American Airlines is reportedly trying to find cheaper hotels for its tens of thousands of flight attendants to stay at during work trips as part of a concerted cost-cutting effort to close the disappointing earnings gap with Delta and United Airlines, the official crew union has warned.
The latest cost-cutting measure, aimed directly at the Texas-based carrier’s flight attendant workforce, comes just weeks after the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) issued a unanimous vote of no confidence in chief executive Robert Isom.
“As we entered 2026, it became clear that management plans to review nearly every layover city and replace many long-standing, well-liked, contractually compliant hotels,” the union warned in an internal memo reviewed by PYOK.
“These changes put management’s priorities ahead of the rest you need to safely perform your duties,” the memo slammed.
American Airlines has reportedly told the union that it wants to conduct at least eight hotel site visits per month, which would be a major step in relocating flight attendants to new accommodations.
Hotel site visits can be organized for a slew of different reasons, including when contracts are up for renewal or when safety or quality concerns have been raised.
In this case, however, the union says the more than 100% increase in site visits demanded by American Airlines includes many hotels where no issues are present. In some cases, the airline has been accused of ignoring the union’s recommendations, despite contract provisions that it meant to give APFA a big say in where its members stay during layovers.
“Crew accommodations and the hotel selection process are contractual,” the memo explained. “They are not negotiable and must never be compromised.”
“APFA has fought for years to secure hotels that include the safety and security of the transportation vehicles, rooms and hotel locations; the cleanliness and quietness of the accommodations; and the adequacy of the eating facilities,” the memo added.
“We will not stand by while our hotel standards are lowered. Top leadership’s ongoing financial failures do not give them the right to ignore our contract language.”
In some cases, hotels could be switched to lower-quality accommodations or out of downtown locations where room rates are lower.
While the union paints the current situation as American’s attempt to close the earnings gaps against its two biggest rivals, its latest tactic isn’t any different than what United Airlines has been doing for several years.
Exploiting a wording loophole in its own flight attendant contract, United Airlines has been moving crew members out of central locations in some international premium destinations through the use of a ‘downtown-like’ clause.
United’s flight attendants no longer stay close to the center of Amsterdam, Netherlands, London, England, or Rome, Italy.
In London, for example, United flight attendants now stay in Woking, a sleepy little town 24 miles southwest of Central London. A train ride into London to see the lights of Picadilly Circus and other popular tourist hotspots takes around 45 minutes.
The choice of flight attendant hotels and contractual loopholes in what accommodations the airline is allowed to pick has become a big flaspoint in ongoing negotiations between United and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA).
In a recent internal memo, the AFA suggested it was close to locking down improved contractual language in a yet-to-be-agreed tentative contract that would require United to improve layover hotels in the future.
Last month, American’s APFA union said it had taken the “necessary step of issuing a unanimous vote of no confidence in CEO Robert Isom,” after the carrier reported a profit plunge of 84% in 2025.
Isom has refused to step down and appears to have strong backing from American’s board of directors. He has made a reputation for himself at the airline for his cost-cutting strategy, which included ripping out seatback TV screens from narrowbody airplanes.
The move has been widely criticized as a strategic blunder that came at the same time that United went on a premium push by equipping its narrowbody fleet with seatback screens and upgraded tech.
Isom, meanwhile, says that the airline will continue to implement its existing strategy, with no signs of a major reversal in direction.
The race to the bottom continues, at least at US airlines ….
…and BA with their ongoing catering cuts, delays to fleet replacement and still absent working IT or ground customer services
I attempted to post my email after taking time to compose it. Sadly it just disappeared before I could finish my feedback. Poor website!
In the “old days”, pilots and flight attendants stayed together as a crew for an entire month. You got to know each other really well, it was like a little family. We all rode together to the crew hotel in the hotel van.
But the rest rules evolved, giving pilots more rest, and so we diverged. Now crews stay in different hotels, have completely different schedules, and never get to know each other at all.
It’s about the only environment where you can put in 30 years, and retire knowing about 5 people, if that.
Costs are always an issue in an industry that has high fixed costs (aircraft, fuel, and labor), and customers expecting to pay rock bottom prices. Hotels are another big expense, so it makes sense to look for savings. As long as the new hotel is contract compliant, all the union can do is bloviate.
Mmm, I’m sorry, but you can’t have it both ways. You can’t demand a high quality, quiet and full-facility hotel in a central location. In fact, there would be an argument for preferring out of centre locations, like Woking, because it gives crew the ability to rest without the noise of central London. And ultimately that’s the point of a layover – to rest.
I used to drive an airport shuttle on Maui. I took flight crews from all the different airlines quite often. Very seldom did the pilots and flight attendants stay together. The flight attendants mostly stayed at the cheapest hotels by the airport in Kahului and the pilots would go stay at the Westin in Kaanapali or the Marriott in Wailea. That was about 15 years ago.
I used to be an FA with United. We stayed in a mix of hotels all the flight crew. We stayed at the same place. Pilots aren’t there to find party-spots. They’re supposed to be on a wrk-trip!! Duh! The pilots also stay at the same location for safety’s sake of the FA’s.
I lived in Woking for 15 years, from 1973 till 1988. Even then it was neither “sleepy” nor “little.” Boring, possibly; unattractive, definitely. Its major selling point is extremely good rail links to much of the southeast and south coast, plus a regular bus straight to Heathrow, which I’m sure is what recommended it to United.