ExplorerWannabe

Now, now, this is the Internet. We can't go letting facts get in the way of a good (or even bad) rumor and innuendo ...

raehl311

Or all FAs are looking at reduced income and now's a good time to sue for previous damages.

I do think it's a problem if the allegations in the case are actually true. Not sure what level of responsibility United has without knowledge of the details.

EAJuggalo

If UA is assigning the FAs or the clients are specifically saying they only want young, female FAs and United is doing it, they should pay a hefty penalty. If the client is actually requesting specific FAs, then I'd say the only place that should be addressed is in the union contract.

HNLbasedFlyer

I was told the teams pick the FA's and generally if they don't do something to piss someone off - they are requested over and over for the charter season.

AndyPatterson

Is this right? From the bottom of page 5 of the Complaint, linked above:
Surely there can't be that many FA's with 45-55 years experience?

MSPeconomist

I assume the 14 years is a typo that wasn't caught. I noticed another one, where some words were repeated.

clubord

There are thousands at 45+ year seniority...

cmd320

This. When you charter an aircraft it essentially becomes a private flight and the chartering individual/organization should theoretically be able to have whoever they want as crew (assuming they’re properly qualified of course).

clubord

Very well said.

lowfareair

Ah, so they could say"only young, white, blond FAs on these flights"? I think there are multiple courts that would strongly disagree.

The chartering org can specify specific people, but it becomes an issue if the FA group is diverse but those selected... aren't.

cmd320

They could say I want flight attendants only named Blake. It’s the choice of the charterer.

I’m not defending the choice, but if you’re paying for the whole plane and crew, I don’t see how the airline can really contest the charterer’s requests unless it’s not possible.

COSPILOT

Athletes are young and full of testosterone. If a young and attractive crew is what they want, give it to them. It’s not a normal flight, it’s a charter. You can’t tell the client you must accept old and cranky crews. If UA did that, the client would fly someone else.

bluedemon211

I won't speak to the merits of the lawsuit since I don't know enough of the facts. I will speak about charters, of which I have sufficient background. We would never say "give us FA's with the following attributes........". That is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Remember, anyone can sue and the damage defending your company can be crippling. We ALWAYS would request FA's that had worked flights for us before. Most (but not all) people flying charters/private can be pretty exacting. Once you find a crew they like, you don't deviate.

sethb

That would probably be illegal on both their parts. Based on precedent, United gets penalized. (It happened in Trump's casinos. The casinos were penalized, I didn't hear of any penalties against the customer.)

One possibility that doesn't seem would be illegal: a player (on a non-charter flight) sees a flight attendant he likes. He requests the team coordinator get her for the charter flights. When arranging the charter flights, the team coordinator provides a list of FAs who the players happen to have individually requested.

bocastephen

I am not passing judgement on the facts of the suit, that's for a court to decide, not Flyertalk - however, I want to point out some issues with some of these assumptions. Staffing a crew for a charter, or any private flight, or any public flight, is a hiring decision covered by existing federal laws that prohibit discrimination. You cannot request an all-female crew, an all-male crew, a crew of a certain age range, or a certain race - those are all protected classes, and subject to anti-discrimination law, so no, a charter customer is not allowed to have these requests fulfilled. They can make the request, but United cannot legally follow that request. No different than a client who is purchasing a home through me saying "I will only purchase a home from a white seller, or I only want to live in an Asian neighborhood" - legally I must ignore their request, I cannot fulfill or even consider it.

So the question that a charter customer can have this request fulfilled is moot - they cannot - so the remaining question that resolves the case is whether or not there is evidence that a protected class of employee was specifically excluded from these flights based on age, gender or race, and that remains to be determined by the evidence presented in court.