The echoes of the trend that started with Delta Air Lines can now be heard at other US carriers as well. Flight attendants across various US airlines are actively seeking to be paid for boarding and making this an industry norm moving ahead.

Pay-for-boarding movement gathers steam

An industry-wide change seems to be on the horizon as flight attendants at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are asking management to follow in the footsteps of Delta and pay them for boarding.

In a post-COVID world, where understaffed airlines are looking to rebuild the workforce and contracts are being renegotiated, the cabin crew community sees this as a window of opportunity to push for something that has been a burning topic for a while.

Delta’s announcement has set the ball rolling and resonated immensely with the unions of other airlines pushing for such a change. The Dallas Morning News quotes Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Professional Attendants, which represents about 24,000 American Airlines employees, as saying,

“Boarding for us is one of the hardest times during our flights. We are getting everyone seated and you’ve seen the last two years what happens when we are on the ground.”

The Association of Flight Attendants at Alaska Airlines has also joined in, suggesting that boarding pay will be in their opening proposal to management.

Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines' flight attendants, too, are pushing for pay during boarding. Photo: Denver International Airport

Current industry standards

Presently, cabin crew usually get paid from when the aircraft door closes. Despite this being a busy and sometimes stressful time, they are not paid specifically for the 30 to 50 minutes when passengers are boarding.

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The Dallas Morning News notes that flight attendants are given some pay from the time they arrive at airports until the time they leave the airport at the end of a one- to five-day trip. But that is only around $2 an hour. Their actual hourly pay doesn’t start until an aircraft pulls back from the gate, even though they are legally required to be in the plane before then.

Delta Air Lines has said it will pay 50% of the regular hourly rate to flight attendants during boarding, which will begin 40 minutes from departure, 45 minutes for a domestic widebody, and 50 minutes for a transoceanic flight.

Delta Air Lines
The trend was started by Delta Air Lines. Photo: Denver International Airport

Pay doesn’t match the ever-increasing responsibilities

The role of the cabin crew has evolved significantly over the years. With airlines proliferating over the decades and passengers increasingly taking to the skies, the duties and responsibilities of flight attendants have also grown.

Maintaining protocols, particularly during the pandemic, has gotten trickier in the last few years. Dealing with difficult passengers during delays and cancellations results in flight attendants spending extra time at the airports, something not covered in their regular hourly pay.

It remains to be seen whether other US carriers would follow Delta’s lead and rewrite salary contracts for their cabin crew.

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Source: The Dallas Morning News