American Airlines is claiming that its flight attendants stole money through an odd rolling delay bidding scam that protected crew members’ compensation for journeys they never meant to do.
According to a memo seen by aviation insider Jon NYC on X, senior scheduling managers at the Fort Worth-based airline have discovered the loophole. They are threatening to bring flight attendants into the office for disciplinary action. It is unknown how long flight attendants have been abusing this hack.
The hack makes use of American Airlines’ much-maligned rolling delay policy, which causes the airline to post delay after delay when a late-arriving aircraft affects a flight, rather than just providing a reasonable amount of time for the delay or attempting to rearrange the schedule by allocating a different plane or crew.
According to American Airlines, flight attendants have been using their investigative skills to find planes with rolling delays and bid on last-minute assignments on these flights.
Flight attendants at American Airlines have the option to bid on last-minute trips in addition to scheduled ones that they have previously posted to their roster. This allows them to cover last-minute cancellations due to illness, for example, provided they have some extra time in their schedule.
Many flight attendants supplement their income by working a full published schedule and taking overtime in the form of last-minute trips, but this can be very taxing. This is when the hack is useful.
It is hoped that by booking oneself on a last-minute journey that is experiencing a rolling delay, one will be able to postpone a trip that was already scheduled, so triggering automatic pay protection.
When a flight attendant accepts a last-minute assignment that is impacted by a rolling delay, for instance, they are hoping that the final flight of that assignment will reduce their rest to less than 10 hours. If this happens, they will not be able to work on their original assignment and pay protection will take effect.
“Crew Schedule Seniors are examining every one of these last-minute pick-ups that result in pay protection to determine whether there was intent to manufacture an illegality resulting in pay,” a memo sent from the flight attendant union to its members warns.
“The Company has notified APFA they consider this theft,” the memo continues. “They will take a deep dive into when you picked up the trip when the delay began, what the crew knew and when and potentially bring you in to investigate”.
In other words, even while American Airlines doesn’t inform its crew or customers that a trip is going to be significantly delayed than it appears, the airline claims that flight attendants are aware of the real circumstances and are taking advantage of them.
“In the event, the company determine you had no intent to fly the trip they will take the pay away and potentially bring you in for investigation,” the memo warned. “Please ensure you only bid/pick up trips you have an honest intent of flying and are confident you will be legal to fly to avoid the Company’s scrutiny”.
In other words, even while American Airlines doesn’t inform its crew or customers that a trip is going to be significantly delayed than it appears, the airline claims that flight attendants are aware of the real circumstances and are taking advantage of them.