Originally Posted by
chicaloca453
This isn't quite true. This is at least true of Comair, and I'm sure they have a union contract similar to others. The crew will get paid for the flight under the following circumstances:
1. Cancellation due to weather
2. Cancellation due to mechanical
3. Removal from the flight due to FAA flight rules (i.e. too much time worked for the crew)
I know quite a few FA's (mostly for Comair), and they have gotten paid for cancellations. I know one who sat in a hotel paid for by Comair for 2 days while her JFK flights were cancelled during this last snowstorm.
That is one of the very few upsides of the job. The union makes sure they get paid the time they're scheduled.
The downside is of course that if they sit at the gate without the door closed, then they do not get paid flight time but instead only ground/per diem time. In contrast, once the door is closed and they leave the gate, they're getting flight hours. And that time counts against the FAA duty day (which is why so many crews go illegal in the winter).
Of course, if the crew calls in sick or gets sick or hurt in the midst of a trip, there is no pay for the flights not worked. But if HQ cancels, the crew will be paid.
Comair and United get paid.......as
Sluggo already stated.......
AA flight attendants don't get paid for cancellations due to weather, FAA duty day, mechanicals. The only time we get paid for a trip that cancels is if it it originates in the last 5 days of the month. Every once in awhile the company will throw us a bone and pay us for cancelling if there is a particularly bad storm.
If we show up and cancel, we have to call crew tracking to get released. If we get to go home we get 3 hours flight time for report for duty. We are good for 14 hours intl (and I think 13 domestic...sluggo?) so many times they like to hold us at the airport for awhile to see if they could get another plane together or use us on something else.
If we sit in the gate area and field a million questions and listen to rants and abuse, we don't get paid. If we sit with passengers for over one hour on the plane we get paid about 12% of our hourly flight pay for sitting there. If it is :59 minutes (it has to be more than an hour) on the plane with people waiting we get nothing but call out pay (3 flight hours). 3 flight hours doesn't really cut it when your trip was worth 15-26 hours. As
brp stated in a previous post (thanks BTW) that we showed up for work and through no fault of our own we cancelled and now have to be penalized. It is not easy to find a replacement trip in the middle of the month, or the end, and especially not worth equal time so if we cancel we are basically SOL. And if we cancel we already lost one valuable day we could have been working and get zilch for it. Other airlines have pay protection and I always found it kind of funny that AA doesn't. It's definitely a union issue that needs to be addressed.
If you are a high time flyer you get days added to your schedule where you can have access to company BB trips that pop in there to put on your own schedule. Not in seniority order but first come first served basis. If you are a regular or low time flyer you have to make up your trips by going on the make up list. That list goes in seniority order. If you are a regular time flyer (only fly your schedule) and you go on make up and don't get a trip, you do not lose your hours and will get paid for your scheduled hours. You're basically on your own if you are a high time (overtime) or low time (drop most of your schedule) flyer.