Daily Herald opinion: Flight attendants' concerns highlight issues on state of air travel

This editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board

A few hundred flight attendants protested at O'Hare and Midway airports last week, and hundreds more did at airports across the country. Their grievances about their working conditions need to be worked out between them and airline management, but they do highlight concerns for flyers about the state of air travel today.

It was a rough summer. Airlines canceled four times as many flights on key weekends early in the season compared to the same times in 2019, Business Insider reported, citing FlightAware data. Also, 26% of flights arrived late the Friday before Memorial Day weekend; it was 17% that Friday in 2019. Staffing shortages at all levels - pilots, air traffic controllers, mechanics, flight attendants - as well as storms and a rebound in travelers created scheduling difficulties for the airlines.

The federal Department of Transportation reported a 35% increase in service complaints from May to June, and complaints were nearly 270% above pre-pandemic levels. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote to airline CEOs to urge better service, and soon the department created an online "Airline Customer Service Dashboard." There was improvement over the Labor Day weekend. Meanwhile, the department and lawmakers are proposing new rules requiring real refunds for cancellations, some delays or other significant changes to flights like added connections.

Now, unions representing flight attendants are saying they are suffering from burnout as a result of their working conditions since the pandemic began. Corliss King, a Southwest flight attendant and union leader picketing last week, called for an end to flight attendants' having to be on call around the clock for three days at a time, forcing up to 16-hour workdays and possibly leaving them without a hotel room or easy access to food wherever they may wind up. She called it a safety issue because attendants may work unrested. Scott Pejas, a United attendant and local union leader, similarly reported up to five-hour waits for assignments or hotel rooms.

Sounding worse is that flight attendants are paid only for the hours that the planes' doors are closed, King says - not, say, during that crazy boarding time.

Think the flight attendants' lives are too glamorous to complain about? Because they could, after all, get to stay for a couple of days in a neat place? Sure, that can be a benefit that some get. Their median annual salary is $61,640, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, but pay varies widely, with the lowest 10% making $37,020 or less. A spokesperson with United Airlines told the Chicago Sun-Times that United has "worked hard to reduce wait times for flight attendants," in part through hiring. That was one of the more concrete responses from airlines.

In the end, the dispute between the attendants and the airlines is a business matter, and it is up to them to work together to resolve concerns like these. But, especially as the holiday flying season approaches, we hope airlines are considering the attendants' working conditions and how they influence the safety and overall experience of travelers.