Tag Archives for flight attendants.
They want single tray service in international business (and first) class and reduced beverage service in coach on all flights. And they say this is to keep flight attendants safe.
Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to award incentives to employees for getting exemption from vaccination requirements.
American Airlines flight attendants have been selling their seniority to more junior crewmembers for cash. They book trips that they do not intend to take – more desirable trips than what the junior cabin crew could secure on their own – and then they ‘trip trade’.
Flight attendants who do this at American Airlines – mostly legacy US Airways crew – are known informally as “The Cartel.” I shared the note that the flight attendants union sent out, highlighting the practice. American Airlines sent out a warning as well.
The American Airlines flight attendants union reported to members in an update to crew that the practice of “cartels” among their members continues. Flight attendants are selling their seniority, brokering trips to more junior crew. And they’re applauding those who rat out colleagues to management, even though it may get union members fired.
It seems as though airlines are getting better at this just as the craziest inflight incidents – though still appalling – are becoming a bit more rare, and the FAA is ramping up enforcement just as there’s a bit less to enforce.
During the pandemic airlines were gifted billions in taxpayer dollars to keep all of their employees on staff, ready to work when travel returned. Only they didn’t do that. They convinced employees to retire early, and they paid employees to stay home rather than staying certified and work ready.
As they tried to get employees to take unpaid leaves and early retirements, the offers sometimes got better and better. One United Airlines employee, who took an ‘early out’ is suing because United made a better offer than the one they accepted, and they want that better offer too.
During the pandemic American Airlines reduced the number of flight attendants working on Boeing 787, Boeing 777, and premium cross country Airbus A321T aircraft.
Now that travel demand has returned, the airline is keeping these lower staffing levels. And the airline is beginning to restore inflight service.
The U.S. federal government sets a minimum number of flight attendants on an aircraft for safety (generally, one per 50 passengers). But while many flight attendants announce that they are there “primarily for your safety” (don’t expect more than that!) they’re also the people in most direct contact with customers delivering an airline’s service.
So-called ‘full service’ airlines have historically staffed flights with more than the legal minimum. That started changing even before the pandemic, but accelerated when they weren’t providing much service at all.
American Airlines melted down at the end of October without enough cabin crew to work flight. This followed a meltdown in June caused by not having enough Boeing 737 pilots. United Airlines sent an email to all its customers throwing shade at them, and suggesting they book United for the holidays.
In order to prevent a repeat of the October flight attendant debacle, American Airlines is throwing money at the problem (err, at the flight attendants).
The American Airlines flight attendants union is telling employees that unlike United, American will offer a way for those who obtain a religious or medical exemption to vaccination to continue working.
When you fly an Asian or quality Middle Eastern airline, you expect that lavatories will stay relatively clean throughout the flight. I’ve seen ANA flight attendants cleaning restrooms between passengers, and Emirates has even had staff on its A380s dedicated to this cleaning.
After a long haul flight on a U.S. airline, though, it’s almost de rigueur to expect that by the end of the trip lavatories look like something out of a post-apocalyptic zombie film where we everyone must band together to rebuild humanity out of the ashes.
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 »
