American Airlines flight attendants have a lucrative new tentative agreement that they’ll be asked to vote on.
It gives them immediate 18% – 20.5% raises, starts paying them (at half pay) during boarding during the first time, and adopts Delta’s generous profit-sharing formula. They also get changes to work rules, meal costs on the road and retirement contributions. It was likely the most they could get from an airline that underperforms financially, putting them on equal footing or slightly above the next-best paid flight attendants in the industry. But it doesn’t give them everything they’d hoped for. Online, flight attendants are griping.
- They are declaring themselves NO.
- They are complaining that it’s not as generous as the pilot deal.
- They feel like the amount of time it took, and their strike threats, should have gotten more.
- There are rumors that the new deal increases flight attendant workload cleaning cabins between flights, even though language in the new deal is identical to their current rules.
- They also mistakenly claim they aren’t getting make-good payments for lost raises during the time it took to negotiate a new contract.
Flight attendant chatter is rife with misinformation, which is nothing new. When US Airways took over American Airlines, unions were on board. That always seemed strange to me. US Airways never completed the labor portion of its merger with America West, and was operating the two airlines separately (US-East and US-West). Somehow American Airlines unions thought that Doug Parker would be good for labor.
- They agreed to short negotiations on a new contract for the combined US Airways-American Airlines flight attendant group.
- And they agreed that if the negotiated deal didn’t go through, the parties would submit to binding arbitration.
- The binding arbitration deal was set an $111 million per year in economic improvement. They negotiated $193 million instead. That was better for flight attendants!
- But crew voted down the $193 million deal, which meant they were stuck with a $111 million one. In effect, they voted to give themselves $82 million per year less.
In the end, American decided to give them the money anyway but the point is that most flight attendants voting against the deal didn’t understand it. Sure, some people will vote against any deal on principle. But that’s not a majority. Despite the union’s efforts at talking points, messaging, and a phone number campaigning for a deal they’ve negotiated, most flight attendants get their news and understanding by rumor.
And already that’s happening!
- Flight attendant commentary online – here in the comments of this blog, in social media such as private Facebook groups, and other forums – is decidedly negative on the deal promising to vote no.
- I still believe that in the end it will pass, but it won’t pass overwhelmingly. I believe that because the deal includes full retro pay and the most senior cabin crew may receive one-time checks of over $20,000 in exchange for their yes vote (union leaders can receive checks of over $30,000 so their incentive to get it over the finish line is strong).
- And because complainers are the most vocal – online commentary now may not reflect while the majority of flight attendants will believe come start of voting (although complaints can influence beliefs).
American Airlines flight attendants will receive the highest pay rates in the industry under this deal. They will receive boarding pay, improved expenses and premium position pay, along with greater retirement contributions. The full retro pay is incredible. But they won’t receive Delta’s profit sharing payouts, because American Airlines doesn’t earn as much profit as Delta.
It’s not clear that the union could possibly have done any better. American is financially vulnerable. With increased costs under this deal, American doesn’t even expect to earn a profit in the current (summer) quarter and they’re the most debt-laden airline. However,
- It’s a five year deal, but voting yes means being willing to live under its terms perhaps for the next 8 years – since airline union deals don’t expire they simply become ‘amendable’ and negotiations take time once that happens.
- They likely won’t keep the highest pay rates for long. United is negotiating with its flight attendants now. Delta will give its flight attendants another raise next year, and probably a higher percentage increase than American flight attendants will receive. So while this is a great deal for today’s market conditions, it may not keep them ahead of peers.
- This deal is heavily skewed towards more senior flight attendants, who don’t just get bigger raises but get bigger raises even in percentage terms.
First year flight attendants will get a $5.47 per hour pay rate raise (from $30.35 to $35.82). A 13th year flight attendant gets a $13.99 per hour pay rate raise (from $68.25 to $82.24). Juniors get 18%, senior crew get 20.5% off a bigger base. And retro pay is substantially higher for senior crew, since it’s calculated off that higher base.
Perhaps most importantly, the reason this new deal may see serious flight attendant opposition is because flight attendant union leadership has been making unrealistic promises for years – pay increases nearly double what they achieved. Expectations have been set so high that the best possible deal under a scenario where the Biden administration didn’t want to see a strike, and the union didn’t want to press its luck further risking a Trump administration that appoints a majority of the board. The balance of power on the Mediation Board would shift in 11 months with that electoral result.
Laura Glading was run out of the union for working closely with US Airways management on the takeover of the airline and on the contract that would be imposed on flight attendants after the merger if something better wasn’t agreed to and accepted (the ‘JCBA’ that this new deal is meant to replace). Glading was accused of impropriety because she’s related to former US Airways and then American Airlines executive Tom Weir. She went on to head the FAA’s Office of Labor Relations before retiring.
Current APFA President Julie Hedrick was a legacy American Airlines flight attendant, selected by APFA President Laura Glading as the union’s lead negotiator for the contract that the union voted down. She has been far more militant since becoming union President. But her last deal was voted down.
So it will be very interesting to watch what happens with this deal – will the senior crew who make out better push this through? Will junior crew be happy enough with boarding pay, knowing that working more short flights means that helps them more than those working long haul? Will the allure of big checks up front be enough to get this done?
If they vote no, they will take a long while in getting a new deal done. They won’t be anywhere close to an ‘impasse’ where the federal government allows a strike. They could be dealing with a less-friendly Mediation Board a year from now. And they’ve already rejected the airline’s offer of a 17% raise put into effect while negotiations continue. If flight attendants reject this deal, they will regret not taking home that pay in the interim.
However waiting would mean seeing Delta raises in the meantime, and a new United Airlines deal. It could also mean a recession, and either an improving or declining financial position for the airline. It’s a big risk to take.
Benefits the seniors and I’d be surprised to see many of them leave even after getting full retro. Knowing what I intimately know about the job, there’s just no way in hell a senior FA should be making $92/hr in a few years.
Well,if a majority of flight attendants choose to reject the new deal,then that’s pretty much on them because if they decide not to honour any new deals offered,then maybe they should re-consider their jobs of being flight attendants and go try something else
You’re never going to make everyone happy in this job. I’ve been legacy AA for 35 years and it’s the same complaints every contract. I find it comical that some are comparing themselves to the pilots for getting their fair share. I’m sorry it’s ridiculous, I hear that mostly from the junior kids. I’m voting yes, the industry is in for a wake up call soon and you better get it now before it’s gone. No one really reads something to its entirety, they go based on what is said on social media and rumor. Greed is like taming a rabid animal. Don’t pass this one up, you’ll regret it.
First
It takes years for a pilot to train and reach the qualifications to fly main line carriers. Flight Attendants take a few months at most.
It takes longer for an A&P Mechanic to obtain his ticket. Flight attendants just don’t have the same level of training or qualification requirements as pilots or others in the industry is laughable bother than the number of flight attendants, they are easily replaced.
They need to quit believing the Union, start taking better of the customer and hope the customer keeps spending with their airline.
Great comments by Ralphie. Couldn’t agree more. “You better get it now before it’s gone”.
Over/under on another bankruptcy? Fools better take that money now while it’s still on the table
I agree with Ralphie. Plus if you compare AA to their “peers” you’d have to admit they are not as good at their craft as is Delta (for example). I’d feel a bit more empathy if they were only a little bit better at their job, but they are not.
Comparing to pilots, come on. The training, experience, and skills needed aren’t as close to comparable.
I think part of the problem is they aren’t factoring in the new boarding payments. It’s sort six one way, half a dozen another. Did they want higher normal wages, they could have had them, but they sacrificed so that they would get paid for boarding. End of the day they probably take home about the same they would have one way or another.
When AAL matches the pilot wages dollar for dollar, they will vote YES! Until that time, prepare for a NO vote and a strike.
There is no excuse in today’s world for flight attendants to make less than pilots do.
The question comes to be that after these contracts, will the end result be even more customer squeezes and higher fares for as little as possible to compensate? Who is going to pay for this? If so, this is going to spiral out of control.
My take is that this is all going to backfire for unions, passengers, and the nation’s transportation system. If AA, B6, NK, and F9 all declare bankruptcy will the Govt. be there to bail them out? They better not. This is not sustainable. Especially for AA. When the massive layoffs, forced retirements, and reduced service starts hitting it’s going to be a mess and we will see exactly as we saw in the past with Eastern, Pan Am, TWA and how many others that litter the highway that failed under poor management, greedy unions, and hopeless plans for recovery.
AA is heading down the Alitalia route. May God help them.
When flight attendants make the same pay as pilots, they may as well ground the planes, close the counters, and lay off everyone. There is no possible way any airline could afford it. It doesn’t surprise me that the young inexperienced FA’s are the ones claiming they are equal to pilots. They are of a generation that thinks that way. Rather than recognize that someone who has greater responsibility, training, and stress may be worth more just does not fit into their thought pattern. I’m not anti-union or anti-worker – my father was an original Sitdowner who formed the UAW in 1937. I am also a realist who understands that different jobs have different worths.
Sean M needs a drug test. I don’t think he will pass it.
@Gary,
Until I started reading your newsletters, I had no clue that flight attendants were paid only when the door closed. I always assumed when they scanned their badges at the boarding gate, that was their “Time Clock”.
That is like a store telling the employees they will not start being paid until the customers enter and the first person goes to the check-out register. Then, their pay starts. Wonder how well that would go over in the retail industry!
As for some only getting half-pay while boarding, do these same attendants get double or triple pay in the event of an emergency?
I want whatever drug cocktail Sean M is using.
Clearly this Gary Leff is a criminal short on AAL stock, multiple imagined reasons to bash American Airlines over the weekend. The SEC should put him in prison like Andrew Left. If they do reject it they are not getting another deal and the stock goes up anyway, idiot shortie.
Airlines run on coffee, jet fuel, and rumors. Always have, always will.
Sheesh, people. They aren’t saying they want to get paid equally to pilots.
They’re saying they want raises that are the same, percentage-wise, as the deal the pilots just got.
Pilots got a 40% increase over four years. The FAs that are comparing the proposal with the pilots are saying “we should get a 40% bump over four years, too”.
Just listen to some of these comments suggesting flight attendants should get pilot pay!!!! Just any reason to hope for a rejection to serve your stock shorting financial agenda, Come clean please, tell us why you posted this ridiculous article based on ‘flight attendant forum’ chatter.
I’m all for flight attendants getting raises. They work hard and definitely train for and do more than serve snacks and beverages. That said, for anyone to expect them to be paid at the same level as the pilots is insane. Pilots train for years and often have university degrees. I hope the flight attendants accept this contract and move along. Sadly they will have to fight for the next one in a few years.
To Randy Hale. Tell us when the time clock starts for pilots. Is it when they scan in? Is it when they start preflighting the jet? Is it when the door is closed or when the jet moves? Engine start? How about ground emergencies for the pilots if they technically aren’t even on your clock? The answer to your question is FA’s just like the pilots are on trip and duty rigs when they sign in to work.
Junior FAs are voting yes! The greedy senior FAs that all they do is complain and act like they own the airplanes will have to take a seat because we win in numbers!
We got a great deal comsidering the company we work for and thiey still complaining! Is time for them to go! NOBODY should be 75 YO barelly able to walk up a stairs and still be here when we rely on them to evacuate an airplane!
I guess beggars can be choosers.
If they do this, AA needs to lock them out. Last chance AA to become a real company and not a retirement plan.
$82/hr for a flight attendant is absolutely nuts. Half the time they are in the back on their phones.
Everyone seems to misunderstand how pilots and flight attendants get paid. While both groups have vastly different hourly wages, they are both paid the same. They are paid to the minute on an hourly basis when the brake is released and when the brake is set. It has nothing to do with boarding, or door closure.
Just to clarify FA’s are not after the same pay scale as the pilots. Ya’ll just post anything!
They are asking for the same percent pilots received a 21% hourly increase. Flight attendants were offered 17%, then 18%.
I find it Comical that most of these people commenting on here have never been part of the Airline Industry.I was a Flight Attendant for 36.5 years.I worked my butt off and was amazing at my job!Flight Attendants have always been undervalued and underpaid by Airlines in general.We spend the most time with Passengers and are only as good as the tools that we are given by a Greedy Management Team.No one is asking for Pay in comparison to Pilots or Mechanics.Just a decent Wage and Benefits.
The complaining and bitterness at American Airlines never ends.
Someone please put this disaster of a company out of its misery.
Carl Ichan should step in and start a hostile takeover and sell the parts for more than the pieces are worth together. He’s done it before. The industry would be better off without American.
It probably won’t survive as a viable company. Someone put AA out of its misery.
Sorry. Airlines should rethink the new role of a flight attendant. At the rates proposed they could be hiring firefighters, police officers and other degreed professionals. The days of attractive subservient children are over. Passengers want sane employees that can lift a bag ( if needed ) or save a life without drama. Oh yeah, presently they make less than you and manage to budget and successfully live on their wages. Cute isn’t worth what you are requesting. I suggest you take that six weeks of training to Target.
Just like when the burger flippers demanded 15 an hour, your jobs will be automated soon. La has a hotel that does not have a front desk staff, on site. They have a QR code to check in and someone on the other side of the phone (in Manilla) there to answer questions and do what the front desk staff, flights don’t need f/a. Also. For those who don’t know- flight attendants wants more because they want to work less: simple. A flight attendant who fligh “high yime” flies 40-55 hours a month. I know this as i dated two flight attendants. And let me tell you, the one who flew 45-55 hours-not broke. Owned a 4 bedroom house. The other-rented. 26 hours a month, maybe. Alway broke-why cuz she ain’t wanna work. Lazy. A friend who still flys-works 2-3 days a week. Thats it. And has the nerve to complain and think she deserves full time money for minimal work, oh but I’m away from home-your not sleeping in the airport and you those trips are doing great for your Instagram, that stipend keeps you fed. You don’t pay for shit. Nothing, pay people who deserve it, pay the reservations and gate agents dealing with every passenger becuase the f/a drank too much and now they had to wait 3 hours for a new one, just to have the pilot time out. And they get to deal with it cuz the whores drank too much.
It’s WAR I suppose.
When these amendments to the contract get voted on it will tell American Airlines how many are possibly willing to cross the picket lines in case of a strike. If it is voted down, maybe American Airlines should consider reducing the terms instead of increasing them.
Finally some great comments on this travel blog that I can say I agree with @RON @RALPHIE @DOUG @RANDY HALE that has some depth to the conversation at hand. I do hope the flight attendants are able to achieve the raises and benefits that they deserve but they should be realistic. In my profession anyone who has not been here as long as I have they want my pay, my schedule, my benefits etc. I was taught if you want something “work for it and you will be exactly where you want to be” regardless of your choice of your profession .
All of this makes me want foreign carriers to be allowed entry into the US domestic market in the worst possible way. Just imagine East Asian levels of non-union service by FAs who are actually happy to be there. Imagine having 3-5 airlines from which to select on every major route. AA flight attendants whining about this deal and demanding pilot pay would be put in their places instantaneously. It would be magnificent.
Flight attendants do not want pilot pay! We just want to be awarded like the pilots! We are frontline workers, who work hard , especially during the pandemic! Being compensated during this awful economic inflation is very important. What we are being offered now, doesn’t even keep up with inflation! The company can do better!!!!!
“Lead by example”. Robert Isom (AA CEO) made $31,000,000.00 in 2023 for doing a poor job. His front line employees should also make the “Big bucks”.
@Randy Hale. Here’s a free economics lesson. I can have you work and pay you $288 for 8 hours of work. I can say you get $36/hour for 8 hours and zero for your lunch hour. Or, I could say you get $32/hour for all 9 hours. It makes no difference to you or me how it’s phrased (absent labor law issues). So, the total AA pays and the total AA FAs make will be the same regardless of whether they get paid during boarding. It’s all adjusted in the final rates. But, a no-pay-during-boarding model means more experienced FAs get a bigger share of the pie (and less experienced get a smaller share), so they have historically preferred it.
“ When US Airways took over American Airlines, unions were on board. That always seemed strange to me. US Airways never completed the labor portion of its merger with America West, and was operating the two airlines separately (US-East and US-West). Somehow American Airlines unions thought that Doug Parker would be good for labor.”
Minor quibble. Every union group except the pilots was merged at US Airways and the pilots couldn’t stop fighting in between their own factions to integrate to negotiate with US Airways for a contract. The Company was happy to take advantage of that though, sure.
There’s obviously blame on the company side because they could’ve done some work with the two pilot factions but the lack of union integration at US had more to do with the pilot infighting than the Company.
Then with the merger with AA and US, US was offering better terms than AMR to unions but they put a backstop on getting merged contracts, which you mention in the voted down but enforced FA contract . There’s a lot wrong with what US leadership did post merger overall , but I’m just not sure even hindsight would suggest AMR would’ve been the better dance partner for unions post merger or that US leadership was bad at union relationships at the time.
Wow… Look at the flock of bitter, triggered Karens who comment on this blog.
I suggest you keep your Karen instincts in check on the plane. Enjoy your Karenism here on this blog where they belong because if you board acting entitled, you will be thrown off the plane. I’ve done it before and I’m happy to do it again. One time I had a noncompliant passenger removed after we’ve already completed the safety demo and were taxiing to takeoff.
The pilots that you all so eagerly worship remind us before each flight that they will back us up regarding any passenger that we want to have removed. They tell you all to follow our instructions it in their introductory announcement and we announce it during the safety demo as well.
The AA leadership that you also so eagerly worship is behind many of the things you don’t like. Including the delAAys, cancellations, the junk we serve in main cabin, the lack of seatback screens… The same penny pinching used against us regarding wages is the same penny pinching they use against you. So it’s weird that you all side with them. It’s like… Sheep voting for the wolf for president.
Also dummies, flight attendants aren’t asking to be paid the same as pilots, they are asking for the same RATE increases as the pilots. 40% of $70 isn’t the same as 40% of $300. UNDERSTAND or nah???
I can detect entitledness on my planes and I don’t tolerate it. I will dip into the lavatory and stay there for a long ass time. I will cut off your alcohol… Maybe you’re planning to go drunk driving after we land? You’ve had enough to drink already. SAFETY FIRST! Or maybe I am out of your drink… Let me see if they have it in the back. After definitely NOT checking, and chatting it up with the other FAs for quite a while, I will come back and tell you we ain’t got it. Oh well.
But… The energy you give, is the energy you receive. We recognize abusive behavior and I don’t tolerate it. I know my way around it. You won’t like it, but there’s nothing you can do about it but complain here. And that’s fine. But as of right NOW on this flight, this is how it’s gonna go. Period.
If the flight attendants seem annoyed, try to stop acting like a kxnt and watch the results. It’ll be a win-win for the both of us.
Fortunately for us, most passengers don’t act or treat us this way. I don’t have very many issues with passengers at all. We love and appreciate the chocolates and the gift cards. Not to say that you are required or expected to do that. JUST BE KIND!!! That’s all we expect of you. It seems you guys hate flight attendants, but in the real world… We don’t receive that energy very often.
@BettyJ “Just to clarify FA’s are not after the same pay scale as the pilots. . .They are asking for the same percent [increase] pilots received.” I rather suspected that was the case.
@triggered: might be time to change your tampon or depends. Your nastiness is leaking all over the blog.
Let’s give Triggered Karen some credit. She did acknowledge that flight attendants deserve to be treated with kindness and respect, and that’s true. Too bad then that by her own admission she fails to follow her own advice in terms of how she treats passengers. This is a prime example of everything that’s wrong with a sizable portion of AA FAs… the ones that feed into their entitled, Karen instincts and bring down the many excellent FAs who understand they are there to serve the customers. It’s time for Triggered Karen to take a long, hard look in the mirror and realize that her behavior is even more unbecoming and unworthy than what she claims to condemn — because without the paying passengers she seems to hate so much, she is truly less than nothing.
@Ralphie – well said.
The AA FAs I know are voting yes. I’ve known quite a few for a long time.
This contract is as good as they will get. If it’s rejected, if it matters, they’ll get no public support which they have had until now.
35-year purser here, I was speaking with my Captain on my flight from Buenos Aires yesterday and he asked me what I thought about the tentative agreement. I said I had no idea how the vote was going to go, but I think we should vote for it because negotiations will just drag on and on. I never expected the union to get the sky-high pie in the sky wages they were asking for, but it’s a negotiation where the two sides have to come to an agreement and meet in the middle. The captain even told me that the pilots aren’t really happy with a lot of their work rules, but they felt the should take the money while they could. I feel the same way, get what you can while the going is good, and it’s not that good at AA relative to its peers Delta and United in terms of revenue and profit.
They pour coke and pick up trash for a living and are the meanest in the industry. They will be making more than a registered nurse (RN)! it takes 6 weeks to train them a pilot goes thru years spends a lot of money and time to get to this level and we are in demand right now. FAs are easy to replace.. They filled out a app online that’s it! NO airline wants long in the tooth FAs the longer they are here the worse they get. I just cant see paying some this kind of money for the job they do. They all know what it paid when they filled out the app.
I find the TA to be fair and reasonable. I hope the Inflight First Responders agree. Our industry is changing – these are numbers that boost the entire inflight workforce!
Welcome Aboard! Welcome Change!
The NO voters are loud and obnoxious as ever. My money says it passes by an overwhelming majority. And yes, Sean M is on crack.
reply to Kl
I’m disappointed that your impression of all flight attendants is to be on their phones in the galley. although, I have worked with a few where that has been true. The majority, myself included are on our IFE, company issued phone, solving seating problems, connecting issues for passengers, checking status and flight delays. On a delay today, with passengers on board, we were able to trouble shoot connection times, reroutes, and move passengers with tighter connections toward the front of the plane, even when the gate agents gave up. Done, because we care about people! Done, because our job starts at boarding time even though our pay starts at serving drinks. Today, I saved a few families from a misconnect to Maui and Cabo . That would have delayed their vacation by 2 more days. I am proud of my service to my passengers on every flight, so I gladly accept the compensation I deserve after 25 years of service.
It’s not always about $$$$. Work rules, way of life and flight attendants slbeing pushed on reserve at 40+years is not OK. This post is so one-sided. Get all the info
Sean M, I’ll give you one reason why a flight attendant shouldn’t make as much as a pilot. Watch the video of the flight attendant that lost it because someone asked for a blanket. Ever see a pilot do that. Get real, most of you idiots are power hungry aholes.