Braunna Ross thought she could keep him together during her last shift as an American Airlines flight attendant, but as soon as she picked up the phone to announce a regular landing, her composers were lost.
The coronavirus epidemic hit the airline industry with a halt to air travel. American Airlines has lost billion 1 billion in the first half of this year, while United Airlines has lost .3 3 billion while every other airline in the industry is not far behind. The damage is projected to continue until 2021 if it does not come out.
And while it is easy to sink into the dollar sign, there are real people behind them, with real-life losses.
Aid employees are not getting any benefit other than distribution salary. That means no health insurance or free flights, and the airlines have said they don’t know when or where they will be needed. And because of the training and retraining requirements, it will be difficult to call these former employees back once they are gone.
While some are optimistic that they will soon return to a friendly sky, others are unsure of what the future holds.
‘Everyone Hurts’
Russ, 29, was working on a Sept. 27 flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to his home base in Dallas, Texas. Upon landing, she picked up the phone to announce her regular landing but wanted to leave her passengers and flight crew with the final goodbye message.
તે For American Airlines. Has been working for 2.5 years, and said this job has taken him to places he never thought he would get a chance to visit and even those places don’t exist.
“We are real people,” he said. “I personally have no children and have never been married, but I know many of my colleagues who are … who have just bought houses. Who are the young children. Whose children have to be supported in the Children’s Ledge. We are a strong group. .People and I know everyone will go through this. “
Ross said she could not ask for a better ending to her journey. Many people took the time to thank him as he got off the plane, he said. One even gave her a handwritten note that they donated to the Make a Wish Foundation in her honor.
The note states, “I don’t know your name, but I do know that a baby’s day will be made better because of you.”
“I want everyone to be a little more kind during this unprecedented time,” he said. “We are all affected by this epidemic. I feel it for everyone. Not just my industry. Everyone suffers.”
While he had only been with American Airlines for months, he had been a flight attendant for two years and told CNN that “he feels like I was robbed of someone at least once a day for this purpose.”
Dias’ last flight was an international night flight from Miami, Florida to the Dominican Republic on September 27. His new home base will be in Chicago, Illinois.
“I like being around people and helping them, and this job was perfect because being on a flight you meet everyone.”
So, what does the future hold for Dias now? He says he’s not entirely sure.
“Flight attendants usually have a hard time finding a job because employers think that a flight attendant’s duties cannot be transferred to a normal workplace,” Diaz said. Yes, but sadly, when we work harder, employers only see us as proud coke porters in the sky. ”
CNN’s Chris Isidore, Pete Munten and David Goldman contributed to the report.
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