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57 years
Flight Attendant Who Worked For Delta For 57 Years Accuses Airline Of Ageism After Surprise Firing
A flight attendant named Ida Gomez Llanos was fired from her job at Delta Airlines after 57 years on the job.
Though the official reason for her firing is somewhat hazy, she believes she was let go due to ageism.
She shared her story with Inside Edition.
Flight Attendant Claims She Was Fired Because of Her Ageyoutu.be
Llanos claims the reasons she was given for her firing was that she allegedly took a carton of milk from the plane.
In a lawsuit filed this month, Llanos said she was bullied and harassed on the job. Lies and rumors were spread about her which led to her first write up in 60 years claiming she took a carton of milk.
Llanos had risen to be the top flight attendant in seniority in Los Angeles and 5th in the entire country which is based on days and number of flights worked, not just years with the company. Llanos believed her status created envy and resentment among some of her colleagues.
Llanos told the Daily Mail:
"I couldn't believe it. I've been accused of so many things and none were true. I try not to take it personally, but when you get mean about me and start lying, that is a problem."
However, she believes there was more to the issue.
At Delta Airlines, flight attendants reap many benefits after working with the company for enough years.
"They want to get rid of the older flight attendants. I think they put us on a higher surveillance. It's because they have to pay us so much because we've been there forever and your pay scale goes up each year. I think they can hire four newer flight attendants for what they pay me."
After more than a half century with the company, Llanos was earning $250,000 annually.
As a veteran attendant, Llanos also had her choice of routes.
Both of these perks are often unavailable to younger workers and Llanos believes this created resentment among them.
Llanos commented:
"[The job] was good, but you had to work a lot of hours if you wanted top pay. It wasn't that everyone was working that. It's just that I flew almost every day of the month. I took my job very seriously. I love my job."
Delta denied Llanos's claims in a statement, which read:
"While Ms. Gomez [Llanos] had a long career at Delta, she was only one of more than 2,600 flight attendants with 40 or more years of seniority. Any suggestion that Delta terminated Ms. Gomez because of her age or for taking a catering item off a plane is false and grossly misleading."
"While Delta does not generally discuss the details of an employee's job performance, it can say that Ms. Gomez was terminated only after being repeatedly counseled and disciplined for committing numerous policy violations, none of which were determined to be 'fabricated' as she now contends."
Now it will be up to a court to decide who is credibly telling the truth about what happened.