The new tentative agreement (TA) is pending ratification from the airline’s 6,500 flight attendants.
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 in San Francisco. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Alaska Airlines flight attendants are set to receive hefty pay raises along with compensation during boarding. A new tentative agreement — which is still pending a final vote from the carrier’s flight attendants — was approved by union leadership late last week.
With the new deal, flight attendants at the Seattle-based airline will see pay rates increase by an average of 32% depending on company seniority. If ratified, the so-called “record” contract would position Alaska flight attendants as one of the most compensated in the U.S. alongside Southwest.
Joining just a handful of other U.S. airlines, Alaska flight attendants will receive boarding pay as part of the new TA. The airline and its flight attendants became the first labor group represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) to include boarding pay in a new contract.
Both Delta and SkyWest — whose flight attendants are not unionized — offered boarding pay to their cabin crew in 2022. Southwest bucked the long-standing industry practice when its flight attendants inked a new contract earlier this year.
Also included in the new Alaska TA is retroactive pay. In a summary viewed by AirlineGeeks, the AFA said it used the same formula as Southwest to calculate the payment, which extends to when the original contract became amendable in December 2022.
Southwest gave its roughly 20,000 flight attendants a total of $364 million in retro pay.
Alaska and its flight attendants had been in federal mediation for several months before this TA was reached. Union membership is set to vote on the new agreement later this month.
The union said it expects the three-year agreement to “carry us through the period of negotiating any joint contract” as a merger with Hawaiian Airlines looms.
Several airlines and their respective flight attendant unions remain at the bargaining table, including American, which has also been in federal mediation for several months. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) — which represents American Airlines flight attendants — said in a recent update that progress was being made towards a new contract.
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