American Airlines is requiring flight attendants to complete credit card sales training, and the APFA union says it violates their contract. Here's why I think the union is overreacting.
Sounds like something the workers and consumers can agree on: stop spamming us.
Sounds like something the management and stakeholders can agree on: start doing your job and make money for your employers.
Since when did safety = power trip?
Oh when unaccountable authoritarian dictatorship was formed.
Eskimo, I never said ‘power trip,’ you and others may suggest that, but it’s hyperbole and not the norm. Most flights, this and other carriers, have no issues, excellent crews, etc. Some of hate on here for frontline workers is unfounded.
My favorite part of any United flight is the 10 minute (sometimes 10 seconds, but feels like 10 minutes) credit card pitch after initial descent begins. Part of the reason I love having Starlink on Unites now. I can stream and not use the seat back entertainment. Ads during a flight - what are we even doing?
You know what? The union should be fine with it, so long as American gives some sort of profit sharing since the FAs are hocking something they otherwise couldn't care less about.
Honestly, I don't see this as a big deal as long as they are compensated for taking the training. But if AA wants to be the 'premiumest' airline in the US they should be more focused on improving employee moral rather than pushing credit cards inflight.
When possible I avoid AA as the FAs seem miserable which makes for a poor inflight experience. I'm not sure if AA tries to recruit surly FAs or if they are unhappy working for a poorly managed airline but I'm guessing it's the latter.
Ivan, I was told they want to be the new ‘premier’ airline (presuming that was throwing-shade at United) and most ‘premium-ist’ (throwing different shade at Delta). Yes, they’d better get paid for this.
Doesn't matter which airline or flight, the poor FA's having to push credit cards look about as thrilled as someone getting a root canal. I don't blame them, having to peddle that shit.
If the union contract says FAs are only obligated to do things that are within a defined scope of service and credit card classes are not in the scope, then they shouldn't have to attend the classes. What's the limiting principle for what AA can insist the FAs must do? It can't just be some vague notion of what you might consider is reasonable.
Are you serious? They aren't forcing them to peddle it but their rating system is going to reflect their success in peddling so those who don't will be at a disadvantage for whatever benefits that rating leads to. Buy as long as they are not being forced to...
At some point in history men didn't force women employees to bend over for clients but those who did were rewarded. Ok, said the miles guy. As long as they weren't forced to.
It is about coercion beyond job responsibilities male or female attendants.
@ GV -- My post isn't about the rating system, and when I wrote about that in the past, I did express concern about how that works. That being said, keep in mind the rating system isn't actually of any consequence -- flight attendants get to bid on flights based on seniority, and even if you get bad "scores," it doesn't impact your job. It's just supposed to motivate people. Not that I'm agreeing with the system, but...
@ GV -- Due to the collective bargaining agreement! Management can't unilaterally decide that flight attendants have to sell X number of credit cards per month to keep their job. Both parties would agree that requires a new agreement.
“Management isn’t forcing any flight attendant to try to promote or sell credit cards, as that’s entirely voluntary”
“American is also rolling out a new flight attendant scoring system, which will be known as Me@Work. One of the factors intended to be displayed here will be the number of successful credit card applications attributed to each flight attendant.”
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed some inconsistency here.
How can the union be mad about the only income source that allows their senior members and pilots to be so overpaid
They should make an announcement that they're sorry, but this is the only way they can get paid so well.
@goheels We know how heavily the U.S. airlines depend on the co-branded credit card agreements. In a way, it can be viewed as AA as a subsidiary of Citi, DL as a subsidiary of AMEX, UA and WN as subsidiaries of Chase, B6 as a subsidiary of Barclays, and AS as a subsidiary of Bank of America. One wonders the financial shapes of these airlines if you take away their lucrative and exclusive credit card agreements and how they would need to work harder with their hard and soft products especially on guest service. Imagine if the legacy carriers of the U.S. can provide those compared to the likes of SQ, QR, and EK then they may not need to push so hard for the credit card signups or possibly be in even stronger financial positions.
At this rate, AA is sadly doomed to fail if every move management wants to make is immediately rebuffed by the relevant union.
And by the way, I agree that the whole notion of pitching credit cards during flights is cheesy, to put it mildly, and reminds me of far less "premium" carriers doing the same thing, like Frontier and Spirit. In fact, it feels predatory to entice the general non-av-geek folks with sign-on bonuses, since a substantial portion of them won't pay off the balance in full and wind up in credit card debt.
On a related note, around 2010 Domino's Pizza admitted publicly that their pizza tasted bad and committed to fixing it. Maybe that's the kind of radical honesty AA needs to turn things around.
I guess this means we should expect an increase in sales pitches shortly...
Personally, if I were being paid for the "training" time ("Indoctrination Into Coercion Best Practices" would be an honest name for the course), I would take it in a heartbeat, and then forget I ever took it.
That said, I can't blame the FAs for being pissed off that they are being required to sit through a coercion training module for something they'll never be required to do (force...er, "sell" people on the notion of a credit card that will result in the passenger getting nothing but a debt accumulation tool with that comes with an annual fee).
Overreacting is the Union’s job!
Unions are good.
The problems are the bad ones who hide behind the union.
-Uirk.
You can't complain about the lack of profits on the one hand and then refuse to participate in the profit center on the other. It's logically incongruous.
instead of this bs can they pls train FAs to do PDBs consistently
Personally, if I were being paid for the "training" time ("Indoctrination Into Coercion Best Practices" would be an honest name for the course), I would take it in a heartbeat, and then forget I ever took it.
That said, one can't blame the FAs for being pissed off that they are being required to sit through a coercion training module for something they'll never be required to do (force...er, "sell" people on the notion of a credit card that will result in the passenger getting nothing but a debt accumulation tool that comes with an annual fee).
Perhaps the FA's should take a look at the financial statements of the company that employs them. AA does not make a net profit on flying. It makes money on credit cards & its points program.
Either get with the program or find a new employer. AA is not a charity. Hell, they're barely an airline!
being trapped in an airplane and being forced to endure this forced commercialism is not legal. lets join and file a class action lawsuit to stop this
Everyone who works for a commercial enterprise needs to develop a commercial mindset, including customer retention and revenue maximisation. Do the training, and sell the product. It's your job. If you're unwilling or unable to do the job you're contracted to do, you can always move on. Times are changing, and they're not going back. Adapt or die.
The notion that AA flight attendants are actually familiar with the requirements of their job and what they’re supposed to do and not do is beyond hilarious to me.
Big cooperations have quite a lot of mandatory trainings and they are good to invent new ones every year. Cybersecurity. Workplace violence, harassment, etc. Most are really common sense and it’s usually quicker to complete them vs arguing against their usefulness.
I hate being bombarded with advertising everywhere I go. I typically fly on Delta and recently flew AA; the credit card pitch was very annoying.
I’m with the FAs here.
I think OMAAT also has the same vibes, ads everywhere and credit card pitches.
Are you annoyed to be here?
Sure American. Be a premier global airline based in the US by focusing on selling credit cards. Let's not focus on improve on the overall experience of flying at all.