American Airlines Will Pay 9,500 Flight Attendants Extra—Up To $169 Per Flight After Heathrow Catering Mess

American Airlines will pay more than 9,500 flight attendants extra money for working London Heathrow trips during its catering breakdown. They’ll receive up to $169 per trip for dealing with extra trash, rearranging carts, and doing work that would normally have been handled by catering employees. The settlement announced by their union covers trips departing for London from February 28 through October 27, 2026. Flight attendants are already being paid to work the flight, they’re paid by the hour, and don’t work extra hours because of the catering challenges. Some days at work are harder than others! Here there were specific duties American’s contract assigns to other workers, and the temporary workaround stretched across nearly eight months. How Much Flight Attendants Will Receive Each flight attendant will get paid extra for the trips they worked departing London Heathrow. Departure To London Payment Per Flight Attendant, Per Sequence What Changed February 28–April 29 $169 The initial disruption required substantial extra catering and waste handling, including moving carts and setting up additional equipment. April 30–September 4 $84.50 The union says double catering of entrées had ended and ground workers were removing trash from meal carts, waste carts, and bins. Other problems continued. September 5–October 27 $42.25 DO & CO placed catering coordinators aboard Heathrow departures to reposition equipment and prepare the galleys. The union says all qualifying London trips during these periods receive compensation, regardless of how many minutes they spent fixing a particular galley. Someone who worked five trips during the first period, five during the second, and three during the third generates $1,394.25. What Extra Work Were They Actually Doing? Normally, caterers deliver and stow the supplies for the next flight, and ground workers deal with the previous flight’s waste. Flight attendants check what they’ve received, prepare the service, and serve passengers. But American wasn’t getting all the supplies they needed at London Heathrow after suspending catering from dnata following an onboard incident. They were supplying two transatlantic flights from the U.S. at one point, which meant packing galleys tightly so that crews had to work around supplies intended for the return journey. And out of London they were removing trash, moving and repositioning carts, and setting up additional carts and catering containers. Emptying and managing waste from used carts. In April, the union said cleaners were emptying trash containers and trolleys but leaving refuse inside some carts. Restocking and rearranging galleys. Crews were preparing equipment for the next flight, rather than simply clearing their own meal service. Finding and accessing supplies in unfamiliar positions. Boston representatives reported heavy soda supplies placed in high compartments, leaking trash bags, and food handling concerns. Additional oversight by pursers. The union challenged having the lead flight attendant coordinate re-catering and cleaning work outside the crew’s normal responsibilities. Even in September, Chicago union representatives were asking crews to report flights where coordinators hadn’t repositioned equipment, removed trash, or prepared the galley consistently. Does Their Contract Actually Require Extra Pay? There’s no standard payout for catering disruptions in the flight attendant contract, however the contract says: “Ground crew personnel will be responsible for loading catering supplies onto the aircraft and for stowing such supplies.” Flight attendants aren’t responsible for assisting with aircraft loading and unloading. Limits post-flight cleaning, exempts international segments, and excludes cleaning after the duty day ends. Permits a grievance if American abuses its staffing or service discretion by assigning an unreasonable workload. Requires consultation with the union before finalizing changes to inflight procedures affecting flight attendants. The Boston base filed a grievance in April seeking $10.50 per flight hour in additional compensation, using understaffing pay as its benchmark. That’s for flying below required staffing. More work, though, doesn’t trigger that. My back of the envelope is this settlement will cost American $5 – $7 million. But Aren’t They Already Paid By The Hour? Flight attendants have hourly rates, but they don’t clock in at their full flight rate for every hour at the airport. Their compensation combines flight credits, guarantees, and additional payments. American now pays half the hourly rate for scheduled boarding time. However, additional boarding time doesn’t automatically produce additional boarding pay. And minimum pay protections don’t mean extra minutes spent preparing a galley increases the paycheck. Still, jobs are more and less demanding all the time. A full flight requires more effort than an empty one. A catering mistake can take some improvisation. But American agreed to limits on what work it could assign. Having crews absorb another workgroup’s tasks for months creates a payout even when the scheduled flight takes the same amount of time and flight attendants are paid based on time. The Catering Mess Has Produced A Better Caterer I first covered the disruption March 1, after American stopped taking local catering at Heathrow and began loading food in the U.S. for both directions. Limited galley space meant fewer choices and reduced service, including missing pre-orders and no ice cream. On March 5, I covered boxed wine being served in business class and the circulating photo of mice in bread. Dnata firmly denied allegations of hygiene problems at its Heathrow operation (mice in the bread!) and said independent audits confirmed compliance. A photo is circulated of mice in a bag of bread that flight attendants discovered when they placed it in a basket in the galley, as shared by JonNYC. By March 10, DO & CO was improving premium cabin meals, with excellent early reports from London–Chicago. In late April, premium pre-orders and special meals returned. In August, I reported that DO & CO had been selected permanently. The final obstacle was largely catering trucks. As I reported October 2, American expected to finish moving Heathrow departures to local provisioning October 28. Boeing 777-200s had already transitioned; the premium-heavy Boeing 787-9s were scheduled to follow October 14. Readers have praised recent London–New York flights, including the food aboard the new 787-9. And American plans to retain DO & CO coordinators aboard every Heathrow departure during catering, even after the transition. Getting supplies properly loaded before boarding gives crews a chance to deliver the promised service without choosing between missing items and a departure delay. Passengers who received reduced service had their own compensation issues. During the initial disruption, readers reported receiving miles while others complained that requests were refused. There’s no new compensation for customers here. Topics on this page