American recalling flight attendants to handle travel crowds

[turbinetree]

Source: Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines is canceling extended leaves for about 3,300 flight attendants and telling them to come back to work in time for the holiday season.

And American plans to hire 800 new flight attendants by next March, according to an airline executive.

The moves are the latest indication that leisure travel in the U.S. is recovering more quickly from the pandemic than airlines expected.

“Increasing customer demand and new routes starting later this year mean we need more flight attendants to operate the airline,” Brady Byrnes, the airline’s vice president of flight service, told flight attendants in a memo Thursday.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-business-health-travel-coronavirus-pandemic-aa7a7fe1f82591e95cf349c28970f67e

[DFW]

1. To hell with American Airlines

After how they crapped on me and my wife (in Dallas, no less, and from an outfit with numerous Platinum members), I can only recommend that people avoid them like the plague. That whole air line is a customer disservice.

[Hekate]

2. So noted!

[bahboo]

3. I fly a lot...and I'm a Delta guy....

I've had to fly American a couple times in the past few years. Uniformly awful flights. I really don't know how they stay in business...

[DFW]

6. A near monopoly on thr Dallas airport helps

I am platinum for life with Sky Team, which includes Delta. I cried bitter tears when Delta ditched its Atlanta-Düsseldorf route.

[bahboo]

7. almost all of the American frequent flyers I know...

think they suck. Amazing...but yep, they own Dallas...

[Marrah_Goodman]

11. I flew them last month

They were the only airline flying to where I needed to go. Everything went fine, so I guess I was lucky.

I prefer Delta. My bf worked for them for 40 years until Covid, do I am comfortable with them.

[DFW]

12. The likelihood of any one flight going bad is probably less than 50%. However....

When they mess up, they do so badly, and with utter contempt for the passengers.

My wife and I had round trip business class tickets from Frankfurt to Dallas, for which we had paid a nice hefty price. The flight TO Dallas on April 10th, was fine.

On the way back, on May 15th, we got to the check-in counter about two hours before flight time. They kept us hanging there for about 90 minutes, saying "they had to check something, we will be right with you," and then told us we were there too late to check in, and since it was our fault that we were late, they would not pay for a hotel or offer any assistance. They had obviously overbooked the flight, and were under instructions not to offer any compensation. They booked us for the next day, claiming ALL connections to Europe for the 15th were fully booked up (sure they were), and then said get lost, we have other customers to serve. I missed an important appointment for the following Monday in Zürich that could not be rescheduled. The shocking "F*** You" attitude of American shocked even an experienced traveler like me. When I complained afterward, and said they should at least reimburse me for the hotel cost ($129, and we had paid $6000 for the air tickets), they said get lost. Needless to say, we will NEVER take American transatlantic again, and avoid them like the plague domestically as well.

[RobinA]

14. Philadelphia

is my airport and that is an American hub, so I'm stuck with them for international at least. I haven't really had a problem with them. Beyond the usual flying-is-hell stuff, of course.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. What holiday season?

July 4 was 11 days ago. The next holiday is Labor Day on September 6, well over a month away.

Personally, I'm not about to join the current mad rush to travel travel travel anywhere to make up for lost trips.

I am someone who loves to travel. I had the amazing good fortune to take a cruise to Hawaii March 1-18 in 2020. Holland America. It was beyond wonderful. For one thing, HAL operates middle-sized ships that top out at around 2,500 passengers. And that's only if every single possible berth is filled. Anyway, it was a delayed 70th birthday present to myself, and was fantastic. My only other cruise had been also on HAL in 2015 in the Caribbean, which I loved. This trip, to Hawaii, was amazing. Started out with something like 5 days at sea. An excellent opportunity to explore the ship and meet fellow cruisers. On the second day at sea I was able to take a tour of the ship which was fascinating. Several days in Hawaii with various shore excursions. Then six days back home. Our final stop was in Ensenada, Mexico. I'd signed up for some sort of tour, but a day or two before we got there we were told we would not be allowed to disembark. By that time we were all very aware of the growing Covid 19 thing, and so no one was at all bothered.

Personally, I love cruising and want to do more. The down side for me is that I'm a single, and so I get to pay 2 fares because of how cruise lines charge. Darn. The Hawaii cruise was manageable financially. I'd love to make my next one a cruise that goes to other places in the South Pacific, like Tahiti. But the double cost for such a cruise is probably beyond me. Darn. I might simply do another Hawaii cruise, because what I liked best about that was the days at sea. I'd love to go on a very, very long cruise where most of the days are at sea. Of course, I can take any cruise I want and simply not get off the ship when in port. More or less the same thing, right?

[Footay]

10. Single supplements

There are cruise lines that don't have a single supplement, or sometimes the mainstream lines will waive or reduce them for certain cruises.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. I've taken a look at the cruise lines that have single cabins.

Invariably, they are tiny and are almost always inside.

My first cruise I had a room with a window, my second I got one with a balcony. It was just wonderful sitting on the balcony and drinking wine. I know some people on a cruise spend almost no time in their cabin except to sleep, but I'm not like that. I don't want to spend every minute in a public space.

My two cruises have both been on Holland America, and I plan to stick with them, in no small part because they don't have ginormous mega ships with many thousands of passengers.

[ShazzieB]

13. Maybe they're using "holiday" in the UK sense?

Over there, "holiday" is used as the term for what Americans call a vacation. Why they would do that is another question; but it makes more sense if you read it that way.

If that's not it, well, that's all I've got.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. Makes sense. I hadn't thought of that.

[VarryOn]

5. Planes are full...

I've booked two personal trips and one biz trip the past 10 or so days. Two are to Florida. I ended up with crappy times for most flights because I couldn't get on my accustomed flights. Flights that I've been taking for years.

My wife and I went to Miami in June for a long weekend. Two flights were on 777s. As far as we could see, not empty seats on either flight.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. +1000!

[róisín_dubh]

17. I'm legitimately terrified at the prospect...

Of my JFK-PIT flight. I fly from London back to the US in a few weeks. Normally I would rent a car one way from New York to where I need to go. But there are no rentals at the moment. So I have to fly to Pittsburgh. I’m fine with the TransAtlantic flight. Domestic US flights, not so much.

[róisín_dubh]

19. I'm afraid of being packed in like a sardine...

With a bunch of asshats. Also I don’t like 50 seater gets on a good day 🤣

[JI7]

20. It feels like a lot of people are either making up for missed

vacations last year due to covid and/or rushing to go on vacation now just in case something happens again resulting in restrictions.

This might especially be the case for things like weddings and other events involving guests.

[VarryOn]

21. Vacations especially...

A lot of the people in my office and my family have been taking two-week vacations rather than the usual one-week ones.

My wife and I went Florida in June and are going back at the end of August.