American Airlines Flight Attendants Horrified As FAA Approves Just 7 Crew Members On New Boeing 787 Dreamliners

Flight attendants at American Airlines have reacted with horror to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decision to rubber stamp an application from the Fort Worth-based carrier to staff its new premium-heavy Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with just seven crew members.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) has warned that the approval will compromise passenger and crew safety, as a single crew member may need to evacuate passengers from two wide-body exits.

American Airlines Seeks Approval to Reduce Crewing Levels On New Boeing 787-9 Aircraft.

Until now, the minimum number of flight attendants on AA’s fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners has been set at eight, which is one crew member for every emergency exit.

“There is no question that reducing staffing on widebody aircraft to less than one Flight Attendant per emergency exit affects passenger and crew safety.”

APFA memo to flight attendants

Back in December 2024, however, it was revealed that American Airlines was seeking FAA approval to operate its new premium-heavy Dreamliners, known internally as the 787-9P, with a reduced minimum crew level of just seven.

Under this plan, there will be only one crew member at the rear set of doors, located at the back of the dense Economy Class cabin.

Flight Attendant Union Warns Decision Will Affect Passenger Safety

In an internal memo, the American Airlines flight attendant union warned that this decision “results in a first-time ever single Flight Attendant at the 4L/4R doors now being responsible for evacuating two widebody exits in the event of an emergency.”

The memo continued: “While the FAA has approved this minimum staffing, there is no question that reducing staffing on widebody aircraft to less than one Flight Attendant per emergency exit affects passenger and crew safety.”

It should be noted that American Airlines doesn’t routinely plan to staff its 787-9P with just seven flight attendants, but if a crew member goes sick in a location where it would be difficult to get a replacement flight attendant, then the flight can still go ahead with the new minimum crewing level.

Delta And United Have Already Secured FAA Approval For Reduced Crewing Levels

The FAA approval should, however, come as no surprise, given that United Airlines has already secured the same minimum crewing levels for its Boeing 787 fleet, including the larger 787-10 model.

Delta Air Lines has also secured FAA approval for a minimum crewing level of just six flight attendants on its similarly sized Airbus A330 airplanes.

“American Airlines had a clear opportunity to lead the industry by prioritizing safety and setting a higher standard than our competitors,” the flight attendant union slammed.

“Instead, they chose to follow competitors down a path of cost-cutting at the expense of crew and passenger safety.”

“We believe an airline that prioritizes safety would not make this decision,” the hard-hitting memo added. “In an emergency, one Flight Attendant would be responsible for hundreds of passengers in two different aisles, with two emergency doors on opposite sides of the aircraft.”

American Airlines started flying the first of 30 Boeing 787-9Ps last month, flying between Chicago O’Hare and London Heathrow.

The aircraft marks the most significant change to AA’s onboard product in years, with 51 enclosed Flagship business class seats with sliding doors, including four new Flagship Preferred Suites that are slightly larger, more spacious, and with extra amenities.

The aircraft has won praise from industry experts and the flying public, although flight attendants are less enthused about the aircraft given the new crewing level and the fact that working space has been reduced to make room for more premium seats.

After encouraging flight attendants to write to the FAA with their concerns, the union is now planning to raise their concerns with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in an attempt to get the decision reversed.

American Airlines Restores Pandemic-Era Service Cutbacks

The union is also enraged over a decision by American Airlines to reverse some COVID-19-era service cutbacks that relied on the carrier reducing the number of flight attendants on certain aircraft types.

This includes reinstating a second beverage service on all domestic flights exceeding 1,500 miles, as well as introducing a pre-meal beverage service on long-haul flights to premium international destinations such as London and Paris.

The service cutbacks led to American Airlines removing two crew members from its Boeing 773-300 aircraft flying to premium international destinations, while all other aircraft types that operate international, premium transcontinental, and premium services in Hawaii lost one crew member.

American Airlines has no plans, however, to reverse the flight attendants staffing levels on these aircraft.

In January, APFA 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 in-flight service.

As a point of comparison from an international perspective, the Boeing 787 can be operated in Europe with just six crew members, should crew members go sick during a layover.

That leaves two sets of widebody exits being evacuated by a single crew member in the event of an emergency.