’t had a raise in 4 years so I say let’s knock them down to making about $15,000 per year. That sounds good. Have a great time on your next vacay. You’ll need to book another airline after the pay cut. I’m sure those other airlines will be very happy to raise those fares quite high since the demand will increase. AA on the other hand will be at a bargain basement price. You’ll just have to deal with the crappy customer service after the pay cut but your wallet will be happy. No complaining then. You get what you pay for.
AA, please let them shut it down lock these bums out then hire younger, eager replacements.
@Flyer1 I have no clue what point you’re trying to make beyond the idea that aggression, cruelty, and confrontation deserve to be rewarded.
@Tom, I apologize. Based on your last sentence I thought you were talking about the entire 27,000 corp of AA flight attendants. You were only talking about the 5 F/As you pointed out. The gems in your words.
@Flyer1, the unfortunate reality is that most AA PAX are not having typically warm & fuzzy – or even pleasant – interactions with AA FA, and have not for some time. In fact, sometimes it feels like the best way to get through the AA travel experience is to approach it as when you have to interact with law enforcement. Keep your tone pleasant, smile a lot, and go to great lengths to be ultra – respectful and accommodating. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – we should all strive to treat one another that way. But for much of the AA flying public, that has felt like a one way street – for a long time. Police officers have guns and cuffs – and we don’t want them to use those on us. FA have the FAA, “interfering with crew” criminal charges, no fly bans/lists – and we don’t want them to use those on us. The simple act of being pleasant and friendly, instead of surly, would go a lonnnngggg way for AA FA. And it’s the right thing to do.
The whole $95 an hour gets bandied about a lot but people who cite that but don’t give context are being intellectually dishonest. For instance, is that for a 40+ hour work week that most people consider standard? (No). Is that the average that FA’s would make? (No). Do pilots – with much more training – make four or five times what the FA’s are asking for here, pulling in several hundred dollars an hour? (Yes).
Pulling one metric without context is a perfect example of Mark Twain’s “Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics”. Ever hear of the horse race between the USA and the USSR? Just the two countries raced a single horse. The U.S. won. Next day, Pravda announced that there had been an international race where the USSR came in second and the USA was second to last…
@Christian – agreed. FA do an important job, and many of them do it very well, every day all day. They deserve to be paid commensurate with the importance and demands of their job. The problem (and this is not FA-centric, it’s true for all of us) comes when people live their lives like today is their last day on earth, with no view toward karma or the bigger picture. Someone is underpaid and mistreated, so they act out or don’t do their best. Ok. That’s fine for today. Probably they feel justified. Maybe they are! But then comes the day of reckoning on down the line, when it would be really, really, helpful to them to have the support of their customer base to improve their lot. And it isn’t there. Because people remember how they were treated back when you were unhappy with your circumstances. A bad apple – or a few dozen bad apples – easily spoil/s the barrel.
I have avoided surly flight attendants on my last few flights. If I do encounter them, I figure they’ve had a bad day. Maybe they didn’t get enough sleep (an occupational hazard for their job).
The vast majority do their job well, are polite to pax, etc. Yes, even on American.
The problem is when a FA has a bad day these days it goes all over social media and makes it look more prevalent than it is…
Speaking of, Gary, you missed a fantastic opportunity to mock Dulles last month…didn’t even make it into your roundups.
(A terminal was evacuated after a Segway being used by security spontaneously combusted).
But American wants to attack JSX…
They are going to target specific flights to inconvenience pax and make the system less reliable for all? F um. Fire the POSes
When a young, energetic kid right out high school can eagerly provide a similar level of service in the same role for a lower cost, yeah, these demands are ridiculous.
Unions do nothing more than distort the natural supply and demand of the labor market.
The pilots are getting huge raises because of a lack of supply, not because of anything their glorious unions have done. FAs are easily replaced, lock them all out.
Honestly I’m not a big fan of unions, and before you say this I know it’s a result of the unions negotiating, but I do think getting paid when they’re actually working is a good start. That means if they’re at the airport at 5 am to show up for work or sitting at a jetway loading passengers… they should be getting paid.
I wonder if that’s partially the reasoning why pre departure drinks are so rare. I’m sure the whole “I’m not being paid until the door closes why should I do anything” plays a part. Hell one of the biggest “perks” was free flights. Now days how many open seats do you see on a plane? I’d say most of the “benefits” and “glamor” of being a FA are long gone.
It’s just dealing with a variety of people, good and bad, in an enclosed space for long periods of time. I know how frustrated I get by fellow passengers, and there’s no way you could pay me enough to deal with it day after day.
Now that being said $95 p/hr seems a tad bit excessive…
so, it is 5 pm in Ft. Worth. Where is the proposal?
1.) A strike is likely to be approved by the federal mediation board. This is due to the inflation rate be a 1/3 of what it was when the railroad workers attempted to strike. Plus, a presidential election is coming up next year, it’s highly unlikely the self titled “most pro union president” in US history would shut down a strike, at least not immediately
2) The strike vote showed that the group is in fact unified to walk out
3.) “don’t have the financial wherewithal to go without pay during a long job action” A 1/3 of the flight attendants were furloughed during covid for half a year. I think they could handle going on strike for an extended period
no, Bob, airline employees were not furloughed during covid. that was the specific provision of federal aid.
Wrong Tim. In 2021, flight attendants were furloughed for over a month before additional payroll support was passed. Even then, it took both United and American nearly half a year recall all of their flight attendants. Do your basic Google research before commenting
For those of you out there who do not read or study the metrics of how a flight attendant gets paid, let me enlighten you,
For at least 95 minutes (checking in at the airport, preparing for their flight, and boarding passengers) flight attendants are not getting paid. (Although Delta just began boarding pay recently)
The vast majority of flight attendants in the USA work/get paid 78-93 hours per month. Sometimes less if it is a reserve flight attendant (pay is based on, doors closed and aircraft in motion, or (reserves) sitting standby at the airport) not 160 hours per month like most professions.
This breakdown knocks the “$95” per hour potential pay rate (that the flight attendants unions APFA and AFA are proposing), to approximately $53 an hour, based on a normal schedule for the highest paid flight attendant, per month. NOT including the hours of NO PAY for sit time, boarding time, unscheduled aircraft changes and flight preparation for each flight segment.
Most flight attendants in the US would be getting paid less than the wages shown above because they haven’t reached the top pay tier. (generally, 13+ years with their company)
What do you think Gary? Does $53 per hour seem like too much compensation for a senior flight attendant in 2023?
@Marks
The high hourly rate compensates for the time that you claim “not to be paid” like boarding. For a job that requires little more than a high school diploma, you’re paid pretty well. There are people with advanced degrees that don’t make $50/60/95 per hour. If the pay averaging doesn’t work for you because it’s too low, then get a job that pays better. Travelers would be more sympathetic if you provided even the basics of customer service but many of you flat out refuse to. You’re delusional if you think I support higher wages for you which I will subsidize through higher airfare for barely acceptable service.
I would GLADLY pay a premium to fly on foreign air carriers domestically if they were allowed. We can only hope that someday they will be allowed to compete. Actually…..it wouldn’t really be competitive it would even be close as foreign carriers would be many people’s first choice.
CHRIS
Is it Gary or Chris? Anyway since you feel that you need to answer for Gary. all I can say is that I tried to explain the realities and the facts in plain, simple English, and yet, you still don’t understand.
Instead, for some reason you decided this was an attack on people who possess “advanced degrees”, and those who lack an advanced degree aren’t entitled to make the wages listed in the previous post.
But since you brought it up, why do you think people with advanced degrees don’t make at least $50 an hour? Do you work 40 hours per week, making $50+ ?
Does your job require you to be available 24/7…working up to 18 hours on duty per shift…dealing with unusual and dangerous people, medical emergencies, 3-7 time zone changes, and extreme weather pattern changes within a 24 hour period?
Anyway, I’m sure US airline employees wouldn’t miss you if you decide you wanna fly on Qatar, Emirates or LATAM.
Did you ever think that the lack of service MIGHT be due to AA cutting its staff? We try our best given poor or no catering, melted then refrozen blocks of ice, limited beverages, no food, maybe 5-7 snacks to sell for 170 plus passengers, etc. Our days are long, boarding stressful and many responsibilities…medical emergencies, fire on board, emergency landings, physical assult…JUST TO NAME A FEW…and, most of the older, more experienced flight attendants are kind, caring most knowledgeable individuals you will ever meet…walk a mile in my shoes before you criticize flight attendants…thank you