Airlines Again Offering Extra Pay for Crew to Work Through January

U.S. airlines, stung by the week-long disaster of cancellations and delays that shows no signs of abating, are once again turning to the almighty dollar to try to alleviate the situation.

As they did prior to Thanksgiving, carriers are offering flight crews extra pay to work through at least Wednesday, January 4, and in one airline’s case through the end of the month to assure they are properly staffed.

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The surging Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has caused thousands of airline workers to call in sick, leaving carriers worldwide short-handed over the Christmas holiday and causing more than 10,000 flight cancellations since Thursday, December 23.

United Airlines is offering a whopping incentive to its pilots. The carrier cut a deal with its union to give pilots 3.5 times their normal pay to fly open trips through January 3 and triple pay to work between January 4 and January 29, according to a staff note seen by CNBC.

“Due to the rapid spread of the COVID Omicron variant, we are currently seeing record levels of pilot sick calls,” the pilots’ union wrote to its members. “The impact on the operation is clear and United has experienced a correspondingly large number of cancellations over the past week.”

United also incentivizing its flight attendants’ pay, and JetBlue, American, Southwest and Spirit also say they will increase pay for workers to pick up open shifts.

Spirit, in fact, is doubling the pay for its flight attendants to work through Wednesday, January 4, according to a Reuters News Service story on CNN.

"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 to its members.