This career path can be long, but rewarding.
United Airlines’ Airbus A321neo cabin (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Andrew Chen)
Besides pilot roles, becoming a flight attendant can be among the best ways to travel the world and get paid for it. Flight attendants do play critically important roles in maintaining smooth, safe aircraft operations.
Many flight attendants strive towards an eventual career operating long-haul flights to unique destinations. The path to get there may have its challenges, but it’s achievable just like any other goal.
The first step to working international trips as a flight attendant is to become a cabin crew member in the first place. Unlike pilots, it is possible for flight attendants to go directly to a mainline carrier such as American, Delta, or United, or else to start their careers at a regional airline with a direct flow to the mainline counterpart.
Airlines will provide the training required to become a flight attendant on different aircraft types. The best bet is to pick an airline with the specific type of international flying you want to do and fly out of a base with a significant number of international flights. Coastal bases are often great examples; the New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco areas are all excellent areas for international travel, as they serve to connect passengers from smaller airports inland onto big planes. Chicago, Houston, and Dallas can also be good options.
There are some traits that can make becoming an international flight attendant easier. Airlines often look for fluent speakers of a specific language, especially those pertaining to countries they fly to often. Among other languages, United, which has a strong partnership with Lufthansa, looks specifically for German-speaking cabin crew, while Delta’s strong French presence guides them towards appropriately-fluent crews. Flight attendants who can speak these languages can expect a relatively high proportion of their trips to center around the countries whose language they speak.
Even if you get a flight attendant job at an international base, you might not start flying internationally right away. Widebody airlines regularly fly domestic trips, after all.
Airline crew scheduling is predicated upon a system known as “bidding,” where each crew member signals the trips and schedule they want to fly. The scheduling department then goes down the seniority list starting with the most experienced person of each type at the base, fulfilling their desired schedules in order. If you’re a new flight attendant near the bottom of the seniority list, your desired schedule may have already been covered when the scheduler gets to you; and since international trips are often the most coveted to fly, only domestic trips may be left.
However, patience is rewarded, and with a few years of experience behind you (plus a few spots higher on the seniority list), it will become easier to actually be awarded international trips.
Starting salary depends on the airline you work for. Low-cost and regional airlines, which may only fly internationally on occasion, start just over $20/hour for new flight attendants, while first-year pay at major legacy airlines can be close to $30/hour. More senior crews at major airlines can top out over $65/hour.
Annually, the lowest-paid flight attendants make $30,000, while the lowest 25% get paid around $45,000. Meanwhile, median pay is about $65,000 annually, and more senior cabin crew make close to $85,000.
Major airlines also offer cabin crews per diem for every hour they’re away from base to cover basic living expenses, providing an extra cushion on top of the hourly rates. This per diem can be higher for international travel.
International flight attendants can, of course, see higher pay than domestic simply because their flights are longer. There are, of course, unpaid crew rest periods that flight attendants must often take during their trips. These rest periods are usually required by law. However, longer flights do mean that flight attendants can take full advantage of their duty times, as opposed to leaving some on the table if you simply don’t fly enough on shorter legs.
Flight attendants generally work 60-90 hours per month, with some slight variation allowing for fleet type. Flight attendants can, of course, pick up extra work on their days off if they want to fly more as long as they don’t interfere with mandatory rest requirements.
Becoming a flight attendant is a rewarding career with terrific perks. It is a great opportunity to travel the world while doing meaningful work: getting people to and from their work, vacations, and family safely and efficiently. Building up experience allows a flight attendant to get paid well for unique, exciting work that few others get to experience.
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