The truth about retro pay and signing bonuses
Years of steady pay increases at Delta have delivered more for our flight attendants than what union-represented flight attendants have received through signing bonuses or retro pay. Even before they get to that point, flight attendants at unionized carriers often wait years for any increase in their pay while their union finishes negotiations.
Not only do stagnant wages have a big impact on employees’ ability to respond to rising costs, but there are also cascading effects on many other areas of flight attendant compensation, including profit sharing, boarding premium pay, vacation, 401(k) contributions and related growth in the stock market and other investments, etc.
Most often, AFA has negotiated modest “signing bonuses” for its members. For example, at Spirit, AFA negotiated “a significant signing bonus” after it took 9 years of negotiation for their second contract, but later acknowledged “it did not come close to making flight attendants whole for what they lost over those nine years.” After failing to negotiate a signing bonus for their 2023 contract, AFA explained:
“a signing bonus is typically part of the package when contract negotiations have dragged on for years .... We are less than two years past our amendable period (lighting speed in the airline industry).”
In AFA’s most recent contract at United, agreed to in 2016, no signing bonus was negotiated. They acknowledged that if they negotiated for a signing bonus, “increases to wages and benefits would be sacrificed…[it] would have meant foregoing more valuable improvements,” and therefore decided against it.
Even with retro pay at American, an APFA-represented American flight attendant who waited for five years of negotiations still made less than a Delta flight attendant who received regular pay raises excluding COVID years.*
- A Delta flight attendant hired in 2019 made $21,200 more in total compensation than their American peer through 2024.
- At top of scale in 2019, a Delta flight attendant made $41,500 more through 2024.
At Delta, we provide employees with consistent pay raises that bring greater value – as your pay increases, so does your boarding premium pay, profit sharing, and Delta’s contributions to your 401(k). Since 2022, flight attendants have received regular pay raises totaling 22% when including boarding premium pay. This allows you to continuously invest in your future and achieve your long-term goals without the uncertainty and tumultuousness of negotiations.
*Based off an 80/hour monthly schedule and including hourly flight pay, profit sharing, boarding premium pay, and Shared Rewards.
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