Has American considered paying its flight attendants a living wage?

I don't imagine that anyone becomes a flight Iattendant for the money. Adventure, sure. Glamour. Travel. Meet the man/woman of your dreams. But the money? Nah. 

Everything I've read about the flight attendant's work life is pretty terrible. Drudgery. Tension-filled. Doors disguised as windows blowing out midflight. Nasty passengers. Crappy food. Climate change making flying more turbulent. Ghastly on-the-ground living conditions in which a bunch of flight attendants pool together to rent a cruddy crash pad, where they take turns sleeping in whatever beds available. (It's called hotbedding. Sounds charming, eh?)

And, yeah, if there's a terrorist attack you can end up losing your life when some evil maniacs decide to crash your plane into the World Trade Center. 

You really have to want to see the world to put up with the downsides of the job. 

And now this:

American Airlines is reportedly issuing so-called ‘poverty verification letters’ for some new-hire flight attendants based in the most expensive metro areas in the United States, urging the recipients to help out the flight attendant because they are only set to warn little more than $27,000 per year before tax.

The leaked letter is being provided on official American Airlines letterheads to recently hired flight attendants based in cities like New York, Miami, Boston and Dallas in an attempt to help them find accommodation.

The letter states: “The projected annual salary is $27,315 per year before incentives and taxes… Any courtesy you can provide would be appreciated.” (Source: Paddle Your Own Canoe)

$27K? The Federal Poverty Level for a single person is $15K, and there sure aren't many folks living on that. And $27K in Boston is likely the equivalent of $15K in plenty of other towns. $27K is Boston poverty level. Folks making what should be a comfortable living - $70K, $80K - aren't living in Boston unless they're quadrupling up on roommates, or have a spouse making at least an equivalent salary, or living with their parents. (Flight attendants can earn more than that $27K, but it requires working crazy hours and grabbing whatever flights they can get their hands on.)

So unless those flight attendants are living in those slum-level crash pads, if they're based in a pricey town like Boston, they "are forced to ‘commute’ from cheaper towns and cities, using jump seating privileges to get to and from work."

As reported by View from the Wing late last year, some Boston-based flight attendants are even eligible for food stamps because their take-home pay is so low.

Thus the "poverty verification letters." Sheesh. 

Then there's the way that flight attendants are paid:

Because flight attendants are only paid an hourly rate from aircraft pushback to arrival, they could be working many hours a day during boarding and in between flights without getting paid.

Wait a minute. They. Don't. Get. Paid. For. Boarding. Or. If. They're. On. The. Ground. Waiting. For. The. Plane. To. Push. Back. 

Wow, just wow.

And remember what I said about the crappy food? Apparently, some airlines - looking at you, American - don't even provide meals for the crew. They get fed if they're on long-haul flights, but on shorter domestic hops, which no longer come with anything that resembles a meal, I guess they get the same food us steerage-class passengers are entitled to. On American, that's pretty much a tiny bag of pretzels or a couple of Biscoff cookies. (Good thing I like Biscoff cookies.)

The last pay raise for American flight attendants was way back in 2019. And, by the way, they're not paid at all for their six-week training course. Yowza. 

No wonder they need food stamps and "poverty verification letters."

Here's a thought. Maybe, just maybe, rather than asking the taxpayers to subsidize their employees, American Airlines should consider playing their flight attendants a living wage. (While they're at it, maybe subsidize housing for those based in the more expensive cities they operate in. And for godsake, feed these poor folks.)