American Airlines Negotiations

APFA Negotiations

• Negotiations Timeline
• Negotiations Updates
• Meeting Calendars
• Negotiations Communications
• Key Tentative Agreements and Proposals
• Key Issues
• Pensions
• Wages/Pay Rates
• Benefits/Health
• Productivity

Productivity is an important component of the cost equation. The current structure of American's labor contracts has led to our workgroups trailing the industry in this area. To secure American’s long-term success and position us on a competitive playing field with other carriers, our operations must be as efficient and productive as possible.

Productivity is the amount of an employer's products or services provided by each employee in a given period of time. For example, Car Company A is able to build 10 cars per hour, while Car Company B produces eight cars per hour. Both have the same fixed costs and number of employees and achieve the same level of quality in their product. However, in this comparison, Company A has achieved higher productivity. The power of productivity enables Company A to be more profitable and to more highly compensate its employees than Company B, while maintaining balanced labor costs, thus producing the product for the same or a lower cost.

For flight attendants, productivity is measured by the number of hours actually flown during a month compared to the number of hours that are paid – which includes hours flown as well as paid sick time, paid vacation time, credit duty rigs (work rules), etc. On average, an American Airlines flight attendant flies approximately 58 hours per month, but is compensated for approximately 74 hours.

As a whole, our flight attendants are scheduled to fly among the fewest hours per month when compared to other network carriers, and can reduce their scheduled flying through vacation, sick, trip-trading, leaves of absence, etc. Our current flight attendant contract dictates this limited scheduling ability, as demonstrated by the following chart.

Flight Attendant Schedule Maximum

         WN schedule max is 130 Trips for Pay (TFP). A factor of 0.88 was applied to convert to 114 hours.

It is important to note that the schedule maximum is not representative of true paid hours, since carriers do not necessarily schedule flight attendants to the maximum. Instead, this chart is representative of the potential monthly maximum that airlines must contractually adhere to when scheduling flight attendants.

However to take it further, we must also examine total flight attendant expense relative to the schedule maximum. As demonstrated on the Wages/Pay Rates page, the significant drivers and competitive measurements of flight attendant expenses are wages, pensions, vacation, pay guarantees, sick time, health benefits and personnel expenses. Again, here is how we stack up against the competition.

Flight Attendant Expense per Employee

Includes Salary, Benefits and Personnel Expenses

Form 41 - Full Year 2008

           

Combining the above two elements (F/A schedule maximum and total F/A expense) yields flight attendant expense per paid hour, assuming that a full-time flight attendant is paid the monthly schedule maximum. A breakdown of the math is as follows:

 

 

Due to the current structure of our flight attendant contract, there are significant gaps between paid and flown hours that result in our flight attendants, as a whole, having the highest total expense per paid hour when compared with other large carriers in the industry – as seen here.

Flight Attendant Expense per Paid Hour *

Includes Salary, Benefits and Personnel Expenses

Form 41 - Full Year 2008

                *Considers a full-time flight attendant is paid the monthly schedule maximum

During contract negotiations, American plans to explore the full range of issues that drive productivity.