5.15.25 – APFA DFW Base Brief – Increase in Onboard Service

Increase in Onboard Service

Thursday, May 15, 2025

American Airlines has chosen to restore full onboard service levels without restoring the staffing necessary to support them. This isn’t about improving the customer experience. This is about leadership making decisions from behind a desk, with no regard for what it means to be in the aisle delivering that service.

At the 2024 Staffing Arbitration, Senior Vice President Brady Byrnes testified under oath that a second beverage service was not required and that there were no plans to bring it back. That statement was misleading at best. And now, we’re being told to meet a higher standard of service with the same short-staffed crews.

We’re not against higher service standards. We take pride in delivering great service. But we also know that expectations have to be matched with support, tools, and realistic staffing. We’re expected to perform at premium levels without premium tools.

This isn’t just about service or staffing. This is about a pattern, a pattern of disrespect, disconnection, and decision-making that pushes workers to their limit while claiming to “enhance the experience.”

So what do we do?

Here at DFW, we stand together.

• We are documenting your concerns, your stories, and your experiences, and we’re using them.
• We are organizing, speaking up, and calling out the truth when management would rather spin the story.

We will always encourage professionalism on the job, but that doesn’t mean silence. It means using every channel we have to protect our crews and hold this company accountable.

The challenges we face aren’t due to fewer beverage services, they’re the result of years of short-sighted decisions that have chipped away at our brand, our morale, and the trust between management and the our Members. No doubt, American Airlines is struggling because of a leadership team that doesn’t understand or value the very people who keep it flying.

The staffing issue is just the tip of the iceberg. We see it. We live it. We’re not staying quiet. American belongs to all of us.

Fly safe. Speak up. Stay informed.

In Unity,

Robin Reitz
APFA DFW Base President
[email protected]

Luis Vasquez
APFA DFW Base Vice President
[email protected]