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The Air India-Vistara merger is almost on the horizon, and the airline is making final changes to its policies and plans for its staff, crew, pilots, management and all the other ancillary services. One particular policy that turned out to be a headache for the management was the cabin crew proposed room sharing policy that led to angry outbursts and widespread outrage in the airline’s cabin crew department.
Eyeing the rising discontent and to keep the cabin crew happy, the Air India management decided to tweak its policy a bit. As per the finalised revised policy for cabin crew members, layover allowances have been hiked and members will have to share rooms during layovers except for cabin executives and those operating ultra-long-haul flights.
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As per the previous policy, the cabin crew had to share the rooms irrespective of whether the flight was normal, long haul, or ultra-long haul.The allowance for international layovers will be increased from USD 85-135 per layover night from USD 75-100, as per internal communication of the airline. Under the new policy, cabin crew members will have to share rooms during layovers.Interestingly, cabin crew members of ultra-long-haul flights will get single rooms during layovers as well as during unscheduled layovers in the event of a flight diversion.
Ultra-long-haul flights are those with a duration of 16 hours or more.
Senior members of the crew with over 8 years of experience—called cabin executives—will get single rooms during layovers. These executives are trained to handle security and emergency situations, including administering first aid to passengers.For domestic layovers, Air India has introduced a new support allowance of INR 1,000. The meal option available to cabin crew on domestic sectors has been changed from only one meal to three meals. Among other benefits, the medical insurance for all employees of Air India will be INR 7.5 lakh, irrespective of seniority.Initially, all Air India cabin crew members had separate rooms for stay during layovers.
However, it looks like the All-India Cabin Crew Association is unhappy over this new policy change as well. The association has termed the room-sharing policy for a section of cabin crew members as ‘illegal, bad in law, and Void ab initio on multiple fronts.’ Not just that, the association is seeking intervention from the Labour Ministry, urging it to stall the move.
In its notice to the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) New Delhi, the association said “Our attention has been drawn to the notice issued by Air India on its bulletin board, inter alia proposing to unilaterally change the conditions of service of cabin crew during the pendency of the National Industrial Tribunal and an industrial dispute in this very matter, compelling them to share rooms whilst on overnight layovers, with effect from December 1.”
The association is seeking these entitlements for hotel accommodation and conditions of accommodation in line with the policy on accommodation for pilots, as per the previous agreements and tribunal awards.The association has also written to Air India Chief Campbell Wilson, urging him “not to violate” the existing status quo and respect the sanctity of the Industrial Tribunal and the pending industrial dispute over the issue.
“We urge you not to violate the existing status quo, respect the sanctity of the Industrial Tribunal and the pending industrial dispute, and engage in ethical and constructive dialogue with the AICCA in the good spirit of mutual interests for the greater benefit of our company,” the association said.
A similar move was attempted in 2018 by the then Air India management and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which was resisted by the AICCA on legal, ethical, and moral grounds, the association claimed. Post-merger, the single Air India entity will have a staff strength of around 25,000, of which there will be about 12,000 cabin crew members.
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