DENVER — Frontier Airlines is changing the way they schedule flights, and not everyone is happy about it.
The airline is moving its planes to do more out-and-back trips, instead of the typical model used by airlines involving trips of multiple days in different cities. By switching to this method, the goal would be to keep an aircraft at its base overnight, therefore increasing reliability by reducing disruptions to the public.
According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Frontier ranked second-worst for on-time arrivals in 2023.
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) union, representing almost 4,000 flight attendants at Frontier, told 9NEWS that the process has already begun with about 85% of flights now using the "out-and-back" method.
"What this does is have a significant negative impact on the flight attendant's ability to earn a living. It also affects our ability to commute to work, whether that be through air or public transportation or your own car," said Jennifer Sala, Frontier president of the Association of Flight Attendants. "Traditionally, a flight attendant doesn't go to the airport every day. We live further out than a normal person's commute to work. It might be 1-3 hours or we might just be flying in from another state to start our trips."
In addition to commuters, Sala said newly-hired flight attendants would also be highly affected.
"When we're running our numbers currently, we're looking at our newer flight attendants (one to three years seniority) who are being affected by probably by about 20% of their income. Someone who has worked for the company longer is seeing less drastic monetary changes. So they're looking at probably like 10%," said Sala.
According to a press release from the AFA, flight attendant compensation is traditionally structured around flight hours (time in the air) and time away from home. Because of that time away from home, per diem on multi-day trips is not taxed. Conversely, per diem on one-day trips is taxable income, which can lower take-home pay for flight attendants.
The AFA union has so far written to Frontier management, claiming a renegotiated contract would be necessary, since the existing collective bargaining agreement was not designed for the new business model.
“This is a gross example of corporate greed,” said Sara Nelson, AFA International president. “Management’s turn plan is shifting corporate costs including hotel and transportation directly onto individual flight attendants. If Frontier wants to make these changes, they MUST negotiate to reflect the completely new business model.”
When contacted by 9NEWS, Frontier Airlines declined to comment for this story.
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