The website of the union that represents flight attendants at American Airlines crashed on Friday after members inundated the site in a rush to take part in a historic strike authorization vote.
Within hours of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) opening the ballot, the union was forced to admit that its website had been overwhelmed as thousands of crew members all tried to log on at once.
The union has decided to go ahead with a strike authorization vote even as contract negotiations with the Dallas Fort Worth-based carrier continue in an attempt to break a deadlock in some crucial areas.
Although APFA says it has reached an agreement with American Airlines on many provisions, there are key areas, including pay, where the two sides remain at loggerheads.
Federal mediation is ongoing in an attempt to reach a negotiated settlement, but APFA warned last week that progress had “ground to a halt” after the airline rejected nearly all of the union’s proposals.
Along with pay, the union is struggling to reach an agreement on a slew of proposed improvements to working conditions, including hotel accommodation, reserve duties, and the class of travel flight attendants should be expected to travel in when deadheading on duty.
The union warns that American Airlines wants to treat flight attendants as “second-class employees”. Negotiations continue in an attempt to ‘level-up’ flight attendant conditions to the same standard enjoyed by the airline’s pilots, whose union has reached a tentative agreement.
Addressing the website issues, APFA told its members: “Despite the APFA IT Team and our vendors taking every precaution to prepare for increased traffic during the vote, the site was overwhelmed and experienced a server issue”.
APFA insists, however, that while members have struggled to log on to the site, the voting process was not compromised.
My worse experience of my life when I took a flight from Los Angeles to NYC in 2022, a “red eye” flight! Like so many passengers, All I wanted to do was sleep. I inquired where I could store my carry-on luggage (under 10 pounds) the crew member ( old gray hair male”, replied ” I do not lift luggage”, I said I did not ask him to do that for me but what overhead bin was empty! The female flight crew member in the morning when I asked for Water, never came back with the water. I have been on flights since the age of 17, I am now 82 and tell this story often to everybody when they ask me what Air line do I take on my 2 round trips from Peru, South America.