American Airlines flight attendants won an additional $4.2 billion in pay and benefits, according to a tentative deal released Friday by the union representing the workers.
The deal includes an immediate 18% pay increase and boarding pay. Some flight attendants, such as those who have been working for seven years, could see pay-scale increases of 120% over five years, according to a chart from the union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which hailed the contract’s “leading industry rates” in a letter to members.
American’s 28,000 flight attendants still must vote on the agreement for it to be enacted. If the deal is accepted, all would see an immediate pay raise of at least 18%, with the scale rising over the years. A flight attendant in their first year, who makes $30.35 per flight hour now, would immediately begin making $35.82. After five years, a first-year attendant will make $40.42, an increase of about 33%.
“Flight attendants across the industry have demanded fair compensation for all their time at work,” the union wrote. “We vowed to take on American Airlines management, to fight for the best contract we could achieve and to squeeze every penny out of this management team.”
“We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants,” Timothy Wetzel, a spokesperson for American Airlines, wrote in an email. “It’s a contract that will provide immediate financial and quality-of-life improvements for American’s flight attendants. It’s a contract we’re proud of and one our flight attendants have earned.”
The contract also includes boarding pay, paid at 50% of a worker’s hourly pay. American Airlines flight attendants (like many in the industry) currently aren’t paid for time spent boarding the plane, but are only compensated for time in the air.
If the deal is approved, flight attendants will also receive retroactive pay—or extra compensation—of 3% to 20% of their wages from 2020 to 2024.
“Our new-hire flight attendants are struggling,” APFA president Julie Hedrick previously told Fortune. She said that some flight attendants slept in their cars, or fought over airplane meals so they could save money.
Since 2014, when the previous contract was negotiated, flight attendants have been left with measly starting salaries even as inflation has shot up 33%, Hedrick said. According to an employment verification letter from American, which circulated on Reddit a few weeks ago, an entry-level flight attendant hired this month can expect to make $27,315 a year, before taxes.
“We vowed to defend our work rules, to fight for the retroactive pay that we have earned, and to defend our contract against concessions,” APFA wrote in a letter to flight attendants.
