I’m curious if there’s something I’m missing, or if anyone wants to take a guess as to why this is still going on?
In this post:
American flight attendants & their red lanyards
A couple of months ago, American Airlines flight attendants ratified a new contract. I’m really happy for them, as they absolutely deserve it, and I know this makes a huge difference in terms of their ability to have a decent quality of life. Despite how much inflation we’ve seen in recent years, they hadn’t gotten a raise since well before the pandemic.
The contract negotiations were super contentious and drawn out, with the union repeatedly requesting to go on strike, but not being released to do so. For a significant amount of time, we saw a majority of American flight attendants wearing red pins and lanyards, to express their displeasure at the situation.
For those not familiar with these, these pins and lanyards have the phrase “We Are Ready,” or sometimes just the acronym “WAR.” The meaning behind this was clear — the union was ready to go to “war” with the company over a new contract, and they were ready to strike.
I of course respect the right to collectively bargain, even if I personally find the US culture of expressing this displeasure while on the job to be a bit strange. Like, try explaining to a flight attendant in Japan “yeah, so the flight attendants on your joint venture partner wear lanyards about how they’re at war with their company.” They probably wouldn’t get it.
And that brings me to what I really don’t get, given that this controversy should be over…
Many flight attendants are still wearing WAR lanyards
In the two months since a new contract has been ratified, I’m still noticing a significant number of American flight attendants wearing these red lanyards. No, not nearly as many as before, but walking through an airport or flying on an American jet, I’d say that I see maybe one out of every 10-15 flight attendants still wearing one. I just don’t get it:
- They’ve ratified a new contract, so the “WAR” is over
- Lanyards like this lose their meaning in future negotiations if they’re never taken off
- I’m surprised the company hasn’t mandated that employees stop wearing these, since the optics aren’t good, and presumably this isn’t an authorized uniform piece outside of contract negotiation periods
So I’m curious about two things:
- Is anyone else still noticing a fair number of flight attendants wearing these red lanyards?
- Does anyone understand why they’re still wearing them?
My best guess is that it actually isn’t intentional, and maybe some flight attendants just got so used to wearing these that they no longer have their standard company lanyards. You’d think that if American had any level of attention to detail, this would’ve been resolved, by simply placing extra lanyards in the flight attendant crew rooms at airports, and reminding flight attendants to swap them out.
But maybe there’s something else I’m missing?
Bottom line
Admittedly a vast majority of customers probably never notice this, but as someone who pays attention to the details of the travel experience, I can’t help but notice how some American flight attendants are still wearing their strike lanyard, two months after a new contract has been ratified.
No, there aren’t as many as there used to be, but it’s still way more common than you’d think. And I know this is a super minor point, but I’ve wondered about this almost every time I’ve flown with American over the past two months, so I can’t help but throw the question out there, and see if anyone has any insights.
Has anyone else noticed this? And does anyone have an explanation?
I do not understand why more airlines don't treat lanyards as a mandatory uniform item and issue branded ones that match with the rest of the uniform. It avoids any controversial messaging and also presents a much more professional image. The ROI from branded lanyards and PPE far exceeds the relatively minimal cost of issuing these in my experience. It also provides a canvas for short term branding promotions like advertising new routes, new credit...
I do not understand why more airlines don't treat lanyards as a mandatory uniform item and issue branded ones that match with the rest of the uniform. It avoids any controversial messaging and also presents a much more professional image. The ROI from branded lanyards and PPE far exceeds the relatively minimal cost of issuing these in my experience. It also provides a canvas for short term branding promotions like advertising new routes, new credit cards, etc..
At a past airline, I even wanted to sell joint branded advertising space on the crew lanyards to a partner, but after some opposition from the crew during consultations we scrapped the idea. Their loss if you ask me, as we were proposing a revenue share between the airline and the crew who wore the joint branded lanyard.
I've worked for two airlines where the lanyard was a required uniform item - the entire company from CEO down wore the same one. At one carrier, they stated it as a matter of PPE - only their lanyard was certified for the breakaway requirements.
It really is just tacky wearing something that's anti-employer while at work. Those passengers who do get it find it offensive - If you hate it so much, and you're giving me crappy service, why do you work here?
I still wear mine because it's both permitted and useful with the retractable portion for the ID when scanning at the boarding gate for work flights. And while the new contract was passed, there is still a long, uphill battle to implement each of the provisions. The company took years to implement many of the provisions from the last contract, and they're already saying it will be years for many of the new provisions. And...
I still wear mine because it's both permitted and useful with the retractable portion for the ID when scanning at the boarding gate for work flights. And while the new contract was passed, there is still a long, uphill battle to implement each of the provisions. The company took years to implement many of the provisions from the last contract, and they're already saying it will be years for many of the new provisions. And some of the provisions that were not supposed to be implemented for some time (e.g. provisions that benefit the company), were implemented prematurely and unilaterally by the company. Suffice it to say, the "WAR" never ends. As for replacement lanyards, APFA is working to order and send out new lanyards in the near future that would replace the WAR message. Until then, I'll keep wearing mine.
~AA FA
And for what it's worth, I love my job, and I take pride in how I treat and interact with my passengers. And I always do my pre-departure beverages ;)
So then you're just on permanent silent strike? Got it. Believe me, we notice.
"I personally find the US culture of expressing this displeasure while on the job to be a bit strange."
this is also a thing in Korea
I guess it's also the routes I've been flying but the American people never struck me as being union people. Are the American Eagle and other regional carriers people typically represented by the same union?
Trying to be a badass union militant.
I asked a F/A on Sunday... a mainline F/A who was commuting on my flight, sitting across the aisle (in an oddly empty First cabin, only 3 of us out of 12 seats). We were chatting a little bit while waiting in the aisle for the door to open. She had one of the red lanyards. I asked, isn't the contract ratified? She said "oh... yeah... I should change this. I can't find my old...
I asked a F/A on Sunday... a mainline F/A who was commuting on my flight, sitting across the aisle (in an oddly empty First cabin, only 3 of us out of 12 seats). We were chatting a little bit while waiting in the aisle for the door to open. She had one of the red lanyards. I asked, isn't the contract ratified? She said "oh... yeah... I should change this. I can't find my old one and I don't want to pay for a new one."
So would sound like (as is the case with several companies) lanyards are part of the uniform they have to pay for or use credits.
For what they get paid, they can afford to buy a new lanyard.
It is somewhat comical that they are so quick to throw people off the plane for political expression and then they think they are above regulations. American is such a sorry company and their employees have to be the most angry humans ever. It’s a sad existence for everyone.
AA’s regional subsidiaries (PSA, Envoy, etc) have different contracts. One of my FA’s on a PSA flight I took recently explained that PSA flight attendants just voted to authorize a strike. They’re actually represented by the AFA, not the APFA. So the FA’s you’re seeing might not be mainline, but work for an American Eagle subsidiary instead. But that’s just a guess. I’d need more context as to in what circumstance you encountered that.
I flew FRA-JFK earlier this year in SQ first class. I then got on an AA flight to DFW later the same day, and was “served” by a very, very miserable flight attendant wearing a WAR badge and lanyard. The service was so bad an aggressive that it was actually borderline funny.
It was a bit of a shock after 8 hours on Singapore Airlines. I am still laughing about it.
Some of these crew don’t know they’ve been born.
There's a contingent of AA FAs who hate their jobs, hate themselves, and hate their customers.
They are the ones wearing "WAR" lanyards.
I've seen them still with the "Ready to Strike" banner. These are the flight attendants that will never serve a pre departure beverage and will do the least in flight spending most of their time sitting in a jump seat playing on their phone.
I noticed this as well recently and was confused. Being that it's AA, perhaps those FAs consider themselves at WAR with the customers ;-)
You could...ask the next time you're on a flight with an FA wearing one? Just politely inquire?
@ JC -- True, maybe I'm just too introverted, but I struggle with figuring out the non-awkward way to ask. "I notice you're wearing your strike lanyard, but you now have a new contract, so I'm just curious, why are you wearing it?" I could see that not being very well received by some flight attendants.
Could play dumb and say "I noticed your lanyard...what are you ready for?"
Yeah probably playing dumb and asking what the lanyard is for could be good. Someone asked (before the contract) just like this on an American flight and the flight attendant started ranting to them for 5 mins and seemed to enjoy talking about it.