Why flight attendants have a lot of time in their day that is unpaid

Flight attendants aren’t paid their hourly wage for most of their time on the ground. In ongoing union contract negotiations, they’re seeking a change.

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When passengers board airlines with the help of flight attendants, many of those attendants are not being paid for their time. Most don’t begin receiving an hourly wage until you hear them say, the aircraft doors are now closed. It’s a long-standing practice they want to change. NPR’s Andrea Hsu reports.

ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: For flight attendants, clocking in and clocking out is not so straightforward.

JULIE HEDRICK: So we have a lot of time in our days that we are unpaid.

HSU: Julie Hedrick is a flight attendant for American and president of the flight attendants’ union there. That unpaid time, she says, includes all the hours they spend sitting around in airports waiting for their next flight and all the hours spent getting people and their bags on board and in their seats.

HEDRICK: It’s our most chaotic and the hardest time in our day, and we can have four or five boardings per day.

HSU: Flight attendants across airlines say, in recent years, things have only gotten worse. Here’s Sara Nelson, president of the largest flight attendants’ union, representing workers at United, Alaska and other airlines.

SARA NELSON: Every flight is full. Boarding time is much more hectic. There’s fewer flight attendants doing that work.

HSU: Now, the airlines will argue those hours on the ground are, in fact, compensated. Alaska says on its website, contrary to union narratives, we do pay flight attendants for boarding time. I asked Sara Nelson about that. She says, in years past, the union fought for and the airlines agreed to guarantees of minimum pay.

NELSON: Very common today would be one hour of flight time for every two hours on duty.

HSU: So a simplified example – if you get to the airport early in the morning for your first flight and finish up your day 12 hours…