Flight Attendants?

Question

I am a student, I don't really need a job, but I love traveling.

I was wondering if there were any flight attendants out there? What sort of travel privileges do you have? Which airline do you work for?

I want to fly internationally. I live in Phoenix. Which Airline would be the best for me?

Answer 1

If you live in Phoenix, USAir would be the easiest bet for you because that is one of their two major hubs.

I'm not a Flight Attendant but I fly a lot for business and have gotten to know many flight attendants very well, on many airlines. Their overall opinion is, the job is not what it used to be.

Benefits: there's two major kinds of travel perks. Buddy passes are where the flight attendant can bring a friend along on a trip. Some airlines make it so the buddy pass can only be redeemed for the same flight that the FA is working, and some make it so the FA can't be working and has to be travelling as a passenger. Then there's employee-priced travel which can be as low as 90% off regular fares. FA's say both of these benefits are getting harder and harder to redeem, especially to popular cities or during peak travel times. FA's flying with either benefit usually have to stand by for a flight--- seat is not guaranteed till just before takeoff and they have to give up their seat for a full-fare customer if one shows up. Sometimes it takes them two or three days of standby to get to where they want to go.

Overall, pay is low, health benefits are ok, retirement benefits are nonexistent and it's not the best line of work to go into unless you are already fairly financially stable.

Junior FA's (the newest hires) get no seniority and have the last pick of the flights to work. As a Junior FA, you might end up with months and months of nothing but on-call shifts--- you call in at a designated time, every day, to see if you will be working that day or not. All FA's put in monthly "bids" which is their choices, in order, of what flights they would like to work, but they're assigned by seniority and by the time they work their way down to the "newbies" all the better routes are already staffed. Junior FA's see a lot of Ontario, California!

When you do get a "good" route, you usually are not in any city long enough to really see it. A 18-hour layover in International cities is pretty common--- and since the flight crews are often put up in hotels near the airport, instead of in the city, what you can do with those 18-hours is pretty limited.

It also really is a full-time job; your schedule is so unpredictable that you will have a hard time taking a class if attendance counts, or holding a part-time job.

I don't want to sound all negative but the truth is, it's not the greatest job in the world. Of my FA friends, there's about half who love it anyway (and usually have another source of income like a rich boyfriend) and half who are looking for a new line of work. As the airline industry in the US continues to cut costs, look for the few benefits to become even harder to use, and the hours to get longer. If you really, truly want to be a flight attendant, you might do better relocating outside of the US and working for a non-US based airline. The pay, benefits and working conditions are better in some other countries.

Answer 2

I was a flight attendant myself for 5 years. Well i'm not American but i flew for Emirates Airlines for 5 years and it was so much fun. It was very nice and living in Dubai was luxury and well the benifits was, Tax free income and Medical insurance world wide 24 hours, Free shared accomdation fully furinshed with Gym and swimming pool and traveling allowance and overtime and uniform cleaning for free.Tickets for free to anywhere not really free but you only pay 10%. It's so much money if u ask me it's a glamourous job yes you travel all around the world and have fun but as well it's so tiring and killing to be in a pressurized cabin for long hours and so on, u'll have to really like it to do it. Check www.ekgroup.com & good luck. I only left it coz i got married and i left Dubai..But i still love Dubai so much and always go back.