She has been called “The World’s Most Powerful Flight Attendant” , and named one of the Top 50 Most Badass Women. “A badass,” she says, “gets things done that nobody thought possible."
She’s been called a firebrand and a fighter, respected along every aircraft aisle in the sky, and often feared along the corridors of power in Washington.
Among the more than 50,000 flight attendants whom she advocates tooth-and nail-for, they know to just call her Sara.
I’m honored to be allowed to call her a partner and a friend. But that was something I had to earn over time, not right away. And rightly so; Sara Nelson wouldn’t be such a formidable union chief if she didn’t demonstrate each day that she has her members’ backs.
I was lucky enough to have Sara behind me and having my back at crucial moments when it mattered most to my United family.
It’s impossible to celebrate Women’s History Month without paying homage to the contributions made by the American labor movement and by so many women in aviation.
Sara Nelson carries on that legacy with immense skill. She has risen to become the de facto face of American Labor, and its future.
The story of how Sara and I forged a constructive partnership based on respect, then allyship and now genuine friendship was not pre-written and seemed unlikely at first.
When I took over as CEO of United in 2015, relationships between the airline and labor were at an all-time low after more than a decade of bankruptcies leading to furloughs and a stalled merger. It seemed like anytime fuel spiked or demand dropped, the books got balanced on the backs of our employees, especially flight attendants. Contract negotiations had dragged on for years, building up bad feelings, mounting up bad faith and bringing down the quality of our service to customers and one another.
In my first days, we got off on the wrong foot. With the help of one of our other union leaders, Sara and I met face-to-face in the hopes of a fresh start. We sat down to lunch and, as it happens, I would learn later that it was her 20th anniversary since joining United.
A meeting that began icy immediately thawed when she told me her story.
After studying to become a teacher, Sara juggled four jobs out of college just to keep her head above water. Then, during a particularly cold St. Louis winter, her friend who had just become a flight attendant, rang her from Miami. Sara listened as her friend described her future career, one that was built by the women of United Airlines who formed the union in 1945 and won the first contract in 1946; a job that provided flexibility, good pay and healthcare, as well as excitement and adventure.
Sara packed up her car and drove to Chicago to interview at United. Six weeks of training later, she was crewing her first flight out of Boston.
The United that Sara joined back in 1996 was a very different United than today. And we have Sara Nelson to thank for those changes.
In addition to navigating the sexism of the era and the outrageous double-standards applied to women, until her first full paycheck arrived, money was getting scarily tight.
Living off spare meals from the galley during flights, she arrived back to her flight attendant domicile after working back-to-back shifts and checked her bank account. It was zero and her first paycheck was still days away.
Just as she was beginning to lose hope, that’s when someone tapped her on a shoulder wearing a United uniform. The flight attendant asked Sara how to spell her name and then wrote out an $800 check. She handed it to Sara and said, “First, why don’t you go and take care of yourself? And number two, you call our union.”
“I learned everything I needed to know about our union in that moment,” Sara’s written. “Because in our union, we take care of each other and we’re never alone.”
I learned everything I needed to know about Sara in that moment, too.
Our mutual trust became crucial at the eleventh hour of our contract discussions. Our Human Resources chief called me and said they’d hit a snag. I offered Sara my word that we would honor the last sticking point in the deal. That was enough for her – as well as for her members who trusted my word because they trusted Sar’s. With that, United Airlines finally started flying together.
We would lean on that trust and good faith to weather many more storms. We spoke with one voice to ensure the #MeToo Movement wasn’t just a moment, and to ensure our skies were a place of zero tolerance for harassment.
Through government shutdowns and aircraft groundings, vaccine mandates and covid policies, Sara was there to stand up for our United flight attendants.
During heated negotiations over passage of the CARES ACT and Payroll Support Program, a lot of my leverage came from the fact that congressional or administration leaders on the opposite side of the table from me knew that I had Sara Nelson’s phone number on speed dial. And 50,000 flight attendants across the country would be mobilized.
That’s real power, Sara’s power.
You might not belong to a union yourself but if you fly, then you’ve benefitted from Sara’s work.
The AFA has fought for greater safety in every aspect of aircraft design and maintenance because your travel space is their workspace. She’s gone to battle against workplace discrimination of all kinds, including one behalf of all her male flight attendant colleagues. AFA was one of the first to win rights for domestic partnerships, setting the road to marriage equality.
And we can never forget that on 9/11, flight attendants were the first responders and the last line of defense, just as they were throughout the pandemic, making sure we could fly safe.
I am proud that United is a vastly more equitable and competitive employer than when Sara first joined it. We will continue to be stronger and better thanks to her efforts and the Association of Flight Attendants.
Sara still holds her certifications, which means she still takes shifts on the occasional flight. The next time a flight attendant, or a customer, is in need the person who taps them on the shoulder to offer help just might be Sara herself.
But, wherever they are flying in the world, our flight attendants know that Sara is always there, standing behind them, and that says everything you need to know about her and the union she leads.