@JLeslie: I read the article in the link you provided. I see there is a great variation in the pay of flight attendants who work for small airlines vs. large airlines like United.
I also googled to see what their union is (Association of Flight Attendants or “AFA”) and I found their current contract. There are many provisions for things like paid parking at airports and flight discounts for family. I didn’t have time to read the whole contract, but I’m positive it includes provisions for holiday pay and things like that.
Here’s the current contract for the AFA: https://unitedafa.org/docs/contract/jcba-final.pdf
I’m sure for a large airline like United, with holiday pay and overtime and whatever other benefits they make, the pay is not bad and a flight attendant is not known to be a bad job that is low paying. Now if you’re a flight attendant for a small airline, I’m not sure what their pay and benefits would be, and I’m not sure all flight attendants for all airlines are part of the union or any union.