Some flight attendants at American Airlines have been asking their union why they can’t just receive ‘boarding pay’ as regular wages in a surprise setback for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) who said they have “beaten the company up” to secure boarding pay for all flight attendants.
After more than five years of tough negotiations and countless threats of strike action, American Airlines and APFA finally reached a tentative contract agreement earlier this month and now attention turns to convincing flight attendants that the deal is the very best that can be secured.
Until now, flight attendants at American Airlines have never been paid during boarding – an oddity which is particularly surprising given that boarding can be one of the most stressful and resource-intensive times during an entire flight.
Instead, flight attendants have been paid an hourly wage from the moment the aircraft pushes back from the gate until the plane arrives at the gate at its destination.
One of the main issues with this way of paying wages is that it unfairly disadvantages junior crew members who often have to work multi-sector days in which a large part of their working day could be spent boarding and deplaning passengers.
Securing boarding pay was seen as a major priority for the union in this contract negotiation, and APFA says that flight attendants had “provided clear direction” that boarding pay was sorely needed.
But now that boarding pay has been written into the tentative agreement, some flight attendants are questioning whether it is needed. In fact, so many crew members have contacted the union about their opinions on the issue of boarding that APFA has needed to address their concerns directly.
“It is our job as trade unionists to advance our profession and to make it better for the next generation,” the union told its members in a memo – what could be interpreted as a dig as senior flight attendants who are less likely to benefit from boarding pay when they mainly work long-haul premium flights.
“We benefited from our predecessors who fought for and won rigs and other contract provisions,” the memo continued. “They understood that a strong contract is not just about pay rates but work rules. Here, we have to do our part in the longstanding fight to make sure Flight Attendants are paid for all the work we perform.”
The memo added: “The reality is that our wage increases plus the boarding pay will increase our basic compensation on average by 26% to 28%. Placing all that money in the wage rates would have been easier to explain, but just because it is easier does not make it right.”
Boarding pay will be paid at 50% of the normal hourly wage, which is the same rate as at Delta Air Lines – the first US carrier to offer its flight attendants boarding pay back in 2022.
As an example, a new hire flight attendant will receive nearly $9 for boarding a single-aisle aircraft under the terms of the negotiated tentative agreement, while a senior crew member could earn as much as $34 for boarding on a widebody aircraft bound for an international destination.
The union which represents flight attendants at United Airlines wants its members to be paid for every minute they are at work, but ongoing contract negotiations remain fraught and flight attendants at the Chicago-based carrier are set to take part in a strike authorization vote due to the slow pace of bargaining.
APFA has also indicated that it would like to see flight attendants at American Airlines paid for every minute they are at work, but the union says this must be built upon in future contract negotiations.