The Most Powerful Flight Attendant in the United States Has Just Been Reelected to Another Four Year Term

Sara Nelson, the most powerful flight attendant in the United States, has been reelected as president of the Association of Flight Attendants.

The Association of Flight Attendants is the largest cabin crew union in the world, with over 50,000 members. The union's largest group is flight attendants at United Airlines, while its newest members will soon start flying for a low-cost carrier.

In between, AFA represents flight attendants at Alaska, Frontier and Spirit Airlines and under Nelson's direction, the union is once again embarking on a concerted campaign to convince flight attendants at Delta Air Lines to join the fold and unionize for the first time in the company.

Nelson would be a major beneficiary of unionizing Delta flight attendants. Nelson has been the international president of AFA since 2014, having been a flight attendant at United Airlines for 25 years.

Nelson became a rising star of the labor movement when her calls for a general strike were credited with helping to end the government shutdown.

Nelson was praised for leading calls for a federal emergency relief fund for the aviation business. The jobs of tens of thousands of flight attendants and other airline workers were secured thanks to the multi-billion-dollar rescue package.

Nelson's militant leadership has caused AFA to be criticized for some of its political campaignings, including its support of the federal face mask mandate. Nelson and AFA joined the debate about the Supreme Court's draft decision on abortion.

Nelson was reelected at the 49th AFA-CWA Board of Directors meeting. Nelson told attendees that some may call these times desperate. They can be seen as a call to action.

Nelson said that in the worst of times, working people have risen up to achieve their greatest gains.

As an international flight attendant, Maszczynski worked for the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying for a well-known European airline during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Matt is an expert in passenger experience and human-centered stories. Constantly keeping an ear close to the ground, Matt's industry insights, analysis and news coverage is often relied upon by some of the biggest names in journalism.