American Airlines flight attendants didn't reach a contract deal in last-minute talks before a strike

American Airlines flight attendants on a picket line

Flight attendants for American Airlines are still inching their way towards a strike. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, their union, announced Monday that they still don’t have a deal with the carrier despite a last-minute mediation session this weekend.

“After two days of intensive discussions, progress was made, but an agreement was not reached,” the union said in a statement to members. “Your negotiating committee is fighting hard to reach an agreement, but it must be an agreement that meets the needs of the membership.”

Though the flight attendants’ contract expired in 2019, they have not been able to go on strike because their collective bargaining activities are regulated by a different set of labor laws than other unions. The Railway Labor Act, which also halted a railroad strike in 2022, brings in a much higher degree of government intervention.

Federal mediators sit in on talks between American and the APFA, and a strike is only allowed to happen if those mediators declare a stalemate and the Biden administration declines to force a deal within a 30-day cooling-off period. The APFA has tried and failed to get such a stalemate declared during the course of negotiations.

“The scheduling of mediation and a release into a thirty-day cooling-off period is determined by the National Mediation Board,” the union said Monday. “While we are limited in the details of what we can discuss, we will be providing more information on the status of bargaining and the next steps to reach an agreement.”

The NMB told Quartz that it does not comment on open cases. American Airlines did not immediately return a request for comment.

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