Current Status
Alaska Air Group completed its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines on 2024.09.18. The National Mediation Board found a single transportation system for the Flight Attendant craft or class on 2025.03.06 and certified CWA-AFA as representative on 2025.04.11.
The Joint Negotiating Committee opened JCBA bargaining on 2025.03.18. Its eighteenth reported session took place 2026.08.24–2026.08.27. The committee reported extensive exchanges on Grievance and Training but no agreement on either section. That update scheduled Session 19 for 2026.09.08–2026.09.10; CrewSignal had not located a public result from that session by this baseline date.
JCBA Clock
- 726 days since the transaction closed.
- 557 days since the NMB single-transportation-system finding.
- 545 days since the first JCBA bargaining session.
CWA-AFA advised members in July 2025 that finalizing the JCBA could take 2+ years. CrewSignal records that as the union’s stated expectation, not as a guaranteed completion date.
Merger & Integration Cross-Links
Process Signals
- This is a full merger JCBA combining separate pre-merger agreements, not ordinary successor bargaining over one existing contract.
- Until a JCBA is ratified and implemented, the pre-merger groups continue under separate agreements, work rules, seniority lists and scheduling systems.
- Session count is useful only when paired with substance: sections exchanged, tentative agreements reached, economic issues opened and implementation planning completed.
CrewSignal Assessment
For United Flight Attendants, Alaska + Hawaiian is a live test of whether a same-union merger can produce a materially faster and more transparent JCBA than the Continental + United integration did. The comparison must remain disciplined: speed matters, but so do the breadth of the bargain, preservation of stronger provisions, seniority implementation and the time between ratification and actual operational integration.
CrewSignal will therefore track three clocks separately: transaction close, NMB single-system determination and first joint bargaining session.
Weekly Updates
Dated Alaska + Hawaiian JCBA reports will begin with the next regular CrewSignal reporting cycle.