Flight Attendants Spill 30 Secrets About The Airline Industry That Most Passengers Don't Know

We all know what it’s like to travel via plane, but it seems like very few of us know what it’s like to be working on that plane. What happens behind the curtain that separates our seats from where the flight attendants sit? What does the cockpit look like? Is first class really that nice? (Okay, some of you may know the answer to that one if you are doing well financially, so if you'd like to donate to my future travel fund so I can experience the magic of first class as well, I would be happy to send you my contact information...)

Flight attendants seem so mysterious because most of us don’t travel very often, so it’s easy to forget that the profession exists until we take a trip. I have personally never met one, but it turns out there are quite a few out there. In the United States alone, there were about 117k active flight attendants working in 2019, and that number has been rising over the years, as there were only 95k in 2014.

We reached out to B, a real-life flight attendant and host of The Flight Attendant Podcast, to hear what she thinks are the best and worst parts of being a flight attendant. "The best thing about being a Flight Attendant; For me, and for many, I think, is the fact that we can create our own schedules (work as little or as much as you want!), take as many vacations as we want, and travel essentially for free," B told Bored Panda.

"The worst thing about being a Flight Attendant, is that it's a pretty thankless position. While we love creating our own schedules, traveling, and vacationing, we also have this job, because we care about safety," B explained. "But many people do not realize that, and they treat us like their servants, and while that was the case when this profession started, incidents, such as the Hindenburg Disaster of 1937, which was evacuated by one of the Stews (first one to initiate evacuation), the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, and many more, have changed our profession. We no longer just serve as 'waiters, nannies, etc...', but we are the first responders in the air, and the last line of defense in a hijacking attempt."

We also asked B if any particular passengers stand out to her as the best or worst she's every encountered. "I remember having a couple in my exit row once, and I made an announcement as we were boarding 'ABC is on your right, DEF on your left, rows start at 1 and go up from there'. The couple asked me, 'Really? You have to make that announcement?' I said, 'Yes, you will not believe the amount of times passengers are in the back looking for row 5 later on'. One of them asked, 'How many people are on this plane?' I said, 'About 250ish'. The husband replied, 'I don't think in an office building someone would go to the bathroom every 2-3 min'. He was commenting on the line for the lavatories. I replied, 'Yep, when people are on the plane, the lavatories are never empty.' This couple understood our everyday struggles! The received free goodies during the flight!"

We then asked B what she would like all passengers to understand. "As I mentioned, we are there for your safety, we are not asking you to bow down to us, and we understand we are pretty much the face of the company. Just treat us as you would like to be treated, and most of us are there because we enjoy the job, with its many ups and downs, but when you arrive on our aircraft upset because of something that a Gate Agent, or Ticket Agent or even a TSA Agent, please do not take it out on us. We have no control on everyone else's mood or professionalism."

Lastly, she added that, "We do not make the rules of the sky, we are simply following our companies policies, and FAA Regulations, so please do not get upset at us when we remind you to follow these policies and regulations. They are there for a reason!"

If you're interested in learning more about the flight attendant world, be sure to check out B's podcast right here.

The flight attendant profession is greatly dominated by women, as about 75% of the workforce is female. It’s a popular job among people of all ages though, with the average age of women in the industry falling at 46 and the average age of male flight attendants being 43. Unsurprisingly, however, men still manage to make more money in the profession, as women tend to earn only 95¢ for every dollar their male peers make. In 2019, the average annual salary of an American flight attendant was about $50k, making their earnings around five thousand dollars less than the national average. So if the pay is not extremely enticing, what is the appeal of being a flight attendant?      

One of the biggest reasons many flight attendants will cite for pursuing this profession is that they wanted to travel. Depending on what airline they work for, flight attendants could visit multiple continents within a week, something many people never get to do in their entire lives. They might even have the opportunity to stay in luxurious hotels while waiting for their next flight. Although the salaries are not outstanding, getting to see the world while working and having great benefits for traveling in their time off can be a fair trade-off. In a Cosmopolitan article where Arielle Pardes and Mara Santilli inverviewed current flight attendants about things they wish they knew before starting their careers, the women agreed that “the perks make up for [their] paychecks”. “Flight attendants can ride in coach for free or fly with a companion for about 90 percent off plus tax and fees on international flights,” Pardes and Santilli wrote.

It’s great that being a flight attendant comes along with excellent perks, but becoming one in the first place can require all sorts of jumping through hoops. According to the New York Post, it’s actually harder to become a flight attendant than to get into Harvard. Apparently in 2018, Delta airlines announced that they were hiring 1,000 new flight attendants, and over 125k hopeful applicants submitted their resumes. After their initial submissions, a video interview, in-person interviews and eight weeks of training at Delta headquarters, only 1% of the applicants received job offers. And in true modern day fashion, Delta even documented the applicants’ journey in a Youtube miniseries titled “Earning Our Wings”.   

Apparently it’s necessary for airlines to put their flight attendants through boot camp before offering them jobs because so much of the position requires great knowledge of safety and first aid. There is a common misconception that flight attendants are mostly waitresses or customer service workers, but that’s only a small facet of the job, “Our first priority is to keep you safe and that’s what those weeks of training are for,” says Shawn Kathleen, a former flight attendant who was an EMT and police officer before pivoting into the airline industry. “Learning self-defense and how to take care of violent passengers and how to do CPR if someone’s heart stops. Being a flight attendant was 100 percent harder than being a cop. And they have to hire people who can handle it.”

Along with being able to handle the rigorous safety training, there are a laundry list of other skills and qualifications that can help applicants have a leg up when trying to become a flight attendant. Having a college education, being fluent in multiple languages, being attractive and “well-groomed”, being friendly and a good conversationalist, having basic computer and math skills and being willing to relocate and work major holidays can all help an aspiring flight attendant stand out. Being physically strong is apparently important too, as those beverage and meal carts can be quite heavy and customers might require help lifting their bags into the overhead compartments. 

When someone does manage to earn a coveted spot as a flight attendant, there are a lot of aspects of the job they need to brace themselves for, including dealing with difficult customers. There will always be a handful of difficult and entitled passengers who love to complain about the tiniest things or pick fights with the people sitting next to them, so sometimes flight attendants are responsible for de-escalating a situation. But there are also passengers who have the audacity to hit on or proposition the airline staff. “People hold on to this notion of Pan Am stewardesses from the 1960s and that we are there to look pretty and serve the passengers,” one flight attendant told the New York Post.