Dear United Flight Attendants:

United Airlines and AFA share a common goal of achieving a new collective bargaining agreement for Flight Attendants at our United subsidiary. We aim to get an agreement that recognizes the value of our Flight Attendants while providing a smooth path forward to single contract negotiations. To achieve our mutual objective of negotiating a new agreement as soon as possible, we will follow a process based on the National Mediation Board's Expedited Mediation Program.

The AFA and the Company have reached a Protocol Agreement which requires us to turn our efforts to intense mediation over a defined period of time while focusing on a limited number of issues. AFA, United and the National Mediation Board are committed to making this process work, and will dedicate all the appropriate resources to seek a successful conclusion to these negotiations.  We have sought and received support for this process from the National Mediation Board, and we appreciate their commitment of resources and expression of confidence in us using this innovative approach.

Expedited Mediation will allow us to focus on the immediate and long term interests of Flight Attendants and the Company, and this Protocol Agreement provides us an opportunity to put our negotiations on a fresh path.

While we are optimistic about Expedited Mediation, we don't underestimate the challenges before us. It is clear that we will still have differences of opinion on how to resolve the issues that will be brought to the negotiating table. However, we are confident that this process affords us the best opportunity to move forward together.

Sincerely,