The title says it all. In my opinion, being a flight attendant is absolutely the best job in the world. It is super easy and super fun most of the time. Buuuuuut…it’s not a great way to make money, thus making it the best job in the world only if you don’t need a job.
I think this is important to discuss. I’ve had many people reach out to me to ask me questions about how to become a flight attendant, or to tell me that they’re considering this as a future job. When I explain the financial piece to them, most of them realize that this job cannot work for them. You see, flight attendants make very little money, at least at first. Here are a few contributing factors of why flight attendants make so little money, followed by the main reason (in bold) that flight attendants make so little money:
The hourly wage is pretty low. Unless a flight attendant has been at the same airline for 10+ years, their hourly wage is pretty low. (At my airline, the top-out pay is still less than I was making before becoming a flight attendant). The pay at it’s base is not great.
There’s no negotiating the wage. The wage is set in the contract and no matter what experience you have or how fantastic you are, you’ll get paid the same as everyone else at your seniority level.
Flight attendants don’t work full time hours. This is related to a technicality which I’ll explain below, but I think a lot of people look at the hourly wage and think, “Okay, that should be fine…” not realizing that most flight attendants work 70-90 hours per month. They’ll multiply the hourly wage by the 160 hours they’d work at a traditional job and then be WAY off on how much to reasonably expect they’ll make.
Flight attendants are not paid for their work. Ouch. This is the big one. Most airlines in the US pay their flight attendants only when they’re actually flying. There are two airlines that pay by mileage flown (which basically works out to be the same as only getting paid only while flying). So while basically every airline demands that flight attendants be at the airport 60-90 minutes before their first flight of the sequence will take off, flight attendants are not paid for those 60-90 minutes (with the exception of Delta, who pay their flight attendants half their hourly wage for boarding; though that still leaves time that Delta flight attendants are required to be at the airport but not getting paid, since they have to be at the airport before boarding begins).
The problem compounds though, because often flight attendants are stuck at airports several times per day…while not getting paid to be there. We always have that first hour when we’re reporting for a trip that we’re not paid for. Then we fly somewhere. If we’re lucky, we fly far far away and don’t have to work anymore that day. Buuuuut often enough, we have more flights that same day…and once again we’re not paid when we’re at the airport…usually. My airline pays us for one hour IF we’re stuck at an airport between flights for 2-or-more hours, and as far as my understanding goes, we’re the exception. Most airlines pay their flight attendants nothing for time at the airport.
What this all means is that often flight attendants have HOURS each day they’re working that they’re not paid for working. Boarding is 100% the most stressful part of the job…and we’re not paid for boarding.
You may be asking, “How is this legal?” Yes. Legitimate question. Apparently it relates to some antiquated law called the “Railway Act” or something??? Honestly, it should be illegal, but it’s not.
This is the ugly underside of this super fun job! Because the job is fun and is glamorized, airlines generally aren’t having a hard time hiring, and therefore I’m not optimistic that more ethical pay rules will come into place any time soon.
For me, it’s 100% worth it, but I’m lucky to have worked my way into a financial situation where it’s feasible. I did have a dream the other day that Saign wanted to divorce me, and I woke up and thought, “Holy crap! I need to keep my psychologist’s license! I can’t pay my bills if Saign leaves me!!!” Not a great feeling…
Adventure Fam 