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The flight attendants' union accuses American Airlines of discriminating against its mostly female group by imposing a stricter attendance policy that can result in employees being fired quickly. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants asked the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Friday to investigate its charge. About 75% of American's flight attendants are women. Union president Lori Bassani says that American is discriminating against women because the airline's mostly male pilot workforce does not have a similar attendance policy. Flight attendants are given points for things such as calling in sick during the holidays or after being asked to replace another absent flight attendant. Bassani says 10 points gets a flight attendant fired, and "a few" have been terminated. <br/>

British Airways celebrates its centenary this year. But the glory days of the 1980s when it dubbed itself “the world’s favourite airline” have receded into history and its reputation is no longer flying high. Even the airline’s CE has no illusions about the company after 20 years of cuts and sporadic debacles, including a worldwide IT failure that grounded flights and an enormous data breach that affected nearly 400,000 customers. “There’s a lot of people . . . who have become disenchanted,” said the airline’s boss Alex Cruz. “Ever so slowly, we’re moving in the right direction, finally,” he said, as a GBP6.5b investment programme, which includes new planes, lounges and seats with direct aisle access in its long-haul business class, bears fruit. <br/>