United Airlines has told flight attendants and pilots that in order to work trips to high-risk countries, vaccinations will soon be mandatory.
Mandatory Vaccinations For United Airlines Crews
United has incentivized flight attendants and pilots to get vaccinated by offering lucrative bonus payments, particularly to pilots. Nevertheless, there remains a holdout among both work groups that has resisted the jab or not made the time yet to get it.
While United will not make vaccinations mandatory for existing crew members, all new hires are required to be vaccinated.
Starting in August, United will take away so-called “pay protection” for flight attendants who are scheduled to operate a trip to a country that requires vaccinations and cannot work the trip because they are not vaccinated. Furthermore, United announced that “to best protect our crewmembers traveling internationally to locations with high incidence rates of COVID-19” vaccinations will be required for crews working trips to:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- India
United also indicated China and Taiwan may be added to the list depending upon negotiations with local governments over crew restrictions.
Pilots at United have worked out an agreement between the airline and union that will not penalize pilots for failing to get vaccinated.
“Since the COVID vaccination is not mandatory, pilots who elect not to be vaccinated will not be subject to any discipline.”
However, Live and Let’s Fly has learned that pilots who are not vaccinated will be removed from a trip to the countries above without pay.
CONCLUSION
United Airlines will require flight attendants and pilots working high-risk areas in Latin American and India to be vaccinated. The move comes as high vaccination rates continue to bring down COVID-19 numbers in the USA and Western Europe, but many other nations are experiencing alarming surges.
To be clear Matthew… this requirement is per gov’t regulations of those respective countries… let’s not make it sound as a ‘negative jab’ towards United….more countries will have the same requirement.
As for those that refuse to get vaccinated…. then fly domestic or other routes, plain and simple.
This is not meant as a jab against United – I think the jab should be required for all employees. But it’s not based upon government requirement. That’s 100% for sure.
I agree with Klint, this has no negative content or intent against UA
I find your liberal use of the term ‘jab’ in the above to be confusing! 😉
I think this is the right decision requiring vaccines for flight attendants working trip to high risk areas. I also think pilots should be subjected to the same requirement the virus doesn’t know a pilot from a flight attendant so pilots should be held to the same standard.
For people who have a problem with an airline like United requiring crews get vaccinated against COVID, I wonder if they have the same objections for crew members traveling to certain parts of Africa where crew members working those flights including pilots are required to get vaccinated against at least 8 viruses and recommended they be vaccinated against another 7 viruses.
Will UA take full financial care of the F/A’s children when she has a blood clot and drops dead after being forcer and intimidated into taking a experimental drug that has killed 6000 by gov’t admission?
Good luck WOKE UAL.
Must be really hard to keep forcing yourself to live in an alternate reality
Yeah let’s kill millions from the virus instead. Nice death cult you belong to.
When I flew SFO-DEL last week we got delayed almost 2h out of SFO because one of the pilots tested positive for Covid during the pre-flight testing. A negative test is a requirement for India even for flight crew.
UA had to call in a stand-by pilot, get that pilot tested and cleared, and then over the the aircraft.
Requiring all crew to be vaccinated would definitely reduce the risk of this happening and lessen disruption and inconvenience for passengers, besides reducing risk of infection…
Lol
That said pilot that tested positive for Covid could’ve been vaccinated. YOU CAN STILL CONTRACT COVID AFTER BEING VACCINATED!!!!