Alaska Airlines Offers Flight Attendants Double Pay To Combat Flight Cancellations

In order to address the ongoing labor shortage, Alaska Airlines is offering flight attendants double the pay in preparation for a busy travel season. 

Various airlines have followed a similar trajectory, offering various bonuses and even triple pay for pilots last year due to the Omicron wave that kept people from working and led to thousands of flights being canceled.  

Airline operators are doing what they can to keep these cancellations from happening again. For Alaska, attendants can access the incentive once they work over 100 trips per pay in one month. 

“Like many other airlines, we are facing general staffing challenges,” the company said in a statement. “In response, we’re offering flight attendants pay incentives to fill gaps in staffing for a short period of time this Spring.” 

Recently, Alaska hired 165 new flight attendants, with plans to hire 700 more this summer. 

American Airlines has plans to hire 18,000 workers this year, while Southwest Airlines is aiming for 8,000 new employees. 

These hiring sprees come as tourism and travel rebounded quicker than experts predicted. Last month, bookings surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time in two years.