7.16.25 – An Update on Recent IROPs

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Over the last few days, American Airlines has experienced significant irregular operations that have left many Flight Attendants stranded with no contact from the company. Some were stranded overnight without hotel accommodations, unable to reach Crew Tracking or the Hotel/Limo desk for assistance, and left completely in the dark with no communication from the company.

This past weekend, decisions on flight cancellations and diversions were made so late into the evening that it became impossible for Crew Tracking, Crew Scheduling, and the Hotel/Limo desk to recover. The lack of support and basic resources during this IROPs is not only inexcusable—it’s a serious breakdown in the company’s responsibility to its Flight Attendants. Our employer is the only party that can book hotel rooms for us, and we must be able to count on them to do so, especially during irregular operations.

This week, APFA Leadership met with management to discuss the latest round of IROPs and demand answers. The failure to provide hotel accommodations, the inability to reach Crew Tracking or the Hotel/Limo Desk, and the total lack of communication from the company are unacceptable. Even with the recent management restructure implemented within Inflight, base leaders were still unprepared to support Flight Attendants at critical times during this IROPs.

APFA met with company representatives from Crew Scheduling/Tracking, Hotel/Limo, Inflight and Labor to address the IROPs failures, including:

• Additional compensation for Flight Attendants who never received hotel rooms and were forced to sleep in the crew lounge or the airport terminal.
• Agree to process our new contractual hotel delay penalty pay in a timely manner.
• Review and resolve illegal reschedules with APFA Base Leaders in a pre-Notice of Dispute (NOD) process.
• Review missed trips (TM) and remove any incorrectly assessed missed trips in a timely manner.
• Improve communication to Flight Attendants in future IROPs.
• Develop new, Internal communications across various departments in IROPs situations to better support Flight Attendants during IROPs.
• Ensure Inflight management provides support at the bases to assist Flight Attendants during IROPs.

APFA is processing each IROPs reporting form received from Flight Attendants to ensure every issue is addressed. Too often, resolving these issues can take months, which only prolongs the process for making Flight Attendants whole. In many cases, this requires a lengthy and frustrating grievance process. We will hold the company accountable so that affected Flight Attendants receive the compensation they are owed promptly and without unnecessary delays.

In Solidarity,

Julie Hedrick
APFA National President
[email protected]

Jeff Petersen
APFA National Contract Chair
[email protected]

Marti McMillan
APFA National Scheduling Chair
[email protected]