Here’s a fantastic and long overdue development…
In this post:
United & AFA reach tentative agreement on new contract
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) and United Airlines have announced that they’ve reached a “historic agreement” on a new contract for 28,000 flight attendants. The union states that the agreement includes the following:
- Industry leading compensation
- Industry leading retro pay
- Hotel, scheduling, reserve, and other quality of life improvements
- In the first year alone, flight attendants will gain 40% of total economic improvements
Locally elected union leaders will be meeting on May 29 and May 30, 2025, to review the full details, No further details of the tentative agreement will be released until that review is concluded. Assuming that all goes as planned, the agreement will be sent to members for ratification. Generally that voting period takes a month, so best case scenario, the contract will likely be ratified by some point in July.
I’m looking forward to learning the details of the agreement
In recent years, we’ve seen labor groups at most major US airlines score huge pay increases. Pilot contracts were negotiated first, followed by flight attendant contracts. This was intended to reflect the increased cost of living, plus the good performance of most carriers at the time.
We’ve seen flight attendants at Southwest, American, and Alaska, all ratify new contracts, in that order (Delta flight attendants also got raises, but aren’t unionized… for now). Negotiations at United have been most drawn out, and United flight attendants have now been with an amendable contract for nearly four years.
So I’m happy that flight attendants are finally looking at some significant pay increases, as they deserve them. Obviously the lack of a contract has caused quite some tension between management and the union, with roughly a dozen flight attendants even recently storming a media event to express their displeasure at the state of things.
United’s financial performance has improved nicely in recent years, as the carrier increasingly moves into Delta’s league, rather than being in American’s league. For the past couple of years, one major cost advantage that United has had is with labor costs. One would assume this contract will cost at least somewhere around $1 billion per year incrementally, and that says nothing of the retro pay that flight attendants are going to get. So I’m curious to see what this means for United’s bottom line.
I look forward to learning all the details, and what these drawn out negotiations accomplished. Are United flight attendants actually getting the best deal compared to rivals, or is this basically a copy of American’s new contract? We’ll find out soon…
Bottom line
United flight attendants and management have reached a new tentative agreement, the details of which should be revealed next week. The agreement reportedly includes huge pay increases, retro pay, and other improvements with hotels, scheduling, and reserve.
I’m happy for United flight attendants, as the pay for junior flight attendants really has been so low that it’s hard to make ends meet. Here’s to hoping this agreement is ratified.
What do you make of United flight attendants finally having a tentative agreement?
Wonder how much ticket prices will increase now to make up for the new "industry leading compensation" labor costs???
I have to wonder if the recent protest that got the flight attendants suspended was a staged event gone bad for the protesters. My theory. Union knew they were close/done deal so they had a high profile protest so they could say doing things like this "forced" the company to agree. Setting the stage for future negotiations/tactics with airlines. I could be wrong but....
If the union reached a deal a few days after the stunt that did not include those FAs getting reinstated, that would surprise me. If they were good negotiators they would have insisted that the suspended FAs be featured in the new safety video demonstrating the new seat.
Was just a long haul flight from Tokyo to Chicago.
At least half the flight attendants where way over 65.
Two of them could barely walk massively overweight with a terrible attitude.
Please make them retire. They are a safety risk and United customer's do not deserve to be treated this way!
From a purely health and safety point of view, your suggestion certainly has legs Jane.
One might observe that elderly, overweight and possibly frail passengers are not allowed to occupy a seat adjacent to an emergency exit. That being the case, how capable of performing effectively in an emergency situation would those elderly FA’s be?
Very similar experience on my last 2 AA long haul flights. The lady I had in my row was so fragile and had massive shakes! I was just waiting for the drinks or food trays to be spilt on me or another passenger. It was really sad to see. They need to retire. I definitely did NOT confident she or 75% of the res of the crew would keep us safe should an emergency happen.
Good for the FAs but I can’t imagine that this won’t lead to raised prices, lowered service investments, or even layoffs (and increased inflation). I see it as a very risky move from UA.
Lukas, (thank goodness I picked up Mr Apple’s preference for the letter ‘c’ over ‘k’ or I would have had the pedants after my ‘orchids’ again).
Anyway, from an outsiders point of view, I judged the lack of resolve to be more of a challenge for UA as a business, than this settlement will be. Perhaps that is how the management felt too?
@E39 Can you even imagine it is taking so long for FAs to get a new contract on a Star Alliance carrier? Hehe, lol.
Good for UA’s FAs. Finally
Onto the mechanics
Come now Tim, you know better than that …. mechanics fix cars, etc, technicians service and repair aircraft, yes? …. :-)
Finally! I hope the terms are agreeable and this chapter can be closed. It’s been too long.
Maybe the crew will start acting like professionals. I know not all are bad apples, but my last two UA short haul flights they could not be bothered to even do a service on a 1 hour flight. Sara Nelson wants them to be treated like
Professionals, but the laziness and attitude from a large group is inexcusable.
Sadly, on my one hour flight on Delta, we didn’t receive service either. Those flights are now only coffee and water. I think if there is turbulence for 15 minutes into a one hour flight, which we experienced, welp there went the time window for service. You can always specifically ring the call button and request something. I did request a coffee and they kindly said, of course, let me get that for you. This...
Sadly, on my one hour flight on Delta, we didn’t receive service either. Those flights are now only coffee and water. I think if there is turbulence for 15 minutes into a one hour flight, which we experienced, welp there went the time window for service. You can always specifically ring the call button and request something. I did request a coffee and they kindly said, of course, let me get that for you. This has happened on United also and my request wasn’t denied, provided the flight deck doesn’t advise FA’s to remain seated.
How will the envious AA trolls react to the U.S’s only premier airline …. that is the question? … :-)
I wonder where all of this revenue is coming from ?
@Steven E it may come from you and other passengers from future ticket price increases as well as other ancillary fee increases.