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Home » United Airlines » United Flight Attendants Stuck In Holding Pattern Over Raises
United Airlines

United Flight Attendants Stuck In Holding Pattern Over Raises

Matthew Klint Posted onMay 1, 2025May 1, 2025 17 Comments
Sara Nelson
Sara Nelson is the AFA-CWA International President and also a United Airlines flight attendant

As flight attendants at Delta Air Lines enjoy another annual raise and the most generous profit sharing in the airline industry, flight attendants at United Airlines find themselves in a holding pattern, working without a raise since 2019. But is a new deal finally around the corner?

United Flight Attendants Continue To Wait For A Raise

Progress has been slow in negotiating a new contract for the more than 29,000 flight attendants at United Airlines. Both sides accuse the other of acting unreasonably.

We have not heard much lately about progress being made, with both sides keeping quiet, at least publicly, about the specific points of disagreement that remain outstanding.

Commenting on rumors of a JetBlue-United partnership in a memo to flight attendants, the AFA appeared dismissive, but added, “It is important to stay focused on the facts and on our negotiations. We are headed into three straight weeks of negotiations and we will be pushing hard to reach an agreement flight attendants can ratify.”

A new contract is inevitable for flight attendants–even CEO Scott Kirby has repeatedly promised an “industry-leading” contract, but the two sides appear far apart, perhaps even more so in an era in which United has now issued a bifurcated earnings estimate with genuine fears of a recession amidst economic and political uncertainty.

A Plea For Sara Nelson

Sara Nelson, often called the world’s most powerful flight attendant, is a figurehead for the entire Association of Flight Attendants, but she’s also still a United flight attendant herself (though I’m not sure she is an active one).

Rather than exerting all her full energy in helping flight attendants at United secure a new contract (especially as the economy contracts), she is worried about a private club in Washington, DC:

You be the judge. Is a private Billionaire's club for the super rich in Washington, DC spearheaded by Donald Trump Jr., JD Vance, and their Billionaire buddies looking out for you? For the low price of $500,000 the richest of the rich are buying access to influence and power. pic.twitter.com/98p0DvoCKy

— Rep. Marcy Kaptur (@RepMarcyKaptur) April 29, 2025

Workers at London Heathrow Airport:

Heathrow airport workers are back on strike for fair pay today.@FlyingWithSara, @afa_cwa, and Richie Johnsen, @IAM_Union, are with you.

Workers are not worth less because they are working for outsourced companies!@UniteLondonEast @unitetheunion pic.twitter.com/G3bW3KQwbC

— International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) (@ITFglobalunion) April 29, 2025

Attacking Scott Galloway for saying that we need to directly confront the federal budget deficit and national debt:

This is as wrong as it gets. Totally off base. First, the federal government does not work like a household budget. It issues the currency. The filthy rich have taken way too much. So we should tax them. But we don’t have to tax them to be FOR the working class & care for people. https://t.co/cmRZunuUhl

— Sara Nelson (@FlyingWithSara) April 28, 2025

A wage floor for Nike workers in Asia:

Over 1,000 garment workers are demanding @Nike give them the recognition and pay they deserve. We stand with them. #SeeUsNike. @asia_floorwage @johnwrogers @peterblairhenry @michelleapeluso pic.twitter.com/ogJOmYKfdv

— Global Labor Justice (@global_labor) March 20, 2025

I could go on (without cherry-picking her tweets), but you get the idea.

All important issues, but not a single tweet recently on the plight of United flight attendants. She’s lost the trees in the forest of organized labor…and those trees are struggling. I sense no urgency.

Of course, one can walk and chew gum at the same time, but I find the optics exactly the kind of off-putting ideological rhetoric that helped deliver the 2024 election to President Trump.

I’m not trying to make a political statement as much as present an observation that these sort of partisan tweets undermine what should be her primary goal: a pragmatic but generous new contract for United flight attendants that left, right, and center can rally around (and yes, even flight attendants at United have a wide variety of politcal views and the Trump-dominated mediation board does not need more reasons to side with the company over its workers).

CONCLUSION

As United and the AFA-CWA sit down for further negotiations, it would be nice if Sara Nelson put as much energy into a new contract as she seems to do for her other pet projects. My point is not to demean Nelson, but to remind her that all the energy she has directed to other causes comes at a price, for time is limited and precious currency. Maybe if she put a little more effort into finalizing a contract, that contract would be signed.

But as each day that goes by and economic conditions worsen, the prospects of an industry-leading (versus industry-matching) contract diminish.

Flight attendants at United–especially junior ones–deserve better.


image: AFA-CWA / YouTube

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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17 Comments

  1. Tim Dunn Reply
    May 1, 2025 at 9:51 am

    very well said, Matthew.

    DL certainly knew the stage of UA-AFA negotiations when it announced its latest pay increase – and it simply means that UA is going to have to open its pocket book wider.

    Don’t forget that UA’s mechanics also have an amendable contract and they shot down by over 99% the contract proposal that their union had hammered out w/ the company, just like what happened with UA’s first pilot proposal. Ultimately, DL became the first of the big 3 to sign a post-covid pilot contract and UA’s pilot contract fairly closely mirrors DL’s.

    UA’s labor groups have a major inability to understand the desires and represent the interests of their workgroups. It isn’t just the AFA but UA seems to have done a better job at delaying getting a deal w/ the FAs.

    Given that the APFA managed to get over a half billion dollars in retro pay for AA’s FAs, the price will be even higher for UA once they finally get around to signing something.

  2. Trixi Reply
    May 1, 2025 at 10:09 am

    it’s important to clarify Sara Nelson’s role as International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) and why her responsibilities go far beyond just United.

    Sara leads a union that represents tens of thousands of flight attendants across multiple airlines, not just ua. Her job is to oversee the bigger picture… ensuring all AFA members are supported, advocating for industry wide improvements, and maintaining AFA’s visibility in both labor and political spheres.

    Contract negotiations for specific airlines, like UA, are handled by that airline’s Master Executive Council (MEC) in this case, AFA United and its elected leaders. That’s their specific responsibility and they are the ones directly involved with management at United Airlines.

    Sara’s political and public presence strengthens our leverage. Her national profile has helped push for legislation on issues like cabin safety, staffing minimums, and corporate accountability..all of which impact flight attendants directly, at United and elsewhere.

    Of course, solidarity and transparency are critical and we can absolutely push our MEC for stronger communication and faster results but blaming the international president for United’s delays misses how AFA is structured and the broader strategy involved.

    Let’s keep the pressure on where it’s most effective: the United MEC and management, while recognizing that Sara’s advocacy and leadership on a national scale helps all of us in the long run.

    Regarding the progress of negotiations, the most reputable source for contract negotiations at UA is actually open to the public and there has been great progress in the last few months. More progress than the last 3 years, for sure.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      May 1, 2025 at 10:16 am

      I appreciate this update. Very helpful, Trixi.

      And to be clear, I am aware of Nelson’s role (I even mentioned it), but I still don’t understand why she hasn’t been more vocal/public about the UA contract, especially as UA is now the last major US carrier to ratify a new FA contract.

      • Brandi Neal Reply
        May 1, 2025 at 6:00 pm

        I don’t think this fair to Sara, her role is not to be a negotiator and honestly unless you have sat down with Sara to get her side of the story than this is an article to do what – turn flight attendants that may not understand the structure of AFA against Sara?

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          May 1, 2025 at 9:28 pm

          My point is simply that I don’t think SN is helping the cause…her efforts are counterproductive.

  3. Matt Reply
    May 1, 2025 at 10:31 am

    In recent weeks negotiations seem to have been moving faster than before and it seems like a TA is imminent. AFA mentioned they would be beginning financial talks soon which is generally the final stages of negotiations. The company also seems willing to make progress as they said PBS would not be in this current contract which was a huge sticking point for the union and a big hard no for a lot of FAs. We’re not 100% sure what goes on behind the scenes, but the AFA has had a major tone shift on progress being made. There definitely seems to be a sentiment that these upcoming 3 weeks of negotiations will be the final 3 weeks. For the first time it really seems like we are close to something.

  4. Justsaying Reply
    May 1, 2025 at 12:04 pm

    You did not research well before posting this Matthew. United has nearly 29,000 flight attendants and a Tentative Agreement is likely to be reached for the United flight attendants this month! The Union has indicated it

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      May 1, 2025 at 12:17 pm

      We will see about that. I hope so…

      As for the numbers, I said “more than” 25K and according to UA’s source, there are less than 26K:

      https://corporateimpact.united.com/data/

      Whether there is 25K or 29K, I’m not wrong in saying “more than” 25K…

  5. Justsaying Reply
    May 1, 2025 at 12:45 pm

    The UA “source” is wrong. lol we have a device that literally tells us how many flight attendants are in each base and how many system wide. It’s nearly 29,000 now

    You were literally leaving out thousands of flight attendants and it is not the most accurate figure.Don’t be surprised when United has more flight attendants than American and Delta Matthew since United has the most international flying.

    • Flyer Reply
      May 7, 2025 at 3:48 pm

      In Matthews defense, bloggers are not journalists. Their goal is not facts, but more clicks.

  6. Kris Reply
    May 1, 2025 at 4:39 pm

    Delay. Distract. Demoralize. And this particular blog is a great example of the fourth aspect of union busting, DIVIDE.

    I agree with Trixi’s reply 100%

  7. Batchcaloupe Reply
    May 1, 2025 at 5:15 pm

    It’s a total disgrace there have been no raises for many flight attendants for four going on five years. That’s why nothing less than full retro should be a non starter.

    Why has management delayed? Because it can. The same reason why they build trips that have one and two working legs before a trans con red eye. They do it because they can.

    The NLR Act of 1933 is a joke. A work group shouldn’t have to wait four years to get work improvements/ raises. There should be a time limit to have to wait for self help. Two years would be more than reasonable. If the management had to deal with a possible work action after two years, there would have been a deal already.

    Not only does United currently have a competitive advantage now as they are paying a huge number of its employees significantly less than its competitors. United are saving loads of money since they weaseled its way out of paying thousands of employees their promised pensions.

    United has plenty of money for hundreds of millions in stock buy backs but don’t want to give its employees overdue raises.

    • Christian Reply
      May 2, 2025 at 12:31 am

      Valid. Some people will hate how unions have raised the standard of living in the USA so the rich can get richer. Ignore them.

  8. Cy Reply
    May 1, 2025 at 11:47 pm

    Vote for a union, live with stupid union policies while your non unionized colleagues consistently do better. Love it

    • D Reply
      May 2, 2025 at 4:12 am

      Non union employees derive a parallel benefit because unionized labor raises the standard of an industry.

    • Batchcaloupe Reply
      May 2, 2025 at 9:17 am

      You think delta management give these raises out of the goodness of their hearts?? In order to keep a Union off the property, delta employees are essentially benefiting from the threat of unionization. The issue is what management gives, it can also take away.

      The main reason this nonsense has gone on for four years is that there is no time limit/discernible threat of any self help/work action. If there were, there would have been a deal in place already.

      • Tim Dunn Reply
        May 2, 2025 at 10:13 am

        you and others parrot the same thing and yet the evidence is that DL understands and has for decades that having highly-paid employees leads to high service levels which leads to more high value business.

        DL pays higher salaries because it can afford to.

        DL pilots are also highly paid; DL led the big 4 in settling w/ its pilots post covid w/ a contract worth 2X as much as UAL originally offered its pilots and their ALPA sent out for a vote, only to be roundly rejected.

        And DL pilots enjoy by far the best profit sharing among their unionized colleagues

        So, no, it isn’t about keeping unions away. It is about paying people well to get good service out of employees.

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