United Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants Reach Tentative Agreement

CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) today announced that the United Master Executive Council (MEC) of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) informed UAL that the MEC has approved a tentative agreement between AFA and UAL for a flight attendants' contract and is recommending the tentative agreement to United flight attendants for their consideration and ratification.

The agreement is the result of an expedited mediation process that began last September, modeled on the National Mediation Board's Expedited Mediation Program. The agreement provides for numerous improvements, including increased wages and a signing bonus for United flight attendants.

"I am pleased that we were able to reach this agreement following an intense mediation process. We appreciate the hard work of both negotiating teams in reaching an agreement that is fair to United flight attendants and fair to the company, and recognizes the great work by our flight attendants," said Sam Risoli, senior vice president of inflight services for United. "We look forward to the ratification of this agreement, which will be promptly followed by negotiations for a joint agreement that will fully integrate all of our flight attendants under a single contract."

The tentative agreement covers more than 15,000 flight attendants at the company's United Airlines subsidiary located throughout the United States and several international bases and is subject to ratification by United Airlines flight attendants. Continental flight attendants ratified their collective bargaining agreement in February 2011.

"We want to thank the National Mediation Board for their assistance during the negotiations. We particularly wish to thank Senior Mediator Patricia Sims for her pivotal role in assisting the parties to reach a successful conclusion to this expedited mediation," said Mike Bonds, executive vice president of human resources and labor relations for United.  

The AFA represents more than 24,000 flight attendants at the company's United and Continental subsidiaries.

About United Continental Holdings, Inc.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) is the holding company for both United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Together with United Express, Continental Express and Continental Connection, these airlines operate an average of 5,717 flights a day to 376 airports on six continents from their hubs in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark Liberty, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. United and Continental are members of Star Alliance, which offers more than 21,200 daily flights to 1,185 airports in 185 countries. United and Continental's more than 80,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world. For more information about United Continental Holdings, Inc., go to UnitedContinentalHoldings.com. For more information about the airlines, see united.com and continental.com or follow United on Twitter and Facebook.

SOURCE United Continental Holdings, Inc.