American Airlines Flight Attendants Are Furious Over ‘Premium’ Service Comeback With Skeleton Crews

An attempt by American Airlines to improve its reputation for poor onboard service has irritated flight attendants at the Fort Worth-based carrier, who now claim they are being asked to do a lot more work with less staff.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that American Airlines planned to reverse COVID-era cuts to onboard services by bringing back a second beverage service on all domestic flights over 1,500 miles.

The airline also wants to improve the inflight experience for passengers in the Main Cabin on international flights to premium destinations like London or Paris by introducing a pre-meal beverage service rather than a combined meal and drink service, which has become the norm.

But the decision by top brass at the airline to cut onboard service during the pandemic was also used as justification to cut the number of flight attendants working on certain aircraft.

To be clear, American Airlines has never despatched a flight with fewer crew members than is legally required–the requirement to have at least one flight attendant per 50 passenger seats is an FAA rule that is non-negotiable.

But like many carriers, American Airlines will staff some flights with more than the legal minimum. This is usually to ensure that the inflight service can be delivered effectively, especially on flights with big premium cabins.

In October 2020, however, American Airlines slashed the number of flight attendants required on some routes and aircraft. For example, Boeing 773-300 aircraft flying to premium international destinations lost two crew members, while all other aircraft types that operate international, premium transcontinental, and premium services in Hawaii lost one crew member.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents crew members at American Airlines, has previously warned passengers that the staffing cuts have led to much longer service times.

On some aircraft types, the First Class meal service now takes up to 2.5 hours to complete–more than double the time it took to complete before the pandemic.

Now, American Airlines wants to reverse the inflight service cuts but not the staffing cuts.

“With no changes to the catering currently supplied on the aircraft and no additional Flight Attendants to accomplish this service, American Airlines has set us all up for frustration and failure,” the union blasted in a new memo to its members on Wednesday.

“American Airlines management continues to demand more work from fewer Flight Attendants, all under the misleading tagline of ‘enhancing the customer experience,'” the memo continued.

To make matters worse, in January, the union lost a legal battle to get pre-pandemic staffing levels restored after senior American Airlines managers testified before an arbitration panel that there were no plans to enhance the inflight service.

“Management’s reversal on service makes it abundantly clear: their arbitration argument was never about what was operationally sustainable — it was about cutting corners at the expense of both the passengers and the Flight Attendants,” the memo slammed.

There may, however, be some hope on the horizon. Union bosses are expected to travel to Dallas Forth Worth next week, where they plan to “confront” senior airline leaders and hopefully get staffing levels restored.

They might, though, leave disappointed. American Airlines is still arguing that it should be allowed to staff its new premium-heavy Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners featuring the new Flagship Suite business class cabin with just seven flight attendants–one less than the current FAA minimum.

It should be noted, however, that American Airlines would routinely staff the aircraft with eight flight attendants and only drop down to seven crew members if someone went sick at a destination where finding a replacement flight attendant would be all but impossible.

The APFA has “categorically rejected” the proposal to reduce staffing on the 787-9, although American Airlines hopes it can convince the FAA otherwise, based on the fact that European airlines can go down to just six flight attendants on the same aircraft in extreme circumstances in order to get the plane back to base.