Even though United Airlines flight attendants haven’t gotten a raise in five years, they overwhelmingly voted down a new contract. United’s cabin crew want more than just an inflation adjustment to their wages and the addition of boarding pay, matching American and non-union Delta.

The flight attendants union had promised them ‘ground pay’ – that they’d earn wages for their airport time, not just for time spent boarding the aircraft – but they did not deliver.

There’s rarely been much solidarity between pilots and other airline work groups. And one pilot summed up a dismissive view of flight attendant negotiations in a since-deleted comment on a Facebook post that has flight attendants crying foul and even starting a petition to have United discipline him.

In his words, “Love it, now they will get nothing.”

They all want pilot pay!!! Kirby should go to a local university where they are all a dime a dozen!!!

Screenshots of the comment quickly circulated amongst flight attendants.

This statement is explicitly derogatory toward Flight Attendants, reducing their value and professionalism to being “a dime a dozen,” while mocking their advocacy for fair compensation. The tone and language are not only dismissive and degrading, but they also foster a hostile work environment and contribute to a culture of division and disrespect within the flight crew community.

Such behavior is in direct violation of our company’s Flying Together guidelines, which require all employees to treat one another with dignity, act with professionalism in public and online, and refrain from harassment, bullying, or disparaging remarks—especially in public forums that reflect on our brand and culture.

…I respectfully urge that this matter be formally investigated and addressed in accordance with our disciplinary procedures. This is an opportunity to reaffirm that our company does not tolerate bullying or public separation of any group of employees.

A senior captain at United can make close to half a million dollars a year at the top end. Pilots have a lot more leverage over the airline because:

• The time and resources spent to become a pilot are so much greater than the six and a half weeks it takes at United (as little as 3 at some world airlines).

• Some of this is unnecessary and counterproductive clear air touch and go flying in and out of the same airports that pilots have fought for specifically to drive up the cost and time to become a pilot, rather than for safety. But that’s the point – it keeps people out of the profession, makes pilots tougher to replace, and causes them to earn more.

• Flight attendants, too, are protected by government regulation. Their jobs are supported by minimum crew requirements (1 per 50 seats) – some airlines would almost certainly fly with fewer flight attendants if they were permitted to do so.

Pilots also are far more capable of ‘bringing down an airline’ by working to rule, rejecting aircraft, and insisting on unnecessary maintenance (plus taxiing slowing and burning excess fuel, creating delays and higher costs).

But it’s also precisely because pilots are so important to an airline that this one will likely be just fine – while a similarly-situated flight attendant might not be. Remember that United wouldn’t even take action against a pilot who celebrated the 10/7 massacre on Facebook.

Still, I wouldn’t order a coffee on my next flight if I were this pilot – or ask for a flight attendant’s help blocking off the lavatory.

Flight attendants will go back to the bargaining table. The union believes they’ve already gotten all the economic value possible from United, but they’ll need to sell a new contract. So they’ll shift some things around in ways their surveys tell them they can frame as a victory, but in the end the airline isn’t likely to pay materially more.