There’s an American Airlines flight attendant resignation letter which is going viral amongst cabin crew and others at the airline. It purports to show what’s wrong with the culture at American Airlines but for the most part I don’t think that it does this at all.
Instead it details that flight attendant is not a high paying job. The schedules can be grueling. Dealing with passengers can be hard, and when you’re up in the air you’re on your own with little support. You see many people, passengers dealing with the worst that life throws at them and a clash of cultures between seat opponents who bring their own priors to travel, which has become increasingly small-d democratic over the past 45 years.
There’s no question that being a flight attendant isn’t for everyone. Yet people still line up hoping for the job. There’s a sense of adventure, seeing the world on the company’s dime, which can be attractive for someone that isn’t well-traveled. There’s a huge appeal to airline travel benefits, but with low pay to start it can be tough to afford to use them. And with planes that are full it can be tough to take advantage of them anyway – the benefits are much more in theory than in practice if you want to go where most people want to go, when they want to go there.
I’m not going to speculate on the reasons why a flight attendant may have ended their life, if true, except to say that post-partum depression is real. And the stuff about eliminating the charge for revenue passengers to standby being what makes non-revenue travel so hard is a canard with little basis in fact.
- There are still the same number of passengers
- And the same number of seats
- It means there may be some more shifting around before at the margin of which passengers go on which flights, which can make nonrev travel planning in advance harder as the airline accommodates paying customers.
Where I really do feel for this flight attendant is in wanting to take leave from their job to care for an elderly family member, and having that denied. Caring for a parent qualifies for FMLA leave while caring for a grandparent does not.
The company asked people to take leave during the pandemic, but when employees ask to take leave they aren’t as accommodating though there are reasons to want consistent standards for granting leave and to bias towards making sure they have the staff necessary to execute on their schedule. Still, that seemed like the wrong outcome here.
At the end of the day being a flight attendant can be lonely, and not everyone will enjoy its rewards. I’m glad to see those who don’t find it their passion realize it and move on, hopefully to find something more fulfilling – and hopefully they’re able to care for family in the meantime while they still have that chance.
This type of treatment by employers is now becoming the standard as companies only focus on their bottom lines. Those at the top get theirs at the expense of those who are the front lines and are the ones actually doing the work.
Finally read the original FB post this morning and the standby comment also made me do a double take. I can understand how that can play an impact but eesh, it’s such a better policy from a customer point — and ultimately an airline point. If folks want to get going earlier let them. It gives the system slack to recover should something else happen.
I agree with the FA on a lot of other points though and feel bad for the crazy up and dows they were thrown during COVID. The simple reality is she would probably have a very different experience starting today in the more competitive job market than she did less than a decade ago.
Seems like AA is doing what companies do …self serving and doesn’t reward employees who are loyal. This new generation is not taking that lightly. I find they will quit in the interest of “mental health and self care” as opposed to being taken advantage of. This isn’t just an AA issue . These company will have to address this or see the negative effects of exploiting their current work force
Thanks for posting this Gary… For sure I’m agreed with you on the disappointment regarding FMLA, to be clear, individual companies are allowed to exceed the Federal DOL minimums (the company that I worked for did). My other disappointment regards the astonishing amount of time that FA’s are required to work but are not compensated for, it’s a bit surprising that they are able to get away with that. As for the actual experience on the aircraft, no disagreement, when in coach I’ve witnessed some pretty wild stuff (but never in FC, go figure). On your next flight, give the FA a Starbucks Gift Card !!!
This is corporate America not santa clause and rainbows. I worked for an airline for 37 years and can tell you that no one cares… from the guy who dumps the lavatories to the CEO, it’s everyone for themselves. A semblance of caring is projected but it’s a thin veneer with no substance. To survive you have to learn a few things: First, you’re on your own, no one will back you up, so dig deep and be resourceful. Second, learn how to beat the system or else the system will beat you. Third, be the change you seek in others. Everyday I went to work with a smile and did my job very well, not for my company but for myself. I refused to lower myself to the gutter level others exhibited.
OH boo hoo. Work is hard period. Get over it!
I think that this response is from someone who clearly hasn’t had to deal with it. I worked for American Airlines until December 2022 and left after 10 years. I worked in flight service recruitment and what she says about standby travel is actually one of the reasons for me leaving.
American Airlines now allows revenue standby passengers to board flights earlier at no cost to them. This sounds great from a customer perspective but even as I was flying to Dallas/Fort Worth to work for the company for recruiting I was bumped off to allow these passengers that came out of no where. This ended up in a stressful situation AS I WAS GOING TO WORK. Imagine being a non revenue standby employee. Who is now in line behind these revenue passengers and employees going to work.
By the way: these long lines of revenue passengers (that can go upwards of 50 passengers on some routes) don’t create more loyalty. It creates more frustration when they think they’re getting a perk to board an earlier flight and they’re being rolled over. And who do they take that frustration out on? Flight attendants as well as other airport staff.
The reasons she highlighted in her letter are going viral for a reason. Flight attendants feel the brunt of an operation that is on the verge of a meltdown on the daily. We shouldn’t have to work so hard and try to make up for all the shortcuts AA is trying to take. I understand it’s an airline thing but I also worked for United and the culture at American is way more toxic, and it only got worse during my time there.
As a former frequent flyer with AA, this is the best critique I have read. This flight attendant hit the nail on its head and as she said, the changes at AA since their merger with US Airways is very definable not only to flight attendants but to AA frequent flyers as well. Like this flight attendant who resigned, I’ve resigned from flying with AA!
Another major point of this letter is that AA customers are also getting more and more unhappy. Personally, over the last 2-4 years I lost all sense of loyalty to AA. Ultimately, AA management is responsible for all of this.
CA have CFRA to care for grandparent now, so I would have to disagree with you on that statement
What’s the deal with them not being paid unless they’re in the air though? Or am I misunderstanding that?
They should be paid for being at the airport on time to board their flight and through delays. If they’re there for work, that should count.
On one hand: Sounds like a typical Millennial, everyone who runs a company knows what I mean.
On the other hand: if airlines would simply implement permanent positive space for commuting crew it would make a bigger difference than a 100% salary increase. Delta did this during covid but of course let the policy lapse recently. They can’t stand to lose those extra 3-4 coach seats.
The same could be written by a barista, waiter, nurse, doctor, almost any customer service representative; anyone in a business that deals with PEOPLE. Gary writes “increasingly small-d democratic over the past 45 years”; perhaps increasingly selfish, self-centered, rude, nasty and no responsibility might be better phrasing. Bad behavior is no longer shunned, it’s celebrated with “15 minutes of fame” and rarely punished. From a corporate perspective, it’s all about the Benjamins and loyalty (between employer and employee) has changed to become a one-way street. This letter is simply another manifestation of the overall deterioration of America society.
Re the standby situation Gary, you constantly write about skiplagging so the situation should be obvious. If someone is trying to fly PHX PHL FRA and revenue standby passengers from the flight that gets to PHL at midnight fill up the earlier one that gets there at 5pm in time to connect to FRA then the space on the later flight is irrelevant to the non rev. They had no desire to travel to PHL and getting there hours after their connection departs does them no good. Whether or not revenue standby was a good policy can obviously be debated but the impact on NRSA travel is obvious to anyone who understands the system.
Paker (Former CEO) had a lot to do with the downfall of American Airlines. He was more interested in BLM and getting money from the government than this own employees. I think things will start to improve with Mr Isom.
@Daniel C. Pera – not paid for boarding, unions negotiate a bigger amount for flight time and zero dollars for time spent boarding (non-union Delta is an exception) which benefits senior crew who work fewer, longer flights and spend relatively less time boarding and disdvantages junior crew who do more short flights and have more boarding time. It’s all about seniority, though many flight attendants do not realize this.
@Mike – I was talking specifically about federal FMLA, there’s no indication this crewmember was California-based
I can just imagine how horrible it would be to work for AA
Look how they generally treat many of their customers.Granted some are animals and emotionally damaged.
As a paying passenger for over 25 years I’ve seen the airline do an abusive business behavior to their customers over and over in many ways.Prior to 9-11 things were pretty good and there was reasonable competition.
.But many of us are trapped now if we choose to travel by air based on airline monopolies.We simply need to get from point A to point B and now some of us have no airlines in some smaller airports.
Delta American and United even the once great Alaska are shooting at fish in a barrel and I don’t see an easy way out sadly until they need customers and presently they do not with a hundreds of elites on the upgrade list per flight.
When FAs are made miserable,chances are high your experience won’t be too good on or off board.Glad I flew in the good old days when airborne diseases were far less common and I would be excited to get on board and meet passionate friendly flight crews.
I just love when someone who doesn’t work for an airline, and rather works for an internet blog, thinks they have a valid opinion!
Yes hundreds of elites on the upgrade list is an exaggeration for the fact checkers out there 😉
1. Gary – thanks for correction @Mike by emphasizing the limited reach of California employee protections. I seem to believe an airline (was it American?) closing a crew base so as to not have to comply with California law.
2. Again, if memory serves me, Delta changed its policy and now provides some compensation to flight attendants for the time spent boarding passengers. Did any other airlines follow this lead? Hard to believe that flight attendants are only paid starting from the moment the door is closed after boarding is completed.
Being an FA is an entry level type job, not a career! You don’t like it? Go get a job that is the bottom rung of a career. There are plenty of people waiting to take her place, and until that supply dries up, the job will stay lousy. This person who resigned was owed nothing, realized it after 9 years, and got bitter. Welcome to the real world.
Airlines for many years were able to attract workers to low-paying, high-stress jobs because, on balance, they offered unique perks, primarily the benefit of non-revenue travel. As airlines moved to aggressive revenue management with increasingly powerful technological tools and analysis, the number of available seats on flights dropped more and more. Load factor has been ticking upwards more and more every year.
As planes get more full, the value of the non-revenue travel benefit decreases. When the value of one benefit decreases, you can’t continue to rely on it to supplant pay and quality-of-life concerns.
What’s worse for a place like American, and really any airline, is that, due to seniority, the effects of the diminishment of this benefit are mostly borne by the newer hires (non-revenue boarding priority is usually seniority-based). So long-term employees who got in decades ago aren’t feeling the space-available pinch nearly as bad as those who were hired during the steady, uphill climb of load factors.
At the core, the pay & quality-of-life vs. space available travel trade-off was a decent package for many employees. It worked for years. It’s not going to work in the future like it did in the past. This compensation model just isn’t sustainable. You will see a lot more like this in the future. A lot.
Work is a four letter word.
Only one rebuttal. AA GA’s and FA’s LOVED being the mask police. They relished in the power and control. No other airline had such a hardcore approach to it.
@Alex
You hit the nail on the proverbial head with your comment. Airlines are having a difficult time filling most if not all positions because starting pay is abysmal. And flight bennies are not what they used to be. People will be hired and know the strict requirements regarding attendance, etc and will either quit or be fired within a few months. I am specifically referring to gate agents, customer service, etc. As for flight attendant and other staff, I am almost convinced that most if not all airlines at corporate level want non-professional people to quit around their five year employment anniversary because they do not want them moving up the pay scale any higher and the productivity gains of having a seasoned employee do not balance out with the higher pay. I have worked for two different airlines and loved it (one for fifteen years). FYI…a friend of mine works for AA and has told me they do not boars by seniority but rather by check in time. Not sure if that is still the case….just my two cents which is probably all it is worth.
People commenting here and beyond don’t realize that FA jobs are by no means comparable to others.
They DON’T get to go home at the end of the day, some of them don’t get to be in their own space for literal WEEKS. They don’t get the comforts of home and their friends and family like others and that plays a HUGE roll in mental health. It is exhausting in every capacity.
Alex,
At American, non-rev is no longer based on seniority..it is first come, first serve..
If workers don’t get the fun stuff, they’re not going to put up with the hard (and getting harder) stuff. America’s companies are having to reckon with this healthy change of attitudes in the younger generations. Congrats to the workers!
I want a college degree but I dont have 4 years, I need it in 2, after that a handsome salary, family life, peace of mind and ability to walk away on my own.
Let’s be clear about something that’s creating a lot of confusion too. AA considers NRSA to be a “privilege “ and not a work benefit or compensation, and alas, there lies the gimmick. As a privilege, it can be taken, suspended, rescinded, modified or otherwise. It’s officially not part of your compensation package or contract by law, thus the flimsy nature of the “perk”. The real problem lies within the fact that this very same issue is not explained to the aspiring employees beforehand, so they get dissatisfaction and disappointment after the fact. By the letter of the law, it’s the employees who are at fault, not AA.
Sorry but companies being out for themselves and the money is not exactly a new concept. I retired almost 30 years ago from a Fortune 100 company and it wasn’t any different.
I certainly sympathize with flight crew having to deal with out of control passengers. One reason I’m in favor of an all airline ban.
That being said, I’m also aware of crews with a sense of entitlement and power and the ability to kick someone off just because they don’t like their face. So there’s 2 sides to that coin.
@Flightcrew, you are evidence of part of the problem. Nobody should have an opinion but you. Sorry you can’t kick us off this blog because you don’t like hearing some truths.
This critique of a resignation letter is extremely tone deaf. Assuming that one flight attendant who committed suicide due to postpartum erases the lives of the numerous other flight attendants who commit suicide every year. You’re not a flight attendant Gary, so to try to critique this resignation letter when you cannot relate one bit to the life of a flight attendant is beyond disrespectful. Airlines are increasing becoming less interested in caring about the employee and instead caring about the business model. And flight attendants are the most influential to NPS scores. Low morale at the company will bring NPS down and in turn hurt the business. Airlines SHOULD want to make sure their employees and especially flight attendants are happy and enjoy working for their company.
And no, revenue standbys should not be offered earlier flights at their own decision. You pay for the flight that you paid for. If you want to change to an earlier one you should pay for a change fee. It’s that simple.
“No Surprise Here” got it perfect above. Agree 1000%.
Maybe the flight attendant could transfer to different job within American Airlines. I know AA has over 120,000 employees and many are non union. A job in the office working 9 to 5 with weekends and holidays off (without a airplane commute) maybe more suitable and rewarding.
Gravelly Point Guy, AA and nearly every other airline in America calls it a “privilege” for exactly the reasons you describe. But AA and others know damn well they’re playing semantics games with that phrasing, knowing exactly how much value that “privilege” brings into the employer/employee relationship. That “privilege” is also written into many labor contracts, which starts to make it much more like a benefit.
By the letter of the law, as you describe, this flight attendant is also completely within her rights to quit and bring attention to what she feels are deficiencies in AA’s compensation & benefits (“privileges”). Nobody’s arguing that AA’s violated the “law.” What we’re saying is that AA is going to struggle to keep relying on their unique crutches, like space available travel, to offset the pressures of lower wages and higher-stress work in a competitive job market.
The next generation of workers is growing tired of being on the trailing end of a 40-year-long imbalance in labor power benefiting finance. Expect more “Gen Z-types” to put pressure on companies like AA to actually *compete* for their labor, instead of taking it for granted.
Letter strikes me as yet another unresilient individual who expects nothing but rainbow and unicorns. of note:
1. FA chose to quit a job as a bartender (some of whom can make six figure incomes) to work for a FA salary and then complains about financial insecurity.
2. FA accepted unpaid training and then complains about it.
3. FA complains about being sent to “charm school” to teach how to deal with difficult consumers and to de-escalate situations as opposed to the typically dismissive and snarky behavior exhibited by many in the service industry.
4. FA complains about being assigned to an expensive base despite never being promised assignment to a more affordable base and not doing their homework about where they could be assigned.
5. FA complains about AA offering a benefit to passengers that aligns with what its competition is doing because said FA can’t non-rev as much.
6. FA complains about how AA handled COVID, a black swan event that brought our economy to a halt.
7. FA complains about working conditions and compensation negotiated by the FA’s own union.
8. FA tries to imply that a colleague committed suicide because of being a FA and not as a result of myriad of other potential causes such as post-partum depression, long-standing issues or other acute stressors.
FA is a hot whiny mess who doesn’t seem to understand that life is not always fair and that we are all responsible for our own decisions. FA is exactly why so many more experienced people are leaving the workforce…we are flat out tired of all the whining and complaining from a group of people who embrace concepts like “quiet quitting” and promotions via entitlement, not performance. To this FA I say, “peace out and good luck out there. You’re going to need it.”
Quote of the Day yesterday at DFW. Gate agent on phone. “Not my gate, not my problem”.
What is wrong and should be outlawed is pay (and scheduling) based on years of service vs. based on merit, which prevents employees from job hopping.
It’s so repulsively unAmerican it’s surprising it’s still legal and that the false prophets of Fox haven’t attacked it (too busy with making money by peddling Made up fears to the xenophobic, mysogynists and and racists to offer anything constructive, I guess?).
To the [redacted -gl] who made the comment about a career at American airlines or any other airlines is stepping stone. I got news for you. There are people there have well over 35 to 50 years with the company. Just because they don’t wear a blue suit. Doesn’t make it a stepping stone career. Get off your high and mighty horse! Plus there are people at these companies that do need to commute to work because they’re not allowed to live in the hub that American has. It is simply not built for these flight attendants to travel away from these hubs because that system will not work. American has done away with a lot of small bases as other airlines probably have well done that too. So imagine living in a city that is not a hub that you have to commute to work. Plus these rules for employee work travel did allow jump seats to crew members only. But if you can, imagine you’ve got four people that need to commute to work and there are only one jump seat available. Now imagine this going on vacation. You list yourself 24 hours in advance and your flight is moderately open. Then you get to the airport on the first flight out because you know that’s the one that has the most seats open. Then you get to the airport check in and the agent tells you you might be lucky to enough to get out, now this flight is booked full! Now try that with a wife and kids on vacation. It doesn’t seem so fun now does it? And the thing that’s really so wasteful is that the person who wants to fly there earlier probably would have to pay more for the convenience of leaving earlier. Now it gets to do it for free! Who’s the entitleist now?
It may have become this, but it wasn’t always like this. People did care, and they walked the talk, up and down the ranks. Company still made bank. Maybe when you run it poorly, something has to give, and it won’t be at HDQ.
7 1/2 weeks unpaid training just to become a FA? How can this airline (maybe all of them do this?) get away with not paying the recruits something? They deserve some kind of pay for their training whether they succeed or fail.
@Alex77W — You are 100% incorrect about it being a bad time to be an AA customer. To the contrary, it is the best time EVER. I have UA 1K lifetime status, but I usually fly on AA with my lowly AA Gold status. Why? Well, first, AA is the most convenient airline for me at the moment. But, secondly, AA treats me the best. They have, by far, the best domestic award prices, and best Western Hemisphere award prices, and I can cancel my award reservations at any time and rebook for free if I want to (which used to be WN’s advantage). If I buy a revenue ticket, I get all my elite benefits (not so on other US airlines) and as long as I don’t but basic economy tickets, I can cancel these without penalty as well. This is fantastic.
Obviously, free standby for revenue ticket holders isn’t good for EMPLOYEES, but the airline should be focused on their customers, not their employees’ free travel perks. I’d suggest letting employees buy tickets for themselves at a 15% discount (a bit better than the airlines’ profit margin on these tickets).
@sick of whining you are a disgusting human being with the incapability of displaying the slightest amount of empathy. As a person from the outside in to completely demoralize a person simply because you don’t understand instead of TRYING to understand?! May you have the day you deserve.
I stand with flight crew
I usually cringe at some of the articles written here, and comments from the peanut gallery are equally cringeworthy, if not worse. There are definitely some in this thread. I overall support Gary’s article here. Without knowing the flight attendant (I’ve only met her once), people have jumped to the conclusion that she’s an entitled millennial that can’t hack it – good riddance. To those people, I say quit talking out of your backside.
Corporate culture is responsible for the anguish of airline crew across the industry, but particularly at AA because current management thrives on dividing it’s employees amidst long overdue contract negotiations, as they did recently with their unilateral announcement about the new joint safety program (LOSA) to make us angry and distract us from major wins for grievances, flight attendants who got their jobs back, etc. Meanwhile, the company rejects every proposal during contract negotiations, showing no good faith effort by introducing ridiculous proposals of their own.
Their philosophy is “may the beatings continue before morale improves”. Add to that the inhumane trips, constant and willful violation of the current collective bargaining agreement, stranding crews in cities, diffusing responsibility by making us book our own accomodations due to their inability to manage themselves out of a crisis, and expect us to pick up the pieces from their ineptitude. *Catches breath*
New hires are leaving or being terminated as fast as they come on the line and the company is going after people for anything and everything, even unrelated to the industry which infringes on the right to privacy.
Safe to say, the morale at American absolutely the lowest I have ever seen it, and it seems to arouse leadership in keeping it that way. They live in an alternate reality, and many in those positions don’t have real world experience. The ones that do, have forgotten where they started and have betrayed their former colleagues exponentially.
Gary, I have always valued your candor about how you are compensated, and your detailed insight into aspects of the airline industry that would otherwise remain in the shadows for the flying public. So let me say as a friend that your response to the resigning CA and her cri de coeur about the exploitation of her and her colleagues made you sound like a management shill anxious to keep unimpaired your access to the top brass and their tips about AA business initiatives. I’m disappointed in you. Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you too share that disappointment. All the frequent flier miles you earn on the job, more or less, and all the perks that come from being an industry “influencer,” seem to have blinded you here to your stock in trade: the viewpoint of ordinary, coach class passengers and the harassed people who must take care not only of the best of them, but also the worst of them. Have a heart! Being so rankly and self-servingly judgmental does not suit you.
Gary,
I have no respect for you and your apathetic ways to flight attendants lives.
Every article that I read by you, you sound absolutely clueless about how the airlines actually work and what the frontline employees actually deal with.
How is it that every time I read an article by you about flight attendants, I will either find something factually incorrect or just plain disrespectful?
Please stop with your ignorance. Or don’t. It’s your prerogative. But then I also feel it necessary to let you know that I don’t respect you or your opinions, and so do many of my colleagues.
Good day.
@FA sick – funny, you don’t actually identify a single thing that is incorrect. You just mood affiliate against it.
@JOHN B OAKLEY – ” all the perks that come from being an industry “influencer,”
Thanks for your response and strong reaction. I wonder what perks you think I receive?
All recent AA flights I’ve taken over the past several years have featured attendants who can’t be bothered to care about their jobs or the passengers. Minimum effort. Blame for this resides with corporate.
Feel bad for this employee based on her story. Many corporations, made up of humans of course, very often act inhumane towards good, dedicated employees. This includes airlines. No front line or lower-level management person is immune to this. Just move on and build a new career for yourself. This too shall pass.
There are NOT the same number of passengers on each flight. The fact is, the flights are fuller than normal because the number of flights to certain cities has been reduced if not eliminated completely. Please factor that into your equation. That is a fact you neglected to point out. Passengers who fly on the carrier I work for point this out very often so I know that employees aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch of reduced flight schedules.
Sadly, this type of corporate greed has become the norm in the airline industry, especially in the US. In the absence of industry-wide bans on disruptive passengers and the industry treating their employees as valued partners, there won’t be any changes soon. The boardrooms of the ‘Big 3’ are packed with those putting profit over humane treatment of their employees and customers. Inthe airline industry, as the old saying goes: “The beatings will continue until morale improves”.
I am a Platinum-for-Life passenger on American but I rarely fly with them anymore and the FA’s are a big part of the reason. In the 40 years that I flew with them all over the world I saw the quality of service and, in particular, their attitude toward their customers and their job plummet. Especially the senior personnel.
Having worked for almost 10 different airlines, I feel that I’m qualified to comment on the letter of resignation. I agree it is sad (and it’s been this way for a long, long time) but the last three words are wrong. You may think “we deserve better” but in reality, as employees, we deserve what our union negotiates for us . . . nothing more, nothing less.
@ Mr. Flyer. Like many of us who have retired from an airline(s) we discovered the solution for the inability to travel NRSA . . . internet fares. If you are an active employee you know when your vacation is and can also take advantage of this rather than fret about the loads, which in my experience vary greatly from what is forecast. Remember when we had to travel in “business attire”? Well I can now travel on a ticket in my running shorts and Let’s Go Brandon t-shirt, not that I would . . . I’m from the “old school”.
@ Gary. Thanks. I enjoyed the morning reading.
Hey Gary. I’m gonna rebuttal your rebuttal about the eliminating the charge for passengers to standby for free on earlier flights. Look at it from the perspective of the employee.
– Passenger books on last flight of a given day because it’s significantly cheaper as nobody wants to get to their destination late.
– Passenger standbys for free to earlier flight which in most cases, costs significantly more.
AA employee “nonrevving” prioritizes by tiers and by check-in time. Let’s focus on just the check-in time as that’s really whats important.
– Employee checks in for earliest flight of day. They get to the airport at 7am for a 8:45am flight.
– Customer arrives at same time to try to standby on that same flight for free (confirmed seat at time of booking was $1000 for that flight vs $600 the later flight they booked on)
– Employee gets bumped down 1 more spot on the standby list
– Customer gets a seat on flight because of a no-show. Employee doesn’t get on.
– Employee has to wait for the next flight.
– Same thing happens with more customers standbying to earlier flights. Employee doesn’t get on.
– Employee waits at airport all day to get on the last flight of the day at 8:30pm. 10 customers who did standby for earlier flights get to their destination earlier and save hundreds of $.
This scenario is 100% possible at any major airlines hubs. Sometimes employees “nonrev” to commute for work. Sometimes they do it for other things. Their complaint about their benefits being brought down to almost useless are valid. All of the airlines typically pay less than market value for any position as they consider the “nonrev” benefit to be valued anywhere betweek $4k-10k per year.
The corporate side somehow doesn’t also see it as a concern to constantly have to adjust their staffing schedule when re-accommodating these passengers as well as lost revenue.
Before the pandemic, the change fee to standby for an earlier flight was $75 if you get on the flight. United lead the way in removing this fee, and the other airlines obviously followed suit.
Airlines are now constantly looking at the metric “revenue per seat mile”. With keeping change fees off the table and encouraging passengers to book cheaper flights and standby to an earlier flight, are they really improving their revenue per seat mile? To me, it sounds like a resounding no, and also a great “travel hack” for travelers on a budget, at the cost of an employee benefit which they are usually paid less in salary to have.
Thanks for your response, Gary. The “perks” I had in mind, stemming from your “influencer” status as (for me) the top-rated consumer-oriented voice on modern airline travel, is that your calls to airline brass are likely to be received and answered in quite a different and more expedited fashion than mine would be as someone of unknown pedigree (despite never hiding behind anonymity) and zero “influencer” status. So my concern was that you not pull your punches for fear of being put on some kind of management enemies’ list. Perhaps you can enlighten me on the next point, but I assume that since one can’t fly anonymously any more, and certainly can’t build up frequent-flyer miles using an alias for other than an alias account, when you book and/or show up for a flight, your identity is well known. This may lead to special treatment of which even you are unaware — so long as your remain considered a friend by management. Most respectable restaurant, music, and drama critics go to great lengths through fake identities and disguises to conceal themselves from the dining or performance venues they visit in preparation of a review. That, of course, is not possible for an airline critic. So what the military calls “command influence” poses a standing problem of bias in your reviews, because higher-ups can influence the very situation you seek neutrally to review, even without your knowing of their intervention. Sincerely, John
@John B Oakley – “So my concern was that you not pull your punches for fear of being put on some kind of management enemies’ list. ”
If there’s anyone in this space who doesn’t pull their punches it’s probably me. And I’ve been on more than one management enemies list. Top brass have removed me from event invitations (no big deal) and one airline even once had me investigated.
In terms of special treatment, gosh, I’ve certainly never received it from an airline. And I’ll tell you a story. Even when a hotel chain might want to do that, the execution doesn’t work. One chain once sent around a list of upcoming influencer stays at one of their brands, intending to try to deliver an elevated experience. One of my stays was on the list, which I found out because the chain accidentally sent it to… one of the influencers on the list by mistake. That stay? My room wasn’t ready at check-in, I wasn’t upgraded, literally nothing elevated about it.
With as often as I have horrible flights and stays? Golly.
I’m not saying it could never happen! But it’s just as likely that a travel provider would want to poison my coffee as give me something special 🙂 I do receive tons of perks, that are available to others in the same circumstance, e.g. benefits of the loyalty program.
And when I have received something of value from a program or travel company (e.g. I joined major media on a preview flight of United’s Boeing 777-300ER when they first took it, not something I could have purchased myself and I wanted to see the first plane with Polaris business class seats) I make a donation to charity of equivalent value.
I’ve written more about the issues involved https://viewfromthewing.com/ethical-dilemmas-running-this-blog/
On terms 9f special treatment aren’t you a Concierge Key? Still?
You’re so far disconnected from reality of an airline employee, the lowest paid , most abused and loss of benefits job that exists.
The only reason you get bad service on an airline is everyone from gate agent to FA knows you and thinks you’re horrible.
Dear Gary, Thanks so much for taking my comments seriously and for your detailed reply. I appreciate your ethical sensitivity. In retrospect, would you agree that your take on the viral FA resignation letter was perhaps a smidge too harsh? John
I will say this post has been shared nearly 5000x oin the flight attendant community on fb just that I know of. When the volume of engagement reaches that level, you have to admit, there is a structural deficiency in commercial US airlines that are making their employees miserable. I’m sure workers from many industries feel similarly. Our system is broken when good people who want to work are abused by their employer to the point of quitting.
To those of you who provided clarification above explaining why the fee free revenue standby is such a huge issue ~ thank you.
It is almost impossible to use flight benefits as an airline employee since this has been implemented. Many, if not all airline employees work for the airlines specifically FOR the benefit of travel. There are not the same number of flights as were operating pre COVID, many schedules are still reduced and more passengers than ever are traveling. These are FACTS.
As for the snarky “if true” comment regarding the suicide ~ suicide rates are up EXPONENTIALLY among flight attendants in the last :3-4 years. So much so that some airlines are offering. therapy at no cost to flight attendants and even real time chat therapy if help is needed immediately. Also peer support hotlines have been put in place that are available 24 hours a day. It can be quite challenging to work in a career where so much of the general public carry so much animosity for a work group as a whole, not to mention diminishing benefits in a career that one hoped would be lifelong. . Please *do not* underestimate the stress and isolation the flight attendant job carries and please in the future if you decide to comment on someone committing suicide, try using some tact.
Since a few people have brought up the federal FMLA – how many are aware that the law does not cover care of ALL immediate family members? The law makes clear (and this has been upheld in court) that you can take job-protected leave from work only to care for parents, spouses and children. The care of your elder or younger siblings (and grandparents) is not covered. Expect to start reading for about this exclusion in the next few years.
Since a few people have brought up the federal FMLA – how many are aware that the law does not cover care of ALL immediate family members? The law makes clear (and this has been upheld in court) that you can take job-protected leave from work only to care for parents, spouses and children. The care of your elder or younger siblings (and grandparents) is not covered. Expect to start reading more about this exclusion in the next few years.
(Gary – caught a typo in the last line)
This article is very true and accurate but contains alot of whining. The DCA base for AA has some of the most senior FA’s including Bette Nash who is afraid ro retire after 6 decades. All of her friend from the Trump Shuttle make up most of the base and all have 50 plus years. AA made Bette a PR celebrity (she loves the perks and attention), used it to their advantage and the younger generation became resentful of her. They bid the best schedules, vacation, some sell their duty days for money, and some fly a few days to keep the medical benefits.
Working as a airline crewmembers has extreme highs and lows and can be very lonely being away from family and friends. In the old days, a new hire could remain at the junior base without being furloughed or transfered. Most do not want to live where they are based either due to expense, family or dislike. They choose to commute and often have to live in commuter pads.
Flight loads use to remain steady and a commuter could remained assured they could get on a flight with empty seats. The airlines rapid sell empty seats on the internet and overnight a flight will fill up and the commuter cannot get on the flight or ro their base in time for sign in. The airlines does not have any responsibility to the crew member for commuting.
Flight Attendants make dirt pay the first 10 years. The new hire pay is about 20-25k the first year. AA has changed radically towards crew members the last 5-10 years. The once top notch flight training for pilots has turned into a cost cutting decisions by mon pilots. The female director of training was recently shown the door for sexual harassment (put out for a passing grade). Crewmembers are sent on trips without hotels or van service scheduled in advance. AA expects crewmembers to pick up the slack and for pilots to learn additional training on their days off at home (with no pay).
Some parts of this article is laughable,. Awwwww!!! poor her. We get treated much worse at the regional airline that American Airlines owns. I cant mention the name because of fear of being fired.
Tripp mentioned “what our union negotiated is what we get”. The contracts negotiated were thrown out in convenient bankruptcies. What you het our the forced contracts afterwards and a company who pretens ro negotiate a new contract.
Nonreving is viewed as a privilege and not a benefit. It is almost impossible to get on a flight anywhere as an airline employee unless your on the jumpseat. Delta clears the list by seniority while AA is time of check in. A airline requied dress use to be dresses and business suits with tie.
A commuter cannot afford a paid ticket for every trip worked.
Wow Gary. You are a A**h***. Clearly you take mgmts side every chance you get so you can score some freebies. Shame on you!!!
Let’s be clear I receive no freebies from management – other than things available to any other similarly-situated customer. (When I do take something of value, I make an offsetting charitable donation.)
Choices choices . The life style is not for everyone . I love my job and get to meet amazing people on every trip ! Some people I would vote “ off the game show” but . No one is taking my joy away ! Love my flexibility and the company that pays me every two weeks !
When an airline doesn’t value their customers, why would one expect that they would value their employees?? And I agree with this flight attendant- the fact that they would hire employees and expect them to attend non-compensated training was, in fact, a big red flag. I’ll burn through my hugely devalued miles remaining and won’t expect to fly AA much, if at all.
The airlines in the US need regulation. What we didn’t need was ole Ronnie Reagan.
You have no idea what you are talking about regarding revenue standbys ! Write what you think know -you are clueless
Gary Leff might be an expert in Points and Miles but is obviously very ignorance about a job in an industry that he never worked for. He thinks that free standby for revenue passengers does not affect employees because the number of passengers remains the same. Yeah, you try taking a 7am flight that all of a sudden is full because of confirmed standbys and have to wait 12 hours at the airport for the next flight and then miss your connection because that flight arrives too late. The free confirmed standby seriously affects flight benefits because load numbers are not reliable anymore. Overall Leff shows very little compassion and understanding, not surprising from someone as entitled as he is. Perhaps if he had a real job he would understand better.
Btw this letter could have been written by a FA of any airline.