United Airlines now claims to have tabled an offer to the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), which would ensure that its massive workforce of more than 30,000 crew members will be the highest-paid flight attendants amongst U.S. carriers.
And what’s more, the Chicago-based carrier says that this offer applies to every crew member – from the youngest of new-hires to the oldest of veteran flight attendants.
For the duration of the contract, every flight attendant, at every level of the pay scales, would be at the top of the industry in pay. The offer does, however, come with one big caveat.
In order to pay for big wage rises, United says the crew union has to accept a compromise somewhere else in the contract. But in the latest internal memo sent to United’s flight attendants and reviewed by PYOK, the airline claims it’s struggling to get the union to entertain the idea of any concessions.
“Throughout these discussions, United has presented solutions and pathways to
deliver improvements while keeping the overall agreement balanced, competitive
and financially sustainable for our airline,” the memo reads.
“These proposals have been rejected by AFA leadership, and the union has thus far failed to present cost oƯsets or alternative proposals that would help balance the contract.”
Negotiations have been taking place this week between United and the AFA in Chicago, where the two sides discussed some of the trickiest parts of the proposed economic agreement.
United says it’s making real progress on several ‘priority items,’ including the introduction of what is referred to as sit pay.
The union had originally wanted to create a system in which flight attendants are paid for every minute they are at work, and not just for the time they spend on the airplane after it has pushed back to the gate.
Once a flight attendant has checked in, the union believes they should be paid. This concept of ground duty pay was conspicuously absent in last year’s rejected tentative agreement, but the compromise solution is to pay flight attendants for extended waits between flights – what is known as a ‘sit.’
Last week, United made a direct appeal to flight attendants, suggesting that wage increases and sit pay could be paid for by introducing efficiencies such as a contentious ‘preferential bidding system’ that has long been opposed by the union.
United says PBS would save the airline lots of money in the longterm but that flight attendants could relax knowing that the system wouldn’t replace their traditional way of bidding for trips for years to come.
PBS is already used at several other major U.S. carriers, including the likes of American Airlines and Delta, as well as at other airlines represented by the AFA, such as Alaska Airlines.
Once negotiations finish this week, the two sides will have just two more bargaining sessions booked with federal mediators.
The union told its members this week that it was in a “final push to get this across the finish line.” In a sign that a deal could be finally struck soon, the message added: “At this stage of negotiations, things can progress very quickly.”
That being said, the AFA doesn’t want to ease the pressure on United just yet. Last month, flight attendants staged a noisy protest outside United’s headquarters at Willis Tower in downtown Chicago, and on March 19, the union is calling on its members to get MAD – Otherwise known as a ‘Membership Action Day.’
How did we get to this point?
United’s flight attendant contract became amendable in 2021, but negotiations didn’t amount to much for several years. In March 2024, the union filed for federal mediation, and by May 2025, the two sides finally reached a tentative deal.
That deal was, however, rejected by around 71% of flight attendants who took part in the vote, and the union had to go back to the negotiating table.
The AFA said United had to increase its pay offer, make improvements to other areas of the contract, including sit pay, and do this without demanding any concessions.
Ultimately, United has been asking for compromises and it should become apparent whether the union and its members are willing to accept some concessions to bring this protracted dispute to a close.
