Tag Archives for union.
The American Airlines New York flight attendants base is holding an in-person meeting at the TWA Hotel and wow, does the Association of Professional Flight Attendants have a cruel sense of irony. The American Airlines flight attendants union took a boot to the throats of all ex-TWA flight attendants when that airline was acquired by American in 2001.
Flight attendants union head Sara Nelson, who is trying to organize at JetBlue founder Dave Neeleman’s startup Breeze Airways, took to social media to blast the airline’s employee handbook as antiquated and outdated. She compares their conflict of interest policy to a “pregnancy and the weight program” from 1952. Except the airline’s policies seem… downright reasonable?
These aren’t factory workers during the industrial revolution. On average Air France pilots earn around $160,000 with senior captains frequently earning in excess of $250,000 per year. French per capita GDP is only just over half that of the United States, so these numbers are even more impressive.
Frontier Airlines’ new scheduling strategy aimed at improving operational efficiency and ensuring planes return to base nightly has sparked significant backlash from flight attendants, who decry the loss of per diems, increased lodging costs, and daily commutes as shifts toward a more conventional job structure away from their traditional, travel-centric roles.
Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants have secured a landmark four-year contract valued at $6.3 billion, featuring unprecedented benefits including $20,000 retroactive pay, quality of life enhancements, and a set of provisions that position them at the forefront of the industry’s labor standards. It sets a bar for negotiations at United and American – and creates a new challenge for Delta.
On average, cabin crew at Southwest will receive nearly $20,000 when the contract is ratified, representing pro-rated raises they would have gotten had the deal gone into effect in 2019.
I flew American Airlines on Saturday and was reminded how much of a difference a great crewmember makes to the flight experience – even on a very short flight.
American Airlines flight attendants haven’t had a raise since 2019. Their contract became amendable, but negotiations were first delayed by the pandemic and have been slow since. And the value of their wages have been eroded by inflation.
The airline has offered to match the top of the industry – what non-union Delta pays its flight attendants. The union has rejected this. Now American has made an intriguing new offer.
American Airlines flight attendants have a status conference with the National Mediation Board this upcoming Wednesday over whether the federal government will allow them to strike.
And flight attendant social media is lighting up over an incident on board a flight from Dallas to Denver this week where the airline’s Senior Vice President of Inflight and Premium Guest Services, Brady Byrnes, was traveling with his family and reportedly wrote up the crew for failing to deliver proper service.
Last Spring United Airlines introduced wings with crew names and pronouns. These replaced separate nametags and crew wings. And the flight attendants union filed a grievance – not against the option to display pronouns, but because they say this jeopardized flight attendant safety.
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 »
