CHARLOTTE, N.C. (TheStreet) -- After five years of talks, US Airways(LCC_) and its flight attendants have reached a tentative agreement on a deal that provides some of the industry's highest hourly rates as well as strong protections in the event of a merger.

Talks had moved slowly in the years following the 2005 merger between US Airways and America West, and flight attendants still work under separate contracts. But "the company decided sometime in the past six months that it was important to finish these negotiations and put the two flight attendant groups together," said Mike Flores, president of the US Airways chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants, in an interview. He said federal mediators strongly encouraged both parties to reach a deal.

Additionally, Flores says, management's desire to pursue a merger with bankrupt AMR(AAMRQ.PK)ramped up the pressure to get a deal done, especially because a festering dispute over seniority, now winding its way through the courts, has prevented completion of a contract with the two pilot groups. "It's very easy for them to explain in a merger effort why they don't have a deal with pilots," he says. "But there's no explanation for why they don't have with flight attendants, other than they were being cheapskates."

Additionally, Flores says, management's desire to pursue a merger with bankrupt AMR(AAMRQ.PK)ramped up the pressure to get a deal done, especially because a festering dispute over seniority, now winding its way through the courts, has prevented completion of a contract with the two pilot groups. "It's very easy for them to explain in a merger effort why they don't have a deal with pilots," he says. "But there's no explanation for why they don't have with flight attendants, other than they were being cheapskates."

By Ted Reed

The Street