By Leslie Josephs -
CNBC
Delta Air Lines announced Tuesday that it will begin paying flight attendants for their hours from boarding, becoming the first major airline to offer it.
It's all happening amid an intense union-building campaign at the Atlanta-based company.
Flight attendants are generally
paid by the hour after the aircraft closes its doors
, but not during boarding.
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Delta plans to start paying them half of what they charge per hour for that time beginning June 2, according to a company memo.
The airline is also increasing the boarding time for narrow-body aircraft from 35 to 40 minutes: "one of several steps we are taking to add resiliency to our operation," according to the company.
A Delta airline flight attendant during a flight to Philadelphia, on November 30, 2022. Paul Sancya / AP
The salary increase was announced as part of a union campaign by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) that began in late 2019 and has gathered steam again now that the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis that caused in the airlines has dwindled.
Delta's more than 20,000 flight attendants are not unionized, unlike other major US airlines.
However, many have joined the AFA in recent months.
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"As we get closer to submitting our union vote, management is getting nervous
," the AFA said in a statement Monday night.
The organization is the nation's largest flight attendant union, representing cabin crew for United, Spirit, Hawaiian, Alaska and Frontier, among other airlines.
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"In this case, they also know that changing the boarding time on domestic flights from 35 to 40 minutes without adding a benefit would create a stir, just as the 'test' in Atlanta in October did," the AFA said, referring to a trial of the new procedure last year.
The boarding hour pay comes on top of the 4% raises Delta announced in March, the first employee pay increase since 2019.
