Tag Archives for flight attendants.
The independent Association of Professional Flight Attendants represents cabin crew at American Airlines. They have been dysfunctional for years and to Sara Nelson, the supposed ‘most powerful flight attendant in America,’ they look like a juicy target for her Association of Flight Attendants which is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America and AFL-CIO.
Germany’s Die Welt is reporting that the head of Lufthansa’s cabin crew union demanded “one million euros from Lufthansa” to agree to “job losses and reduced pay” for members as part of the airline’s restructuring and bailout.
The union, for its part, denies these claims as it fights to minimize the thousands of jobs that are expected to be lost at Lufthansa.
Flight attendants and even passengers are now expected to wear face masks when flying. But what about face shields? Some airlines are outfitting their cabin crew in full personal protective equipment. That provides a consistent look for the airline.
What about a flight attendant taking it upon themselves to wear a face shield, when that’s not something the airline allows? Is it alright during the pandemic, or something the airline should be able to ban?
When current American Airlines management ran US Airways they were notorious for bad labor relations. They never managed to get a single pilot contract for America West and US Airways pilots, so never completed the merger. Instead they sat back and benefited from lower wages as the two pilots groups fought against each other.
Now American’s flight attendants may wind up fighting against each other, as two classes of employees within the union are treated very differently. This, as the flight attendants are ostensibly in new contract negotiations with the airline and as there’s a move afoot to dump the current Association of Professional Flight Attendants with the Association of Flight Attendants-Communications Workers Of America.
United and Delta are both allowing flight attendants to wear masks. Now American has reversed its policy. Flight attendants now have the option of wearing masks, and will not be disciplined for doing so.
American Airlines is telling flight attendants they have “great options” to choose from to voluntarily reduce the airline’s workforce: retirement and no pay but two years of benefits, or leave with no pay but benefits. Pilots are being offered about two-thirds of pay.
Unless there’s some sort of commitment not to furlough employees as part of taking the government bailout package airline CEOs and their lobbyists have been pushing for, I’d expect to see furloughs coming next.
Here’s a note shared by an American flight attendant on Saturday who boarded her flight to find that there were no gloves yet she’s expected to pick up trash from customers. It seems to me that if a flight can’t meet its safety standards it shouldn’t operate until it can, D0 notwithstanding.
It’s not just flight attendants though. Did you know that American’s airport employees aren’t permitted to wear gloves with the carrier’s new uniform standards?
Sara Nelson is President of the AFA-CWA, flight attendants union with 50,000 members and part of the national Communications Workers of America. She’s an activist in the left wing of the Democratic Party, a Bernie Sanders supporter, and has been called ‘the most powerful flight attendant in America’ as a rising star in the labor movement.
Malaysia Airlines flight attendant Ina Meliesa Hassim filed a case against her employer after being fired for weighing in 1.5 pounds over the airline’s standard for her height.
She lost the case. The court chairman concludedthat there was just cause for the termination.
An American Airlines flight attendant asked a community of frequent flyers about the value of ‘thank you notes’ written to passengers. Unanimously everyone loved the idea. But the flight attendant reported that several passengers just tossed their notes.
I wonder if this is something that people love in theory but don’t actually appreciate in practice?
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 »
