I am Getting Furloughed

View our of airplane door looking a wing and engine with mountains in the background.

Unless you’ve been on an isolated, soul searching expedition deep in the wilderness up until reading this post, you no doubt know all about COVID-19 and how it’s impacting our daily lives. (And if you have, can you send me the deets?) I would venture to say few know it better than those in the aviation industry. April was a WILD time of flying only a handful of people in planes that hold 160+ passengers. As summer pushes on and fall approaches, we are seeing more of a return to air travel. But we are no where near where we were this time last year. My and other airlines have a surplus in workers that need to be reduced so that these companies can continue to operate.

There are a couple important things to note before I get too far into my situation. 1. This industry is very seniority loyal 2. I am in a union and have a contract dictating my working conditions including furlough

What does ’furlough’ mean for me?

On August 25, 2020 I received notification that I will be furloughed on October 1st. Why October 1st? When the COVID 19 pandemic first picked up there was a sharp decline in air travel. Airlines losing millions of dollars every day. The government as part of the CARES act stimulus package offered a bail out to America’s various airlines. One of the stipulations of accepting this money was these companies could not furlough its employees until a specified date. That date was chosen to be October 1st as everyone thought we would be over this pandemic thing.

As I am sure you are all aware, that is not the case. And as cases continue to rise in certain parts of the country and international destinations barring non-citizen travelers, demand for air travel is declining again. In order for airlines to stay afloat, they must cut costs and that means cutting jobs.

What is a furlough?

A furlough is an involuntary, temporary loss of job. Furlough differs from being laid off (typically) in that you can be called back to work for the company in your same position. I won’t have to go through the hiring process again when I am called back. This is good news for me as becoming a flight attendant is a long and competitive process.

Per the contract that I work under, the company furloughs people from the bottom of the seniority list and goes up. We then will be called back to work before they can hire anyone new in a top down list of those that were furloughed. Seniority is based on your hire date, which is when you graduate from flight attendant training. I was hired last year, thus I am fairly close to the bottom of the list. The official number of flight attendants being furloughed at my company is about 8,100.

How long will the furlough last?

This is the biggest question that has been on my mind. There has been speculation that we will be called back by next summer. Some guess that it will be a couple of years. The truth is no one knows for sure. It depends on things like if/when a vaccine for COVID-19 comes on the market and when forgin countries open up to tourists again. I get to keep my flight benefits for up to 2 years while being furloughed so I really hope it is less than that!

What’s my plan?

The most talked about subject when I go to work these days. “So what are you going to do while we’re furloughed?” And people have had some really interesting ideas. Some are going to travel, others are going back to their previous job, others still are going (back) to school.

I personally want to take advantage of being free from these more strict schedules, especially over the holidays! Of course there are bills that still have to be taken care of. I plan of driving for Doordash in the mean time. I started doing it on the side this summer for just a few hours when I felt like it. It is something I have enjoyed and you can make real money from it. On the more personal side, I have wanted to have pink hair ever since I was a little girl. With having no dress code to abide by, I think I’m going to finally take the plunge this fall!

Ultimately, being furloughed was not in my plan when starting a new career, but it has become my reality. I do not plan to leave this industry as I love my job. We will weather the storm and make it out better than ever!

I would ask you all to keep myself and other aviation employees in your thoughts and prayers in the coming months. If you need to fly, please be kind and follow the policies that are in place. And if you feel so inclined to click through on this link to urge Congress to extend the CARES Act funds to save aviation jobs it would be much appreciated.