FAs Were Swapping Assignments Through Social Media

United Airlines has taken the unusual step of warning its flight attendants to stop the practice of trading or choosing flights that they will work for some compensation, or risk termination by the airline.

In the memo obtained by Fox news, the airline says it is "addressing ... the growing problem of selecting, trading or parking a pairing to broker, buy or sell it to another Flight Attendant.

The company says that it knows most FAs follow the rules, but there have been complaints about the unauthorized brokering.

'Several of the complaints we received pointed out social media posts authored by Flight Attendants that promised "hugs," "kisses," "candy canes," "expressions of appreciation" and other coded enticements in exchange for a pairing. Our research of the eBB postings confirmed this is in fact happening, and these gestures are violations of our policies.

"As you all know, the use of company systems is proprietary. Sharing your system password or using United scheduling tools to engage in those types of behaviors is strictly prohibited. To that end, we are working with IT and Corporate Security to identify those who may be misusing our systems for personal gain.

"The scheduling provisions of the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement that went into effect last October affords you more flexibility than ever to manage your schedules. With that flexibility, however, comes a responsibility to follow the rules.

"We have zero tolerance for this prohibited behavior. When we discover that it's occurring, we will fully investigate and take appropriate action, up to and including discharge."

(Image from file)

FMI: Full memo