United Flight Attendants Got “Premium Economy” Travel In Their Contract—But The Union Left Them Booking Coach

United flight attendants got premium economy deadheading in their previous contract. But United refused to let them travel in premium economy cabin. The union filed a grievance and lost. Then, when it negotiated their new contract they didn’t even try to fix the issue. Now the Association of Flight Attendants is explaining to employees why they dropped the ball in a September 24 notice. Deadheading means the airline is transporting crew as passengers for work. They’re being sent where the airline needs them, or brought home to base after an assignment. This is different from commuting from where they may actually live to their work base or traveling on their employee benefits. Section 3.H.8 of the 2026 agreement text provides for booking flight attendants in business class on three-class aircraft when available. Then it says: If Business Class is not available, the Flight Attendant will be booked in premium economy. The provision goes on to prefer aisle seats, then windows, before other seats. The plain language is clear that flight attendants should be entitled to premium economy on aircraft offering that product. But the language was drafted before United announced Premium Plus in 2018. It’s their premium economy product, with a wider seat and better recline, meals and amenities. Economy Plus, meanwhile, is an economy seat with more legroom. Why The Union Lost The union challenged United’s practice of booking Economy Plus ahead of Premium Plus. Its April 2022 explanation of the arbitration loss says the parties hadn’t contemplated the new cabin when they negotiated the earlier agreement. According to that account, the arbitrator found a gap between the old language and the new product. Although the union had sought an entitlement to the best available seat, the actual bargain didn’t establish a right to anything above Economy Plus. The arbitrator wouldn’t add a benefit the parties hadn’t agreed to. While the language appeared to guarantee premium economy deadheading when available, the bargaining context suggested that’s actually not what was intended. It’s possible for the contract to anticipate a future product – indeed, much of the point of contracts is to spell out how to think about future conditions that weren’t clear at the time an agreement was signed – but the evidence presented to the arbitrator suggested that’s not what was intended here. The latest notice from the union insists that United remains a two-class airline, treating Premium Plus as part of economy for this purpose. That’s absurd, and an awkward argument for the union to make in justifying why they didn’t get the contract’s plain language enforced. United markets it as a separate cabin, and the union’s 2022 description called it a new “class of service.” Having the economy crew serve those seats doesn’t make coach and premium economy the same product. Flight attendants can still get Premium Plus. Where it’s sold separately, the initial booking order puts Economy Plus aisle and window seats ahead of Premium Plus aisle and window seats, followed by other Economy Plus and economy seats. In other words, if there’s no economy plus or only economy plus middle seats, flight attendants sit there. There are also upgrades, ordered by seniority among flight attendants. The Union Knew This Needed Fixing And Ignored It Flight attendants can be booked into business, but if that’s not available they don’t get the next cabin down. There’s been no ambiguity in this since the arbitrator’s ruling. The union negotiated a new contract that didn’t fix this. Flight attendants rejected that contract, and the union negotiated again but didn’t address it in that bite at the apple either. Instead, the union says the issue wasn’t a priority. A benefit doesn’t need to be the top concern for a majority of members to warrant discussion. And the fact that the union sees it differently underscores the way that their deals pit the priorities of their members against each other as much as against the company. The union also doesn’t say the fix would have been too expensive in terms of tradeoffs with other things they secured. Premium economy is certainly better than coach on a transatlantic deadhead. Topics on this page