After a chaotic holiday travel week, some airlines are giving temporary salary increases to workers in an effort to alleviate labor shortages.
United Airlines and Spirit Airlines both announced pay increases for select staffers on Friday, which included doubling pay for flight attendants and tripling pay for pilots who take extra flights.
More than 20,000 flights have been canceled since Christmas Eve because of the Omicron coronaviruses variant, which has caused staffing holes in the airline industry.
There have been a lot of verbal and physical assaults against airline staffers in recent months. The Federal Aviation Association reported a total of 5,779 incidents involving unruly passengers, a majority of which involved disagreements over mask requirements.
Bryan Quigley, United's senior vice president for flight operations, told pilots of the triple pay opportunity in a memo. The incentive was developed in conjunction with the Air Line Pilots Association and will apply to workers who take unstaffed trips through January 29, according to the letter.
"Thank you all for your hard work and professionalism during the holiday season," the memo said. We worked with the ALPA to provide additional compensation for pilots, and I am happy to announce this update.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA announced on Friday that all flight attendants would be eligible for double pay through January 4.
The AFA-CWA said that flight attendants will be paid 200% of their pay for any pair that lasts through Jan. 4.
There were more than 2,400 flight cancelations and nearly 2,000 delays as of Saturday afternoon. Many airlines have already canceled flights throughout the month in anticipation of staffing shortages, including JetBlue, which announced it will allow customers to change or cancel flights for free through mid-January.
