American Airlines has reportedly dismissed a number of flight attendants in a crackdown against rewarding junior coworkers with coveted routes in exchange for money.
According to Paddle Your Own Kanoo, American sent out a warning against the practice of flight crew selling trips earlier this year. The warning came with the promise of discipline in the future.
That discipline has arrived, per multiple reports. with at least one crew member being fired and the flight attendant’s union promising to fight back.
How the trip bidding scheme unfolded
American Airlines’ flight attendant assignment bidding system is seniority-based. Every month, crew members submit requests for the flights they want to work and their days off.
“These bids are fed into a ‘preferential bidding system’ which then assigns trips based on the needs of the airline and the availability of flight attendants,” writes Paddle Your Own Kanoo.
Because seniority is factored into the bidding system, flight attendants who have accrued more time served are first in line for the more desirable trips, which include overseas routes to Paris, London, Rome and other major cities.
This process led to some senior flight attendants bidding on and receiving trips they did not want to work, and instead turned around and “sold” to less tenured colleagues.
American Airlines personnel have an internal swap system set up for crew members to drop or switch assignments, but airline higher-ups got wind of the setup being manipulated.
On the trade board, flight attendants were reportedly using code such as cookies or kisses emojis to indicate they would only drop their trip in exchange for cash.
American issued a warning back in May
Flight attendants were sent a memo three months ago telling them explicitly that trips can not be “bought, sold or brokered.”
“When someone tries to inappropriately profit by picking up a trip or through selling or trading, it violates the intent and integrity of our bidding systems and our standards of business conduct,” the memo read.
What the flight attendants union is saying
On Friday, the union sent out a memo, per View From The Wing’s Gary Leff, telling workers that “posting a trip with an incentive to drop” had led to “the absolute worst outcome available.”
“Our Attendance and Performance Policy is clear,” the messages says. “Discipline is meant to be progressive, giving Flight Attendants a chance to correct behavior. Skipping those steps, especially on a rule they just decided to enforce, is a direct violation of just cause and due process.”
The union has also reportedly asked for American to stop applying blanket discipline and judge any cases on individual merit.
