While Alaska Airlines pilots have come to a long-awaited tentative agreement, the opposite is true for now for flight attendants at Hawaii-centric, United Airlines.
Starting with the good news for Hawaii flyers, following three years of strife, much contention, and the prior 96% pilot strike approval, Alaska pilots and management, yesterday, representatives for the pilots opted to approve a new tentative agreement. That contract remains to be confirmed by the remaining pilots, which is expected to happen shortly.
Captain Will McQuillen, Chair of the Alaska Airlines ALPA Master Executive Council (MEC)
We are pleased, after three years, that we have reached an agreement addressing all the areas in which we’ve lagged our mainline carrier pilot peers for nearly a decade. Not only does this agreement recognize the crucial role pilots have played in the success of Alaska Airlines, it will also help our airline remain competitive in the industry.” — Will McQuillen, Captain/AS ALPA Chairperson.
Pilots are due to receive wage increases effective 9/1/22. First officers are set to receive from 8% to 23% more while captains will receive 15% to 23% additional pay. For captains, that means their pay will be as much as $331/hour. Pilots fly up to 1,000 hours per year.
United Airlines Honolulu flight attendant picketing next week.
United Airlines flight attendants, many in recognizable uniforms, will descend on Honolulu Airport and 14 other US, Guam, and London airports next week. It is expected that thousands will participate in the planned September 27 sign-waving event which was promoted by the union in the image above.
This is due to the dispute between the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) and the airline, which the flight attendants union says is a result of “unsustainable working conditions.”
The cities where picketing is set to occur include Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Newark, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Tampa, and Washington.
Among the issues alleged by the flight attendants, are the long wait flight attendants go through in order to schedule their flights. There are also circumstances under which flight attendants say they aren’t provided hotel accommodation or transportation.
The FA union said that there have been “some inroads” made with management, despite the labor action. The union said that it’s “no coincidence” that they’re seeing some changes in part due to the upcoming highly visible “September 27th Day of Action.” The union’s plan is to keep the pressure on. “Members will come together to educate the traveling public about the issues we face and simultaneously ensure management is aware of our Solidarity as it pertains to the issues we face.”
If what your article says is true, which I Trust that it is, leaving Attendants without rooms and transportation is Wrong, it’s as simple as that. Advanced scheduling, weeks or more, may not always be possible but it shouldn’t be any problem to schedule 2 weeks out! Seniority is great but if Seniority is holding up the scheduling then there must be a deadline or be skipped over. Sort of like a Right of First Refusal and If you choose to hold up scheduling you’re going to get what you’re given. After a few times they’ll get their requests in on time! I’ve seen it before where Seniority likes to play games.
Pilot training is extensive and on-going. It is a stressful job. Their required on-going training is more intensive and strict than even surgeons! The article should mention the huge bonuses the C-suite took even during COVID. Pilots, flight attendants and maintenance want better living conditions. Not everyone can live at an airlines hub. United had been the only US carrier to give confirmed seating to get to their hub. It is terrible that they need the use a vacation day to commute to their hub. This is only one issue with contract negotiations.
We almost exclusively fly United with Jet Blue as our backup. Have gotten the chance over many flights to talk to the Pilots and Attendants, extremely nice people. With the oddity encountered once with a passenger/ pilot returning home from NY for Vacation everyone had praised United, they worked their way home without a problem. It was very rare that they couldn’t schedule home that way. Some things have changed, undoubtedly, because of Covid related Shortages but as things improve it should return back to what it was.
Perhaps if the United FA’s treated their passengers better, the public would stand behind them. They are some of the rudest I’ve seen.
I have experienced a level of Rudeness One Time on a United Flight and that was due to the Attendants working their Third Back to Back Flight and Unruly Passengers that didn’t want to keep their Masks On! After 10 days vacation in the DR we flew back to Newark with the same crew, they were rested and all but 2 people were cooperative. Those 2 were ejected from the plane before take off and Everything was Perfect, Over worked Attendants due to shortages and Unruly Ignorant Passengers shouldn’t occur!
Pilots & flight attendants should be provided double occupancy accommodations in median price hotels, or an allowance.
Greetings
Just a small correction
I think you meant to say wage increase not wave increase in the section about the Alaska pilots.
Hi Greg.
Thank you – fixed.
Aloha.
Since they only get paid when they are actually in the plane / flying the plane, $330/hr is no necessarily unreasonable. If it’s an overnight trip for example, they don’t get paid for all of the time they are commuting back and forth to the airport, sitting in a hotel room, hanging out by the pool, banging flight attendants, etc.
Compared to what Airline Pilots made years ago and a natural progression of wages this raise just begins to bring the Pilots up to what other airlines pay, retention is more important today than ever. It sounds like an extreme wage but consider what a cruise ship Captain and others aboard and paid! For All of their Experience and Ongoing Training, Pilots and Attendants Deserve More!
How many hours do pilots fly every day/week/month/year though? Just saying the hourly rate doesn’t mean anything.
Well if pilots fly up-to 1000 (one-thousand) hours a year… at up-to $331/hr… $331/hour*1000hours= $331,000/year…
Not an unreasonable amount in today’s world. I know a Botox salesperson who makes that much per year!
They fly how many people’s lives, I say all that travel that we do, we need to fix customer services, like it’s the last day of your life. All flight attendance should educate all that work for the company a beauty and image presentation, like Pan am!!!!. Use to be, we should be servicing each other with Aloha’…… Orlando.