Delta Just Gave Employees $1.3 Billion in Bonuses Plus Announced Raises—While American and United Workers Get Left Behind

Today is profit sharing day at Delta Air Lines, and in addition to paying out $1.3 billion to employees today (8.9% of salary, or about a month’s worth of pay) the airline has announced that its employees will receive a raise this year.

Delta’s profit sharing exceeds the amounts paid out by the rest of the U.S. airline industry combined and it’s the ninth time they’ve paid out over $1 billion in profit sharing – basically every year since 2014 with a break during the pandemic.

The airline’s employees, like flight attendants, earn more than competitors. Whle they don’t have a union deal, American’s flight attendant union contract tried to mirror what Delta offers but American doesn’t make money. 10% profit sharing of near-zero at American is near-zero, while at Delta is really material.

At United Airlines, employees go years without raises. The following union contracts are currently ‘amendable’ (meaning they’ve expired, and employees keep the same pay without raises until there’s a new contract in place):

• Flight attendants (AFA-CWA) — amendable since August 2021.
• Dispatchers (PAFCA) — amendable December 2024.
• Aviation maintenance technicians (Teamsters) — amendable December 5, 2024.
• Passenger service, fleet service, storekeepers, fleet technical instructors (IAM District 41) — amendable May 1, 2025

Meanwhile, non-union Delta employees generally get raises each year (in fairness, there was a break in this during the pandemic, but Delta didn’t furlough anyone while American and United furloughed more employees than any other airlines in history had previously). They’re able to drive a revenue premium in part because their employees are better, they have a better culture.

The airline has added monthly bonuses (‘shared rewards’) for hitting operational goals, $1,000 payouts for going through personal finance education, and the airline was the first to introduce boarding pay for flight attendants and did it as a true add-on to existing wages (in contrast, at American, flight attendant leaders explained that when they got this provision in their new contract it traded off with wages).

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