‘We’re just robots’: US airline workers stranded amid staff shortages
US airlines are still experiencing staffing shortages as air travel rebounded after initial Covid-19 shutdowns in 2020 when many airline workers were encouraged to go on furlough, resign, or retire early.
The phenomenon promises to disrupt travel for flyers even as Americans largely seek to return to many pre-pandemic habits, including air travel for work and tourism.
At JetBlue, flight delays and cancellations have been attributed to staff shortages. Transport Workers United, which representsabout 5,000 flight attendants at JetBlue, criticized the airline’s blaming of flight attendants for not accepting enough assignments, causing delays and cancellations.
The union argued JetBlue had responded to staff shortages and operational problems by increasing disciplinary actions toward workers, including increasing the amount of critical coverage days workers must be available to work or else accrue disciplinary attendance points that could lead to termination.
“Historically, JetBlue has always run a skeleton staff of crew members in all their departments,” said a longtime flight attendant at JetBlue who requested to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak with the media.
The flight attendant said problems related to Covid-19 such as canceled, rescheduled or delayed flights that prolong time on duty or away from home and difficulties with transportation and hotel lodging for flight attendants have made many workers reluctant to accept extra assignments.
They also said many flight attendants experiencing delays or flight changes have waited several hours for JetBlue to get them a hotel room or transportation to a hotel in a layover city, cutting into their rest time. Some have given up and paid for a hotel or
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