Overview and Structural Framework

Governing documents

The Constitution establishes APFA’s offices, governing bodies, member powers, and internal procedures. The Policy Manual supplies additional operating rules and a revision history. The American Airlines/APFA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) governs contractual representation and enforcement.

Version dates need context. The October 2026 posted Constitution retains an older membership-amendment cover label. The posting date and the effective history of individual provisions are different facts. The Policy Manual’s revision history should likewise be consulted for the origin of a particular rule.

Historical comparison sources: earlier Constitution PDF with a 2015 filename and May 2025 Policy Manual. These are historical versions, not the current governing-document baseline.

Organizational form

APFA is an independent organization representing American Airlines Flight Attendants. It has no parent-union governance layer. National offices, organization-wide decision-making, and internal Base Councils operate within the same union.

Those internal titles coexist with the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) determination that APFA is a local labor organization for Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) purposes. OLMS’s letter dated March 27, 2025 reaffirmed its June 7, 2024 determination and treated the Base Councils as administrative arms of APFA. The determination does not create a parent affiliation or make each Base Council a separate LMRDA labor organization.

The national-officer term is now 36 months, replacing the earlier 48-month term. The base-representative term remains 24 months. The classification and resulting election requirements should be described specifically; they do not establish that every part of APFA’s internal structure was rewritten.

Sources: Constitution, Articles II, III, and VI §3; OLMS determination letter, March 27, 2025. See Elections and Member Control for terms and the corrected 2027 schedule.

Governing bodies

Members

Members elect officers and retain separate constitutional ballot and petition powers. Amendment, recall, dues changes, and contract ratification follow their own procedures and thresholds; they are not one interchangeable referendum process.

National Officers and Board of Directors

The four National Officers are the President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Board of Directors includes those officers and each Base President. Board membership and voting membership differ: Base Presidents form the Voting Board, with one vote each. National Officers have voice without a vote, except that the President must break a tie when all Voting Board members are present and there are no abstentions.

Executive Committee

The nine-person Executive Committee consists of the four National Officers and five Ad Hoc members. It acts for the Board within the Constitution’s delegation. The governing provision determines the scope of a particular decision and whether review or reversal is available.

Sources: Constitution, Article III §§1, 3–4; Articles IV, VIII, and XI. Structural Axes of Authority details votes, quorums, and delegated responsibilities.

Committees and accountability

The Constitution itself establishes several committees, including the National Ballot Committee, Budget Committee, and Negotiating Committee. Other departments and committees perform assigned operational functions. Their authority depends on the governing provision.

The five Ad Hoc members also serve as the Grievance Appeal Panel for the specified grievance-sponsorship appeals. Its decision is final and binding under the Constitution and cannot be reversed by the Executive Committee or Board. That exception matters when tracing how a grievance decision can be challenged.

Sources: Constitution, Articles IX–X and Article III §4.J(11), printed p. 16. See Committees and Contract Administration for bargaining, ratification, sponsorship, and appeal procedures.

Organizational change requires separate approvals

The Constitution separately governs affiliation, merger, or federation with another union. The general rule requires prior approval by two-thirds of the Executive Committee, two-thirds of the Voting Board, and a majority of active members in good standing who return valid ballots. Article XII includes a specified exception for organizing certain American Airlines Group-affiliated or contract-flying airline employees.

These union-governance decisions are distinct from an airline transaction and the CBA’s employment, successorship, and seniority protections. The applicable source and approval route depend on which type of change is being considered.

Sources: Constitution, Article XII §§1–3, printed p. 58 / PDF p. 68; CBA §1.C–H, printed pp. 1-1–1-3 / PDF pp. 5–7.

What the structure can show

A single-carrier structure makes APFA’s organization-wide decisions and finances identifiable within one union. Structure alone does not demonstrate faster service, better outcomes, or a particular level of local spending. Those conclusions require evidence about decisions, budgets, staffing, and results.

The representation analysis separates authorized positions from paid release and work performed. The financial review explains the annual records and the limits of inferring local service from organization-wide spending categories.