American Airlines is looking to hire new flight attendants for the first time in 11 years, however they'e looking for flight attendants who are willing to accept lower pay.
As American Airlines deals with bankruptcy and they cut labor costs by $1 billion, they can't afford to pay new flight attendants as much as they paid the ones that they lost recently. Over 2,200 flight attendants took a $40,000 buyout and now the airline needs to replace them, without having to pay too much money, according to the Associated Press.
American only has 16,000 flight attendants after the loss of workers from the buyout. Flight attendants who has at least 15 years had until Sept. 20 to accept the offer. This buyout offer was provided to prevent having to lay off workers.
Many of those flight attendants started working befoe the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and since then, the role of the flight attendant and American Airlines as a company has changed. Flight attendants now work long hours and play many roles as they have to act as a host, get involved in medical emergencies, and constantly work to prevent terrorism.
The airline lost over $10 billion since Sept. 11 and many workers had to take pay cuts starting in 2003 since the airline wouldn't have to declare backruptcy. However, the workers soon found that those in management were receiving bonuses. Flight attendants started to leave in high numbers.
The new hires will make a lower hourly wage than more experienced flight attendants and they may be working less hours than those they are replacing. Since 2010, flight attendants in the U.S. make $37,740 on average according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as noted by AP. American Airlines claim their flight attendants make an average of $45,000 a year.
On average, American Airlines flight attendants stay on the job for 21 years and the avergage flight attendant is in their 50's.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
