MINNEAPOLIS- The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) has accused Endeavor Air (9E), a wholly owned regional subsidiary of Delta Air Lines (DL), of giving its cabin crew far weaker pay and benefits than colleagues at the mainline carrier.
The union, which represents crew based at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP), says flight attendants face gaps in bereavement leave, per diem rates, and overall treatment when compared with pilots and mainline Delta flight attendants.
Union Targets Delta Endeavor Air Over Two-Tier Treatment
A recent union memo lists several complaints about how Endeavor Air treats its flight attendants.
The dispute follows an earlier report, reported by PYOK, that the crew at the regional carrier was not always following procedures meant to reduce turbulence-related injuries. Now the same union is widening its criticism to cover pay, leave, and daily allowances.
At the center of the complaints is the claim that different staff groups at the same company are valued differently, even though they share the same operation and the same employer.
Bereavement Leave Gap Draws Sharp Criticism
Endeavor Air gives flight attendants three days of paid bereavement leave after the death of a close relative. Pilots at the same airline receive five days of paid leave for the same loss.
The union argued that grief does not change based on job title. It questioned why one employee group receives more time to mourn a parent than another within the same company. The AFA-CWA framed the gap as a sign that the airline assigns different value to different groups of workers.
Different employee groups are represented by different unions, and that often leads to different policies on matters such as bereavement leave. Even so, the union says the size of the gap is hard to justify.
Per Diem Rates Expose Wider Pay Disparity
The dispute also covers per diems, the hourly allowance paid during layovers to help cover meals and drinks. Endeavor Air flight attendants earn $2.25 per hour in per diems. Mainline Delta Air Lines flight attendants earn $3.30 per hour for the same purpose.
Per diems are not take-home pay. They are meant to cover the cost of eating and staying away from home during trips.
The union pointed out that restaurants, hotels, and airports charge regional crew the same prices as mainline crew, yet the allowance assumes their costs are lower.
Regional Model Faces Renewed Scrutiny
The AFA-CWA has long criticized the regional airline model, which it describes as a two-tier system. Under this model, mainline carriers contract lower-cost regional flight attendants through separate airlines to reduce costs and protect their margins.
Airlines often argue that they do not control the contracts of regional crew, since those terms sit with the regional operator. The competitive process of winning these contracts, however, pushes costs down.
The arrangement is more complicated in cases like this one. American Airlines (AA), Alaska Airlines (AS), and Delta Air Lines (DL) all contract regional flying through wholly owned subsidiaries. That ownership suggests these mainline carriers hold real influence over how much their regional crews are paid.
From Stepping Stone to Long-Term Career
Regional airlines were once seen as a short stage in a career path toward a mainline job. New flight attendants accepted lower pay and fewer benefits in exchange for experience.
In practice, many regional flight attendants now want long-term careers at their regional carriers. They perform the same duties as mainline crew and are pushing for better pay and stronger contracts to match.
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