Tag Archives for flight attendants.
A strong showing may signal ‘resolve’ to the company – that flight attendants are united in getting a good deal and won’t settle. But they probably do little else. Picketing in front of the White House might get more media, and make a point to the President not to intervene the way President Clinton did, halting an American Airlines flight attendants strike in 1993. I’m quite optimistic that a strike can be avoided altogether.
A 33-year veteran flight attendant asks me a pretty interesting question: why do passengers touch cabin crew so much?
Sara Nelson, president of the largest flight attendants union (which represents cabin crew at United Airlines, among others, and is trying to organize at Delta) has came out for pro-Hamas protestors on Friday.
Last week the American Airlines flight attendants union reminded cabin crew at the airline that they aren’t allowed to strike or take other actions that hurt the company, unless first permitted by the government to do so.
They even have to make the optional credit card announcements. At a minimum, they’re warned, that if they write on social media that they aren’t going to pitch the credit card they may be fired.
After Thursday’s tense showdown between American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and the head of the airline’s flight attendant’s union, it may seem like the parties are farther apart than ever. They’re not.
Following Thursday’s American Airlines earnings call, senior management held a company all-hands “State Of The Airline” address. Over 4,000 employees tuned in live to the presentation and question and answer session, and a recording was placed online.
After talking through the news around his own compensation, CEO Robert Isom laid out where things stand with the company’s offer to flight attendants. This proved to be setting up the most dramatic moment of the event.
Flight attendants at American Airlines are getting increasingly frustrated. Here’s what American’s Philadelphia base is promoting, an interesting amalgamation of complaints about society as well as a reflection on their own leadership: Being a “union thug” “overthrow capitalism” “solidarity with Palestine”
American Airlines reduced the number of flight attendants on board its widebody and premium cross-country planes during the pandemic. They were trying to save money any way they could, and there wasn’t as much service to offer back then. Travel returned, and service came back, but American has kept operating with fewer people to serve meals and drinks.
The union hates that – it’s fewer jobs, and more work – and it’s not great for customers either. Nearly four years later, an arbitrator has just hard the union’s grievance over the change.
The American Airlines New York flight attendants base is holding an in-person meeting at the TWA Hotel and wow, does the Association of Professional Flight Attendants have a cruel sense of irony. The American Airlines flight attendants union took a boot to the throats of all ex-TWA flight attendants when that airline was acquired by American in 2001.
Flight attendants union head Sara Nelson, who is trying to organize at JetBlue founder Dave Neeleman’s startup Breeze Airways, took to social media to blast the airline’s employee handbook as antiquated and outdated. She compares their conflict of interest policy to a “pregnancy and the weight program” from 1952. Except the airline’s policies seem… downright reasonable?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
