Flight attendants at United Airlines have rejected a proposed contract and are now laying out their new list of demands, revealing frustration that goes deeper than missing raises.
United Flight Attendants Reveal New List Of Demands After Overwhelmingly Rejecting Contract Deal
Late last week, the Association of Flight Attendants‑CWA (AFA-CWA) returned to the bargaining table with United after its members overwhelmingly voted down a tentative agreement in July. The union says roughly 71% voted “No” (with 92% turnout), underlining the depth of discontent with the long-awaited new collective bargaining agreement.
> Read More: United Airlines Flight Attendants Overwhelmingly Reject New Contract
What They’re Asking For
After keeping the list private for some months, PYOK flags the top eight concerns for the union as it returns to the bargaining table to hash out a final contract:
- Pay for waiting on the ground between flights
- Less tiring red-eye flying
- No more layover notifications
- More rest on longer flights
- Contract compliance guarantees
- Improvements for reserve flight attendants
- Better layover hotels
- Improvements to health care and retirement benefits
I’m not sure how to make a red eye light less tiring, but the other objectives at least make sense.
One of the more contentious items is ground duty pay. Historically for flight attendants with United, pay begins only after the aircraft door closes and the plane pushes back. The union had sought full compensation from arrival to final duty release, but says the carrier offered only “boarding pay” in the previous agreement. It’s not clear that, especially in this environment, United will offer any improvement there, at least not without making other parts of the contract less valuable.
Why This Matters And Why The Contract Was Rejected
The tentative deal—offered in May 2025—promised what United called “industry-leading” increases (up to 40% in first year value, including immediate pay raises of at least 26%). Yet many attendants say the improvements didn’t fix what they see as systemic issues: unpaid time, unpredictable schedules, rest that doesn’t feel restful, and a sense that their “deal” still left them behind compared to pilots or across the industry.
The rejection may be a bargaining tactic, but it embarrassed the union, which pushed hard for flight attendants to ratify the first agreement. Even so, the union says it is a statement by 28,000 attendants that they’ll accept nothing less than meaningful change. But as one AFA-CWA member put it in a survey reference: “The survey kept asking things like ‘Did you vote no because you should always vote no?’… They should be more concerned with what they did wrong instead of blaming us.”
With no new agreement yet in place, United and its cabin crew group will meet again in December, the union says. Mediation continues under federal oversight, and the stakes are high. It is highly unlikely that flight attendants will be granted the right by federal mediators to strike (even during the Biden administration, this was not allowed).
At least as of yet, I have not seen flight attendants take out their anger over a lack of a new contract on passengers: we are all thankful for that.
CONCLUSION
United’s flight attendants are still in search of a deal and their eight-point demand sheet reveals that the contract gap goes beyond dollars and cents. It goes to time spent unpaid, night after night, hotel quality, rest quality, and at a fundamental level (as one flight attendant told me), respect. If United wants to keep its promised premium experience and avoid unnecessary turbulence, it needs to strike a bargain that the union can sell to flight attendants so this long-drawn-out chapter can be closed.
image: AFA
As a former UAL F/A, I highly agree with the list of demands. The job is difficult, strenuous and exhausting. To be on an airplane, sometimes for HOURS , maybe due to weather or mechanical issue is ridiculous. The passengers become anxious, and often unruly,usually taking their frustrations out on the F/As, who are expected to deal with them graciously, but not get paid for their efforts. As well, the reserve system iss problematic, any improvements are welcome. The demands seem reasonable to me, hopefully UAL will reward these well deserved benefits to their hard working crew members, to most travelers the “face” of the airline.
Roofing is difficult.
Landscaping is difficult.
Teaching is difficult.
Firefighting is difficult.
Policing is difficult.
Playing on your phone all day and being rude to customers is not difficult. If the job and the pay is too difficult for you….quit.
How many of these demands were in the previous contract? My understanding is that the downvotes contract included a 27% increase to account for 27% inflation. That is more than I have received in my job by a meaningful degree.
Except for “contract compliance guarantees” (whatever that is) all of this appears to be yet another improvement over the previous contract on top of a pay increase which exceeds inflation. Does something concrete justify these concessions from United when it does not appear that the union is giving something back in the negotiations?
Regarding the less tiring red-eyes, as a former UA flight attendant, I can speak to that. Before my leaving, we had red eyes where you operated a leg before or after the actual red-eye flight.
Examples:
LAS – SFO (late evening), SFO – ORD (red-eye);
SFO – OGG (evening departure), OGG – SFO (red-eye).
LAX – IAD (red eye), IAD -PIT (the next morning departure)
The second leg of the two flights within the same duty period, which included a red-eye flight, was a killer.
In my opinion, having only the red-eye flight in a duty period would make it less tiring.
lol. Less tiring red eyes lol. Bet they love lunch or supper in Paris or Guam though. Your serving the Public not yourselves. I agree with full pay on duty. 71% not in favour of current offer is considerable, probably the senior bunch that cant afford to retire lol. Whats waiting another year for a good contract when you’ve waited 6 now? United Bosses are not interested in making a deal. Too bad your American. AC FA walked off the job and grounded the Airline. Too bad your rights are not respected. You are who you vote for!
Some of you are really stupid. Do you not realize the job of a flight attendant is to evacuate the aircraft safely and help you in a medical emergency? If a flight attendant is too fatigued from an unsafe trip and how it’s built it can end up causing multiple issues a major one being a blown side and more errors during an medical emergency.But if you don’t care about yourself and others just say that idiot! Newsflash Delta and American do not allow long sits before red eyes. United however does with MANY blown slide reports and flight attendants saying they almost got into a car accident after working the trip. It needs to change!