For American, Flights With No Passengers

BOSTON--Inside the American Airlines terminal at Logan Airport yesterday, passengers purchased tickets, airline employees checked baggage and overhead monitors showed flights running on time.

But outside the terminal's doors, a group of picketing flight attendant claimed their five-day-old strike against American Airlines was taking its toll nonetheless.

"A flight just came in with two scabs on it," American Airlines flight attendant Betty J. Martin told co-worker Kate Santamaria. "But it was empty."

The strike, organized by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, will last 11 days. And workers outside Logan yesterday said the company is having little success in its attempts to resume normal operation.

Only two of the 32 flights scheduled for departure from Logan on Saturday carried passengers, "and it hasn't gotten much better," Santamaria said.

"I feel really bad for the passengers," Santamaria said. "[American agents] tell them to come in, that the flight's delayed, and the luggage goes, but the people are still waiting here."

There is little chance that American will be able to find enough attendants to carry passengers on many of its flights, since 98 percent of American's 21,000 flight attendants are on strike, Santamaria said.

"Two percent is really nothing," said Kevin S. Merritt, an 11-year employee of American Airlines. "This was unexpected."

The flight attendants were dissatisfied with the American Airlines' new four-year contract, finalized October 30. They called for renegotiation in order to achieve an increase in wages, working conditions and health and retirement benefits.

Flight attendants charged that while American Airlines is rated first in both service and safety among the larger airline companies, it ranks sixth in terms of employee wages.

Unity on the job served as the basis for unity in the strike, many flight attendants said.

"We're together for two, three, four days," Santamaria said. "You're not going to cross the picket line because you're going to lose friends, too."

"We travel together, eat together, cry and laugh together," Martin said. "We've found what makes us tick, and [American Airlines chair Robert C. Crandall pushed us below that ticking point."

Crandall told the Associated Press yesterday that he will not negotiate with the striking flight attendants and will, if necessary, replace them for the duration of the strike.

American Airlines is now attempting to acquire substitute flight attendants in 10-day training sessions. Crandall said, however, that up to two-thirds of this week's flights may be canceled.

Crandall said people with unused American tickets can receive refunds, and many other airline companies will accept the tickets provided that they have sufficient space on the flights.

But as Thanksgiving approaches, unoccupied seats become harder to find.

Flight attendants said the timing of their strike had nothing to do with the Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, the strike occurred in November because it followed the October 30 contract negotiations.

The new contract not only fails to offer enough compensation, said flight attendants, but also requires minimal staffing on most flights, meaning that there would have to be a larger body of reserve attendants who would have to be available to staff a flight on a moment's notice.

It also extends the maximum amount of time the flight attendants may work to a number larger than the current 14 hours, flight attendants said.

Once the 11 days of the strike have passed, the flight attendants will returnto work, with or without renegotiation. They willreserve the right to strike again.

Crandall said the strike is costing the companyover $10 million per day

Crandall said the strike is costing the companyover $10 million per day