On September 14, 2022, 403 American Airlines flight attendants working out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) were notified by email that the SF base would be shutting down. For 50 years, flight attendants working for American Airlines called SF their home base. My father is one of these 403 employees. 

For over 25 years, my father has worked for American Airlines as a flight attendant. Before his time at American, he worked for Reno Air, and transferred to SFO when Reno Air was bought out by American.

In 2002, the aftermath of 9/11 left the airline industry in shambles. Airlines had to cut costs, which meant that bases had to cut staff and operating costs. My dad was right underneath the ax of either severance or transfer - so we prepared to move to St. Louis, Missouri, the only transfer option at the time. When this happened, I was less than a year old. Ultimately, American decided to keep my dad at SFO, and that was the closest we ever came to relocation. 

At the time, that would have been okay. We were a small family of three, ready to move at a moment’s notice. But now, we are a family of five, with two of us (myself included) in college and the other in high school. We have relatives and friends here, and are involved in the community in other ways. Uprooting ourselves now is a much harder decision than it was nearly two decades ago. 

If my father transferred, he would have to work two weeks in a row at his base, and come home for another two weeks, and vice versa, which will create a divide in our family.

That is why I started this petition, because I would do anything if it meant he could stay home, and keep my family together. Not only that, but as I've grown up with the AA family at SFO, I've gotten to know his coworkers personally, and know that most, if not, all of them, are in the same position as us. They aren't just coworkers, they are family to each other, and treat each other like such.

Shutting down the base at SFO will displace 403 flight attendants and their families, being forced to either quit, retire, or transfer to a base that is located outside California, since LAX is overstaffed.

At the time of writing, flight attendants based at SFO are being forced to transfer "voluntarily", meaning the company isn't required to pay them moving expenses, like they should, despite them being kicked out of SFO involuntarily.

At this time, there is wide speculation that American Airlines, a Dallas, Texas based company, decided to shut down the base at SFO due to California's generous labor laws, as California offers employees legal flexibilities over their schedules and pay. Employees see this as an attack on California's labor market overall, and the senior employees at SFO who gained salary increases for their service.

Most importantly, however, is the fact that the union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) has said little to nothing to the employees it is supposed to defend.

We call to action congresswoman Jackie Speier, Governor Newsom, Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh, Secretary of the Department of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, CA Secretary of Labor Natalie Palugyai, and you, to help us reverse American Airline's decision, and keep the jobs and livelihoods of 403 families who have called San Francisco, and the bay, their home.

By signing this petition, we hope to gain traction to this cause, to hold American Airlines and the APFA responsible for their negligence, and to keep American Airlines' base at SFO for years to come.