Pilots Stall to Aid Attendants

CHICAGO — Leaders of United Airlines’ 5,000 striking pilots studied a tentative settlement today but said they won’t end a four-week walkout until flight attendants reach an accord with the nation’s largest air carrier.

The 27-member master executive council of the Air Line Pilots Assn. met at a suburban hotel to review the language of the tentative agreement reached a day earlier. It had also met Wednesday but did not have a copy of the pact, drafted by a federal mediator.

Capt. John LeRoy, a union spokesman, said the pilots will not return to work until flight attendants who honored their picket lines have reached an “equitable back-to-work” agreement with United.

“There’s a strong feeling among pilots of appreciation and respect for what the flight attendants have done in the dispute,” union attorney Michael Abram said.