No Room at the Inn? Some American Airlines Pilots, Flight Attendants Are ‘Sleeping in Airports’ Due to Hotel Issues

An American Airlines crew in an A321T

Pilots and flight attendants at American Airlines say that the airline isn’t booking a sufficient number of hotel rooms and transportation to and from the hotels during layovers.

The unions representing the two workgroups filed grievances with the world’s largest airline Tuesday concerning the matter, which has arisen as domestic travel surges to near pre-pandemic levels after over a year living under coronavirus travel restrictions.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents over 25,000 crew members at American, and the Allied Pilots Association, which serves almost 14,000 pilots, said that their members are facing situations where there are no hotel rooms or vans from airports to hotels available after landing.

“We have flight attendants sleeping in airports and outside of baggage claim due to the company not providing hotel accommodations in a timely manner,” said Julie Hedrick, the APFA’s president, in a memorandum to the union’s members that was viewed by Frequent Business Traveler.  “Crew rest is being impacted.”

Crew members are also facing hours-long waits  to reach someone at the help desk of the third-party vendor that manages crew lodging and transportation.

American said it is looking into the issue.

“Taking care of our crew members while they are away from home is a priority for American,” a spokesman said in a statement.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)