United offers $100K for flight attendants to disembark
For some United Airlines (UAL) flight attendants, the future may offer some clear skies.
The airline is offering flight attendants a lump-sum buyout payment of $100,000, although not every worker is likely to qualify. The plan will give the buyout to attendants "who apply for the early out and meet certain service and eligibility qualifications." The buyouts will be given in order of seniority, the airline added.
At the same, United is recalling flight attendants who have been on voluntary and involuntary furlough. The plan has been approved by the flight attendants union, the Association of Flight Attendants.
The offer comes as the United is still coping with integration issues from the merger between itself and Continental Airlines, which created United Continental Holdings (UAL) in 2010. In a letter to flight attendants, the union said the airline remains "overstaffed by more than 2,000 flight attendants across the system."
That has led to "reduced earning potential, involuntary and voluntary furloughs, and a variety of cross-over and leave programs," the union said. "Post-merger changes in United's network and aircraft deployment have also shifted the flow of flying, resulting in staffing imbalances among the bases and the subsidiary work groups."
The union hinted at other changes in store for flight attendants, with the expectation that United will cluster its flying schedule around seasonally popular flying times due to customer demand, which could mean workers might have to limit their vacation time to off-peak months.
In the near term, the buyouts offer what the union calls a "virtually unprecedented" offer in the airline industry.
Airline attendants earn median pay of $37,240, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The job outlook for the profession isn't rosy, with the BLS estimating that employment will shrink by 7 percent through 2022, thanks to union contracts and economic challenges.
"With sufficient participation we can resolve the overstaffing problem and, at the same time, provide opportunities for Flight Attendants to move up their respective seniority lists," the union noted.