Cabin Crew at United, American Airlines Working Together at Last

The mergers between Continental and United and US Airways and American may have happened many years ago, but only now are their disparate cabin crew working together. Passengers are unlikely to notice any changes in the cabin, while the internal policies at the two airlines are still being decided.

As they operate today, both United Airlines and American Airlines (AA) are the result of two notable mergers. In the case of the former carrier, it merged with Continental Airlines back in 2010 to create United Continental Holdings, which now owns and operates United. Likewise, American and US Airways merged in 2013.

Despite the passing of the years, however, CNBC reports that the disparate groups of cabin crew staff – absorbed through the course of each respective merger – have not been able to work as a cohesive unit. This, however, seems set to change.

Thanks to amendments in contracts and scheduling at United, the outlet reports that approximately 24,000 members of cabin crew can now work together on the same aircraft. The story is the same at American, which has over 25,000 cabin crew members.

The outlet reports that while this will be a boon to the operations at both carriers, passengers are unlikely to notice real changes in the quality of service they receive. Despite this, there are some internal policies that are causing friction at both carriers.

For example, the Association of Flight Attendants, the body that represents United’s cabin crew, raised their concerns recently regarding some computer issues that stopped staff members from making changes to their schedules.

Meanwhile, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the body that represents American’s cabin crew, was outspoken in their criticism of the carrier’s new policy concerning attendance.

Speaking out, Lori Bassani, president of the association, was quoted as saying, “It is much more punitive than what we have worked under in the past and we believe it will result in flight attendants working sick, fast tracking them to termination.”

Offering his comments last week, Doug Parker, American’s CEO, said, “There’s just so much change being placed upon our flight attendants and change is difficult.”

Ross Feinstein, AA’s spokesperson, said that the carrier was willing to work with the labor body “to address their concerns and get through this integration as quickly as possible.”

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