Tag Archives for flight attendants.
After 71% of United Airlines flight attendants rejected their latest contract offer, the airline is back with a controversial demand—PBS scheduling could fundamentally change what trips flight attendants work.
American Airlines flight attendants called for the ouster of its CEO in a new letter on Tuesday. The airline’s operations have been melting down for days, with significant consequences to flight attendants. But the union’s focus is on the poor financial performance of the airline – and what that means for profit sharing. They complain about “a pattern of failure under the leadership of CEO Robert Isom” and call for “new leadership.”
American’s winter-storm disruption has turned into something worse than weather: nearly 10,000 cancellations and reports that the airline has effectively lost track of crews, leaving flights short of pilots or flight attendants even when aircraft are ready to go. As scheduling and hotel support break down, flight attendants describe being stranded for days—some sleeping on airport floors—while the system struggles to pair rested crews with departures.
Philippine Airlines flight PR113 from Los Angeles to Manila faced a mid-Pacific lavatory failure—and while the airline says it prepared for a possible diversion to Guam, crew onboard tells a different story. Flight attendants reportedly were instructed to manually handle human waste, disposing of it by hand, rather than divert the Boeing 777.
American flight attendants are furious after learning their 2025 profit sharing works out to just 0.3%—about $150 for a $50,000 employee—while Delta crews are getting roughly four weeks of pay. The timing is brutal: as winter-storm cancellations overwhelm hotel/limo operations, crews are reporting they’re stuck sleeping in airports because they can’t secure rooms.
Southwest is being sued by a former flight attendant who says the airline did not pay overtime required under Illinois law because its pay system focuses on flight time, not total duty time. Southwest argues the claim cannot proceed in court because flight attendants are unionized and the dispute belongs under the Railway Labor Act framework.
United Airlines’ latest update to flight attendants makes the trade explicit: the union’s new pay proposal is “too expensive,” and anything better than the rejected deal will require offsets. United hints it can move on ground-time pay and shorter reserve windows—but only if flight attendants accept “algorithm scheduling” and reserve pay changes.
United flight attendants voted down a union-endorsed contract by 71% after five years without a raise—and now the union is demanding pay increases immediately, before a new deal is negotiated. United is pushing back, arguing that any added pay or “quality of life” improvements have to come as part of a full contract package with tradeoffs on work rules.
Two Pakistan International Airlines flight attendants assigned to PK840 (a Boeing 777 from Jeddah to Multan) got into a physical fight in the departure lounge before boarding. Video shows the two women locked up by the arms while a mustached airline official tries to separate them, with bystanders stepping in as they re-engage. The flight ultimately pushed back 2 hours and 19 minutes late, and both attendants were suspended.
A SkyWest labor battle just swerved into “computer fraud” territory. A federal judge let a conspiracy theory under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act move forward against AFA-CWA.
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 »
