Delta Air Lines has just announced its lowest profit-sharing bonus for tens of thousands of employees worldwide since 2022, when the Atlanta-based carrier announced a surprise bonus despite the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On February 13, Delta will pay out $1.3 billion of its 2025 profit to employees, resulting in an estimated 8.9% payout per eligible worker. Delta claims that employees will receive, on average, the equivalent of four weeks of extra pay.
“The passion and dedication of Delta people carried us through 2025 and will continue to propel us forward,” commented Allison Ausband, Delta’s Chief People Officer, after the bonus was announced on Tuesday.
“Their unwavering focus on safety and care is what builds trust and a deep loyalty for customers, and continued success for Delta,” Ausband continued.
Delta’s profit-sharing bonus is a major point of difference between rival carriers like American Airlines and United, where workers typically receive far smaller payouts.
While American and United are yet to announce what, if any, bonus employees will receive for profits made in 2025, last year, United offered flight attendants a bonus of 5.3%, and that was far better than the 1.1% profit-sharing bonuses announced by American Airlines and Southwest.
(Profit-sharing bonuses at American Airlines and United differ from workgroup to workgroup, whereas Delta offers a flat rate for all eligible employees).
Delta claims that this year’s bonus is a top 5 payout in the airline’s history, although employees have still taken to social media to share their frustrations because it is lower than in other recent years.
Last year, Delta employees each received a share of $1.4 billion in profit-sharing bonuses, equating to 10.40% of annual wages. And in 2020, just a month or so before the pandemic decimated the aviation industry, Delta paid out a record $1.6 billion in profit sharing.
Employees might seem slightly hard done by with this year’s payout, but it is based on a simple formula. For the first $2.5 billion the airline earns, employees receive 10% and 20% above $2.5 billion.
The bonus is, however, always framed around the possibility of flight attendants and ramp workers voting to unionize.
If workers were to form a union, then the annual profit-sharing bonus would, invariably, shrink, so a good bonus is seen as a key way to convince employees to stick with the status quo.
At the same time, union activists argue that employees would get a lot more in return by securing a contract. For example, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), which has been fighting a years-long battle to unionize Delta crew members, claims a contract could secure a proper sick policy, cancellation pay protection, guaranteed pay raises, and more.
In fairness, this is a debate that comes up nearly every year when Delta announces its annual profit-sharing bonus. Are non-union workers better off in the hands of Delta or with a union contract?
