American Flight Attendants Get First Look at New Contract

One week ago, American Airlines and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), the union representing American’s cabin crew, reached a tentative agreement on a long overdue contract. The agreement was reached on the last day of the final week of bargaining before the union threatened strike action.

Yesterday, an email went out to the APFA members notifying them that the Executive Committee unanimously approved the resolution to send the tentative agreement to the members for ratification.

Negotiations between American and the APFA have been underway for years. The process began back prior to the Covid-19 pandemic but was paused as the airline industry, and travel as a whole, ground to a standstill. Negotiations resumed in 2021 but the two parties remained at an impasse up until last week. Now, with a tentative agreement on the table, it’s up to APFA members to determine whether they want to ratify the contract.

The term “industry leading contract” is always thrown around in these situations and each airline’s contract, once ratified, ends up more lucrative than the last. Southwest was the last major U.S. carrier to ratify a contract with its flight attendants and the AFPA was looking to meet, if not exceed that.

For reference, Southwest flight attendants, represented by the Transport Workers Union Local 556, received the following in their new contract:

• A four year deal, beginning May 1st, 2024. Flight attendants received an immediate, 22% raise with a 3% raise each year afterwards through the four year period.
• $364 million in retroactive pay, stemming from the delay in getting the contract ratified.
• Paid maternal and paternal leave.

American Airlines Flight Attendant Tentative New Contract

The details of the proposed contract were sent to members in an email at earlier today. We obtained a copy of the email and found a few key points within.

First of all, the contract will run for five years and, as the union touts in the release, it adds $4.2 billion in value. Flight attendant pay will increase between 33-36% over the course of the contract. Some of the most impactful items for crews are the addition of boarding pay as well as retroactive pay.

Overall, this is a great contract for American’s cabin crews and one that is frankly long overdue. Over the life of the five year contract, flight attendants are expected to see a $160,000 increase in total compensation value. This is expected to give American’s crews industry leading compensation when average pay and boarding pay are combined.

While the high level details are listed above, the more nuanced aspects of the proposed contract is outlined below:

Core Compensation:

• Pay Scale Step Increases of 33% to 36% over five years
• Immediate Date-of-Signing (DOS) scale increases of 18% to 20.5%
• Out-year scale increases of 2.75%, 3.0%, 3.0%, and 3.5%
• With boarding pay premium, increases of 41% to 44% over five years
• 401(k) increased from 5.5% to 9%
• Per Diem increases by 27% at DOS to $2.85 Domestic and $3.40 International (which is in line with American pilots. Tis includes increases of .05 cents per year, adding an average of 35% over 5 years
• Increase in profit sharing percentage from 5% to 10%/20% model which is the same as pilots, mechanics, and agents

Flight attendants will also receive $514 million in retroactive pay which equates to roughly $18,400 per flight attendant. For additional details on the proposed contract, visit the APFA’s website.

While this is a great contract for American Flight Attendants, I have to wonder how this will affect the airline long term as they are already forecasting a rough third quarter and beyond. However, the flight attendants absolutely deserve this long overdue contract which is more than 5 years in the making.

Now, we just have to sit back and wait to see whether the APFA members decide to ratify this new contract or send it back to the drawing board. Given the current state, and projected future state of the airline, this may be the best that they can get.

Summary

American Airlines flight attendants have finally been presented with a tentative contract more than five years after negotiations started. This tentative contract seems to meet the majority of the union’s demands but it remains to be seen whether the APFA members decide to ratify the new contract. I for one hope that the APFA members approve the contract and we can finally put this bitter battle behind us. What are your thoughts on the proposed contract?