Flight attendants at American Airlines are angry about AA’s poor financial performance in the first quarter, especially when compared to its peers. But their proposed solution is deeply unsatisfying.

American Flight Attendants Are Angry At Leaders For Poor Financial Performance

While Delta Air Lines and United Airlines reported profit in the first quarter, American Airlines reported a loss.

Aviation insider JonNYC shared a memo sent out by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), the union representing American’s 28,000 flight attendants. This memo laments the recent financial quarter and places the blame on AA’s C-Suite for its lack of vision.

Specifically, the APFA blames former Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja (without naming him and even though AA has already fired him) for AA falling behind, but stops short of strongly criticizing the current management, even though Raja was hardly making decisions alone.

The flight attendants insist that leadership at AA be “held to the same performance standards as the flight attendants.”

It is time that American Airlines executives are held to the same performance standards as the Flight Attendants. American Flight Attendants are held to more than a dozen performance-based chargeable events daily. It is time that our executives are held to not only the same standard but a much higher one.

Today, we are calling on American Airlines’ leadership to right this ship — enough with the excuses. Fix the product in all cabins and staff your airplanes to be the global leader in aviation.

The path to once again becoming a world-class airline starts with prioritizing people and performance. Flight Attendants are ready to do our part — but we expect the same from those at the top.

Here’s the full note:

Be Careful What You Wish For?

I can’t help but point out the same thing both View From The Wing and One Mile At A Time do: that’s not a very high standard. I think Ben says it perfectly:

The union thinks that executives should be held to the same performance standards as flight attendants? That’s the benchmark?!? Arguably the problem with American’s management team is that they’re held to basically the same standards as flight attendants. They get paid as long as they show up, and the longer they’re there, the more money they make, regardless of the results they deliver.

Yep. That’s it.

I’m all for accountability and I think that starts at the top: CEO Robert Isom should not be bringing home $30 million per year when his airline is performing so badly. AA has been stagnant for years and you simply cannot blame the problem squarely on aircraft delivery delays.

But don’t hold the leadership to the same (low…yes, low) standard of the rank and file. I’ll share next week about a recent American Airlines flight that was (once again) bad in so many ways…it’s just horrible how hit-and-miss AA crews are. I’ve had excellent crews, I’ve had hostile crews, and I’ve had everything in between.

And yet all of these folks who hate their jobs and show up for a paycheck get to keep working.

That’s not the standard Isom and his top lieutenants should be held to.

No, they need to be held to much higher standards…and so do flight attendants. I’m sorry, but my service issues with flight attendants on AA are rarely to do with staffing (my first class flight from New York to LA being a glaring exception) and so much more to do with simply ignoring basic courtesies.

CONCLUSION

The flight attendants and their union have a point. Yes indeed, the problem is that AA management has been allowed to underperform for far too long, lacking accountability for delivering on key performance metrics. But that’s the problem with flight attendants too…for far too long they’ve used the excuse of insufficient staffing (which, to be clear, is a genuine problem if the goal is to provide premium service) as cover for numerous other shortfalls that have also helped to widen the gap between American and United/Delta. There are so many wonderful flight attendants but they are driven not by management, but by personal pride in doing their job well.

It’s time for an overhaul at AA…both for management and flight attendants.