Icelandair will fire all of its flight attendants and make pilots do their job

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Icelandair, the island nation's flag carrier, announced Friday it will fire all of its flight attendants.

Starting Monday, Icelandair's pilots will assume flight attendants' roles.

The legality and practicality of having pilots act as flight attendants are unclear.

Icelandair announced Friday it will fire all of its flight attendants, ending a labor dispute with the crew members' union that began last month. In the unprecedented move, the airline plans to have its pilots temporarily assume flight attendants' roles overseeing the safety of those onboard, starting July 20.

It's not clear how a pilot could successfully assume a flight attendant's role, especially with just two days' notice. It's also not apparent if such a setup is legal in the regions in which Icelandair flies, including the US and the European Union.

link

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Direct link:

https://www.businessinsider.com/icelandair-fire-all-flight-attendants-make-pilots-do-job-2020-7

I don't see how they can be expected to do that. FAs are responsible for a lot of cabin safety stuff, including passenger evacuation in an emergency landing or emergency rejected takeoff. Pilots, who are also trained to arm and disarm emergency doors and deploy slides but normally wouldn't have to deal with them, have their hands full in those circumstances and can hardly manage the FA's duties as well. Icelandair is a well-regarded, safe airline but this seems like a dumb and possibly dangerous move.

[Hoyt]

2. Autopilot allows them to become scabs?

[captain queeg]

3. Not the Onion?

BTW a friend of mine sent me an Onion article last week. He apparently didn’t know it was satire. Of course now days it’s sometimes hard to tell

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. More info:

https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/icelandair-orders-pilots-to-take-over-after-dismissing-all-its-cabin-crew/139353.article

It appears that they aren't actually having the flying crew also act as flight attendants, but deploying standby pilots to do it. So instead of getting to just deadhead, they have to handle FA emergency procedures. I doubt this will go over well with the pilots.

[forthemiddle]

5. Honestly the last flight I took on American Airlines didn't need a flight attendant.

Because of Covid, there was absolutely no service in the flight service. We took off, and the safety information was on the in flight screen. There was no snack, or beverage service, and the only time we saw the attendant was walking the aisle with a garbage bag.

This wasn’t just a regional flight either. It was Boise to Denver, and the Denver to Indiana.

Our Delta flight was a little better, but even then, very little service.

I understand that in Emergency situation that they are trained professionals, but in everyday service, nothing is the same.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. The *primary* job of a flight attendant is safety.

They are not intended as flying waitresses, and the FAA requires them (the number based on the number of passenger seats in the aircraft) on all flights. If anything had gone wrong on that flight you'd have seen what their real job is.

[lpbk2713]

7. When they go through rough weather the crew will be needed on the flight deck.

The passengers will be on their own. Good luck.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. See #4, they are using off-duty pilots as FAs.

It's still a bad idea.

[central scrutinizer]

8. Damn

I flew Icelandair a couple years ago. The FA asked me if I wouldn’t be more comfortable in a seat with more leg room (I’m 6’3”) and let me move. It was closer to one of the bulkheads where passengers gathered to drink the booze they’d bought in the duty free shop. A good time was had by all.