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Following close on the heels of a $2.2 billion agreement on pay cuts between the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and United Air Lines last week, a five-and-a-half-year, $412 million pay cut deal was reached Sunday between United and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) (see WIT for Oct. 22, 2002). The two deals are likely to include plans for raises beginning in 2004 and extending through 2007 to gradually restore current wage levels after the cuts, along with stock options and profit-sharing opportunities for employees, and are part of a total $5.8 billion in labor-cost savings United is seeking from five unions. Far less than the $9 billion over five years that the company originally claimed was necessary to qualify for Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) loans and avoid bankruptcy (see WIT for Aug. 27, 2002), this schedule of concessions is far closer to the $5 billion over five years counterproposal offered by a coalition of the five unions at United (see WIT for Sep. 26, 2002).