US Flight Attendants Union Backs Frontier-Spirit Merger

The flight attendant union which represents crew members at both Frontier and Spirit Airlines threw its weight behind a merger between the two airlines on Tuesday after announcing that it had secured a so-called ‘merger transition agreement’ with Frontier which would protect jobs and, perhaps even more importantly, protect flight attendant seniority.

The agreement was announced just a day after JetBlue made an unsolicited offer for Spirit and urged the airline’s shareholders to reject Frontier’s rival bid.

The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) represents crew members at Spirit and Frontier, while JetBlue flight attendants are represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU).

Under the agreement reached between AFA and Frontier, flight attendant seniority would be preserved should the two companies merge. With seniority comes trip bidding privileges and preferential access to vacation booking, amongst other perks.

“We are thrilled to announce our support for the merger of Spirit and Frontier Airlines after reaching a transition agreement that protects Flight Attendant jobs,” commented Sara Nelson, international president of AFA on Tuesday.

“We support the necessary regulatory approvals that will improve competition, increase consumer options and experience, and maintain and grow good union jobs.”

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