2009 Flight Attendant Attrition

[jersey777]

There is nothing ironic at all. You're confusing career enjoyment with the constant fight to keep it that way. American Airlines would love to further reduce our pay, terminate our pension, not provide rest seats, give minimum layover rest, and further reduce vacation. These are all items that have been under attack and will always remain that way. It is only through the collective flight attendants efforts that this job has not been eroded to the point where it would become undesirable. So I don't see any irony in loving a job and desiring to keep it that way.

 

[wcs]

Hey Jersey,

That was well said!

 

[Skymess]

Exactly what Michael said. What keeps all of us going is the memory of how great our job was. People who start this job in the future will not have that memory, or the good training and experiences to sustain them. It's not gonna be pretty.

 

[jimntx]

March didn't exactly shrink the seniority list either.

March, 2009: Year-to-date:
Dom...........14------------56
Intl.............11------------43
Total...........25------------99
Retirees......11------------39

The average monthly attrition is down from last month to this month. It is now 33/month total. That's all reasons for leaving including retirement. Note that we have an average of only 13 f/as per month retiring. That has to be a new low.

Ok hang on to your dentures, folks. Either there is a serious typo on the Attrition Summary page or there has been a mass exodus in the last week or so. As of tonight the numbers are...

March, 2009 Year-to-date:
Dom---------587------601 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Intl-----------10--------53
Total---------597------654 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Retirees -------6--------45

I'm guessing that the YTD Domestic total was supposed to be 61, not 601 which would increase domestic attrition by 6 over last month. Even if you added all the furloughees and the people who took the vacation separation package, it wouldn't add up to 601. I sent in an inquiry to the Flight Service area that maintains that part of the website. It will be interesting to see what the response is (if any).

 

[czerny]

Ok hang on to your dentures, folks. Either there is a serious typo on the Attrition Summary page or there has been a mass exodus in the last week or so. As of tonight the numbers are...

March, 2009 Year-to-date:
Dom---------587------601 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Intl-----------10--------53
Total---------597------654 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Retirees -------6--------45

I'm guessing that the YTD Domestic total was supposed to be 61, not 601 which would increase domestic attrition by 6 over last month. Even if you added all the furloughees and the people who took the vacation separation package, it wouldn't add up to 601. I sent in an inquiry to the Flight Service area that maintains that part of the website. It will be interesting to see what the response is (if any).

Jim, let me know if you hear anything different. A friend of mine in NYC called APFA and was told that the "new" number included the recently furloughed fas. Why they would be included in attrition is beyond me, but that's what she was told by the "contract desk."

 

[jimntx]

Byron, the APFA is full of it. This has to be a typo because even if they DID include the 323 furloughees in the attrition total for March, that still leaves 264 non-furloughees leaving in March. I know we did not have that many people take the vacation separation package. IIRC it was barely 100 people systemwide. That would still leave 164 that left due to quit, died, got fired. We know the number of retirees only increased by 6 from the previous posting for March, and some of those could have been people who could also have been counted as furloughees.

I've gotten no response from the Job Resources folk at the website. What a surprise!

 

[jimntx]

Well, I got my response from someone "responsible" for the attrition numbers on the Flight Service website. Even though I had pointed out that counting the furloughees in the total would still mean a huge number of people had left in March, the response basically said

"The attrition numbers include more than just retirements." (No Duh!)

And, while we are on the subject, in 30+ years of working in and around major industry, I have never heard of including people in the attrition count that have been (temporarily) laid off but are eligible for recall to the company. Attrition in the manpower sense normally means permanent separation from a company--i.e., resignation, termination, retirement, or death.

When you subtract the 323 furloughees from the current total attrition then subtract the total attrition ytd as of last month, you have 222 people that either took the vacation separation package or quit, died, retired or got fired. And, we know from the website that only 10 people retired between the two updates (that number got an interim update also). That still leaves 212 of which only about 100 are vacation separation. Sumpin' ain't right.

 

[eolesen]

Maybe a base closed in South America and nobody noticed?...

 

[jimntx]

No, can't be. The figures in question are in domestic headcount. All foreign bases are International. You of all people should remember that.

 

[eolesen]

Yes, but you're assuming HDQ remembered that...

 

[FA Mikey]

Jim, I doubt it, but all you have to do is check the online bid sheets to see if all four are still there. (SCL, EZE, LIM, and GRU)

 

[jimntx]

Mike, eolesen was being facetious, or at least, I hope he was being facetious. I was just answering the facetiousness with "extreme" logic.

As someone who is junior, I would hope that we had over 100 f/as leave for reasons other than forced (well, as long as they are ALL senior to me ).

 

[jimntx]

I got a clarification this morning from HDQ.

1. The 323 01APR furloughees are included in the total. AMR does not consider furloughed f/as as employees despite the fact that they are eligible for recall. If you ain't on this month's payroll, you ain't an employee.
2. They stand by the exceptionally high number for April. They had 237 already furloughed f/as take the vacation separation package. (I find it interesting that f/as who have been on furlough since 02JUL04 are counted in the attrition, but f/as furloughed 01APR09 are not counted as employees. Evidently, you can have your cake and eat it too. But, I decided not to debate the point further.)

Of course, the numbers still don't quite add up. 323+237+10 (retirees), the total is 570 which is the number my correspondent from HDQ is using. However, if you subtract the last YTD total posted in March from the current YTD total, the difference is 587. Oh well. Close enough for government work as they used to say.

 

[jimntx]

March, 2009 Year-to-date:
Dom---------587------601
Intl-----------10--------53
Total---------597------65
Retirees -------6--------45

First April numbers:
April, 2009 Year-to-date:
Dom----------29------630
Intl------------10-------63
Total----------39------693
Retirees -------9-------54


Average attrition is 173/mo. Of course, this is skewed by the furloughs and the vacation separation package.

 

[jimntx]

Last(???) April numbers:
April, 2009 Year-to-date:
Dom----------31------632
Intl------------12-------65
Total----------43------697
Retirees -------8-------53

Increase of two each in Dom and Intl. By the way, the total number of retirees is not a typo. It went down 1 from the posting earlier this month. I have no idea if this is a correction to an earlier typo, or if someone who retired was allowed to change their mind. Anyway, I reduced the "retirees for the month" total by 1 to keep the math straight.