Ugly American: seats come loose on ‘Kafkaesque’ Qantas partner – Australian Aviation

American, mired in a labour dispute with its pilots and having recently cut 11,000 jobs, ruled out sabotage as the cause of the problem. The Transport Workers of America, which represents the airlines maintenance staff, said the seat clams had been installed by an outside contractor and blamed the problem on outsourcing of maintenance work.

American claimed it would be “business as usual” when it filed for bankruptcy protection last year in what was seen as a move intended to force concessions from labour unions. Though other unions have agreed to cuts, American’s pilots have held out and in September began a program of slow-downs that saw American’s on-time rating slump to around 50 per cent. That, in turn, had led to a parade of headlines in the US media describing the passenger experience on American as ‘Kafkaesque’ and advising, ‘Friends Don’t Let Friends Fly American Airlines.’

None of that is good news for Qantas, which relies on American to take its passengers beyond the three mainland US cities Qantas flies to directly. By the same token, however, there’s not much Qantas can do about it, and American’s struggles apparently haven’t stopped Emirates from pursuing its own tie-up with the beleaguered airline.