American Airlines’ flight attendants are being forced to undergo a training course on how to sell credit cards, and the union isn’t happy about this, claiming that the company is trying to redefine their jobs. Does the union have a point, or are they overreacting?
Union accuses American of “redefining” jobs with credit card training
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents American’s more than 30,000 flight attendants, has issued an interesting memo, as reported by PYOK. As anyone who has been following the airline industry know, the major US carriers earn a large percentage of their profits (or at least reduce their losses) through their loyalty programs, which are extremely lucrative.
On American, we’ve long seen flight attendants have the opportunity to promote credit cards onboard, and they can earn a commission if their “sales” lead to successful applications. American is trying to improve its financial performance, and as part of that, the airline is trying to encourage flight attendants to be more consistent about onboard credit card pitches.
As part of this, the airline is now making it mandatory for flight attendants to complete an online training module about credit card sales. Failure to complete this module could lead to dismissal. So the issue here is that being trained on credit cards is no longer voluntary, but instead, is required. Still, actually promoting credit cards onboard isn’t required, but is up to the individual flight attendants.
The union is claiming this new training module violates the collective bargaining agreement with management, claiming “our Scope is one of our most important protections,” and “it is what prevents management from redefining what a Flight Attendant is and what they can be required to do on a whim.”
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.
Is American management right, or does the union have a point?
The union is of course within its rights to try to challenge anything that’s beyond the scope of the collective bargaining agreement. However, does this really fit into that category? Here’s how I see it:
- Management isn’t forcing any flight attendant to try to promote or sell credit cards, as that’s entirely voluntary
- American is just forcing flight attendants to be trained on what they need to do in the event that they do want to try to promote credit cards, and presumably also make them aware of the upside of promoting credit cards
- Historically one of the issues with flight attendant credit card pitches is that they’ve been highly inaccurate, and many flight attendants have taken quite some liberties; the credit card industry has a ton of rules around how products can and can’t be promoted, and that should extend to airline representatives promoting credit cards as well
Based on my understanding of the situation, I think the union is overreacting here. I would understand the frustration if flight attendants were being forced to promote credit cards, but simply requiring training on something that many flight attendants do choose to participate in doesn’t strike me as being unreasonable. But that’s just me.
I get the argument of “if they require this, then what else could they require in the future?” But let’s be honest, this is literally a massive part of the airline business model nowadays, and if it weren’t for AAdvantage, odds are that American would’ve lost money in recent years.
Bottom line
American flight attendants are being required to undergo training for promoting credit cards. This training is mandatory, regardless of whether or not flight attendants intend to actually promote credit cards (which they earn a commission for).
The union argues that this is beyond the scope of the collective bargaining agreement, and that management is crossing a line. Meanwhile I’d imagine the argument from management would be that flight attendants aren’t being forced to promote credit cards, they just have to be trained on it, so that in the event they do choose to promote credit cards, they understand the rules.
What do you make of this complaint from the American flight attendant union?
Sounds like something the workers and consumers can agree on: stop spamming us.
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....
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...
You know it isn't of any consequence how?
@ 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.
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.
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,...
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...