Delta to Start Paying Flight Attendants During Boarding

With the possibility of a union drive, airline company Delta will start paying its flight attendants during boarding.

This move marks a first for any U.S. carrier and comes amid a unionization drive for the Atlanta-based airline’s biggest work group.

Typically flight attendants only get paid starting when the aircraft doors close.

The company aims to begin the boarding pay, half of flight attendants’ hourly rates, on June 2, according to a company memo.

Delta 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 (AFA). Delta’s more than 20,000 flight attendants are not unionized.

“As we get closer to filing for our union vote, management is getting nervous,” the AFA said this week.

The AFA is the country’s largest flight attendants 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, referring to a test of the new procedure last fall.

According to Henry Harteveldt, the founder of travel consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group, Delta’s move is “proactive.”

“If people feel like they are not being treated well they are more open to joining a union,” he said.

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

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.