AA HIRING F/A rumor?

[paul1]

I heard from a AA flight attendant they are hiring 1400 F/A to be replacement F/A if our F/A walk out. Has anybody else passing threw the flight academy heard anything?

Do F/A lose there benefits immmedailtey after a lockout??? Because the same F/A said if thay walk all they lose is just there pay?

 

[damajagua]

First of all we still have flight attendants on furlough, so AA can not hire until they are all
recall. As far as hiring 1400 f/a's there is a rumor on the line that AA will be hiring flight
attendants next year. I honestly do not think these will be replacements they will be needed
with the recent announcemnt of six 777-300 and more to come in the not too far future.

 

[jimntx]

Try a little logic (although that is probably a Rule 32 violation when speaking of AA operations). 1400 flight attendants to replace us if we go on strike? 1400? To replace almost 16,000? 1400 wouldn't replace even one of our 3 largest bases, and we have 8 flight attendant bases not counting the satellite bases.

There are definite plans to start hiring off the street as soon as the last of the furloughees are recalled. Denise Lynn's weekly update announced the recall of an additional 100 furloughees for October 1st (whether that is 10/1 to start recall training or 10/1 to join the line, I'm not sure). That would leave only 225 on the furlough list.

When I write this sentence I know that I shall be chastised for stating something that has been said since the day I started in Sept., 2000 and hasn't really happened yet, but I think a large number of the most senior f/as are planning to retire within the next 12 months. There was an IDF flight attendant commuting home on one of my flights recently. She said that practically everyone she knew among the f/as was going to retire this year. Should we have a mass exodus you may expect hiring from the street, but it will be to staff all those new airplanes they are ordering (as damajagua pointed out), not to replace strikers.

 

[jersey777]

First of all we still have flight attendants on furlough, so AA can not hire until they are all
recall. As far as hiring 1400 f/a's there is a rumor on the line that AA will be hiring flight
attendants next year. I honestly do not think these will be replacements they will be needed
with the recent announcemnt of six 777-300 and more to come in the not too far future.

I agree. American Airlines does not have the luxury and is in no position to hire new flight attendants without having a need for them. After October 1st there will only remain around 200 on the furlough list and I predict they will be back by the beginning of 2012. Any new hiring will be due to attrition and the addition of new aircraft. Speculation about replacements in the highly remote case of a "lockout" is fear mongering and has no basis in truth.

 

[IORFA]

Jim, The 100 F/A's are the last 100 from the LOA about the Chinese hires to bring back 200. The last 100 had to be back on the payroll by 15 OCT 2011. I would assume they will be back around the first of OCT. I also think the last 220 something will be back by 15 DEC. Just like like DEC 2010 recalls. Either way, there will be attrition and there will be recalls. At this time there are too few furloughs left in the whole scheme of things. People like the bid leaves and people like the PLOA's. I assume some would like a ELOA (educational) as well.

 

[eolesen]

Speaking of... I kinda miss the attrition reports....

 

[jimntx]

I posted them each month until the former TW flight attendants kept replying that the company was lying because the numbers included furloughs which to their (former TW) minds should not be included. However, if you look up the definition of the word attrition (and the definition provided by the company on the website), it should mean ANY reduction in total payroll which would include people being furloughed.

On the website there is an asterisk attached to the word Total. The asterisk has the following legend...

* = Includes Employee Death, Retirement, Resignation, Voluntary and Involuntary Release from the Company

(Involuntary release = terminations and furloughs. I know this because I called the person responsible for providing the numbers each month. They count any departure from the payroll that was not one of the others--quit, died, retired. By the way, voluntary release is almost never used. I think it involves someone resigning in lieu of being fired. The difference being in what benefits may or may not be available post-separation.)

The attrition total does not include Leaves of Absence as there is a specific date end to those "separations." With a furlough, there is no guarantee that one would ever be called back regardless of whether or not there is a stated expiration of recall rights.

 

[Veritas]

Speaking of... I kinda miss the attrition reports....

According to Kirkpatrick, who has a reliable source, flight attendants' attrition from active ranks was 22 in March and 25 in April bringing the year to date total to 106.

He should have May's totals next week.

 

[jimntx]

Uh, total attrition for March was 95 domestic f/as and 11 international. April was 26 domestic, 15 international. May was 12 domestic, 5 international. Total attrition ytd is 244 of which 104 are retirees. The rest are quit, died, got fired.

Kirkpatrick appears to be counting only retirements as attrition. And, he appears to be using the retirement roster on the Flight Service website. As I have posted before, you can not depend on the retirement roster for the accurate count of retirements. The company must have the flight attendant's permission to post their name and retirement date in public. That information is considered private personnel information and is covered by Federal Privacy laws. If you compare the monthly retirement numbers on the attrition summary to the retirement roster, the number of names on the roster for that month is almost always less than the number in the summary.

 

[bigjets]

Didn't TWA train replacement FA's months in advance of their strike. If the APFA goes on strike/lockout how long before the health insurance is cut off?

 

[Veritas]

Uh, total attrition for March was 95 domestic f/as and 11 international. April was 26 domestic, 15 international. May was 12 domestic, 5 international. Total attrition ytd is 244 of which 104 are retirees. The rest are quit, died, got fired.

Kirkpatrick appears to be counting only retirements as attrition. And, he appears to be using the retirement roster on the Flight Service website.

I am not going to get into an argument with you, but Kirkpatrick's source is not the Flight Service website. He has a reliable source that provides him with accurate attrition data which includes only active flight attendants. His numbers do not include retirements from furlough or former TWA flight attendants who declined recall and did not go though training, which appear to have skewed the figures you cited for March and, to a lesser degree, April.

 

[jimntx]

There have been very few retirements from furlough this year--only 6 as far as can be determined from the retirement roster. They would be people with a 600000 employee number, but show as SLT base. Up until about a month ago there was only 1 former TW f/a active at SLT. She is still there. Kirkpatrick's attrition numbers are wrong if he is talking about anything other than retirements. If you look at the retirement roster on the Flight Service website, the numbers you say that he said is total attrition for March and April match the number of names on the retirement roster for those months. Attrition includes anyone who left the payroll. The company is admitting to 244 total attrition for this year. The total number of just retirements including the few retirements from furlough is greater (104) than Kirkpatrick says total attrition is.

You are quite right. We are not going to get into an argument. However, Kirkpatrick's reliable source, ain't.

 

[s80dude]

I don't think hiring off the street will being until a new agreement is reached between the company and the union. AA doesn't want newhires participating in the pension scheme. Just my opinion though....

 

[czerny]

I heard from a AA flight attendant they are hiring 1400 F/A to be replacement F/A if our F/A walk out. Has anybody else passing threw the flight academy heard anything?

If we hire at all, it will probably be in the spring. Among us Chinese Mandarin speakers, there's talk of Hong Kong or Guangzhou out of LAX next year so there will be a need to hire. Languages that are in need are Finnish, Hungarian and Chinese since we don't have enough of these. Cantonese is widely spoken in Hong Kong and Guangzhou so that is a plus as well.

 

[kirkpatrick]

I posted them each month until the former TW flight attendants kept replying that the company was lying because the numbers included furloughs which to their (former TW) minds should not be included. However, if you look up the definition of the word attrition (and the definition provided by the company on the website), it should mean ANY reduction in total payroll which would include people being furloughed.

I may have mentioned that the inclusion of furloughs explained extraordinarily high attrition numbers in certain months. Those of us looking to get our jobs back are primarily interested in the reductions in the active flight attendant ranks which might lead to a need for more people (us). Including our own furlough numbers just confuses the issue.

MK