More than 24,000 United Airlines flight attendants want management at the Chicago-based carrier to know the fight isn’t over yet to reverse a controversial move announced earlier this month to cut one flight attendant from staffing assigned to United's high-margin Polaris international business class cabin.
United flight attendants who belong to the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) are planning a system-wide “day of action” on Dec. 13 to protest the staffing cuts and other issues that have rankled rank-and-file flight attendants in recent months.
The protest is expected to include informational picket lines at United’s key hubs across the nation, including Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport, among others.
In a memo to AFA's United Airlines membership, union leaders said “we are taking our fight public because our fight affects the traveling public too, and management should not only be answering to Wall Street. The people on planes are the ones who matter.”
United management has insisted the cut of one flight attendant in the Polaris cabin, to take effect Feb. 1, will not materially affect the level of service to Polaris customers because the carrier plans to pre-plate entrees served in the business cabin.
That’s a contention with which AFA takes issue.
Noted an AFA spokeswoman today: “Pre-plated food is no substitute for another flight attendant in the aisles.”
United said its move to eliminate one flight attendant position also will make staffing in the cabin match the ratio of staff to passengers in international business class cabins of United’s principal United States-based competitors American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL).
United also conceded that the cut would create efficiencies that could help the carrier’s bottom line performance as fuel prices rise.
Other concerns United flight attendants hope to bring to the public’s attention are what FAs insist are insufficient hotel accommodations during irregular operations and severe weather, plus the need to fix payroll issues and resolve discrepancies expeditiously.
AFA also want United to eliminate so-called “long sits” that require some flight attendants to work grueling schedules such as an overnight red-eye transcon flight followed by another morning flight the same day.
A United spokeswoman had this to say today about the planned protest: "We will continue to work closely with the AFA on issues that are important to our flight attendants. We don't expect any impact on our customers."
United Airlines is a unit of United Continental Holdings (NASDAQ: UAL)
