United Airlines Flight Attendants Confident They Can Secure Contract Deal Next Month But Still Aren’t Backing Down On Concessions

The union that represents more than 30,000 flight attendants at United Airlines says it is increasingly confident that a contract deal “can and should” be reached next month, after years of protracted and, at times, combative negotiations that have strained labor relations at the Chicago-based carrier.

With two more federally mediated bargaining sessions scheduled between United Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), the race is now on to finalize the remaining open, but perhaps, the most contentious parts of the contract before a tentative agreement can be announced.

In an internal memo, the union told its members that negotiations that concluded at the end of last week had “gone well overall,” but there remains a big sticking point that has had the two sides at loggerheads for months.

Earlier this month, United Airlines told flight attendants directly that it was offering them a compensation package that would make them the highest-paid cabin crew of any U.S. airline for the duration of their contract.

That offer does, though, come with a compromise: To pay for wage increases, United wants to introduce scheduling efficiencies through the use of new schedule builder and bidding software known as PBS (Preferential Bidding System).

PBS would replace a much older ‘line bidding’ system currently used by flight attendants. It’s already used by crew members at American Airlines, Delta, and Alaska Airlines, as well as several other major carriers, but United’s crew members remain opposed to this concession.

“The fact is, we are not spending any time negotiating PBS, and it is not going to happen in this round of bargaining,” the union told its members earlier this week in a memo reviewed by PYOK. “Our only real discussions have been to say it’s not happening.”

Despite the union’s refusal to even negotiate PBS, it still believes that a deal can be struck in March.

“We believe that, given the number of open issues and the progress we have made, we should be able to reach an agreement in March,” the memo explained.

The memo then warned: “We have zero interest in delaying bargaining or extending these negotiations. We have made a lot of progress so far and can reach a deal. But if we do not, then we are prepared to aggressively move the process forward.”

While the union was careful not to spell out what its next steps might be, it’s believed that it was referencing steps to move towards strike action. But while flight attendants authorized the use of strike action back in August 2024, the union would still need to seek permission from the National Mediation Board (NMB) to enact a mass walkout.

While the NMB is ‘independent’ of the federal government, the board members are appointed by the President, and given the NMB’s distate of authorizing flight attendant strike action even during the Biden administration, the United flight attendant union would face an uphill battle to gain strike authorization.

How long have United’s flight attendants been negotiating a contract?

The current United flight attendant contract became amendable in August 2021. Under the rules of the Railway Labor Act (which also governs airline labor relations), this is the point at which the union can start negotiating an updated contract.

In the meantime, the current contract remains in force, but that means that flight attendants haven’t had a pay rise, despite the soaring cost of living.

Wasn’t a tentative agreement reached last year?

Yes, in May 2025, the union announced it had reached a “historic” tentative agreement with United.

But, in a ballot of its members, flight attendants resoundingly reject the agreement, and the union set about finding out where the agreement fell short so that it could go back to United with a new list of demands.

What improvements has the union asked for on top of TA1?

The union identified eight focus areas for the new negotiations:

1. Pay for waiting on the ground between flights
2. Less tiring red-eye flying
3. No more layover notifications
4. More rest on longer flights
5. Contract compliance guarantees 
6. Improvements for reserve flight attendants
7. Better layover hotels
8. Improvements to health care and retirement benefits

Importantly, the union told its members that it would not accept any concessions from United in order to pay for these additional improvements.

Why are the two sides still at loggerheads?

United maintains that it will not increase the total cost of the contract, and improvements in one area must be offset with concessions in other areas of the agreement.

Along with pushing for PBS, the union can’t reach an agreement with United over how it can pay crew members for long sits on the ground between flights. While United had agreed in principle to introduce ‘sit rigs,’ the airline says this will only be possible if an existing benefit, Personal Time Off, is eliminated.

When do the bargaining sessions finish?

There are now just two mediated bargaining sessions left between United and the union. The penultimate session will take place at the start of Marchbetween the 3rd and 6th, and this will be followed by the final four-day session between March 24th and 27th.