JDiver

MIA’s Admirals Club is closed. American Airlines workers have turned it into mask factory.[
By Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, APRIL 10, 2020

With frequent fliers largely grounded, American Airlines employees have transformed Miami International’s premium passenger’s lounge into a makeshift sewing factory.

In the Admirals Club by Gate 30, airline workers are cranking out face masks for fellow employees

...The mask-making operation was the brainchild of Suzanne Peters, the senior manager of Premium Services at the airline. Peters normally oversees the clubs, but they are all closed during the coronavirus crisis. So she offered to round up workers to cut, iron and sew masks made of old American Airlines uniform shirts and other donated cotton shirts.

She put out a message to gate agents, ticket agents, ramp workers and other departments calling for volunteers. She asked them to bring in old uniform shirts, irons, ironing boards and sewing machines. The response was overwhelming.

Within a day, the operation was running from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. with about 25 workers per shift. By Thursday afternoon, they had sewn and delivered 600 masks. Their goal is 10,000 — almost enough for each of the 13,000 Miami-based American Airlines workers. All are volunteers.”

Some unofficial reports claim similar efforts are in place at other Admirals Clubs.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/bus...241889946.html

MIAFlyer

Thank you for sharing and brightening my day.

ksweeney

I'm impressed. I assume that the staff who are sewing the masks otherwise would not have work. There is a well advertised national need for the masks, so this has to be good for the country. It's fantastic when an otherwise unused facility with otherwise unemployed staff are fulfilling a known national need using recycled clothing.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Suzanne does an excellent job running the MIA ACs and these clubs are very much used.

ksweeney

Hopefully, MIA clubs and all of the rest around the country reopen soon. I understand the corona virus concerns, but as I speak with my clients I'm also hearing concerns about severe economic distress as this shutdown continues. Hopefully business can gradually return to a slightly normal operational mode albeit with new safeguards related to sanitation and distancing.

JDiver

I think that as employees from several groups are volunteering, this could help with the “siloing “ we have seen, e.g. gate agents upset and even undoing what Club agents have arranged for flyers.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

I don't want to go OT here but at some point our leaders are going to need to decide the best of two bad options. Double digit unemployment, particularly of the 20% or more kind, cause huge increases in early death, substance abuse, health issues and all around human misery. If a company doesn't have revenues or enough revenues professional staff, the kind that can work from home, will be cut. Now whether we have the kind of leaders that can make tough decisions and stand by them. I won't comment on that.

Once the extreme social distancing is done the ACs can probably re-open. The question is more how safe will medical professionals consider an a/c that is 100% full with people near sitting on top of each other.

AndyPatterson

That's very optimistic, I'm afraid. Wouldn't it make sense to rotate agents between Club and gate positions, so that everyone gets a better appreciation of how to do things in a win-win way?

JDiver

im afraid Uniin contracts and job descriptions might not allow that. This is AA we’re talking about, not Southwest.