Tag Archives for flight attendants.
American Airlines has ceased financial support for a charity aiding flight attendants in need, amidst ongoing contract negotiations and economic pressures, highlighting the airline’s financial austerity measures and the consequent hardships faced by its cabin crew.
A 25 year flight attendant did a Reddit Ask Me Anything and shared how many times they catch passengers trying to join the mile high club (“I average about once a year”), how often passengers try to sneak a cigarette in the lavatory (“about once a week”) and how often their fellow crew hook up with each other and passengers.
A flight attendant from Pakistan International Airlines disappeared in Canada, highlighting a pattern of crew members vanishing during layovers, prompting the airline to implement stricter measures and raising questions about the reasons behind these incidents.
APFA President Julie Hedrick came out on top in a seven-way race by just 659 votes. She lost Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas – Fort Worth, Miami and New York to A. Marie Plevaritis. In other words, Hedrick’s strength came primarily from legacy US Airways. There remains a split among ex-AFA US Airways flight attendants and those from the American Airlines side.
American Airlines flight attendants, amidst union officer elections and ongoing wage disputes, are escalating their efforts to strike by confronting CEO Robert Isom and pushing for government mediation, despite upcoming negotiations and a previous rejection for a strike during the holiday season.
Currently the union is in the midst of officer negotiations. Union leadership can’t compromise prior to their own elections. A savvy National Mediation Board would encourage negotiations to continue past the results of these member elections, when leadership may be in a better position to negotiate without immediate fear of their roles.
Junior flight attendants often qualify for food stamps, while the most senior ones can work exhausting hours and turn the role into a six figure job – for as long as they can hold up.
Delta Air Lines earned $5.2 billion in 2023 and will pay out $1.4 billion in profit sharing with employees getting about an extra month’s pay.
Delta flight attendants have it better than their peers. They have something real at risk. This isn’t crew at the bottom where a union organizer can point to a better life somewhere else and say ‘we can get you that’. Unionized crew at American and (AFA-represented) United look at what Delta flight attendants have with envy.
The lowest wages are earned by the newest flight attendants. This structure is something unions have bargained for over decades and multiple contracts. Low wages to start, and higher wages as seniority grows, is something that benefits more senior crewmembers. The airline ultimately doesn’t care nearly as much about how the cost of flight attendants is distributed across flight attendants.
Though the union itself is responsible for low starting wages, AFA-CWA union head Sara Nelson says that it’s actually… sexism.
On Monday I wrote about the struggles of American Airlines flight attendants, especially junior crew, who have seen their wages eroded by inflation and whose last pay increase was in January 2019.
Some report lacking gas money to get to the airport, being unable to afford meals (and living off of snacks from the first class snack basket) and not being able to afford Christmas presents. But there’s a lot of confusion over how flight attendants are paid and how much they work.
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 »
