Originally Posted by
dls25
LAA has not flown to ORD - Brussels since 2011 and most of the Flemish speakers were quite senior and retired or transferred to other bases for better trips; thus LAA has to hire off the street.
I apologise if I'm veering into the Pedant Zone, though I do want to clarify in case there is any confusion. Flemish is not a language; the main language spoken in Flanders is Dutch. There are pronunciation differences and minor differences in dialect, but Flemish and Dutch people can understand each other perfectly well and the difference is more akin to American English and British English. Any FA qualified to speak Dutch for a BRU flight should be able to fulfil Dutch language requirements for an AMS flight.
As Jon noted further down, AA do have a handful of Dutch speakers in ORD, though they clearly believe they'd need more.