Flight attendants at Southwest and American Airlines are asking to be paid during boarding. Flight attendants say they are required to be in the cabin 30 minutes to an hour before the clock starts ticking on their regular pay.
Usually, flight attendants’ hourly pay only starts accruing when an aircraft pulls back from the gate.
According to flight attendants, boarding is one of the hardest parts of their job.
“We are getting everyone seated, and you’ve seen the last two years what happens when we are on the ground,” said the president of the Association of Professional Attendants, Julie Hedrick. The Association of Professional Attendants represents nearly 24,000 American Airlines employees.
Delta Air Lines announced in late April that it would start paying for boarding time, blazing the trail in the payment of preflight time in the industry. Flight attendants at Delta will now be paid 50% of their regular rate for the 35 to 45 minutes of preflight time.
Now, flight attendants with other airlines are pushing to get boarding pay in their contracts as flight attendants across the country enter new contract negotiations.
“Pay for boarding has set a new industry standard,” said Lyn Montgomery, the head of Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants union.
According to Hedrick, flight attendants at American Airlines have long been pushing for pay for boarding. The boarding pay issue stems back to 2018-19 when frequent delays and cancellations forced flight attendants to spend extra time taking care of passengers.
While the request for boarding pay is not brand new, it was not a high priority in past contract negotiations. Flight attendants had typically only pushed for higher payments and better benefits.
“It’s always been a topic that’s been discussed, but prior to this, I don’t ever recall it going anywhere,” Hedrick said.
