The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents American Airlines’ 28,000 flight attendants, isn’t happy with management right now. Recently, the union issued a vote of no confidence in CEO Robert Isom, which is the first time the union has ever done that.
That’s not the extent of the drama, though. The union is now accusing Isom of trying to close the earnings gap with Delta and United by downgrading layover hotels in order to cut costs. Okay, unless crews are laying over at Amans, I think it’s going to take a little more than that to close the gap, but I digress. 😉
American management accused of downgrading crew hotels
The APFA claims that American management is currently reviewing layover hotels used by crews at an increased rate, and that this includes replacing “many long-standing, well-liked, contractually compliant hotels, often against APFA’s recommendations.”
Specifically, management reportedly has the goal of reviewing eight hotels per month, including in markets where APFA did not request review, and where no contractual concerns exist. The union claims it has seen a 109% increase year-over-year in union travel for the purposes of reviewing hotels, in order to ensure management’s choices are okayed by the union.
The APFA states that it has recommended renewal of many incumbent hotels that meet contractual standards, only for management to move forward with hotels not recommended by the union, and doing so without adhering to the mutual agreement process outlined in the collective bargaining agreement, which reads as follows:
The Company will consider all recommendations of the APFA and then select the facility to be used from those that are mutually acceptable to the Company and the APFA. It is the intent of the parties that representatives of the Company and the APFA’s National Hotel Department reach agreement on the selection of the hotel accommodations. If, however, there are no mutually acceptable facilities, the Company and the APFA National President, or their designee, will meet to attempt to agree on a facility. If the Company and the APFA National President, or their designee, cannot reach agreement, the Company will make the final determination.
The union tells members that these “changes put management’s priorities ahead of the rest you need to safely perform your duties.”
I suspect there’s some truth to these complaints, but…
As you can tell above, the process of selecting crew hotels is intended to be collaborative, and there’s a pretty clear set of standards that go into picking a hotel.
I have to imagine that it’s probably a bit of a dramatization when the union claims that these “changes put management’s priorities ahead of the rest you need to safely perform your duties.” I don’t think American is trying to accommodate crews in by-the-hour motels, since those kinds of properties wouldn’t otherwise be compliant.
That being said, does someone at American maybe have the mandate to see if there are opportunities to save costs on crew hotels? Absolutely, and I imagine it’s likely. For that matter, it could be that some hotels have contracts that are up for renewal, and the current hotels are requesting more money, so the airline is shopping around. But if the hotels still meet standards then it seems like that shouldn’t be a huge issue.
As I see it, there’s a difference between objecting to a hotel because there’s actually something seriously wrong with it, vs. just objecting to it because you like the current option, and are unwilling to consider any other.
Bottom line
American’s flight attendant union is accusing management of trying to cut costs by unilaterally making changes to layover hotels. The idea is that picking crew hotels is a collaborative process between management and the union, and management has been requesting hotel changes at properties without issues, despite the union objecting.
Based on this narrative, I suspect American is trying to get the best bang for its buck on layover hotels. At the same time, I’m not sure that’s totally unreasonable, as long as hotels are still compliant with the terms of the contract.
What do you make of the union’s complaint?
