Will a potential airline strike affect travel this year? It depends

04.10.2023 - 20:41 / thepointsguy.com / Sara Nelson

Following a summer of landmark picketing, negotiating and deal-reaching for some of America's pilots' unions, flight attendants are moving into the spotlight. Some groups of cabin crew are weighing a strike as they call for substantial salary increases and better working conditions.

Flight attendants are advocating for the same significant pay increases pilots received during the summer, citing the growing cost of living. The Alaska Airlines chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants is even potentially threatening a strike during this year's holiday travel season.

One of the key demands for flight attendants is to be better compensated for their time; under the current model, they are not paid for any work done on the ground, including during boarding. (Delta, where flight attendants are not unionized but where a union drive is underway, began paying flight attendants for boarding last year.)

"This is about gaining back our lives, getting back our productivity, being able to put that in our pockets and not just sending that to Wall Street," AFA president Sara Nelson said.

And while pilots' unions at the likes of American Airlines and United Airlines reached agreements with their airlines, tensions remain for pilots at other carriers. Southwest Airlines' contract negotiations with its pilots are still in limbo, as its union overwhelmingly voted to exit mediation in May; this paved the way for the union to begin the process of authorizing a strike.

In a year where the labor movement has gained significant traction — with public opinion of labor unions reaching its most favorable point since 1965 — talks of labor action and strikes at American auto manufacturers and Kaiser Permanente healthcare have made headlines.

But at airlines, compared to other industries, it's less likely that the movement toward a strike will actually lead to an industry-wide walkout.

An airline strike is always a possibility. The last one in the U.S. was in 2010 when Spirit Airlines pilots walked out over disagreements on pay increases.

Nevertheless, a strike remains unlikely because it's much harder for airline employees to walk out than those in other industries. Even if a strike were to occur, it could take years to come to fruition.

While the National Labor Relations Act governs collective bargaining for most industries, the Railway Labor Act oversees the railroad and airline industries — and the law makes it difficult for airline employees to actually pull off a strike.

Because the federal government considers airlines an essential service for interstate commerce, negotiations between airlines and their employees are subject to a different process than most industries. This particular process is tailored to avoid the