Alaska Airlines offering flight attendants double pay for extra trips amid staffing shortage

Alaska Airlines flight attendants can earn double pay by working extra trips as the company attempts to resolve staffing shortage issues.

“Like many other airlines, we are facing general staffing challenges,” the company said in a statement, according to CNBC. “In response, we’re offering flight attendants pay incentives to fill gaps in staffing for a short period of time this Spring.”

The airline started offering bonuses and up to triple pay for pilots and flight attendants during the busy holiday travel season as the increase in COVID-19 infections driven by the omicron variant caused many staffers to be out sick, CNBC reported.

The company has already trained 165 new flight attendants and intends to hire 700 more this June, per the outlet.

The Hill has reached out to Alaska Airlines for comment.

This comes after airlines saw global staffing issues during the holiday season, with over 3,000 flights scheduled for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day being cancelled globally and over 4,600 flights being delayed.

More recently, multiple airlines have said they are seeing higher-than-ever demand for flights, even with spiking ticket prices.

“We’ve not seen a stronger demand … in my career,” Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian said earlier this month. 

Delta has increased its prices by about 10 percent each way in order to make up for rising fuel prices. United and Southwest Airlines have also said they have raised their ticket prices.

The White House has firmly placed blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin for what it called the “Putin spike” in global energy costs as Moscow presses on in its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.