United Pilots Reconsider Deal After American’s Get Better Offer

United Airlines pilots may be heading back to the bargaining table after their counterparts at American may have been offered a better deal. Last week, United and the Air Line…

United Airlines pilots may be heading back to the bargaining table after their counterparts at American may have been offered a better deal. Last week, United and the Air Line Pilots Association made a lot of noise about the 14.5 percent pay increase included in their proposed contract and sent it out for a vote with a deadline of July 15. On Friday, news came out that American had offered a 17 percent raise for pilots in their negotiations with the Allied Pilots Association. That may have put the brakes on the United deal.

Shortly after the American offer was made public, United’s union leaders announced they were taking a second look at the tentative agreement reached last week. “We are collecting information regarding the (American) offer, and the master executive council (MEC) will meet in special session next week to consider the impact it has on our TA,” United MEC said in the letter. “We will carefully consider all available options and, until we have greater clarity, we will suspend the town hall meetings, P2P deployments, and other presentations related to the 2022 (tentative agreement.)”

Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AVweb. He has been a pilot for 30 years and joined AVweb 22 years ago. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.