JetBlue Offers Attendance Bonus to Flight Attendants
JetBlue Airways has become the latest airline to offer financial incentive to crew members to help get the carrier through what is expected to be a surge of travelers this spring.
Flight attendants who have perfect attendance between April 8 and May 31 will earn a $1,000 bonus, according to a company message seen by CNBC.
The offer comes just days after JetBlue surprisingly made an unsolicited $3.6 billion offer to buy low-budget carrier Spirit Airlines in an all-cash deal.
Many airlines have tried to get out in front of what industry officials predict will be a summer of unusually heavy air travel after two years of scaling back due to the pandemic. Alaska Airlines, for instance, recently said it expects “staffing challenges” and is offering flight attendants double pay for summer work.
But the summer season usually starts in late May around Memorial Day Weekend. JetBlue is apparently expecting it to start sooner, with much of that based on a huge spring break travel season in which traffic exploded.
Between Friday, April 1, and Sunday, April 3, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) counted 6,388,891 people getting on a plane at a U.S. airport. Compared to the same first weekend in April of 2019, from April 5-7, there were 6,704,423 people who flew during those three similar days.
That’s 95 percent of what it was three years ago pre-pandemic, the year that the industry likes to use as its bellwether as a comparison to gauge its travel comeback.
CNBC noted that JetBlue flight attendants will also receive $100 bonuses for every open trip they pick up to replace a colleague.
Staffing shortages have been prevalent for airlines and have resulted in delays and cancellations during heavy travel times, such as holidays, or during damaging storms when airlines have had trouble getting crew and equipment in place.
“The spring rewards programs comes at a time where every flight makes a difference as hours are tight and staffing levels are not where they need to be,” Ed Baklor, JetBlue’s head of customer care and programs, said in the memo seen by CNBC.