Delta to pay flight attendants during boarding amid union push

Delta Air Lines said it will start paying flight attendants during boarding, a first for a major U.S. airline and an initiative that comes during a unionization drive for the Atlanta-based airline’s biggest work group.

Usually, flight attendants are paid starting when the boarding doors close.

Delta plans to start the boarding pay, half of flight attendants’ hourly rates, on June 2, according to a company memo. The carrier is also increasing boarding time for narrow-body flights to 40 minutes from 35, which the company says is “one of several steps we’re taking to add resiliency to our operation.”

The pay changes were announced as a union campaign by the Association of Flight Attendants that began in late 2019 picks up steam again as the pandemic crisis wanes for airlines.

Delta’s more than 20,000 flight attendants are not unionized, unlike at other major U.S. airlines.

“As we get closer to filing for our union vote, management is getting nervous,” the AFA said in a statement. The organization is the country’s largest flight attendant union, representing cabin crews at United, Spirit, Hawaiian, Alaska and Frontier, among others.

“In this case, they also know that changing domestic boarding time from 35 to 40 minutes without adding a benefit would create an uproar — just as the ‘test’ in Atlanta did back in October,” the AFA said.

The boarding pay is on top of the 4% raises Delta announced in March, employees’ first annual increase since 2019.