With inflation a persistent problem, the stagnant wages of flight attendants at American Airlines have meant that many new hires technically fall into poverty and AA is delivering “poverty verification letters” to attest to this.
New-Hire Flight Attendants At American Airlines Receive “Poverty Verification Letters”
As shared on reddit, American is offering letters to new-hire flight attendants attesting to their poverty and asking that “Any courtesy you can provide would be appreciated.”
The actual letter AA gives new FAs when they move to NYC, Miami, Boston, Dallas etc.
byu/containment-failure inamericanairlines
A couple of observations. First, the $30.35/hour starting pay is somewhat misleading since flight attendants are only paid once the aircraft door closes: they are not paid for boarding time or necessarily paid for time spent waiting. Second, many new-hire flight attendants do hold second jobs (i.e. the traditional solution to insufficient wages), though this is difficult. New-hire flight attendants are placed on “reserve” meaning when they are scheduled to work they are told to wait for a phone call for their actual duty assignment. Like a substitute teacher, they will fill in where needed, whether that be a shorthaul trip or longhaul journey. That does make holding multiple jobs a difficult task.
On The Matter Of Flight Attendant Wages
I’m speaking purely from personal opinion, but it is situations like this that I waver on how to handle from a public policy perspective. In the past I would have simply said that 1.) entering into this association is voluntary and 2.) American Airlines pays what the market will bear, including poverty wages in big cities. The ratio of applications to hires of flight attendants indeed resembles an elite college university and that does (and should) place downward pressure on wages.
But I have a huge problem if the duties and obligations of a company are transferred onto taxpayers. In other words, in the richest country in the world, I would hope there would be agreement that a worker who works full time should make enough live. That may mean sharing an apartment in an expensive city, but it should not mean obtaining benefits like subsidized healthcare and an EBT card for groceries, which means that the low wages are being propped up by taxpayers.
Robert Isom made $31.4 million in 2023…pilots got huge raises and often earn more than doctors and lawyers. Meanwhile, flight attendants, even if they voluntarily choose to live in a city like Boston or New York, cannot even survive. There’s something very wrong with that picture.
CONCLUSION
American Airlines is issuing “poverty verification letters” to new-hire flight attendants, recognizing that wages have fallen behind and that the disparity in wages between veteran and new-hire flight attendants is quite substantial. I find letters like this unacceptable if taxpayers are left to pick up the burden.
image: American Airlines // hat tip: View From The Wing
Haven’t these same flight attendants refused to accept the company offer of a raise?
If your union chooses to keep your own wages below the poverty line even though the company has offered to raise them significantly, shouldn’t it be the union to blame rather than the company?
I am no fan of the union representing the entrenched interests of senior FAs at the expense of junior FAs. But I also understand the way the game is played – they want to hold out as long as possible to get the highest amount possible. But with the way things are going, it could backfire and they will wind up with no backpay and even less…
Sean, The union is fighting for a little bit more money for us what American offered us was crap compared to Southwest! And even with that a new higher still can’t make ends me paying for food place to stay transportation, etc. it’s terrible. American just seems to throw this money at their CEO and they don’t think about the flight attendants whatsoever the pilots got a huge raise and retroactive pay, and the flight attendants have been waiting for years for race and the cost of living keeps going up and they never get a cost-of-living increase.
@KK … +1 . Well said .
I’ve negotiated (succesfully) for management with FA groups at multiple airlines (and have also advised FA unions on strategy in yet other airlines), so I know the dynamics of this from both sides. The dynamics are broken here. Each stakeholder needs to focus on their own needs rather than trying to benchmark themselves to what an unrelated someone else is doing. Right now, I think it should be a higher priority for the union to agree to a contract that gets its junior members above the poverty line than to keep focused on someone else’s grass being greener.
Inexperienced crew are commodities. Their value to the comoany increases with experience and training. Close to 75% of new hires wash out either in background checks, training or within 3 years of starting the job. Paying them career level wages when most of them simply won’t cut it in the job doesn’t make sense. Unless it was performance based, but even mentioning that is anathema to unions who value seniority above all else.
So yeah, they need to blame their union for this particular issue. It could be fixed tomorrow if the union actually had it as a priority rather than a talking point.
You are right Shean airline should pay duty time and not flight time.
..can you imagine 35hr for 12hour duty time compare to 5hr for flight tme….
I’m curious whether you (or the airlines, or the FA unions) have looked into the chicken-or-egg question inherent in that 75% washout rate. I.e. how many of those wash out because they can’t live on the wages they earn in the job structure demanded? Is the company being well-served by having that amount of churn in the workforce, or are their net costs much higher than they would be with a higher starting pay (or even overall pay) scale?
Yeah it’s just like Walmart, yet everyone still goes and shops there. I will sat as a road warrior flight costs have been signicantly cheaper the last couple months, esp close in bookings than in the last couple years. This can’t be a good sign overall…
This is disgusting evidence of the demeaning wages paid to new FAs .
They are stationed away from their home families, and they have little recourse but to room in a crowded apartment with other new FAs in a strange city.
In a strange city they will live unhealthful and unsafe lives .
Is it though?
It’s not much different than the disgusting wages paid to medical residents, or the disgusting wages paid to minor league sports players, or the disgusting debt accrued by many college students…
People are willing to work X years at shit pay (or even negative pay if you’re getting an education) for the chance at what will be a great job later.
The FAs do have a choice: Don’t be an FA and you don’t have to spend the first few years roughing it so you can eventually have seniority and all the FA perks.
Matt, no company is going to do anything to end an de facto subsidize to its employees that is legal. The only way to truly end it is to get in the federal and state legislatures to pass legislation narrowing who qualifies for such aid.
I think you’re quite right.
Very simple, make the senior FAs pay their fair share!
Senior FAs make way too much but do not provide better service, evacuate the plane quicker, or smile more. The negotiators are senior. Raise entry level pay and cut top pay. Medicare doesn’t pay more if the suegeon is 95 years old.
@derek … I’d worry more about the surgeon if he was 24 years old and it was his first surgery .
I’d worry more about an eye surgeon if he was cross-eyed .
I’d worry more about a brain surgeon if he had hand tremors .
Give me a 95 year old experienced surgeon any time .
You should worry a lot if you are in an emergency and the only one there is a flight attendant to get you off the plane. Too many people forget the real reason flight attendants are there. As a former flight attendant, I know what it means to have capable, responsible flight attendants who know how to evacuate an aircraft quickly. It matters little if they are senior or junior as long as they are capable of doing their jobs in the event of an emergency. When I was a new hire flight attendant sent to New York as my base, I too had to live with a group of other new hire flight attendants, people I did not know. We all became friends and had a great time with the other new hire flight attendants. It is no different than going off to college and rooming with someone you don’t know. There is however something very wrong when the entry level pay for a new hire at a major airline is so bad the company has to write letters such as this. That is not right and their union and company should be concerned. Some airlines used to offer incentives to those employees they needed to staff bases in high cost of living cities like New York. American should not perpetuate the cycle of entitlement of their senior flight attendants at the expense of the new hires.
@Linda … +1 . Well said .
Yes!!!!
Derek, really??? That is your freaking answer. Do you think senior flight attendants make that much more than the junior flight attendants you’re dreaming every flight attendant I know is working way more than they used to make ends meet because of the cost of living increase, you have no clue what you’re talking about, plus the senior flight attendants tend to work harder and do the things they’re supposed to do. You need to get a clue before you make a statement like that!!!!
It’s 2024, everyone knows the wagers before deciding on the industry and accepting the position. As others have said, the senior FA’s are making huge amounts so the long term opportunity is there if they stick it out.
If someone decides to go to college, accumulate debt for a $27k a year job maybe they aren’t intelligent enough to help us in the case of an emergency. Or they are just dreamers who are doing what they want without regards to the financial responsibilities of life.
In any case, nothing to see here, move along.
I used to be with you 100%, but as a result of their “voluntary choice” to work for AA, they now can claim taxpayer-funded support. That needs to change and I don’t think any full-time worker should be able to sell themselves below the poverty line (that’s a collective action problem) in a wealthy nation, just like we don’t allow people to decide whether or not they carry car insurance.
Matthew, you’re blaming flight attendants for getting taxpayer support. What about all the illegals entering the country that we are paying for? You’ve got not a clue when you’re blaming flight, attendants.
I don’t support a dime of public assistance for anyone in the USA illegally.
I’m not sure why you think I blame flight attendants.
exactly. The people of the United States should not be supporting corporations allowing them too pay poverty level wages.
Ed, I totally agree. A living wage should be appropriate for the cities that they are in that are extremely expensive and having to live close to an airport.
Isn’t that what I said?
Flight attendants do not get paid until the aircraft moves. The wheels on the plane initiates a computer inside the cockpit to start the payment. It is not correct to state they get paid once the aircraft door is close. I am a retired flight attendant with American Airlines. I have said many times at the gate with the door closed for over an hour unpaid.!!
Yeah, I don’t even understand how that is legal. If you’re doing things to board passengers and to prepare that plane for flight, you should be getting paid.
$30 an hour was great starting pay before Bidenomics drove up inflation. An airport lunch was $10 for a crewmember not that long ago. Now it’s $20. If dems are elected in November it will be $50 by the end of the decade. A union can negotiate any number for pay but what matters in the end is how much is left over after expenses.
Stupid comment except the last bit. You mean the global inflation crisis. Go check out other countries such as those in Europe. I’m from the UK where I’m from, currently run by the equivalent of the republican party in the US, and our inflation has been a good 2-3% higher than the US throughout this situation. Coupled with the fact the UK has also been in a recession at the same time and many countries in Europe including Germany have seen a flat lined economy. Meanwhile the US economy has been doing well, the dollar is at an all time high against a number of manor economies and stocks have been soaring – or have you been walking around with your eyes closed!
TBF it’s a stupid comment even despite the “last bit.” Not contributing to the discussion, only attesting to the commenter’s political brainwashing.
How is it that they only get paid when the door closes seeing as they’re classified as non-exempt. They are not contractors. If they stand in the gateway boarding passengers or on the plane prepping they’re working. So either your article is bogus or someone has a lawsuit.
Google it if you don’t believe me…
And yet people still choose to take these jobs. As long as they can find employees who will accept these conditions there is no incentive to change.
+1 !!
“ Like a subsistite teacher, they will fill in where needed, whether that be a shothaul…” Dude. Who is your editor? Y’all ever heard of spell check?
Huked on Fonics reely wurked fur mee.
Matthew, nobody wants to work 15 hours for a 5 hour pay.
So why do so many people become flight attendants? Why did the union negotiate that deal?
If what you’re saying about the doors being closed is true then they have a big problem because that would mean that the airline has people on board working for free which is against the law I believe in all fifty states.
They should get the clock started at the time the door close . I understand why they do it that way so that they don’t have to worry about the difference in when everything flight attendant get there.
Pre-empted by federal law…
Thank the unions for this crap. This is also why the pilots are overpaid because unions love to protect the old lazy workforce at the expense of the lower ranks and new hires.
Unions are an outdated joke and should be abolished.