American Cracks Down On Flight Attendants Profiting Off Trip Trading

it violates ... our standards of business conduct

AA's standards of business conduct, at least at their Joint Premium Lounges at JFK, most certainly do not require any semblance of hospitality or professionalism at reception. This was a problem when there was only a Flagship Lounge at JFK, and it's still a problem. I'm frustrated and can't believe it. How hard can it be to instruct your receptionists to do literally two things: 1. say hi 2. smile. I'll even accept just one of those two things. Currently you get neither.

Oddly, the JFK Admirals Club is perfectly polite. I saw a receptionist patiently and politely explain to a (non-)guest that the Priority Pass card does not confer access to Admirals Clubs.

There is a flip side to this which will be a big negative for all flight attendants. Sometimes FAs will offer money for another FA to work a trip. For example if they have an event and can't get a trip to trade or drop then offering money will help. It's not profiting from a schedule, in fact just the opposite but this seems to be banned as well.

Junior FAs make much less than their Senior counterparts so you’d think the company would rather pay a junior FA versus a senior one.

Interesting, anyone who knows how much money allegedly is being offered for a route swap?

Good their focused on something - it certainly isn't customer service.

That won't fly with the FA's union. Oldest FA's get highest pay AND best routes.

Has to be banned both ways - think about it.

You ask a lot. It's like asking FA's to do more than 2 drink passes on a 6 hr flight. There are more important things like route swaps to be accomplished.

But they have a lot of airplanes, a lot if destinations, and fares are usually among the lowest. So they are providing a service.

It's an IRS issue as people are being paid to work/not work, in cash, which is considered unreported income.

AA can be held accountable by the IRS for ignoring it.

Butters was just selling kisses.

I'd like to know too!

Lol no they can’t. They’re not being paid by AA, nor is AA facilitating the payment.

So many solutions here, which are often used in the hospitality industry. Why can’t they just put the flight up for grabs (especially desirable ones)? Why should they decide who gets it? Even if they do, why not max it at 1 a quarter? Seems like a dumb and avoidable problem - but expected since union is involved.

This is too lucrative (and tax free) for flight attendants to give up. They will just become creative on how to communicate a trip is for sale.

JFK-CDG & return is always staffed with “very” senior crews.

It’s terrible, why can’t it be merit based? Seniority doesn’t mean good service. That’s why US lags behind ME and Asian airlines.

My ex is a flight attendant with American! She worked a total of 30 days then went on disability. After 25 years she still has flight benefits????

That has nothing to do with this post about getting compensation for bartering trips … I was a International Purser with an American Flagship Airline for 44 years and I actually questioned several other Seniors for giving trips away for favors …. It has been happening for years ….

Because unions don't believe in merit. They believe the longer you're at a firm, the better you are, even if you are average at best. Unions had their time. They are more of a hindering presence now. Too bod. Im an ex union worker and I will say I've always been treated well by my company now that I work for a non union firm

Anyone doing that should be immediately demoted to the lowest level of seniority. But then they shouldnt use seniority in the first place. Give the long flights to the cabin crews that are actually good rather than the ones who bugger off immidiately after meal has been issued and who dont reappear until 90 mins before landing.

Your seniority gives you a tangible value.
If you can allow a new employee a better route with more hours, who loses if you sell your “spot”?
The airline pays a lower pay scale to junior flight attendant.
Junior flight gets more hours.

Oh, the UNION loses control.

The problem you reference is EXCEPTIONALLY rare. In 10 years flying, I’ve actually never seen or heard of a real life situation where a senior FA is selling a desirable trip. Most times that “hugs” are offered is the opposite situation: junior flight attendants offering a cash incentive for someone to take their trash trip.

When you can’t get a trip to improve or drop on days you absolutely have to have off, adding some cash usually got someone to accept the trip. FA’s will now just call out sick and AA will be on the hook for covering it on their own. Enforcing this policy harms AA and FAs equally.

Pretty simple to solve -
1. Internally they know the most desirable trips. The ones bid quickest/most.
2. If you bid and get a top 25% route, then subsequently trade it, no problem.
3. Do it more than X times within any 3 rolling months, you are barred from the top 25% of routes for Y months. (Or something appropriate.)
4. Do it more than Z in a given time period, and you can only bid on the bottom 50% of routes for 6 months or a year. (Or something appropriate.)
5. Get caught selling a route one time and you get #4 punishment automatically.

Simple. Problem solved.

At my airline we were not-so-subtle, but definitely not taking a full page add. We would often advertise se a trip and depending on the holiday, it amount of money would be listed as “candy canes, Easter eggs or in my case I’d offer up a heard of screaming goats or wombats…with new technology, comes new ways of sidelining this kind of thing. Two things you should kmow about your flight crews are that we Steven Hawkingbrilliant at solving problems with nothing more than a gum rapper and a hair pin. The second is, give us a rule and we will ind away to circumvent it. We are better than an Eagle Scout AND we carry cork screws

I never heard of a flight attendant selling trips for personal profit. This is an exaggeration. The inability to get a single trip trade or drop because the existing trading system is very restrictive and limits the flight attendants’ trading. This issue could be resolved with unlimited trades.

Wrong. The tax payer is solely responsible for reporting all earned income whether or not it was reported on a W2, 1099-NEC, 1099-K, etc. Since these trip trade cash payments are occurring outside AA, it is between two private individuals. AA, or any employer, is not responsible to the IRS for $ exchanged privately by an employee for any reason. AA responsibility is to report what they pay an employee & nothing else. Think about it using your simplisticly flawed logic... if an FA sold a car to another person, FA or not, and made a profit then it's the employee who is on the hook for reporting that income not their employer. Most people are wildly ignorant of how tax regs work.

All unions do NOT & will NEVER allow a merit based system. It's strictly chronological. And stoopid.

Not much. I've heard anywhere between $25 to $100+

And many AA Frontline are equally rude/unhelpful to fellow employees. I've witnessed it. Miami has the most 'tude

I'm confused, you mention they get paid for not flying. Surely if they're trading they have to fly some other route? And surely if they trade position for a junior FA then the airline pays the junior rate and not the senior rate?

Strong agree.

AA MIA - unbelievably and rude to passengers - in a completely unnecessary way. Even F ones!

You are right about seniors "selling" their more desirable flights is problematic, but you are mistaken about the process and have confused the coded language on the trade board. That is when an FA (typically a junior) is trying to give up their trip by offering to pay another FA to take it, because the trip is often undesirable and may conflict with a personal obligation, especially since juniors control over their schedules are very limited. They rather pay $$ for an FA to take take their trip then call out sick and incur an attendance point. Not unlike when I was a server at a restaurant and I had to offer extra cash to a co-worker for them to cover my shift.

The selling of flight attendants desirable sequences is by seniors are done off of official AA systems.

Hahaha funny post

Now you're blaming the union for this?

I thought the union have your back not your wallet.

I guess that propaganda still works.

Union reps seems to be hogs and members are pigs, but in most cases the pigs get slaughtered.

AA FA's are using AA company systems to facilitate undeclared cash payments for work performed on behalf of AA.

If AA and their FA's could do 20% of their hourly rate off the books why wouldn't they?

Because that's what it is.

I have been flying a number of years and have never sold or taken money from anyone who has offered Hugs, Candy, Prayers etc. I usually use the TTS system or offer my trip to someone who is qualified on the aircraft and needs the time. Buying trips is something new to those of us who have flown for years. We have a great job and it only takes a few people to ruin it for everyone.

It’s called cheating. And a corrupt practice.

The biggest no no is when a senior FA bids the best trips with no intention of working many of them and drops the trip to a junior person they have already promised a trip to. This means that the last person who could have held that trip doesn’t get it but then sees the junior person on it over and over again. This is unfair to the person who would have held it if the senior person would not have bid it in the first place only to intentionally drop it to someone junior

This is absurd. Who cares, as long as the trip is covered, and one day Ms/Mr Junior will become senior then they can do the same thing.

Why?

He meant they are getting paid by someone paying them for their trip. They don’t get paid to not fly that trip that was given away. If they don’t need a regular income they could give their whole schedule away.

End the stupidity of such unfair ability to bid for trips. Senior FAs are already paid so much more than JR and they both do the same work.
Perhaps only let serior FA bid for 25% of work and let AA give out rest of the flights on efficiency.
Next contract no increase for top FA and put all that money into lower wages.

Trip trading is no different than shift changing i.e. 8am to 4pm. So long as it don't compromise services, scheduling and safety of the aircraft and that of the plane.

It’s unfair practice by the seniors, they need to do a sweeping round up of culprits. How greedy can they get, top pay is astronomical plus they want cash on top of it

I literally wanna write the code to this wow, maybe I should then send it to they’re IT dep

LOL. If you have to ask, you're perfect for the current crop of people in Washington!

I care! I would rather see younger FA than older ones on international flights. Now, all the older FA take all these flights just to sell. Let everyone have a chance.

How’s your COBOL?

What makes you think people are going to stop because a notice was given....People will still find a way.

The only thing I could think of that might be an issue would be their union contract. I would not be surprised if the current system is spelled out to the letter and then the airline would need to work with the union to change the system, which could be quite the undertaking, if not impossible.

Not only is it unfair to junior flight attendants but it cheats State Governments out of Sales Taxes on $100,000s of tax revenue that Airlines should have been collecting, which is tax fraud.

This actually happened. Until companies caught on that some employees were working other jobs while giving away or selling their work but keeping their benefits but never putting any time.

Surely you mean income tax, which would be federal as well as most states. Services rendered between private individuals, such as mowing lawns, babysitting, or picking up shifts, are typically not subject to sales tax of any sort.

In fact only four states—Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota, and West Virginia—impose a tax on services by default, while five—Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon do not impose a general statewide sales tax on either goods or services.

Also, this is not Germany—you do not capitalise common nouns like sales, taxes, or airlines.

All in all, not so smart, Susan.

Think that through, Benny. If you'd like to see younger flight attendants on international flights, then you *want* those shifts to be sold by the senior FA's. As your reasoning is already disappointing I'm not prepared to explore your motives.

This airline is in shambles

Also, junior flight attendants want to get rid of a horrible trip abd they offer money for anyone to pick up. It is all wrong or all ok.