AA flight attendants to vote on contract proposal

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants declined to call it a tentative agreement and didn't indicate whether the union's executive committee endorsed the offer.

American Airlines spokesman Bruce Hicks said the offer included pay raises and more upfront money in exchange for a reduction in the company's proposal for profit-sharing. The company stuck to its proposal to eliminate 2,300 flight attendant jobs, but Hicks said the new offer added incentives for people to leave, an idea that the union advocated to reduce potential layoffs.

The offer includes a promise to support giving the flight attendants a 3 percent stake in the company after it emerges from bankruptcy protection. Pilots are voting on an offer that would give them a 13.5 percent stake. The company's creditors would be asked to support the requests.

The flight attendants' union said the terms were better than under a February proposal that included 1.5 percent pay raises but longer working hours and other changes. American filed for bankruptcy protection in November.

Union President Laura Glading said the offer was far from the agreement that union negotiators had wanted. But she said it "represents the absolute best terms our negotiating team was able to achieve during (bankruptcy) negotiations."