Tag Archives for flight attendants.
Hit by severe weather, American found itself cancelling flights all at once late in the day, and the hotel and limo desk wasn’t sufficiently staffed to handle rooms for cabin crew.
The flight attendants union – which represents about 20,000 flight attendants and has long embodied the premise that a customer-facing work group could be unionized and still provide exemplary service – appears to be in the midst of an internal scandal.
It’s not just legroom that’s going to be squeezed on Airbus A319 planes to fit in more seats. They nip and tuck everywhere on the aircraft.
In recent summers, Southwest Airlines has had to deal with soda cans exploding during flight service. That’s led to a significant number of flight attendant injuries. Fortunately, they think they have a solution.
United Airlines is reportedly threatening flight attendants with potential termination to discourage them from seeking FMLA leave.
Rooms at the hotel feature bondage beds and swing frames; mirrored ceilings; “human-dog” cages and leather harnesses; sex toys – and one of their rooms contained a spa bath moulded in the shape of a vagina.
The airline can start putting up flight attendants in much lower quality hotels during their layovers. Instead of business class hotels, we could start to see hovels.
The United Airlines flight attendant contract that the union negotiated may already be in trouble. Online chatter is heavily negative. The future of the contract – whether flight attendants vote to ratify it or not – likely hinges on how well the union communicates with its members, and how much flight attendants trust the union. They need to quell these concerns quickly.
American Airlines flight attendants are selling their seniority again. The company is cracking down on them for it, and the union isn’t protecting the cabin crew.
Flight attendants get to ‘bid’ on trips based on seniority, choosing their schedules which are most convenient to them and which take them to the best destinations. That’s a perk that has real value. Want to fly to Rome? You’d better be super-senior… or be willing to pay someone who is to trade their trip with you.
Flight attendants will still have to ratify the deal. Pending major surprises though it seems likely, though some flight attendants will believe that they can always do better – that you should ‘never take the first deal’. However starting the click on “40% total economic improvements” in the first year along with retro pay is going to be something most crew will want right away.
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 »
