The mass email hit some flight attendants' inboxes mid-flight.
"Today it's with great regret that I let you know about our decision to close the SFO flight attendant base," American Airlines executive Brady Byrnes said in the September memo obtained by Insider.
In closing its San Francisco base, citing economic factors and shifting customer demand, American presented 400 flight attendants with a choice that many said felt impossible to make: leave the airline or leave the state.
The base is home to some of the carrier's most senior flight attendants, two-thirds of whom have been at the airline for 13 years or more, according to the union representing American Airlines flight attendants. By January 31, they must select an airport from a list of the airline's hubs outside of California to work out of. For those who can't or won't, the only options are to retire early (if eligible) or resign, the union told Insider.