In October, an American Airlines crew created a makeshift barrier out of seat belts to keep passengers away. This received massive attention online and around the world because it resonated with passengers over how the airline will go out of its way to avoid providing service to customers.

Hey @AmericanAir. Do @FAANews, @FAASafetyBrief, @USDOT, and @Transport_gc allow your crews to block off access to rear exits DURING flight so your FA’s can sit and chat ? Seatbelt harnesses connected together. AA2804 DFW-YYZ, 29 Oct 2023. #safetyfail, #clueless, #infuriating pic.twitter.com/iGJ1KUVJaj

— Lori Soler (@lorikaycan) October 31, 2023

Right now American Airlines flight attendants are in confrontation mode over contract negotiations. They even threatened a Christmas strike but the National Mediation Board did not sign off.

Despite the broad attention that the crew of this flight generated, it has happened again on American Airlines on a flight that Ben Schlappig of One Mile at a Time was on this week.

Credit: One Mile at a Time

Schlappig is actually sympathetic to the cabin crew here, even though it may present poorly to customers because the galley – the flight attendant’s work area – is simply tiny in the American Airlines domestic configuration first rolled out with its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. He found the crew happy, but “clearly just wanted an absolute minimal amount of personal space.”

He blames American Airlines management who signed off on the aircraft configuration, meant to maximize the number of seats on the plane – at the expense of legroom, bathroom size, and even bulkheads between cabins.

we have people making many millions of dollars per year signing off on cabin configurations that cram in as many seats possible, with absolutely no regard for how these configurations impact the people who have to spend their entire working hours in them.

In fact, American Airlines Chief Operating Officer David Seymour admits that instead of building a cabin mockup to actually see what would how the product and cabin would work before greenlighting it across the flight, they saved money by “taping it out.”

When crew began complaining about the layout six years ago, then CEO Doug Parker laughed it off, telling them ‘at least we’re not attaching crew seats to lavatory doors’ like he suggested Delta was doing.

What did Delta do with these same lavs though, Delta had like the crew seat on the door or some ridiculous thing (cackles) that’s not a threat, I just.. I don’t know why I felt.. that’s really funny.. I don’t know why I felt compelled..

My only point in making this is gosh we want our product to be the best out there but we also need to understand we’re competing we gotta be really competitive.

In fact, Delta did not ever attach a crew seat to the lavatory door. However before they decided to add space back to the galley area two years ago the seat had to remain stowed in order to allow passenger access to the lavatories or for flight attendants to access galley carts.

I’m sympathetic to cabin crew who have to work in tight conditions. Even in business class on the British Airways Airbus A350 there’s no room to work and to allow customers to use the forward lavatories. That’s an industry trend, to take away from the work environment as part of squeezing in more seats.

However I also think that (1) you do the job, (2) you complain to management, and (3) you decide whether or not it’s a deal-breaker. You don’t jury rig the aircraft setup, creating a barrier with customers, to unilaterally decide how the flight will work and product will present.