An enlightening conversation with a veteran American Airlines flight attendant has me convinced a strike is all but inevitable.
If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both support LiveAndLetsFly.com.
If you haven’t followed us on Facebook or Instagram, add us today.
American Airlines Flight Attendants Have Reason To Strike
We have often highlighted on this site the tough position that labor and airlines are in and have been in since 2019. In the case of American Airlines flight attendants, it’s perhaps truer than other labor groups and other carriers. They have not had a new contract since 2019 and what a different world that was from the one we find today. The one constant is that much like 2019, planes are once again full and have been for a couple of years.
Considering what has happened since 2019, a global pandemic and near standstill for travel comes to mind. Worries of global financial collapse, navigating a peculiar world of travel permissions and hurdles, political extremism, a war in Ukraine, in Israel, and 9 million undocumented migrants (some of whom are flown by US carriers to cities throughout the country) and the first-ever US president convicted of a felony adding to an already wide political divide. . Unruly passenger incidents on airplanes were up 35% from 2022 to 2023 after most of the masking requirements had gone away. Concerns over aircraft safety and the competency of Boeing equipment, not to mention the questionable delivery schedule of replacement and growth aircraft only added to years of stress, worry, and malcontent
This list doesn’t even include inflation of more than 26% in aggregate over that short five-year period and remember too that during the Reagan administration, food and gas were excluded from inflation statistics. The former is up 30% during the period, the latter is up more than 100%.
American Airlines flight attendants have endured an awful lot and continue to work under the same contract just as before. As if none of it happened. As if none of it continues to pose problems. The labor group has watched as flight attendants elsewhere have seen dramatic raises in generous new deals, including being paid more equitably for the time they are working which doesn’t start solely once the aircraft door is closed. Pilots secured a $9 bn five-year package, the best in the history of the company only to receive a new contract inside of two months from that prior historical deal landing them a further billion dollars. Pilots had two contracts inside of a quarter both landmark at the time and American management can’t get one done for FAs in a five-year span.
The labor group has asked for a 28% raise along with some other items, but in fairness, even at 28% it seems it may be just below real wage degradation over the period.
American Airlines Can’t Afford To Pay Flight Attendants More
The real problem is that American Airlines is poorly run. As covered last week, American Airlines makes more than $5.8bn annually (and growing) from its loyalty program, a sector of the business other airlines have disclosed runs at a more than 90% margin. Despite revenues in 2023 of $53bn, the company made just $19MM, an operating margin of 0.035%. Without the loyalty program, the airline is easily losing more than 10% annually.
CEO Robert Isom took home $31MM in 2023, but if he gave that all to flight attendants they’d make just $1,148/each more annually, amounting to less than a 2.5% raise for the median flight attendant. A further $19MM to bring the airline back to break even wouldn’t crack a 4% raise.
The airline attempted to circumvent flight attendant union reps last week by appealing directly to labor with an offer of a 17% raise until a new contract can be reached. Flight attendants overwhelmingly not only rejected the offer but wrote more than 5,000 letters to management stating that they were with the union.
But with such thin margins, the airline can’t afford to pay flight attendants, nor any other labor group, any more than they are now. They need to find ways to pay even less.
If the airline raises prices, it will lose customers to better-priced competitors. Even a modest bump of $1 more per roundtrip, may cast American further down the list on aggregator sites like Expedia where the airline no longer gains an unnoticeable dollar, but loses an entire airfare for consumers that are brand agnostic.
American Airlines couldn’t afford to pay flight attendants more in 2023, it certainly can’t afford the proposed 17% jump, and wouldn’t be able to pay the flight attendants what they are clearly due.
American Airlines Can’t Afford NOT To Pay Flight Attendants More
American Airlines also can’t afford to not pay flight attendants more. Both the United States and global airline markets remain robust. They have employment options.
In Q2 and Q3 of 2023, the period accounted for 52% of the total revenue for the carrier. But those quarters span both busy and light periods at the extreme ends. Assuming, however, that revenue every day of the year was flat, in a total strike situation, American would lose $145MM every day the carrier couldn’t operate, and worse still, would carry costs despite that lack of revenue. A seven-day strike would cost no less than $1bn in revenue but potentially more as concerned customers book away from the carrier beyond the strike period or worse still, simply never return.
Gary Leff notes that FAs have discussed employing a CHAOS strike method:
“If/when flight attendants execute CHAOS strike (skipping specific flights each day, not doing a full walkout – which is what they’ve talked about), the airline would be paying most flight attendants even as customers booked away. This would have raised the cost to the airline imposed by the strike.” – Gary Leff, View From The Wing
This would do even more harm to the carrier.
They’re Ready
Speaking with a long-term veteran flight attendant this weekend, the union and the FA’s peers are more than ready to strike. Candidly, they admitted they were looking forward to it. “It’s ridiculous,” the FA said concerning just how far behind the market flight attendant contracts have fallen. The FA noted that they are paid less, there’s no profit to share even if that demand was met, and every other group had seen a raise.
The FA mentioned the support they and their peers had shown to the union, and the complete lack of interest in the 17% deal management offered. They believed that it would only prolong the wait for a new contract and that five years was already far too long.
There was a sense that FAs feel they have nothing left to lose. There’s a desire to punish poor management for poor execution. Vasu Raja’s termination was cheered (maybe management can do something right after all) because “[he] shrank the airline” and switched from a large, global carrier to one focused more on small domestic cities.
“We lost some big corporate accounts” was another comment and this appears to be substantiated by the carrier’s recent policy reversal designed to shun smaller travel agencies and its customers, forcing them to book directly.
“It’s a [expletive] show.”
“They’ll probably just declare bankruptcy [once the deal is executed] and we will be back at square one just as we were in 2001, 2008, and 2019.” The concern that new labor agreements are untenable is a notion we agree on.
The flight attendant had even discussed looking forward to planting a yard sign to prominently display that they were on strike and speculated on when that might arrive. For all of these reasons, it appears that not only are flight attendants ready, but they fully expect to take action. The FA expected the ordeal would last 7-10 days before terms were met. There was no doubt in the mind of the FA I spoke with that a strike was inevitable and was “the only way” management would reach a fair agreement.
Conclusion
While the account of one engaged flight attendant doesn’t necessarily represent the whole, 87% of American Airlines flight attendants are represented by the union and based on the overwhelming support they have demonstrated, labor is not going to accept a partial offer in a play for more time. The airline will have to find a way to run more profitably while absorbing higher labor costs, and without raising prices. American can neither afford to pay more for flight attendants, nor can they afford a continued labor struggle. What happens in the coming weeks could determine the fate, size, and shape of the airline over the long term.
What do you think?
Yes , time to seriously strike .
There is a big pay gap between junior and senior flight attendants.
Retroactive pay of this pay increase is a big sticking point.
Giving the junior half of the list more and the senior half of the list less is the likely way to make this all work.
A one time flat signing bonus will benefit those junior more. Boarding pay funded from hourly rate increases will benefit those junior more than those senior.
All AA needs is enough flight attendants to be better off to vote yes.
@Eric that’s an untenable proposal. The median FA time with company is around 18 years. They max their pay scale at 13 years. Some 65% of FAs are maxed out. There’s no way a proposal would pass if it doesn’t benefit the most senior groups.
Five years is too long to be without a contract. These US Air guys (Parker now Isom) should have got the deal done years ago. I believe the AA Flight Attendants will be released early August and a strike will happen after labor day weekend. They are just too far apart on many issues.
Contracts are with almost every position & work group in the industry.
The executives themselves would not accept 5 years to solidify an expired contract for themsrlves, or their own contract… I would think if asked/polled. I am not sure why it is felt this is acceptable?
I also didn’t understand the $31M above for the CEO salary when the margin was $19M as a whole for the company either the above article mentioned(?)
That flight attendant who told you that AA will file bankruptcy to get out of any contract – now there’s someone who has learned from history. That is EXACTLY what will happen.
And there are no golden parachutes for flight attendants. It’s just basic economics.
Fortunately, with the 30-day cooling-off period, travelers will have notice before disruptions become likely. Of course, with AA’s poor operational reliability, would loyal AA travelers even notice CHAOS? Or would it just be “typical summer storms at DFW?”
I am not sure but I think bankruptcy laws have gotten stricter. I am not sure that bankruptcy for convenience, while not impossible, is as easy as in years prior.
Also what happens if 27,000, or 130,000 have to in turn file bankruptcy in major cities across the country. How does that economically make sense?
I think many forget, just like our own salary/salaries, their incomes filter back into businesses in home towns near you all across the country & even in this case globally….they buy cars, groceries, do business when they get to be home…
I think that an industry standard after 5 years isn’t too much to expect.
Also, they don’t get boarding pay, between flight pay, before flight pay…a number of items, most would not think, as the normal/average person does when at work.
I’ve read elsewhere that a strike would occur around mid-July. AA flies to CDG. The Olympics are in July.
Oh, they’ll notice.
As someone who worked all through the pandemic without a raise and finally just left for a new job, I hope they get treated like they deserve. They are not our personal waitstaff in the sky. I fly AA all the time, but I am disgusted by the leadership.
How much does an American Airlines flight attend who works a full-time schedule make in a year? How does that compare to what United and Delta FAs earn? That information would offer some perspective.
HOURLY RATE OF PAY
TOP-OF-SCALE RATES IN EFFECT AS OF 6/1/2024
$79.80 Delta, $68.25 American, $67.68 Avg global competitor, $67.11 United.
Hourly rates of pay do not include PQ/SL premiums, or other pay components (i.e. boarding pay, IPY, MLPP, etc.), which vary by carrier. The Global Competitor Average is calculated by averaging the actual top-of-scale rates for American and United
BOARDING PREMIUM PAY
DELTA: 8%-10% average in additional earnings
AMERICAN: N/A
UNITED: N/A
TOTAL CASH COMPENSATION
$91,457 Delta, $70,353 United, $66,241 American
For each airline, base pay at top-of-scale, assuming a schedule value of 80 hours monthly + Profit Sharing (Payout for 2024) + Shared Rewards if applicable (2023 Earned Amount) + Assumed boarding pay (8% of flight pay)
It’s sad management has pushed the flight attendant union to this point. The pilots have the power to demand what they want. And they got it. But to be fair, the amount they, and other pilot groups got in new contracts pushes major airlines to the edge. A airline cannot be competitive and make a profit paying the pilot groups that much. Pilots always have made large salaries, but too much is well, too much! Where smaller work groups are just trying to get a fair living wage. And usually they are the face the customer sees and more is the backbone of a airline. Even if flight attendants get what they would like, the most likely conclusion as you stated is Bankruptcy. Due to over paid executive’s and their poor decisions plus pilots that earn too much! Really not a good ending. Does AA survive bankruptcy or just broken up and sold as parts? Although Robert Isom is a pro at bankruptcy and good old US Airlines.
Enough stress for the employees day in day out. Flights are packed, the last thing is to add stress by not solidifying a contract. Agreed.
Making someone feel inferior isn’t a positive path, or motivation stimulus, whether individually or as a whole. A lot of tremendous stressors over the past 5 years.
Watching $31M, on an outer position, while 5 years has passed…. I can’t imagine. Add inflation & trying to keep up at home, & also on the road expenses, a lot.
This is the view of a ” veteran flight attendant ” that some would say is already overpaid. I would like to hear the opinion of a junior, on government food stamps sleeping in their car. One that cannot” be excited” to put a sign in the yard because they have no yard.
The union will bully , fine and punish the juniors that don’t support those already too overpriced for an unskilled job. It is a broken system.
Unskilled? These FAs not only are skilled in emergency care, conflict resolution, and providing a necessary service to ensure the smooth running of the flight, they do this with professionalism and grace.
I don’t get this rude comment. These folks remind me of the soldiers and NCOs I served with.
I agree & appreciate this comment so much.
Many are the 1st to criticize, without insight into the others shoes.
How many have seen catering at the last minute.
Luggage matters. The matters & flurry of activities that go into things before the flight door even closes. The set up, or the number of flights, etc. For that matter the hours per day, many of which are unpaid & not compensated that has been discussed…..
Thank you as a like minded & different perspective. Some of these comments may not even travel frequently(?)…..idk
@sky warrior
As to your shoes, who cares? You accepted an unskilled work. As to medical emergencies they ask for a professional help. Because you’re not actually qualified. And as to saving anyone? AA allows FOUR attempts to pass certification. I am not reassured that counts for much.
You’re an a**hole and haven’t a clue. What do u do for a living thats so important? Do u put up with a**holes day in and day put like yourself, without proper compensation?
No medical professionals were present.
Just their training & experience.
I am glad you believe a couple weeks of training makes them skilled medical professionals, firefighters and prevention of child trafficking. I certainly do not
I agree with Maryland on this, all of the responses back were just emotional and saying “your rude” without any valid points. The FACTS are that FA’s are an unskilled job/career. Sure you go to training, sure you get a certificate of completion, sure you hain experience and insight on the job. But your not the same as a Pilot, no matter how much you hang out with them at your job. To me it’s the same as a Surgeon/Doctor/Nurse being compared to a Surgical Technician or something. The forst went to college for 8 to 12 years, PLUS years of interning. The former went to a training program for 7 months. Y’all both wear scrubs, use similar lingo, go to the same place of work, and hang out on lunch breaks and before surgeries. BUT YOU ARE NOT THE SAME. Blame your senior FA’s and your Union before blaming Mgmt. Remember that even if Isom didn’t take the pay that he negotiated and got: ALL the FA’s would only get like $1,100 bucks or a 2% one time “bonus” Y’all need to be reasonable at this time. Joe Biden is not going to let Y’all strike right before an election. Period.
#LOCKTHEMOUT
I will say that FA’s definitely deserve a pay raise and boarding pay, but I also hope they don’t cut off the branch they are sitting on. They can’t measure themselves against the gains other groups made (ie. pilots). Your comparison to surgical assistants vs doctors is spot on. Additionally, there is no shortage of FA’s. AA only hires a small % of applicants and it takes 2-3 weeks to train a new hire.
There nothing to suggest that even if they get EVERYTHING they want that service will improve. Let them strike. Starve them. Then get rid of them. They did it to themselves. Then, hire new employees who actually WANT to be there. Hell, even increase their pay too!
Actually the level of service wasn’t changed by the Flight Attendants. The level of service changed after the horrific acts of 9/11, that many don’t remember, or may have been very young.
Service was drastically changed then with security & then it was capitalized & never returned even though the operation did. It was very troublesome to those that knew the difference, & definitely not a “choice” made by Flight Attendants, but leadership choices by the “market comparison”. A following the competition stance.
@ sky warrior
So the seat belt barrier (and anything else) to block the galley didn’t directly come from FAs?
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE CHRIS! #LOCKTHEMOUT
They have already not been seving Pre Departure Bevs, don’t enforce the FC Cabin separation, put up walls/carts to block passengers from “bothering them”, leave trash on trays for hours, play candy crush for hours and gossip, and generally ignore customers.
The pandemic was hard on everyone. Yes. Y’all should get a raise to go with inflation and some more perks. BUT, Y’all (through your insane Union) are asking for way too much at once. So gimme a break, the loyal AA passengers are not behind Y’all one bit and aren’t wling to pay more for less work and less benefits and service. So I would start planning a career change, and now.
We will light the match and watch it all burn to the ground. We don’t care.
The blame for high inflation fall squarely on the shoulders of Congress and in particular the Biden administration. They’ve been gaslighting for years about the cause of inflation and insisting that real wages have kept up with inflation. They have not which is people feel pessimistic about the economy, You can’t run 6-10% of GDP deficits and insist everything is fine. It’s a math problem.
As for the flight attendants, they are essentially unskilled labor. Not untrained but unskilled. One can create a flight attendant with a few months of training. A flight attendant friend of mine said it’s the best part-time job in the world. You work 80 or 90 hours a month and you have two weeks vacation a month. Plus full benefits and a travel pass. Unskilled labor doesn’t command $50 -70 an hour with full benefits .
Maybe AA can hire a few of the 10 million illegals that Biden imported to ease the burden on AA?
I don’t even know where to start with this comment. 80-90 hours for any crew positions isn’t the same amount of work as 80-90 hours when people like us go to the office. They are not paid for boarding, deplaning, delays, waiting time between flights….all unpaid but doing work or at work time. 2 weeks off? Maybe if you work 14 very long days in a row (they don’t get weekends off or have a 8-9 work day constraint).
LOL! That’s funny! The Trump administration added $8 BILLION to the deficit and handed out checks of thousands of dollars with Trump’s name on it and you blame Biden for inflation!? That’s rich. I don’t see anyone arguing that pilots shouldn’t get obscene raises to pilot planes that fly themselves. A 787 Captain at United at the top of the pay scale now earns $569,000/year! That’s nearly 50% more than the president. But, oh, let’s begrudge the Flight Attendants a living wage. And remember, that most F/A unions worked with management to help keep the airline afloat during the pandemic. You’re totally wrong and I’m sorry that you think paying people less with improve the quality of the inflight experience. Maybe you should blame management for cutting service to the bone whenever possible.
Typical senior employee that barely works but makes the most. Meanwhile the jr flight attendants have to work more hours to make less.
A generalization that really isn’t valid. You can’t lump all senioror junior into any category. This is a deflection of the gravity at hand.
It’s not a generalization when it’s literally in their contact.
Agreed, blame the “SkyWarriors” of the world for their current situation. The world has changed. Sorry. You can not longer have a part time job with free travel where you made enough to have a luxury car and nice condo. Go become a real estate agent or something. The economics don’t work out anymore. All U.S. airlines will be changing their staffing in the coming years and the greedy and comfortable FA’s should be the first to go. THEY stand on the shoulders of their co-workers. NOT corporate. Read your own contracts before commenting BS “SkyWarrior”.
New York Tops U.S. Rental Market with $4,200 One-Bedroom Average – Voronoi
https://posts.voronoiapp.com/money/New-York-Tops-US-Rental-Market-with-4200-One-Bedroom-Average-1467
No luxury cars I’ve read & some living out of their cars.
Everyone requires housing, & trying to raise their families. The housing issue & basics such as food, at home & in airpors, or hotels, as well as gas to work won’t matter if they clean employees out or not… Old or new….costs will be the same at major airports near us all.
Many have dedicated their lives & that of their families lives to the success of travel.
No matter the lack of regard & hate.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna156635
Cleaning house will also create economic penalties for citizens in each of the cities the 28k or 130k live, as their salaries, regardless how some feel about them will no longer go back in the economy of local businesses, or even your local car dealer, or banker, grocer, etc.
I doubt the travel is of much benefit as the flights are packed, & many times oversold, or with other passengers hoping to change their flights, or their flight disrupted with weather, etc.
Hello BenG how are you? I am currently working at another airline with almost 35 years experience. I do own my own condo paid off but it’s not luxury just close to the job. My cars are 1997 and 2003 of course paid off.
For now I would like a new contract but I don’t need one. I have no debt at all and 3.73m in assets. It would be nice for a new contract for that are not as fortunate. If we needed to strike I have $120,000 in the bank ready.
But you really have to know that our skills are not official but combined with our experience can make a difference. My last flight from Japan I was doing my checks of the cabin and found one lavatory had a strong smell of smoke. Now fire is one of the worst things as it can disable many flying functions. I inspected all containers and doused the waste basket with water. Other crew members were notified and we made constant checks of all restrooms.
The person in question did it again and was reported and escorted off at our destination.
So you see we had all crew members monitoring the situation trying to keep the situation under control. They were both senior and junior and we worked together to prevent any further damage.
These ULCC AmericaWest jerks that have been running the show since the merger simply have no idea how to run a big international airline. Overpaying pilots with money that AA barely had when they knew that the FA’s who make vastly lower money would need a new contract soon was madness.
American is a legacy airline with legacy costs. Management – I won’t dignify it with the name leadership – has been allowed to make blunder after blunder with stunning consistency without repercussions from The Board. Even with yet another chapter 11 filing, American needs to once again become a premium airline that people will pay more money to fly, not less. That means more premium seats, more incentives for passengers to become elite members, less nickel-and-diming, notably improving AAdvantage , and providing a more consistent product.
Shout it from the back of the room. Parker was an AA guy. Groomed by Crandall. Isom was NW. Kirby was the only one who truly was AWA. He seems to be doing okay.
What happens if they go on strike and the passengers and American Airlines realized Nobody wants the airline attendance to begin with. When was the last time I airline attendant helped a passenger.
10 days ago a passenger went unconscious on a 8 hour flight & was revived. Two days ago an elderly lady fell. Many times that some don’t see. Hopefully it never happens to you. It does happen. Millions of flights & sometimes 150-300 per flight & can be 2-3 flights a day.
Thanks for the Ginger Ale. My tu.my feels better already. Retire already. The flying public does not have Y’alls back on this. One too many power trips and one too many lackluster service flights. Lots of blame to go around, including to you and yours.
Hope AA uses the opportunity to fire them all and hire back nonunion labour.
The non union are at what rate listed above? It appesrs 30% higher. I am not sure that would accomplish much financially…. It certainly won’t be responsible for upgrading the meal quality the passenger receives.
The emergency procedures are what people rarely focus on no matter what airline, but if it is needed you wouldn’t want to compromise the circumstances I don’t believe.
All are human beings in a stressful & sometimes difficult industry.
Untenable, indeed. Shut it all down. See the USA in your Chevrolet.
2 weeks of vacation a month?? HA! That’s really funny! I have been flying for the better part of 40 years. I work 110 hours a month and I have never had 2 weeks of vacation a month every month. EVER. Most of “us” are like me. Work horses. To keep up with COL it seems I increase hours every year and it’s still not enough. I guarantee if you went without a raise for 5 years you may think differently…
I’m feel bad the FA’s as a whole, that being said, THEIR LOPSIDED UNION IS THE REASON THEY ARE THIS POINT. The AFPA sold out the general membership to award senior members, the AFPA has consistently overpromised and underdelivered, and the “pie in the sky” asks WILL bankrupt AA and have all employees royally screwed. Lastly, the AFPA has encouraged it’s members to not work, cut service for it’s highest paying customers/passengers, and lined the pockets of Union Management instead of funding a strike fund. LOCK THEM OUT AND START OVER.
Agreed, BenG.
@Ben your ignorance is showing. Can you name one example of the union selling out its junior members for benefit of the senior members? Higher than 65% of FAs are maxed out on their pay scale (I.e. the most senior members) no contract would pass without benefitting them the most.
You seem extremely emotional without looking at the facts. Did a FA dump you once?
I don’t like to fly any longer, not because of flight attendants , or pricing…but other arrogant ,self absorbed passengers who think the FAs are their personal servants, and the plane they bought a ticket on is their own jet.
FAs do work hard flights, dealing with idiots all day. Pilots sit behind locked doors now, and demand their premium pay above all others. The other group in AA that gets Zero input or attention is Maintenance. Their contact is always last, and never keeps up with either group above, in fact AA outsourced over 50 percent to Foreign unlicensed work shops.
The FAs deserve at least 22 percent raises, pay from the minute they board the plane, till they walk off the jet bridge, and some respect from passengers and AA management.
In this case AA management has become so inept, they are eating themselves. Every member of the Board needs to be replaced with AIRLINE people, not business buddies and shills. USAAir doesn’t function a quarter as well as AA used to.
The workers do everything in their power to run the airline daily, with dopes from management handing down orders that are hurting business daily.
Are you a flight attendant?
We expect flight attendants to be everything in the air: mom, babysitter, waitress, conversationalist and, oh by the way, safety and security experts, who ultimately may keep us alive in case of a disaster (think USAir Hudson River, AirFrance Toronto, Asiana San Francisco).
The compensation packages paid AAs top execs is obscene. And poo-pooing the distribution of the CEO’s scandalous compensation into a $1100 direct benefit to FAs is incredibly insulting… Base pay for new hires is below poverty level, you better believe $1100 would make a huge difference, you smug a*&hole.
I’m not an FA, I fly Polaris and Singapore first, so I’m not affected but basic human decency demands that AA address the toxic inequalities in their wage schemes.
BenG…not sure why you keep blathering on and on and on about yourself. We get it. You’re unhappy, hate life and everyone around you. I saw you mention flight attendants somewhere in there but didn’t read anything about them in your comments. It was all about you. When you try to step down on people, that only makes you look sad and no one else. Same goes for a few others in this comment section. You know who you are. I’m so glad I don’t live my life in hate. It must be exhausting getting joy out of acting like that. Too bad you didn’t grow up with my parents. Life is short. Do better.
BRAVO well stated ! Apparently Ben could not be hired as a flight attendant by any airline! The jealousy is littered though out you post!
It’s not that he couldn’t get hired as a flight attendant IT’S THAT HE GOT REJECTED BY ONE. And that makes the flight attendant skilled because she could see him for the a**hole that he his.
People like this make me see all the good in the world cause it’s such a contrast.
Misogyny is alive and well in these comments. Imagine being so bored you have to spew hate for a workgroup in an industry that doesn’t even involve you. Get life and get a hobby.
The comments on these articles of entitled passengers is always so funny / moronic to me. The same logic can always be thrown back at them. “You signed up for a replaceable job so expect to not make any money”, ok well dont expect decent service or reliable service if people are being paid less than mcdonalds, so quit complaining about it, its honestly pathetic at this point. Since yall want us to be corporate slaves in the air and apparently I dont deserve to be able to afford rent and food. Not sure how ill be able to constantly be at your every whim in the sky if I cant buy food but whatever!
The same people upset about AAs service are the same people saying FAs don’t deserves a pay raise. Think about that. In what other labor market would you expect higher quality of service without higher compensation? And in fact it’s most likely the work rules themselves (not being paid for boarding or sit time, long duty days etc..) that cause FAs to give bad service. Like it or not FAs are the face of the company with the most customer interaction. Scott Kirby said last week FAs are the most impactful work group when it comes to obtaining returning customers. FAs are not compensated for their “skill” they are compensated for their value to the company. AA and passengers can’t have it both ways. Either pay the FAs at least inflation adjusted rates or expect bad service and CHAOS.