Today is profit sharing day at Delta Air Lines, and in addition to paying out $1.3 billion to employees today (8.9% of salary, or about a month’s worth of pay) the airline has announced that its employees will receive a raise this year.
Delta’s profit sharing exceeds the amounts paid out by the rest of the U.S. airline industry combined and it’s the ninth time they’ve paid out over $1 billion in profit sharing – basically every year since 2014 with a break during the pandemic.
The airline’s employees, like flight attendants, earn more than competitors. Whle they don’t have a union deal, American’s flight attendant union contract tried to mirror what Delta offers but American doesn’t make money. 10% profit sharing of near-zero at American is near-zero, while at Delta is really material.
At United Airlines, employees go years without raises. The following union contracts are currently ‘amendable’ (meaning they’ve expired, and employees keep the same pay without raises until there’s a new contract in place):
- Flight attendants (AFA-CWA) — amendable since August 2021.
- Dispatchers (PAFCA) — amendable December 2024.
- Aviation maintenance technicians (Teamsters) — amendable December 5, 2024.
- Passenger service, fleet service, storekeepers, fleet technical instructors (IAM District 41) — amendable May 1, 2025
Meanwhile, non-union Delta employees generally get raises each year (in fairness, there was a break in this during the pandemic, but Delta didn’t furlough anyone while American and United furloughed more employees than any other airlines in history had previously). They’re able to drive a revenue premium in part because their employees are better, they have a better culture.
The airline has added monthly bonuses (‘shared rewards’) for hitting operational goals, $1,000 payouts for going through personal finance education, and the airline was the first to introduce boarding pay for flight attendants and did it as a true add-on to existing wages (in contrast, at American, flight attendant leaders explained that when they got this provision in their new contract it traded off with wages).
The best workplaces are often non-unionized.
The DL pilots and dispatchers are unionized and UA’s unionized employees are getting almost as much in profit sharing. Good management is far more causal WRT profitability than unionization.
When you treat your employees better (of which, compensation is just one part), you attract and retain better employees. Delta is to the airline industry what Costco is to the retail industry (especially in comparison to Target and WallyWorld). It’s too bad that Southwest used to operate this way, and then just pissed it all away to line the pockets of Elliott Investments.
One of the best things about a non-union environment is that you can pay high performing people well. Unlike a union shop where everyone is considered to be of equal worth, even if they’re a (union protected) underperformed. Another reason we choose Delta first.
on this, rebel and I agree.
DL is simply a better run company and airline. Their unionized and non-union employees both win.
It is most notable that WN used to pay very high profit sharing but it was restricted to retirement accounts. DL’s profit sharing is payable in cash but employees can put it in their retirement accounts.
Boat, car, remodeling and vacation sales always peak in DL hubs in Feb.
AA not only doesn’t provide profit sharing because they make near zero profits but UA’s profits will be reduced by hundreds of millions if not billions per year when their employees quit drinking koolaid and demand to be paid DL-comparable wages.
WN is clawing its way back from the abyss but DL is likely to lead not just airlines but all of corporate America in the size of its profit sharing for years to come.
to amplify on rebel’s comments. UA’s unionized employees may be getting about higher profit sharing than any other non-DL airline, their wages far lag DL’s so their total compensation is much lower.
The notion that unions have helped keep UA employee compensation comparable to DL is simply not supported by facts
and Lance,
DL’s non-union mechanics allow DL to pursue valuable contract work such as engine overhaul rights with all three of the western engine manufacturers that DL can do because it hires retired DL mechanics on a contract basis which unions don’t allow.
All DL employees benefit from the extra revenue from these MRO contracts which have similar examples elsewhere in DL’s workforce.
DL simply has fewer restrictions while its employees benefit and make more as a result of being largely non-union.
Not sure what the issue is.
Employees at one company are always better/worse off than at another company. This is free market/capitalism.
I’m the consumer being presented with a gradually worsening product at constantly increasing pricing. I make my choice of airline and so can employees.
2025 PS: DL:8.9%, UA:7.1%
@ Tim — MUCH lower? Exaggerate much?
Before the MBAs descended on business employers often knew treat your people well and pay them well they will mostly work hard. Back in the late 70s when I was in college I worked in a steel mill during summers. Yeah, it was brutal; the heat, the loudness, the sometimes acid smells. But even as a summer hire I made an hourly wage that would have supported a middle income family.
The company was non unioned and paid very well and had great benefits. People stayed. When workers got older they were put into Foreman/Supervisor jobs. But that would be quaint today and to be honest it would be hard to compete today as the MBAs forced production to poor countries. The same MBA types that babble on about DEI and “equality.”
rebel and Gene,
feel free to tell any UA employee that 1.8% of their salary is “no big deal” and see how fast they will take to hit you up the side of the head.
Even for UA pilots which have the most similar contract as DL pilots, 1.8% amounts to thousands of dollars for the average pilot.
If you spent last time trying to defend the failures of UA and more time actually looking at the people who are impacted by your arguments, you wouldn’t look so ridiculous.
I can assure you that there are conversations in UA’s galleys today about how much more DL FAs are making not just in annual compensation but also in profit sharing – and asking if the union is really worth it.
George,
the airline industry -as well as the steel industry – has long been heavily unionized. Manufacturing jobs can be outsourced but domestic airline jobs cannot. Delta figured out long ago how to maximize benefits for both union and non-union workers and I can assure there are plenty of MBAs at DL.
DL just started with a different formula and has continued to lean into it while other airlines including AA and UA which have long had confrontational employee relations have failed to see their employees as their greatest assets – and they pay the price in the quality of the business and airline they run.
Workers should be paid more. Unless they are workers that are working on their own free will. They deserve nothing but minimum wage, maybe less. Only union workers who get paid based on seniority only should be paid more. We all know that seniority is the only reasonable measure of productivity. Anyone who says otherwise is a fascist white supremacist.
@rebel – remember that UA flight attendants are working under their contract that became amendable 5 years ago and doesn’t have the smae profit sharing terms we see at DL, AA
@rebel gets it. Delta pilots have had a union since 1934!’
@Tim Dunn — Since the management is so good, then, they should be fine with flight attendants, baggage handlers, and maintenance technicians joining those pilots (and dispatchers) in organizing. More profits and additional protections can be a win-win for all of them and DAL.
@Raphael Solomon — Turn down the volume…you don’t need Fox News on full-volume, 24/7.
@1990bot — Yes, @Michael Mainello, “Workers should be paid more.” Finally, you’re getting it. (The rest is hyperbole, though.)
1990
sadly, you don’t get it.
Employees don’t care about how they get paid but total compensation is what they care most about. Work rules in the airline industry are simply not that different between the big 3 carriers.
There is no value in a union and DL proves that every day of the year and twice on Valentine’s Day or the day before when the holiday falls on a weekend. Wow. What a Friday the 13th
It is beyond belief that you rail incessantly about unions and socialism and then tell us how much premium class travel you do. You are the poster child of the hypocrisy of socialists.
none of which, as Gary accurately notes, that DL employees are enjoying the best compensation in the industry because of a combination of high wage scales and record profit sharing – which is a result of industry leading service from the front line and management being the best at what they do.
AA and UA – and every other airline including WN which was once in DL’s camp (or vice versa) simply trails right now and likely will for years to come.
Remember Timmy, if your woody lasts more than four hours seek medical attention.