Comments on: The Replacements

By: hjt84

hjt84 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:15:30 +0000

At my old airline this was the plan when a strike was looming, and i now see BA are going down the same route, and to be honest i don’t see it as a problem. There will be “real” cabin crew on board should anything happen the ground staff can’t handle.

I remember my first medical emergency too, but that was after 2 years of flying (we’re talking proper emergency here, not just getting the 02 out cos someone felt a bit faint) so what’s to say anyone you fly with who is a legit member of cabin crew wont do the same after 2 years of flying???

I do think it’s a practical solution to keep an airline running, especially in situations like BA where there is a real prospect of there not being much of an airline left.

Air France operate long haul routs on a day to day basis with this type of crew on board – people who aren’t trained to sit by or operate the door and only serve on board etc etc as they are cheaper to employ than fully fledged cabin crew.

Crew food for thought eh?

By: Shelby

Shelby — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:31:17 +0000

WOW, Bobby, So much to say on this Blog & Don’t even know where to start!!!

By: WAV

WAV — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:49:03 +0000

How some airlines handle this National Issue:

I dont hate the Nationals, I just dont agree that they should be placed before our fellow American workers. After we are all employed then “Welcome” ^_^

By: WAV

WAV — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:44:07 +0000

I agree, but to tell you the truth if you had your wings taken from you, you would do anything to get them back! AA and APFA are really nervy in how they treat TWA people. These Nationals fly primo trips to Latin America….trips with sequences like: EZE-MIA 24 hour layover, MIA-GRU 36 hour layover, GRU-MIA 24 hour layover, MIA-EZE done. APFA tried to tell the members that AA was required by 3 different Latin American countries to have these workers (they were inherited from Eastern). But that’s just bogus and I have never heard of any country requiring a company to hire its flight attendants oh, and pay them less. I mean which ‘dictator’ negotiated this with American in 1991? Was it Fujimori in Peru? Perhaps Pinochet in Chile (they have both been long since overthrown)? People at AA are still on reserve with 16 years seniority and there are almost 2000 on unpaid furlough. Having these sweat shoppers flying routes is just unacceptable. If there were no fuloughs at AA it wouldn’t be such an issue but how long does the tax payer have to pay for Americans dealings? I have heard of suicides even amongst the former TWA people. I really am trying to spread the word about this and Americans dealings. APFA and AA continue to push this Foreign National Issue under the table. I just hate when they start beating up on the TWA people so much when all they wanted was to fly!

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:08:45 +0000

WAV, I never understood by TWA FAs were treated like ‘step children’ at AA. It was a horrible thing that was done to them. I just was shocked that they’d be willing to fly for a company and/or a company who allowed their FA union to treat them as such. I do understand the need to work to survive, trust me, it just shocked me that they’d want to do so back at American.

By: WAV

WAV — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:00:28 +0000

RE: “These flight attendants were stapled to the bottom of the American seniority list, laid off, offered buyouts, etc. and now what to “help the company out in a time of need.” Why?” Perhaps so they can eat?

Lets not forget the Foreign Nationals over there at AA that will also be crossing those picket lines just as they did during the 1993 strike. APFA did nothing to get rid of them during the last 17 years. In fact, their numbers have even grown! So now your fellow US citizens who want their jobs which are conveniently sacrificed to Foreign Nationals are the real issue. For those of you who aren’t aware, the Foreign Nationals are Americans little “Sweatshop workers” flying internationally out of MIA. Apparently the geniuses over at APFA fell for Americans lie that governments from three separate countries in Latin America required them to have these lower paid workers (or did APFA just make those rumors up because of its own complacency?). Face it APFA has disregarded the American worker and shafts the US tax payer with its furloughed attendants while AA continues with the support of APFA to have sweatshop workers. If APFA was a real union, those Nationals would have been let go years ago. Then there wouldn’t be any TWA people ready to cross the line (so they can eat!) because they would be fellow AA workers! …..Why is it that APFA members are so rude to the TWA people while they do nothing on these Nationals that all have jobs? What kind of a AFLCIO union disregards citizens and even lets the tax payers pay for its members to survive while allowing foreigners to take their jobs? This is unacceptable and APFA needs to be overthrown!
APFA-Association of Perpetually Furloughed Americans. APFA-Association of Professional Foreign (national) Americans

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:55:15 +0000

I agree. That’s why I said “in the air” once the door closes, we’re next on the chain of safety and security.

By: rich

rich — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:53:29 +0000

“It’s no secret that flight attendants have become your first defense in the air against terrorism and have proven time over time that they are properally trained to safely evacuate passengers from an aircraft in crisis, but can these replacements do the same?”

Not to be pedantic, but FAs aren’t the first line, they are much further down the list. First might be something like the FBI/CIA/NSA. Then local police. Then airport security. Then it’s a toss up between FAs and passengers (the shoe bomber and underwear bomber were both thwarted by passengers IIRC). Finally things like secure cockpits.

Not to take anything away from the value of what FAs do, but they are neither the first nor last line of defense. They are still an important link in the chain though.