Dysfunctional Amr

[Cleared Direct]

September 9th, 2003


[email addresses deleted]

Dear Senior Management Of American Eagle Airlines:

I am writing to you on behalf of one of our Chicago Based Flight Attendants. Her name is [deleted]. This is a name that I would like for you to remember very well. It is a name that has weighed very heavy on my mind in recent days.

[Deleted] has fallen victim to one of the most horrific displays of this company's lack of compassion and loyalty to it's employees that I have ever seen displayed in the airline industry.

[Deleted] was flying a 4-day sequence with a temperature of 104 degrees. She did not call in "sick" for fear of the repercussions that would take place because of American Eagle's sick policy and attendance control.

Upon the completion of her trip sequence, and her obligations to her employer ended, she was admitted into the hospital in Richmond, VA. (Her home)

During her overnight hospital stay, she received a telephone call to inform her that her son was murdered in Seattle, Washington.

Before I continue, I want you to think how horrifying of an experience that this must have been for [deleted]. In the hospital, sick, and finding out that her child has been murdered.

[Deleted] immediately checked herself out of the hospital, against her Doctor's wishes. She contacted [deleted], ORD Flight Service Manager. [Deleted] requested A9 Travel for herself and some family members to go to Seattle to identify her son's body in the morgue.

[Deleted] had to return to Richmond to take care of funeral planning, travel arrangements for her son, and other pressing family matters while still dealing with serious health matters.

She contacted [deleted]again a week later to request another A9 Pass to Seattle for herself and her daughter to attend the funeral. [Deleted] refused to give [deleted] and her daughter an A9 Pass because she had already used her A9 the week previously.

[Deleted] was not in the right frame of mind to argue the point. So, she decided to D2 with her daughter to Seattle via Dallas. Only, it wasn't that easy. Upon their arrival in DFW, all of the flights from DFW to SEA were oversold.

Later, [deleted] found out that in fact a flight from DFW to SEA had left with 22 empty seats with no nonrevenue passengers onboard.

[Deleted] contacted [deleted] again to request assistance. [Deleted] offered none. [Deleted] had to arrange for a hotel room for her and her daughter. The next day, the flights were still oversold. [Deleted] contacted Southwest Airlines and they accommodated her on an ID-90 status.

Moreover, during her trip to Seattle from Dallas on Southwest, one of the stopovers created an oversold situation and all of the non-revs were asked to deplane. When [deleted] explained the situation to the agent for Southwest, the airline PAID $200.00 to two revenue passengers to deplane so that [deleted] and her daughter, two NONREVENUE passengers can get on the flight to Seattle.

It is pretty sad when you have to go to an airline in which you don't even work for to be accommodated during such turmoil. To be perfectly honest, I don't understand how American Eagle can be so incredibly heartless.

[Deleted] has brought this to the attention of the Union. There were no contractual violations. No grievance will be filed. But, unlike the company's display, her Union is here for her to support her and offer assistance.

This tragedy that [deleted] has had to endure will not be out of her thoughts for years to come. She is permanently scarred from what she has been through. No employee of AMR should ever have to go through this.

[deleted] and myself have talked many hours about this. I asked her what she would like to see come out of all of this. Her selfless and unselfish response to me was "I want to make sure that this never happens to another employee ever again."

I'm going to help her.

I would like to request the following:

1. An immediate investigation to begin on [deleted]'s behavior towards [deleted]. Her lack of compassion to this situation makes me seriously doubt her ability to be in management and lead by example. Furthermore, her inability to assist [deleted] when it was so desperately needed has left herself with a reputation of someone who cannot be trusted.

2. A revamping of company policy on A9 Travel to include Union Representation for input on issues that we have learned from this tragic event. As a result of this incident, I have searched JetNet to find no information available to employees in need of emergency assistance.

3. A letter of commitment to every employee that American Eagle is dedicated to it's employees and will think outside the box for extenuating circumstances and will assist their employees whenever possible.

4. A letter of apology to [deleted] for having to endure such a lack of compassion on the company's part. While this will not erase what has happened, it is certainly a way to show that the company seriously does care for it's employees and identifies and acknowledges that there is room for major improvement.

5. A letter of recognition to Southwest Airlines Director Of Customer Service for showing such compassion to a F/A that is not employed by SWA.

6. A meeting with the recipients of this e-mail so that [deleted] can share her story with you firsthand. It is important that you put a face to the name. It is important that you hear how she was treated.

The requests that I have made are not unreasonable. The company is accountable for it's actions, as we, the employees are. I will await to hear from you in regards to the requests that I have made.

In closing, I would hope that this e-mail speaks for itself. You are the senior members of management for American Eagle Airlines. The rule makers so to speak. You have the power to ensure that this never happens again. Now that you know, I hope that you do something about it diligently. There are thousands of employees in this company and we count on you to do the right thing. Now, here's your chance.

[deleted] - a loyal employee of American Eagle. Remember her name well.

Regards,
[deleted]
[deleted]
American Eagle Airlines



Association Of Flight Attendants - American Eagle Airlines MEC

 

[FWAAA]

Although the identifying details were deleted on this thread, the very same email is posted on the WN board with all details intact. Should they be deleted also?

 

[Flyboy4u]

Wow......What more can one say? Now you know who you are working with at AMR. I hope she is doing ok

 

[Kyle]

We have messaged the original topic starter. Our position is that this is some really personal information with names attached and we want to confirm with the topic starter first and ensure that identities are protected.

 

[TWAnr]

American Airlines (formerly TWA) Captain Bob Ritchie's response to this post on another aviation bulletin board

When I read...

.... the above cruelness of Eagle and the kindness of SWA;I choked up trying to tell my wife. So typical of SWA.

A friend of mine also received one of the most powerful demonstrations of SWA's dedication to "people" in 1994. Allow me....

My friend had been a pilot for old Midway Airlines. Just before he checked out as a captain...Midway went out of business. He then took a job with Braniff II. That lasted about 3 months and they went belly up. He tried to get hired by TWA and was rejected. Who knows why.

Finally he went to work for SWA as a ramp agent, making minimum wage...while he waited for "something" to develop. A retired OZA captain loaned him the money to get a type rating in a 737; so he could qualify for an interview at SWA as a pilot.

A year or so went by...he got the interview. Time passed as he continued to work the ramp.

With Christmas coming up the local station planned their Christmas party; small gifts were to be given out by the station manager. Unknown to my friend; SWA had decided to hire him as a pilot. Rather than notify him in the traditional manner...the Chief Pilot called the station manager and told him. The chief pilot suggested to the station manager that he "do something special" for my friend at the Christmas party.

As the party proceeded; the station manager passed out the gifts: baseball caps and little tokens. Then he called my friend forward to receive his gift.

The station manager handed my friend an acceptance letter from the Chief Pilot and a F/O's pilot hat!! A standing ovation ensued. My friend began to cry and became so overcome with emotion that he melted down into a kneeling position!!

My friend has been a captain at SWA for over 5 years now....and would give his life for SWA!

True Story,

bob ritchie

 

[LD max]

I fly for Eagle. I can attest to their 'controversial' treatment of employees.

There were several newhires who were in class on 9/11 to be jet FO's. They were really excited about being at Eagle. They had great attitudes, were very sharp and were genuinely nice folks. I know because I spoke with many of them.
Well, after 9/11 they were furloughed and were obvisouly distraught, as we all were to varying degrees.
The company reps met them at the hotel to inform them that they were furloughed. They took up their ID's and books. When queried about how to get to DFW from the hotel, the company reps told them that technically they were no longer employees and would have to all get cabs on their own to the airport. Afterall, the hotel van is only for employees. Nice people huh?

When it comes down to it at Eagle, we all look after ourselvves for the most part We all dream of going to a place like Jetblue or SWA. Very few seem to want to risk the same type of treatment and press for AA. From what I hear, it is not any better over there, just a bit higher on the pay scale.

 

[mistified]

Lets be careful not to paint with a broad brush.
Even in the garden of eden and in the land of OZ,
certain disgruntled individuals could still paint an
apocalyptic picture. h34r:

 

[Cleared Direct]

We have messaged the original topic starter. Our position is that this is some really personal information with names attached and we want to confirm with the topic starter first and ensure that identities are protected.

I have received no message from anyone about the names and email addresses that were in the original post. You obviously can choose to remove this info because it is your board and you are worried about a liability. I posted the complete letter as it was written. The main content of the letter is still there.

I will also post managements response below:


[edited]
Association of Flight Attendants AFL-CIO
17349 SW 142nd Court
Miami, FL 33177

Dear [edited],

We received your letter describing the tragedy endured by Chicago based flight attendant [edited] and your assessment of American Eagle’s responses to her requests for assistance.

Out of respect for [edited] situation, we don’t intend to broadcast a detailed response to all of the accusations you outlined. However, upon receipt of your letter we immediately began an investigation into the statements you made and the facts presented regarding [edited] situation and will continue that work so that we understand exactly what occurred. Clearly, if all the statements in your letter are accurate, we should have done a much better job of responding to [edited] plight. To this point, however, we have been unable to verify at this time that events unfolded as you say.

I assure you that every manager at American Eagle is committed to assisting our employees in any way we can when tragic, emergency situations like these occur. In fact, the company’s A9 policy will be re-iterated to our flight managers within the coming days.

[edited] situation is indeed tragic and we are extremely sorry for her loss.
We have reached out to her directly, and will assist her in whatever way we can.

In the meantime, I encourage you to call me directly so that we can both get a better understanding of what happened and how things could have been handled better.

Sincerely,



[edited]
Vice President – Flight Services

 

[Cleared Direct]

Check out this site for more info:

http://www.afa-ae-web.org/

 

[WingNaPrayer]

You'll see AMR put a very thin layer of frosting on this cake, then chuck it in the trash as soon as they think it has sat around long enough for everyone to see what a good job they did taking care of a problem.

Every employee of AMR needs to remember one very important truism, to AMR, you are chattel, nothing more, nothing less. To AMR employees are nothing more than numbers on the balance sheets. There are no faces, no families, nothing - unless they get caught treating an employee like crap and it's brought to light, then they step up to the plate to deliver up all the PR they can muster.

The company's response of . . . we're so sorry, but we doubt it happened that way . . . is typical of AMR. The only way you'll ever get AMR to admit to their mistakes and to do what's right in this situation, is to see to it that this story gets printed in USA Today AND the Wallstreet Journal!

It's always been the American way to hit 'em where they live. I don't doubt that it's the American Airlines way as well.

 

[AAmech]

How about a little personal responsibility here. This woman and family were entitled to ONE A9(confirmed seat, no fee) pass each. She apparently received them right away allowing her and family to get to SEA. If she wanted to fly back and forth to the east coast you either D-2 it or buy a Berevement fare. How this is Eagle's fault I don't know. But today Its always SOMEONE ELSES fault! :down:

 

[TWAnr]

This woman and family were entitled to ONE A9(confirmed seat, no fee) pass each.

Not exactly, there is wiggle room for interpretation.

Here is the relevant language from the trip book:

PERSONAL EMERGENCY TRAVEL (A9)

We realize emergencies involving out of town family members do occur. In an effort to help you through this difficult time, we offer A9 travel to you and certain members of your family when a personal emergency involving death or imminent death due to a life-threatening illness or injury of certain relatives occurs. A9 emergency travel is confirmed and is allowed for round-trip travel. Travel must commence and return travel completed within 15 days of the emergency.

Personal emergency (A9) travel is not intended for non-emergency situations such as planned surgeries or planned medical procedures, even if they may be considered life threatening (i.e. open-heart surgery). A9 travel is also not intended for ongoing trips to care for an ill or injured relative.

You may request a second A9 emergency travel pass in the unfortunate event the illness or injury results in the death of your relative.

 

[LGA Fleet Service]

But today Its always SOMEONE ELSES fault!

If we were talking about fat children suing McDonalds claiming they didn't know a diet based on fast food would make them fat I'd agree with you,but this isn't even close.

 

[AAmech]

Not exactly, there is wiggle room for interpretation.

Here is the relevant language from the trip book:

PERSONAL EMERGENCY TRAVEL (A9)

We realize emergencies involving out of town family members do occur. In an effort to help you through this difficult time, we offer A9 travel to you and certain members of your family when a personal emergency involving death or imminent death due to a life-threatening illness or injury of certain relatives occurs. A9 emergency travel is confirmed and is allowed for round-trip travel. Travel must commence and return travel completed within 15 days of the emergency.

Personal emergency (A9) travel is not intended for non-emergency situations such as planned surgeries or planned medical procedures, even if they may be considered life threatening (i.e. open-heart surgery). A9 travel is also not intended for ongoing trips to care for an ill or injured relative.

You may request a second A9 emergency travel pass in the unfortunate event the illness or injury results in the death of your relative.

Not really. There is one circumstance where you can get two A9's IF "the illness or injury results in the death of your realative". She received the tragic news that her son was already deceased. She was entitled to one RT only. Now it would be wonderful if her supervisor gave her another and just looked the other way. But Eagle shouldn't be bashed because they would only give her and her family the one free RT she was entitled to.

 

[TWAnr]

...Eagle shouldn't be bashed because they would only give her and her family the one free RT she was entitled to.

with such attitude, you are a prime candidate to become a management person at AMR.