What do United Airlines flight attendants want for Christmas? A new contract, especially one that pays historic ground benefits.

United flight attendants held a labor picket Thursday at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in advance of the busy holiday travel rush when travelers don’t want to think about disruptions and delays.

Kevin Batey, local executive council president of United Airlines Council 14, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the union used the action to let the airline know that some members are ratcheting up their commitment to the contract fight by signing up for the GUTS — Gearing Up to Strike — list.

The sign-ups, which follow authorization of a strike vote in August by 99.9% of union members, mean that some flight attendants have volunteered to strike first if and when flight attendants are released by the National Mediation Board.

Batey said the strike vote was the first time since United’s 2005 bankruptcy negotiations that its flight attendants took a strike authorization vote, and its approval rate reflects continued frustrations with current contract negotiations.

United said in a statement, “We are eager to reach the industry-­leading agreement with our flight attendants that they deserve. United is offering pay raises of 22.5%, new boarding pay, and many other improvements. The federal mediation process requested by the Association of Flight Attendants is expected to resume in early 2025 with the new negotiating committee named by the union on November 19.”

While labor tensions between United Airlines flight attendants and the airline continue to heat up, the Railway Labor Act prevents an immediate airline strike. Before striking, United flight attendants must ask the mediation board to declare that negotiations are deadlocked and release both parties into a 30-day “cooling off” period.

While airline strikes are rare in modern times, airline labor tensions are worth monitoring as many in Hawaii still remember the United Airlines pilots strike of 1985, which had a substantial and cumulative effect on Hawaii’s economy, as did the hotel workers strikes in 1990, 2018 and earlier this year.

Batey said the union has not yet asked the mediation board for a cooling-off period, which requires declaring that the parties have reached an impasse. But he said the union filed for federal mediation with the mediation board many months ago and has worked under an amendable contract for some three years.

Batey, who became a flight attendant in 1979, said, “The airline industry has always had its ups and downs, but the general glide path has been down. It’s just glacial at the negotiating table. We aren’t making the sort of progress that we should have been making.”

He said Thursday’s “Day of Action” came as United Airlines stock was up over 150% year to date, at an all-time high.

“The company has actually asked for concessions. No other (airline) has asked for concessions, and they are making money hand over fist,” Batey said.

He said United flight attendants are seeking a significant base-pay increase, retroactive pay to the amendable date, schedule flexibility and work-rule improvements, job security, retirement and more.

“One of our big things that we are asking for in this contract is ground pay during boarding, disembarkation and during long sits. Sometimes they can schedule sits for up to three hours and 59 minutes without giving us a hotel room,” Batey said.