Imagine the most stressful part of your job. Now imagine being surrounded by anxious, confused, and impatient people, all looking to you for direction and help – and you’re not even getting paid for it. For many flight attendants in the United States, this is just part of the job.
Justine, a flight attendant currently working for Alaska Airlines who was granted anonymity to speak freely about her employer, explains that this is a small but stressful part of the job. “The most frustrating thing is that I’m here to represent the airline. I wear my uniform, I do my job. I could do something wrong and get penalized for it, but I’m not getting paid.”
Earlier this year, Julie Hedrick, a flight attendant for American Airlines and president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), told NPR, “We spend a lot of time in our day-to-day lives that we don’t get paid for.”
Airlines like Alaska argue that unpaid hours theoretically factor into overall pay because flight attendants like Hedrick and Justine are paid by miles — or TFPs (trips for pay) — rather than hours worked. But when you combine time on the ground with increased customer service and safety duties, many flight attendants argue that doesn’t quite add up — and they’re trying to change that in their current collective bargaining negotiations. “These are important duties that we have to perform in addition to keeping everyone on board calm,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), a union that represents flight attendants at airlines like Alaska and United, told NPR.
According to Justine, “it’s 45 minutes of the hardest, most intense work,” which they also don’t get paid an hourly rate for. She walked Thrillist through a typical onboarding process to explain what it’s like from the crew’s perspective.
Arrival at the airport
For flight attendants, the workday begins when they arrive at the airport in uniform an hour before departure. “Let’s say my flight leaves at 5:30 p.m. I have to be in a certain vicinity of the airport at 4:30 p.m.” Her airline-issued phone makes checking in easier, but location tracking on the phone means she has to be physically in the airport. “My phone knows where I am. I can’t check in early from the parking lot or anything.”
Remember that checking in is not the same as “clocking in.” In a regular job, your pay starts as soon as you get to work. “I have to be at the airport in uniform an hour before departure, but I don’t get paid until we close the doors of the plane.”
Emergency checks
45 minutes before departure, flight attendants must be on the plane and complete a series of security checks before passengers can board. “Each flight attendant is assigned to an area of the plane where emergency equipment – oxygen cylinders, first aid kits – is checked. We also check our folding seats and go through all the different checklists for equipment that, thankfully, we don’t normally need to use.”
The boarding process for flight attendants
Boarding for passengers usually begins 40 minutes before departure and often sets the tone for the entire flight.
The first passengers to arrive before boarding are people who require special assistance and unaccompanied minors. Flight attendants like Justine have to provide a certain level of care for passengers before boarding. “We have to establish a point of contact with certain passengers and have a briefing with them. This is essentially about explaining exits, finding out how I can help them and what to do in case of an emergency.”
Then comes first class and general boarding. Flight attendants working up front take care of first class passengers. “We serve drinks before departure and that happens while people are boarding. We have to dodge passengers while serving things like champagne and orange juice.”
Flight attendants in the back of the plane are busy “setting up the galley and preparing beverage carts for beverage service. They don’t come on board ready to serve, so you have to organize everything so that you’re ready to go when you get in the air… especially on a shorter flight.”
The task of helping passengers “can be an emotionally draining aspect of a trip because you can tell people are nervous,” Justine explains. Flight attendants are expected to help people find their seats and assist with baggage management, which can be the most time-consuming part of the boarding process. “We have to figure out if we need to check bags, if people need to fold them and watch for people with multiple bags,” she says. “We’re not allowed to lift bags because if I get hurt boarding, I’m not covered, but sometimes people need help.”
Even if they are not “clocked in,” flight attendants are used to dealing with boarding issues. Justine recently “had to be medically evaluated during boarding, nothing serious, but one gentleman was sick so we had to stop boarding and get him out.” If medical issues arise during this time, flight attendants check with gate agents and a Medlink, a ground medical advisory service, to see if they can clear a passenger to fly.
“We are the first line of defense for the entire aircraft, but we don’t get paid.”
We’ve all seen viral videos of airplane tantrums, and these are the exact scenarios that flight attendants are having to deal with more and more often. According to the FAA, there were 915 cases of agitated passengers between January and June 2024, including 106 cases where the passenger was intoxicated.
Passenger safety is a flight attendant’s primary responsibility. “We are the first line of defense of the entire aircraft, but we don’t get paid,” she explains. “A lot of our job is people watching. One of my most important roles is selecting our ABPs (able-bodied persons) who could potentially help me in an emergency.”
In addition, flight attendants must be on the lookout for safety issues or anything that could disrupt the flight throughout the boarding process. “We look out for people who look sick or drunk because that’s when I have to check on them. If something looks suspicious, I’m the one who notices it and reports it.”
Finally, after all passengers have boarded and taken their seats and the plane doors are closed, the flight attendants are finally paid for their work.
This is how the salary structure for flight attendants works
Because airlines like Justine’s often use the TFP system instead of hours worked, each trip tends to be worth the same number of TFPs, although compensation is usually based on time served.
TFP rates with no compensation for boarding can be cheaper for experienced flight attendants because they tend to fly fewer, longer flights, meaning less unpaid time spent boarding. But for junior flight attendants just starting out, it means more shorter flights. As Hendricks explained to NPR, “this is the most chaotic, difficult part of our day, and we can have four to five boardings a day.” Multiple boardings significantly increase the number of unpaid hours per week, so when factored into the pay rate for the actual flight, they may barely make minimum wage.
For example, a flight attendant working a one-hour flight is only paid for the time between the aircraft doors closing and up to 15 minutes after the doors open for deplanement. However, that one-hour flight may take up to four hours of work. With a TFP of about $41 for a seventh-year flight attendant, pay for a four- to five-hour workday would be between $8.20 and $10.24 per hour.
Currently, only two airlines, Delta and Southwest, offer payment for boarding. However, this fee is only a fraction of the standard fare: Delta offers 50% and Southwest offers 25%.
How to make your flight crew’s work easier
As flight attendant unions and airlines battle for boarding wages, consider the following on your next flight:
- Flight attendants are not support staff. Their primary job is to ensure your safety and deal with emergencies. And no, they don’t want to carry your luggage for you.
- Overhead bins are not designed for jackets and personal items. Time spent cramming small items like these into overhead bins is often a waste of time, as they are the first to be taken out when the plane is full. Plan ahead, know what you absolutely need within reach of your seat, and only use the overhead bins for larger carry-on items.
- Go to your assigned seat and stay there. Do not try to swim against the current to get to another seat or go to the bathroom before boarding is complete. If you have a problem with your seat, go to your gate early and discuss it with your gate agent, or ask your flight attendant about it after boarding.
- Say hello and thank you to your flight attendants. “Most people don’t even respond when we greet them at boarding or when we say thank you when we hand out drinks or pick up trash,” says Justine. A little politeness goes a long way.
