What happened
United Airlines is increasingly firing senior flight attendants for profiting off trip trading, where senior crew members bid on desirable trips they don't intend to fly and sell them to junior colleagues for cash. Flight attendants are assigned schedules based on seniority. While trip trading is common, United (along with American and Delta) has rules against trading for cash, unlike Alaska, Frontier, JetBlue, and Southwest. The union AFA-CWA reports a significant increase in terminations for this violation and is demanding proper investigation and progressive discipline for the fired employees. This shift impacts the seniority system and operational costs, as staffing flights with junior attendants is less expensive for the airline