United Airlines and its flight attendants union reached a tentative agreement in March. It gives flight attendants their first raise in 5.5 years. And it’s significant, more than making up for inflation eroding their income by over 20% in the meantime. In fact, the most senior flight attendants at United will earn over $100 an hour.
The new contract just passed, with 82% of flight attendants voting to ratify it, which is huge. 88.85% of eligible union members cast votes.
It’s about time! Flight attendants rejected the last contract their union had negotiated. To get more money in some areas, they had to give up scope (allowing United Airlines to own a reginal carrier without staffing it with members of their union) and give back some retro back that accounted for years without a raise.
United’s flight attendants get raises that cover inflation losses. Gains come from boarding pay (which non-union Delta pioneered in 2022) and sit pay for long layovers, which the airline now has an incentive to avoid.
The union had said that United had put in all the money that they were going to extract with the first contract, but this new one it seems does a better job allocating that money in line with crew priorities.
Many flight attendants aren’t happy with the deal. But there wasn’t the kind of active complaining about specific parts of it, like layover hotel rules, that you heard after the first tentative agreement was released. That made it clear this would pass – plus, cabin crew were just ready to finally be paid. In July 2025, 71% voted no. 10 months later, 82% voted yes.
Flight attendant hourly rates at United will now be higher than at Delta (and 1% higher than American), however United’s contract does not give them the same profit-sharing formula that Delta uses and that American flight attendants won two years ago.
Differences in pay with Delta will be driven by (1) the annual raises that Delta provides, without waiting on a contract and (2) actual profit. If Delta continues to be the most profitable airline, and share profits more aggressively, then their flight attendants will still be the best paid.
In the meantime, in addition to raises, United Airlines will be paying out $740 million in retro pay as a signing bonus. Much of that was already booked in United’s financials, but higher labor costs are going to begin to affect the airline’s financials. They’ve been making enough so that this won’t matter, as long as macro conditions do not change…
That seems crazy they have to do back pay since the contract ended last… but my question is what about any employees who are no longer with the company but worked for 2 or 3 years after the last contract ended. Do they get anything? Or nothing since they are no longer with the company… just something I’m curious about.