‘Unsustainable and confusing’: Employees talk about travel chaos in US and Europe

British flight attendant Kris Major works at aviation for over two decades. He saw the industry suffer and recover after crises like 9/11, Covid-19 and foot-and-mouth disease.

Now, he is on the front lines of what he considers to be the worst aviation crisis to date: the chaos in trips in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer of 2022. Major, who serves as chairman of the European Transport Workers Federation’s Joint Crew Committee representing European flight attendants and pilots, says the crew is struggling.

“It’s completely unsustainable as a job,” Major told CNN .

As global travelers return to the skies in droves after a pause imposed by the pandemic, airlines and airports around the world are struggling to match supply with demand.

The result is canceled flights, lost luggage and travelers losing confidence in the aviation industry as a whole. In Major’s view, it’s “absolutely chaotic.”

His words are echoed by flight attendants around the world.

“The lack of staff, delays, cancellations, lack of luggage – I think it’s a very difficult situation for everyone,” said the flight attendant of the airline. lufthansa Daniel Kassa Mbuambi, to CNN .

“There’s some sort of meltdown going on that I believe could be preventable,” says US flight attendant Allie Malis.

Frontline in the skies

When aviation ground to a halt in the early days of the pandemic, most Airlines and airports furloughed or laid off many ground and air workers. Many companies have operated a reduced staff for most of the last two years.

Now, demand for travel is back and the industry is struggling to catch up and rehire. For flight attendants who are still employed, it is a “very difficult situation”, says Kassa Mbuambi, who is also president of the German union of flight attendants.

The crew says this tension means occasionally operating a flight with minimal staff on board, as Mbuambi describes, or aircrew sleeping in airports, as Allie Malis reports.

Malis, who is also a government affairs representative for the International Association of Flight Attendants, a union that represents American Airlines aircrew, also describes “uncomfortable” situations in which crew, delayed on inbound flights, find themselves running through the airport. to do your next job.

“Sometimes passengers are cheering that you are arriving because it means their plane is leaving, or even that they are upset – they think it’s your fault that the flight was delayed when you can’t work on two flights at the same time, although I’m sure the airlines wish we could,” she says.

Flight attendants say situations like these, along with unpredictable schedules, wreak havoc on the crew’s mental and physical well-being.

“Disease levels have hit the ceiling, fatigue levels have hit the ceiling, not because [os comissários de bordo estão] rejecting or protesting in any way. It’s just that they can’t handle it – they just can’t handle the constant change,” says Major.

When airlines suggest that current problems are due to employee absenteeism, it’s disheartening, says Malis.

“It’s kind of offensive that we’re being blamed for any kind of manpower shortages or operational mismanagement because the airlines didn’t plan properly,” he adds.

“Flight attendants are on edge, working the longest days we’ve had, with the shortest rest periods at night. and it makes you sick, leads to exhaustion and fatigue, and weakens your immune system.”

Malis says American Airlines recently scrapped a policy that exposed crew members to disciplinary action if they took Covid-19-related leave.

A spokesperson for the airline did not comment on this change to CNN but said that “taking care of our crew members at all times, including while they are away from home, is a priority.”

The American Airlines representative said the airline was not aware of any recent reports of crew members sleeping at airports.

“If we believe there may be an issue with crew accommodation, everything is on the table to prevent that from happening,” the rep said.

A Lufthansa spokesperson said the aviation industry as a whole is “suffering from bottlenecks and staff shortages, especially noticeable during peak periods”.

The post-pandemic travel boom was “expected – but not to this extent”, added the Lufthansa spokesperson. The company recently canceled a number of summer flights, with the spokesperson saying the aim was to reduce cancellations on the day.

While Covid-19 and fatigue-related time off has reached 30% among Lufthansa ground employees, the German airline said crew and pilot time off “is significantly lower, in the single digits.” ”.

A Lufthansa spokesperson said that as a result, it was not necessary to operate flights with minimum crew capacity “at normal crew standards”.

state of the industry

Flight attendant contracts allow for variable working days, so flying was always a job that came with a degree of unpredictability. But as the industry becomes overwhelmed, flight attendants say that uncertainty has increased.

Major suggests that unpredictable hours, combined with current wage conditions, are why workers who left the industry during the pandemic are not returning.

“There’s a reason they don’t come back,” he says. “The industry has created its own problem.”

Malis echoes this: “Why would anyone want to apply to be a flight attendant or any other airline employee when we’re kind of working non-stop?”

Major thinks the problem can only be solved if the industry accepts that there is a problem – and a problem he sees as inherent in the current mode of operations, not specific to post-Covid flights.

Flight attendants are exhausted, working the longest days we’ve ever had, with the shortest overnight rest periods

Allie Malis, flight attendant

Through his work for the pan-European aviation union, Major is advocating raising aircrew salaries to match the rising cost of living and improve work-life balance.

Kassa Mbuambi agrees. “We have to offer better conditions,” he says, adding that his Germany-based union is in regular conversations with other cabin crew associations in the Europe to find solutions.

He thinks higher wages and more structured working conditions would better reflect the role of flight attendants.

“We’re not just there to provide you with some drinks, but also to ensure safety,” says Mbuambi.

passenger relations

At the height of the pandemic, one of the biggest problems facing aircrew was unruly passengers, with most incidents in the United States reportedly related to non-compliance with the use of masks .

US flight attendant Malis says passenger disruption has become less of a problem in the country since the mask-wearing mandate was lifted.
But while the problems related to masks may have ceased in the United States they are popping up elsewhere.

Kassa Mbuambi and Major suggest that different countries with different rules create ongoing frustration among European travelers. These frustrations can be magnified when travelers also face travel disruptions.

“We currently have many passengers traveling without their bags,” says Kassa Mbuambi from Lufhansa. “So of course you have a lot of angry passengers.”

Kassa Mbuambi’s appeal to the traveling public is that aviation workers “are doing what they can do”.

“All employees – no matter if they are on the ground or crew – do the best they can. But if you don’t have enough employees, then you can’t solve every problem.”

Major echoes that sentiment and also reminds passengers that aircrew experiences travel frustrations on the other side. He’s going on a family vacation soon, and grudgingly sees the interruption as inevitable.

Malis points out that the summer holiday season always strains the system, suggesting this fall could “be a great opportunity to reset, to make sure our systems are working properly to handle high volumes of traffic.”

But like Major and Kassa Mbuambi, she thinks a long-term solution can only come with overhauling the current system.

“We as flight attendants are there with our passengers, we are with them, we feel their frustrations first hand if not more because it has happened to us so often as we fly for a living,” says Malis.

“We want to do right for our passengers, we can see these poor people who are just trying to get where they need to go, we can read their stress, we can see their anxiety and we really want them where they want to go, we hope to say goodbye with a smile. ”

A flight attendant’s guide to dealing with travel chaos

Here are some of flight attendant Allie Malis’ top tips for traveling now:

• Be patient: Malis suggests that travelers leave their homes expecting some sort of interruption to their journey. “I think that would at least put your expectations in the right place,” she says;
• Pack your snacks: Come prepared to stock up in case of delays, advises Malis. Along with your snacks of choice, make sure you have an empty water bottle and fill it up as soon as you go through security. If your flight is stuck on the tarmac for any length of time, or if you find yourself in a long line, you will be hydrated and nourished. In addition, some airlines are still not running their pre-Covid in-flight food service, and even if they are, there can be service interruptions: “If the weather is bad, if it is really rough, there is no guarantee that we will be able to provide a safe beverage service”, explains Malis;
• Book early morning flights: Malis suggests that earlier flights can be less disrupted, so booking right away can be a good shout. “Usually the operation is sort of restarted in the morning,” she says. And if you’re transferred to a later flight, if you’re at the airport right away, there should be more options available. Weather-related delays also tend to occur later in the afternoon and evening, adds Malis;
• Leave buffer time: Try to avoid tight connections where you can, advises Malis. And if you’re traveling for an important event, like a wedding, try to fly a day or two in advance if you can, to be on the safe side.