Flight Attendants?

[michellew]

Any loveshackers out there who are flight attendants or close to one? Do you enjoy your career? What is your salary like? Pros and cons, please.

 

I've been in the education field for 14 years now and am ready for something different. I may have an opportunity with Southwest, but that would be a HUGE change from what I do now.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[RoseVille]

My sister is one, as is a good friend. Both love it. First few years (up to 5), expect to earn $18-40K, depending on flight hours available. (You get paid hourly based only on hours with the aircraft doors closed pushed away from the gate.

[carhill]

Well, do you like flying?

 

I had considered working for our big regional, Skywest, since I've flown so much, but I simply make too much money doing machine work and rehabbing houses. I know I love flying, either as a passenger or in a more hands-on manner.

 

Do you like people?

 

Huge part of the job, dealing with a wide variety of personalities and cultures, constantly.

 

Do you work well on teams, especially teams where you might not know anyone on the team until working with them that day?

 

Being a FA means working with a variety of people, not the usual 'co-workers' day in and day out. Sure, people get to know each other over time but flying is a huge industry with a lot of employees.

 

Do you like to travel and living light?

 

My main takeaway from talking with retired FA's, having flown a lot with them as fellow passengers, is that they love to travel and still do in retirement. They like exploring.

 

Do you know a second or third language?

 

Since WN (Southwest) gobbled up AirTran, they've been flying internationally and proficiency in Spanish could be a great asset to advancement. Their routes in that area are currently expanding so they'll be looking for FA's interested in them.

 

I won't link to FA forums but you can find them on the net. I can link to the organization which advocates for them, since it's a .org:

 

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA

 

Myself, I've mainly flown the legacy domestics (UA/AA/DL) and international airlines and have only flown Southwest a few times. My remembrances of their FA's were that they were funny and sassy and pretty casual, though they did their jobs professionally.

 

Though I believe this linked document is from the last CBA, it may be instructive as to what to expect, contractually.

 

http://www.twu.org/Portals/0/AirContracts/sw_FlightAttCBA.pdf

 

Be aware it's 268 pages long. Heh.

 

Good luck!

[Els]

I do know two women who work as flight attendants (and have read a couple of blogs written by other attendants), but I'm not sure how helpful that will be since from what I've heard, the experience varies HUGELY by airline.

 

The general consensus seems to be that being able to see the world while being paid to do so is great if you love traveling. But on the flip side the hours are gruelling, and they don't get many rest days in between flights, which really takes its toll on your body especially considering the jetlag. Customers can be a mixed bunch, like with any other service-oriented job. Maintaining a LTR is also very difficult with such a schedule.

 

Also, another consideration is that it's one of those professions that you can't really stay in all your life, and has no room for growth. In the airline my friends worked for, younger people were preferred and it was rare to see an air attendant in their 40s. Kinda like playing football or modeling - except that you sometimes get paid enough in those fields to retire early, but you definitely can't do that on an air attendant's salary. But again this might not be the case for all airlines.

 

This is a blog post by a Singapore Airlines girl that went viral: https://dayre.me/tieponytail/skRWRVxyYm It's not very well-written (okay, that's an understatement, it's pretty terribly written ), but it sounds honest.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Elswyth

[Banker Chick]

Also, another consideration is that it's one of those professions that you can't really stay in all your life, and has no room for growth. In the airline my friends worked for, younger people were preferred and it was rare to see an air attendant in their 40s.

 

 

I have to disagree with this. My 23 y.o. daughter is in the process of becoming one so I've been immersed in the culture and hiring practices of the various airlines (international & domestic) for months now and have flown quite a bit in the past couple of months so have paid attention to the crews. In a couple of cases she was one of the youngest in her interview group and they seemed to lean more towards the upper 20s all the way up to early 50s. I also noticed on my flights that the majority of FAs were more my age than hers.

 

 

I have a friend that's 48 that has been an FA all her career and she not only makes really good money now but she sets her schedule and her and her family are always taking trips to other countries because it's so cheap for them to fly. She's never wanted to do anything else and I doubt she will.

[carhill]

A number of Asian airlines have some FA customs and practices which we here in the US might find a bit odd and arcane or 'old-fashioned'. One is age limits. Another is demeanor. Another is attractiveness. I've noted this flying Cathay (CX), Singapore (SQ) and Ana (NH), where the crews are generally all very young, usually all or mostly female, often solicitous regarding the comfort of their passengers, and quite attractive. I've noticed similar perceptions with their ground crews and lounge staff.

 

To draw parallels, think of the old 'stewardess' era in the US, back in the 50's-70's. Mostly, young, single, attractive females. If they got too old, or got married, they were out. Even Southwest prided themselves on the youth and beauty of their female crews.

 

They don't make commercials like this anymore:

 

 

That's what I grew up with. Heh.

[michellew]

Thank you for the advice. I've decided to proceed with interview just to see what they have to say or offer and will take it from there.