That hesitancy, combined with bad weather and tight staffing, has led to over 8,000 flight cancellations over the past eight days, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.
“All flight attendants, regardless of how you have obtained your pairing, will be receiving 200% pay for any pairing that touches Dec. 28 through Jan. 4,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said in a statement. The union represented about 4,000 flights attendants at Spirit Airlines, according to the carrier’s latest annual filing.
The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Earlier this year, Florida-based Spirit Airlines was forced to cancel nearly 3,000 flights due to bad weather and staffing shortages.
Alaska Air said while the pandemic had hit its operations, the vast majority of cancellations and delays were due to bad weather.
The airline last week agreed to offer some benefits such as instituting pay protections in case of any reassignments on Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and New Year’s day, the AFA said.
Hawaiian Airlines said it had not offered new incentives to its crew for working during the holiday period.
SkyWest Airlines said its operations continued to be hit due to weather and the Omicron variant, which is spreading rapidly and causing record-breaking cases across the United States.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the pay increase for Spirit flight attendants. They are receiving double pay on any work through January 4.
