American Airlines Pilots Ratify Contract With Raises, Snap-Up Clause

A contract newly ratified by American Airlines pilots joins Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in including a competitive snap-up clause for pay rates. 

Pilot compensation rates are set to rise by more than 46% over the life of American’s new four-year contract, the Allied Pilots Association (APA) says, with the average pilot seeing an immediate raise of more than 21%. Enhancements to quality-of-life provisions are also valued in the billions. 

“In all, the new contract will provide American Airlines’ pilots with approximately $9.6 billion in additional value versus the prior agreement,” APA said in announcing the ratification on Aug. 21. “Quality-of-life improvements represent nearly 20% of the increased value of the new contract.”

The contract terms build on a Tentative Agreement (TA) proposed to APA’s Board in late June, ratification of which was delayed after an Agreement in Principle (AIP) announced by United Airlines in July prompted a reevaluation. United’s AIP, valued by the Air Line Pilots Association at $10 billion, would provide cumulative raises of 34.5-40.2%.  

“It appears that United CEO Scott Kirby has found ways to address pay and quality-of-work-life items for his pilots that American CEO Robert Isom and his team have repeatedly told us were simply impossible to do here,” APA said on July 16. In response, Isom had pledged to match the wages, and an agreement dubbed “TA 2.0” was reached in late July, including a snap-up clause contingent on United’s pilots ratifying their agreement by Jan. 1, 2024. 

Snap-up clauses contained in Delta and United contract language are designed to outpace or match the other. 

“If United ratifies at 1% above Delta, and Delta snaps to 1% above United, then United will snap to match the additional 1%,” APA said in an executive summary of TA 2.0. “At that point, the 2023 [Collective Bargaining Agreement] pay rates will adjust to match both Delta and United.”

Also contained in American’s contract are improvements in training pay and changes to work rules and scheduling provisions—an area APA leadership had described as a priority during negotiations. In its executive summary, the pilots’ union notes the complexity of those provisions, due to the programming required to implement them. 

“The 2023 TA scheduling changes are designed to avoid another decade-long wait on programming for an uncertain implementation,” the summary states. “Negotiating an Agreement with the Company’s IT infrastructure and current technical debt lurking in the background was challenging. Simplifying work rules and demanding an Implementation Timeline reduces the risks we have seen over the last decade for unimplemented items.”

Of the more than 95% of American pilots to vote on the TA, 72.7% were in favor, APA said. 

“Today is a really great day for our pilots and airline,” Isom said on Aug. 21. “This agreement will help American immediately expand our pilot training capacity to support underutilized aircraft and future flying and provide our pilots with more opportunities to progress in their careers.” 

Quality-of-work-life provisions and significant raises have taken center stage during post-pandemic pilot negotiations. Southwest Airlines remains the last of the U.S. “Big Four” working toward an agreement, with a contract that became amendable approximately one year after those at Delta, American and United. Delta pilots ratified their agreement in March, and negotiators at United are working to complete final language on their AIP before it can become a TA. 

American’s contract becomes amendable on Aug. 1, 2027, with a provision for the next round of bargaining to begin as soon as November 2026.