New De-Escalation Training At American Airlines Seeks To Lower Tensions Between Veteran Crew Members And New Hires

Flight attendants at American Airlines are being trained on de-escalation…with each other, with particular emphasis on calming tensions between new hires and senior flight attendants.

New American Airlines Flight Attendants De-Escalation Training…With Each Other

As noted by PYOK, flight attendants must now undergo training on how to minimize tensions within the workforce:

Flight attendants at American Airlines are being made to complete an online training course in how to de-escalate arguments between veteran crew members and new hires – especially when it comes to newer flight attendants getting assigned ‘premium’ international trips.

And because it’s relatively rare for younger crew members to be assigned these kinds of favored European trips, a common question asked by senior crew members is: “How did you even get this trip?”

It might seem like a relatively simple question, but it can sometimes be loaded with undertones that result in tension and animosity.

That tension has become so apparent, even to AA’s training teams, that they are now requiring crew members to complete an online training module to try to address this type of questioning.

This is certainly a bit of “inside baseball” but some senior flight attendants have reacted in a very hostile manner to new hires being placed on long-haul flights, traditionally the bastion of veteran flight attendants in a seniority-based system. These placements have led to conflict, even though there is no easy way to “steal” such assignments: they can only be gained by being on reserved and being assigned to this flight due to a sick flight attendant or through a trade with another flight attendant.

Perhaps the anger is rooted in a pray-to-trade scandal in which senior flight attendants sell their assignments to junior flight attendants in a “black market.” But the new contract promises that the union will work closely with American Airlines to put an end to this practice.

There’s also the issue of pay disparity…while senior crewmembers do quite well, juniors are just scraping by, even with a recent bump in pay. The latest contract does give junior flight attendants a bump in pay, but senior flight attendants received an even bigger bump not just in absolute terms, but proportionally (ironically, even though the union used the “poverty” of junior flight attendants as a rallying cry for a new contract).

So yes, there are tensions that passengers often do not see, but sometimes do bubble over into public view.

Of course, there’s nothing new under the sun: