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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 870
  
Location: Louisiana & Florida | I am interested in becoming one. Can anyone tell me about this good/bad/ugly? |
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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
 
Location: Bandera, TX | Why do you want to become a flight attendant? I personally hate to fly, but have to every view months. Having to fly every day just seems very anxiety attack provoking to me.
I can see this being cool if you get to fly internationally and see the world that way.
Good luck.  |
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Did you hear about that plane that went missing?! |
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 Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | Cowboyup is one. She has been for a long time. My son is also one. It is not as glamarous as you think it is. One reason is because of all the rude, don't give an attitude of people. My son had an incident on his plane once where the famous person was escorted off - per the pilots. The horrible things they said about him on the internet made me so mad.
He gets tired of living out of a suitcase sometimes. But, he has gotten to travel and see a lot. The pay is only so so, to start out with. |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | I heard there were lots of layoffs going on. I knew a gal who did it, but she was laid off and then became a stay at home mom. |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | Go for it! If it's something that interests you then why not? I couldn't do it but mainly because I'd want to slap too many people (I'm not the most gracious person around LOL) but I give kudos to those that can and do. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 870
Location: Louisiana & Florida | Well I currently work for the post office, so most of the things that have been said you can say about the job I have now. As far as living out of a suitcase I'm ok with that. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 870
Location: Louisiana & Florida | Whiteboy - 2014-03-24 3:26 PM Did you hear about that plane that went missing?!
I didn't hear about this lol JK |
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| The pay is crummy. You are treated like a second class citizen. You don't get long layovers in fun places. You work all day (3-6 flights per day) waiting on rude passengers for hardly no compensation. Then you get to your destination and have only X amount of hours to rest, eat, call family, etc. before you have to be up at 3 AM to catch the van to the airport for a 5 AM flight.
Yes, there are some exceptions where you do get longer layovers and can take family, etc. but they are few and far between.
On your days off, you are so dang tired that it takes at least one day to recover before you feel human.
Granted, some companies are better than others however the airline industry as a whole is undergoing some major changes that make quality of life even worse.
I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer and shoot down your enthusiasm but I feel like you need the good, bad, and ugly before you make a decision.
Good luck!
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 870
Location: Louisiana & Florida | BigMomma - 2014-03-24 4:08 PM The pay is crummy. You are treated like a second class citizen. You don't get long layovers in fun places. You work all day (3-6 flights per day) waiting on rude passengers for hardly no compensation. Then you get to your destination and have only X amount of hours to rest, eat, call family, etc. before you have to be up at 3 AM to catch the van to the airport for a 5 AM flight. Yes, there are some exceptions where you do get longer layovers and can take family, etc. but they are few and far between. On your days off, you are so dang tired that it takes at least one day to recover before you feel human. Granted, some companies are better than others however the airline industry as a whole is undergoing some major changes that make quality of life even worse. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer and shoot down your enthusiasm but I feel like you need the good, bad, and ugly before you make a decision. Good luck!
Thank you very much. These are the things I needed to hear. If I would have heard everything I know now about the post office I would have never wasted my time on it. Thank you |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| NFRhereicome - 2014-03-24 3:07 PM Whiteboy - 2014-03-24 3:26 PM Did you hear about that plane that went missing?! I didn't hear about this lol JK
Either did the TSA for a while at least! |
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Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | BigMomma - 2014-03-24 4:08 PM The pay is crummy. You are treated like a second class citizen. You don't get long layovers in fun places. You work all day (3-6 flights per day) waiting on rude passengers for hardly no compensation. Then you get to your destination and have only X amount of hours to rest, eat, call family, etc. before you have to be up at 3 AM to catch the van to the airport for a 5 AM flight. Yes, there are some exceptions where you do get longer layovers and can take family, etc. but they are few and far between. On your days off, you are so dang tired that it takes at least one day to recover before you feel human. Granted, some companies are better than others however the airline industry as a whole is undergoing some major changes that make quality of life even worse. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer and shoot down your enthusiasm but I feel like you need the good, bad, and ugly before you make a decision. Good luck!
I didn't have the heart to say it. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 550
| The bad: When you start, the pay is bad - not much better than minimum wage. You are only paid when the plane is in flight, so boarding & deplaning are not paid. You are also on call a lot, but aren't paid for that. You are actually pay is 80-100 hours a month, so even though the per hour sounds nice, it is less than you would expect. Trips are bid in order of seniority, and if you are a junior flight attendant, you layover in small cities, really short layovers, with nothing to do. The more senior FAs pick first, so by the time they get to you, most of the good trips are gone. The exception is when they need to fill a trip fast -if a flight is delayed in to a city and they don't want to delay the corresponding flight out, or someone gets sick. Then they fill it from the bottom, so a junior FA can get some really nice trips that way. The downside to that is they call you, and you have an hour to get to the airport.
If you are flying on vacation, you fly standby, which means you are the last one on, after all paying passengers. You can spend all day in an airport trying to get somewhere and still be bumped.
When the economy experiences a downswing, the first thing people give up is vacation, so layoffs are common.
Training is intense, and stressful, and quite a few do not make it through.
You will fly most holidays
The good: As you gain seniority, you get better trips & are less likely to be laid off.
It is different every day. If you don't like your crew, no worries, they will probably be different the next trip.
You do get to see a lot of neat things and meet a lot of interesting people.
A lot of people do find it glamorous, and it is an interesting career.
I considered getting my pilots license, and talked to a few pilots. Their consensus was do it. Same job for more pay, and very little interaction with passengers. One also told me it was the only career he knew of that people also did on their day off -most pilots have small planes and fly for pleasure on their off time.
I did it when I was younger, and it was a great part of my life that I don't regret. Sometimes when I see a plane taking off, I wish I was on it. But I am also happy that I'm no longer doing it. Now that I have small kids, it wouldn't fit my life.
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Member
Posts: 9
Location: Mississippi | I was a flight attendant for a while. The responses are true. Low pay, long hours, rude passengers. You will work most every week-end and holidays. You also meet alot of really nice people as well and see different places. If you dont mind living out of a suitcase and not being able to rodeo or horse show go for it! But if your into your horses it probably wont work for you. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 870
Location: Louisiana & Florida | Thank you everyone. I don't really want to give up my horses. They are all young so I guess I thought I could. I have and still can live out of a suitcase I love seeing the world. I traveled for a living for 3 years being in one city one week and across the country the next but sounds like this is different. I would love to hear more stories if anyone else has or still is one. |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | My sister was until she broke her hip. She still misses it to this day. But everything bad that has been said she said about it also. If you stay with it it gets better. But I promise you you better be thick skinned. She liked the challenges most people don't though. She always liked coming through in a pinch. That being said I am not sure she is really my sister. Wouldn't work for me. |
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Expert
Posts: 1419
| I did it for a year and was laid off after sept 11..It was a BLAST but everything people are saying on here is true....you are gone every weekend and holidays. I was with Northwest before they were bought out by Delta, you do get 15+ days off a month and you are not paid until they back away from the gate. It was fun and I went over seas alot but first thing i did after I left was get into horses! |
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Veteran
Posts: 170
Location: Texas | My wife worked for Delta for 17 yrs. She started in 87 when flying was still something you appreciated and a luxury except for the business class. She quit 2 yrs after 9/11 becuase things had gone downhill so much and because when Delta closed their base at DFW, we both decided she didn't want to commute to NY/SLC or ATL. With commuting a 3 day trip can turn into 4 or 5 with getting there and back. They don't even have positive space on a flight to get to their trip. She does medical transcription at home now. She loved flying in the "good ole days", but when everything went downhill, their were families of 8 thinking it was a chartered jet for them. She loved working first class and dealing with the business class. As in most jobs, it's easy to sit back and think about how fun it "used" to be. She had 17 yrs and was in the bottom 1/3 of seniority. There is a crapload of F/A's with 30-40 yrs so plan on plenty of crappy trips. Most people thought she got on a plane and flew to one stop and went to eat and partied then went one place the next day. Most trips were 4-6 legs some with less than an hour turnaround, getting to a hotel (which by the way they aren't near as nice as they used to be) at midnight and with the time change getting up in 4-6 hrs. It's not an easy job like most of the public thinks. You fly free but that free is standby and now you're lucky to get on a plane becuase you better be picking a flight for vacation thats a time when no one else wants to go and have a back up plan. If you're single with not kids and don't mind a schedule on the fly I would look at Southwest first, they seem to be one of the better ones. Whatever you decide, Good Luck..
Edited by motorjock 2014-03-25 8:16 PM
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 Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | Makes me appreciate them alot more.. I always did but wow! They always seem to make it look so glamarous and they are always happy and nice so thought it must be a great career.. Doesnt seem bad if thats how you like to live but its not what I thought either.. |
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 Golden Heart
Posts: 5662
Location: SD | I sat next to a lady (on a flight) yesterday who was talking with the flight attendant. The lady's daughter has been a flight attendant for 3 years. She works for Spirit and loves it. She is based out of DFW, but lives in Tampa. She chooses her flights. Delta needs flight attendants according to this woman. The flight attendant on our United flight is only on her second week. She was still nervous. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | A good friend of mine was a FA for Delta for several years and she loved it until 9/11. She did trans-Atlantic flights mostly, based out of Atlanta and then NYC. 9/11 freaked her out and she was back home job hunting within a month. |
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 Go For It!
Location: Texas | Wow… I am so surprised when I read some of these posts! I have several friends who fly… but they all work for Southwest... and they all LOVE their job. They have great benefits, profit sharing, etc. Most have worked there for 15+ years so they have some seniority, which does make a little bit of difference. If you are serious about it I would definitely go with Southwest above all the others. All my friends that fly also run barrels and rodeo some. Douglas Duncan, the PBR bull rider, his mom is a FA for SW. I remember when she started, she had to fly out of New York, I believe. It was a little inconvenient but worth it to her. They were doing a lot of hiring back then (10 yrs ago) so she moved up in seniority pretty quickly. I have flown on their passes before and it really isn't that bad. There are ways to check how full the plane is going to be so you have an idea of what flights to get on when you fly standby.
I think it's an awesome job if you are in a position where you can travel. And if you are young, it's great, because when you get older you can have tons of seniority and only fly when you want. One of my SW friends only flies a couple of trips a month, if she has other stuff going on she just trades her trip or puts it in the give away box. She makes like $50. an hour + benefits. Not too shabby if you ask me. And I have another friend that works for American Airlines. She does international flights and sends pics from all over the world. She gets some really great layovers! She loves her job too.
I say do some research on the different companies and go talk to a variety of different people about it. I'm sure that you will find plenty of people who love their job. Good luck with whatever you decide.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 870
Location: Louisiana & Florida | I am still considering it. I have to look into a lot more and ask around. I want to be sure. Thanks everyone |
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 Texas Lone Star
Posts: 5318
Location: where ever my L/Q trl is parked | My sister retired from Frontier a few years ago- she was #1 seniority at that time. What she told me was most people going into that line of work thinks they will get to travel alot on their off duty time. Well, they can fly free, but found out that most didn't have the extra money it took to really have a good time sightseeing, partying etc once they got there. That because the carriers just don't pay that well. I don't know if the transatlanta carriers are union, but i believe most of the international aren't like Frontier. When they voted the Unions out the pay scale went to nothing, you start at the bottom pay like the average joe. Plus now the carriers hire any and all- no requirements really- except HS grad although I'm sure some higher education does help. Remember when FA and ground personnel were slim, trim and tall and that was required - not anymore.
I want to add something- if you want to see most of the US and maybe all of it, but not overseas. Then get a CDL become a truck driver... you get the same advantages, challenges- snow/rain/city traffic/stupid 4 wheelers etc, beautiful vistas, meet interesting people for sure- truckstops, travel day and night, long and short layovers- depends if you are solo or team driving, decent pay if you work Union or not. Most large truck companies will hire out of trucking schools and pay for your training with pay vacations and health insurance.
Edited by Aqhaczy 2014-03-26 11:07 AM
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boon
Posts: 1
| I think you will find this website useful:
www.FlightAttendantSource.com
It is a great career choice for the right person, lots of perks. Good luck! |
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Anyone here a Flight Attendant?