Delta Airlines Will Be the First U.S. Airline To Pay Its Flight Attendants During Boarding
Delta Airlines announced some big news, and it’s a first in U.S. history. The airline plans to start paying flight attendants during the onboarding process. Delta will be the first U.S. carrier to make such a move.
If you’re unaware of how the pay scale works for U.S. flight attendants, they start getting paid when the cabin doors are closed. As equally bizarre as it sounds, this doesn’t include the prior 30 to 50 minutes when passengers are boarding the plane before the flight.
Also interesting to note, pilots aren’t paid during this time but unlike flight attendants, pilots don’t have to be on board during the boarding process.
The move comes as no surprise as Delta Airlines isn’t in favor of organized labor and is the only major U.S. airline whose flight attendants aren’t unionized. The airline has long been at odds with the Association of Flight Attendants as it has tried to organize Delta flight attendants three times in the last 20 years but dropped the ball on the voting time and time again, Forbes reported.
According to the news outlet, maintaining that a union remains necessary and valuing the “direct relationship” between management and flight attendants, Delta announced on Monday that beginning June 2, the carrier would begin paying 26,000 flight attendants during boarding at half their usual hourly rate.
So what exactly does that mean?
According to One Mile at a Time, Delta Flight Attendants will receive 50% of their standard hourly pay for a scheduled boarding period of 40-50 minutes before the doors close and the flight takes off. That means flight attendants will earn extra money, a bonus to an already stressful job.
For example, Forbes reported wages are based on seniority, a newly hired Delta flight attendant may be making $32.20 an hour. For a 40-minute boarding period, the pay would equal an additional $10.79 earned and for seasoned flight attendants earning $59.66 an hour, the same 40–minute onboarding would equal to an additional $19.98 in wages, according to the company.
“Our new boarding pay component – an industry first – further recognizes how important your role is on board to ensuring a welcoming, safe and on-time start to each flight and for each customer,” the company said in a memo to flight attendants.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for U.S. flight attendants was $61,640 as of May 2021.
Read more via Forbes.
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