Tag Archives for flight attendants.
With more and more disgruntled customers complaining, we learn that British Airways recurrent flight attendant training now includes two new elements.
I’m going to make some readers mad talking about flight attendant pay for a moment. Flight attendant unions love to highlight the struggles of their newest members, but rarely represent those members well.
They are asking for 3% – 4% more than what American Airlines flight attendants just won. The bigger percentage increases are for more senior crew, who already earn more. And they are asking for bigger future raises, too.
United Airlines will pay flight attendants not to take a hotel room for the night during layovers on their trips. This is called the “Hotel Gainsharing” program, and pays “at least $20 per night based on how much United saves in canceling a hotel room that it no longer requires.”
Delta Air Lines sent out a memo to prospective employees interviewing for flight attendant jobs. Candidates were told to wear “proper undergarments” to their interview – underwear should not be visible to staff.
The agreement provides 18% – 20% raises right away, full retro pay, plus boarding pay which the union says averages to an 8.5% raise. Taken together this outpaces what inflation has eroded from flight attendant wages over the last 5 years.
Alaska Airlines flight attendants have just voted down the contract their union negotiated. It would have given them an immediate 18% raise and then 3% raises in subsequent years. They’d receive boarding pass and retro pay back to 2022. The vote wasn’t close – 68 to 32 against.
There are a number of issues that flight attendants are unhappy with in the new contract their union negotiated with American. The last time cabin crew voted on a contract, they voted it down. The union is doing a good job selling it, in my opinion, but the membership is clearly divided – and their powerful LAX base president has given new voice to the opposition.
It’s interesting to look at what American Airlines flight attendants didn’t get in their negotiations. They’re going to get boarding pay – they’ll be paid for the time spent boarding an aircraft – but that doesn’t start until six months after the contract is ratified. They’re going to get higher 401(k) contributions, but that doesn’t start until 2025. They aren’t going to get higher staffing levels. They won’t even get pre-pandemic staffing levels restored.
The new American Airlines flight attendants contract that workers will be asked to vote on contains new language about the union helping the airline track down and discipline members who sell their seniority.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
