Almost 200,000 signatures! Wow. We cannot thank you enough for your support!

As we launch into the fall and holiday season, let’s recap how the summer has panned out for aviation workers.

So far Delta and Skywest are the only two airlines that have introduced boarding pay. It is important to note a few things:

•  Delta’s boarding pay is only 50% of their standard hourly rate and only for 40 minutes of boarding time. This pay doesn’t extend if boarding goes over 40 minutes. While it is a move in the right direction, and Delta flight attendants are appreciating the very small jump in pay, it is still not enough to cover the record inflation that the US has been experiencing. Furthermore, it is insulting to be thrown a 50% bone for the grueling time spent during boarding where a majority of customer issues take place. Especially considering this change came after Delta announced it will require flight attendants to arrive at the gate 5 unpaid minutes earlier.
• Worse is Skywest’s new boarding pay. They’re only paying their inflight crewmembers 25% of their standard hourly rate and they’ve also eliminated their holding pay.
• Delta and Skywest are two of the only US airlines that do NOT have a union.

A lot has happened this summer! Multiple passengers have had to be removed from flights, restrained, as well as multiple attempts to breach the cockpit. Flight attendants have been physically and sexually assaulted. For a more detailed list of unruly passenger situations that have been referred to the FBI please visit the FAA Website.

Meanwhile CEOs have boasted record profits, even higher than pre-pandemic numbers:

• Scott Kirby (CEO of United Airlines and the highest US paid airline CEO at $9,800,000) took a private chartered flight while the rest of his staff was left stranded across the globe due to scheduling department staffing issues and blamed it on Air Traffic Control, although he had been given plenty of notice to make adjustments to their Newark flight load.
• Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said he was hopeful they would reach an agreement with their flight attendants and that he “wants to make sure our flight attendants get compensated appropriately” while he doubled his $3,210,000 2021 salary to $6,490,000 in 2022. He mentioned that giving the flight attendants a raise would “not be economically feasible.” Alaska Airlines flight attendants are flying on a contract that has been extended twice from 2014 and expired in 2021. They’ve recently launched a Facebook group for flight attendants who are facing hunger and homelessness that has over 400 members. Unsurprisingly, flight attendants created a surprise picket outside of an Alaska Airlines board member party at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Ray where board members and elite frequent fliers had flown in the night before. There have been multiple accounts that Ben Minicucci and event organizers turned up the event music to drown out the sound of the picketers and turned down requests to speak to the picketers. The Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Ray costs a minimum of $500 a night.
• Bob Jordan, CEO of Southwest Airlines doubled his salary to $5,600,000 while the company had a complete meltdown leaving crews stranded for multiple days and over 8 hour hold times with their crew schedulers.
• Air Canada’s CEO tripled his pay in 2022, giving himself a 233% raise bringing his pay to $12,400,000 while their crews received $5 Starbucks gift cards, and occasionally “gifts” “shine points,” which the company gets a tax break on and the taxes fall on the crew members.
• American Airlines contract expired in 2019 and an astounding 99.5% of the 93% of the eligible flight attendants voted YES, to authorize a strike.

While a fraction of our time being introduced as boarding pay is certainly a move in the right direction, we still need your support in creating lasting effects across the industry. Visit paymeforboarding.org for more information on future events and merchandise that helps spread the word and fund the cause. 

Thank you so much again for your support!

Change is in the air!

Pay Me for Boarding

Featured photograph from www.hfoxphotography.com