Are the Poverty Wages Made by Flight Attendants “Glamorous”?
Okay, so now that I am hopped up on anti-inflammatories, somewhat recovered from my crazy shift at the second job, AND am semi-ambulatory…I suppose I can write this shit.
Whoever said “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” can go suck a dick (sorry Neitzche). Or was it something like “What does not destroy me….yada yada yada”. The idea of Neitzche uttering the words “yada yada yada” totally makes my day, but I digress…
So today in between doing 400 loads of dishes, busing numerous dirty tables covered in dishes and taking orders from a toolish douchebag of a manager, this post hit me. I wrote it in my head as I attempted to drown out my dreaded self-dialogue and the fact that I was probably on dish 378 at the time.
*photo courtesy of me — I took it*
“this sucks balls this sucks balls this sucks balls this sucks balls” “gotta make coffee gotta make coffee gotta make coffee” “don’t forget to do the dishes don’t forget to do the dishes” “fuck is it time to leave yet” “don’t lose your shit don’t lose your shit don’t lose your shit” “I probably shouldn’t be praying for an earthquake to hit” “did I leave on the iron” ”fuck shit piss fuck shit piss” “get me the hell out of here”
I thought it should be known just how “glamourous” it really is to be a flight attendant, because look at what the fuck I am doing. I’m hustling my ass off at a semi-fast food chain restaurant. Yeah that’s right. I am a flight attendant, and I am now also a glorified dishwasher and busser. Oh, I make coffee too. I’m not exactly sure why the hell I said glorified, because I feel no glory whilst there.
I’m not looking for sympathy, pity or a pat on the back. My goal is to share a little insight about my experience and story, as well as to educate people about the “real deal”. If in the end it makes a few passengers a little more patient and understanding, that’s just an added bonus.
It is incredibly important for the flying public to be made aware of the amount of money that flight attendants average. I won’t go into specific numbers because of course it does vary from airline to airline (its size, your seniority, etc.). However, as a single mother I am eligible for food stamps and Medicaid. Yes, I can easily collect BOTH because I make what the US Government considers to be poverty wages. Glamorous, right?
Recently I was unfortunate enough to experience some medical issues that have prevented me from flying. Due to this I am currently the recipient of short-term disability. Needless to say this is an incredibly small fraction of what I would be making if I were flying, which is already pretty fucking shitty – but just about doable.
*IMPORTANT NOTE: Even WITHOUT the Medical Leave I am still eligible for government assistance as I mentioned previously, including food stamps*
I don’t think that the general public is aware of just how much money we don’t make.
The ENTIRE crew (pilots included) is not paid until the aircraft door is closed. Period. And keep in mind that the door cannot be closed until every passenger is seated with his or her seatbelt on, every bag in the cabin is stowed, and every bin is closed. If you are following along and doing the math you are indeed correct — we are not paid for the ENTIRE BOARDING PROCESS. The same goes for deplaning. Needless to say we are incredibly motivated to get the hell out of there, so we ALL can get to our destination as safely and quickly as possible. Kindly keep this new found information in mind the next time you board a flight. Also if you see a flight attendant grabbing their chest, they’re probably just having angina from the stress of knowing what money they won’t be making…just so they can get you that pillow, blanket, water, address ridiculous questions, wait for you to use the lavatory, ask for a meal or snack, etc., all the while preventing the crew from performing their duties needed before CLOSING THE FUCKING DOOR. You get the idea. For the love of god and all things holy, please wait the few minutes until we are airborne; we’ll then do our best to get you whatever you need – with the limited tools given to us.
This pay issue is not exclusive to flight attendants either. Poverty wages also carry over to your pilots. Yes, the men and women flying you around in those newfangled jet aeroplanes are making shit for pay as well. I have FO friends flying for commercial airlines (seating up to 99 passengers) that are making $22K/year. Yes, I said TWENTY TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS. (Please see Will Fly For Food) Just curious, but how much does a fast food manager make? I’m guessing that it’s a lot more.
The heroic Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (Ret.) “testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’s Subcommittee on Aviation of the Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure on February 24, 2009, that his salary had been cut by 40 percent, and that his pension, like most airline pensions, was terminated and replaced by a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation worth only pennies on the dollar.
There you go, even Captain Sullenberger successfully landing a plane in a river and being ultimately responsible for saving every single life on that aircraft isn’t immune.
So hey, please keep in mind that the next person taking your ticket at the movie theater, making you a sandwich, washing your car, pumping your gas, or bagging your groceries may just be a flight attendant, and a glamorous one at that! So please tip well, they could probably use a little extra help.
Thank you for flying with us, and…
BUH-BYE!
(NOTE: Our website has been updated so that you can now leave comments without entering your email address, so feel free to join in on the conversation and comment anonymously — we would love to hear from you!)
Money or no money, I still want the job, still sent in my resume. And they’re still not calling me. Humbling doesn’t begin to describe the feeling.
P.S. I can’t believe you make your readers do math when they leave a comment! Who does math anymore?
Hey Foodie! So happy to see you here, doll! Sorry about the math. Did you “pass”?
@Foodie International – Who the hell wants a job shitty job that makes no money and is full of assholes. Is it the wild sex parties? Well hung pilots? Spending time the oh-so cleanly airport interiors around the US? Seriously, what is it?
seriously…it’s a damn shame…sad…
Shit, I had a bunch of other shit I wanted to say, but I glanced down at the math problem and fucking lost it! I’m worried I won’t get the right answer! Shit! I hate math!
I do not have kids, am a glamorous flight attendant, and am eligible for 27$ worth of food stamps a month — God bless MO.
I have been an FA for over 4 years, a full-time line holder the day after IOE, and #3 in seniority. Last year, my W-2 was for $16, 482. Yep. Glamorous …
I am a four year flight attendant for a major airline and supplement my income in NYC by spending time with wealthier older men. I can not afford to live without doing this. We deserve more and yet we get nothing. I sell myself because my job, my career doesn’t treat me fairly.
So… why not do something else?
My friend is a flight attendent and makes $30 an hour, hardly poverty wages.
…And your “flight attendant friend” flies 80 hours a MONTH with a shitload of seniority. We don’t come out of training making anything close to that, and for most airlines it takes probably 20 years to reach that level and amount.
Do the math, and read the entire article. Ass.
No one starts at high wages. Asshole.
Evidently there is a reading comprehension issue here. Your friend who makes $30/hr works 80 hours PER MONTH, equaling approximately $28K per year (BEFORE TAXES!!) — and as you pointed out she isn’t new to the job…so it took her a while to reach that massive $28K salary, right?
When I first started out on reserve 15yrs. ago I had 3 jobs just to make it. Now I only fly and make well above 50K. And no I don’t fly 100hrs. So there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Get a job as a nurse and then complain. They go to school for 4 years and start out low as well. They do a hell of a lot more than you.
I love that I’ve hit a nerve!
Now go back to calling people retards!
Apparently you’re confusing complaining with making the public fully aware of what kind of money the FAs and pilots flying their planes are making. You’ve hardly hit a nerve, love.
I work in a hospital by day (but am a ‘NON-glamorous’ British guy!) just so I can work in aviation in my ‘spare time’, but was utterly horrified to find out a) how LITTLE FAs make b) the fact that until the doors are closed NO-ONE makes anything! I was shattered to hear about you waiting tables and qualifying for food stamps.
However, the WORST thing by far, was the comment by ‘Flight Attendant’ that she had to sell herself to older men in order to live!! NO-ONE should be put in that position! The risks to her health and, indeed, her very life, are enormous…it made me cry reading this!
Im a Bi lingual (spanish) customer service rep for a mortgage company making 50k a year. But it sucks sitting in a cubicle m-f from 7-4 pm. I’ve been with the company for 5 years. I’ve been thinking of being a flight attendant but the pay scares me. I heard in a Mexican podcast Mexican pilots are making much better the American Pilots.. I guess the solution might be not to work for an American Airline. Does anyone know what airline pays the best now?
Mimi – You are a retard. That is all.
Mimi your a fucking moron. I have a 4 year degree and I work more hours in 4 days than my wife, a nurse, works in 5. Yet I still can’t clear 35k a year. I get to be the retard flying your retarded and ( self appointed) “important” ass around
Oh and my wife started out making more than Indi now. So go fuck yourself!!!
Sorry about the auto corrects, but you get the point fucktard.
It was brought to my attention that you are probably too dense to conclude I am a pilot by the previous posts. So just to clarify I’m a pilot, I make less than my wife did when she started nursing, and Mimi is a retard!!
I used to be “like” an FA. Except i didnt have to put up with shit from passengers, made them load their own bags in their laps, and had a great time doing it. However, i got shot at, spend a couple years away from family, and in a country that hated us. I at least could shoot back where you guys couldnt.
this is so scary! it makes me scared to become a flight attendant cause what if i can’t take care of myself?
Unfortunately it is a strong possibility.
It still cracks me up to hear what flight attendants cry about. They have the best jobs in the airlines behond the night mechanics and the pilots as far as pay and amount of work they have to do for that dime. Miss Stew enjoy sitting in between flights while a plane is on a four hour ground stop with no people on your plane to complain ( hey that rhymed) instead work as a CSA agent dealing with 1000+ pissy pax for 10$ and hour and run around in the rain helping the over worked $7/hr ramp workers load and unload unnecessarily packed heavy as crap bags in small stations where there is no relief shift or even breaks. Our breaks are based upon operational need and not crew rest standards…. Until a flight attendant has stood in the same spot for 18 hrs rebooking pax without even a piss break while people scream cry and try and bully their way onto flights that don’t exist I think then the complaints they make about having it rough may hold some weight…. Oh and I still think it’d be nice to see a different airport everyday instead of the same one everyday, or even have the opportunity to work with different people cuz we are stuck with the same miserable ones day after day for typically 6 months at a time… Fun stuff
You DO realize that we are NOT getting paid for that 4 hour ground stop, right?
I can guaran-fucking-tee that you made more than my $16K last year, so yeah — you can shut the fuck up now. Kthx.
Stick with it girl, you’ll get there. I’ve got a friend that’s been a flight attendant for 27 years. She flies 4 international trips a month and is making BIG BIG bucks. Probably no other job in the world has the amazing perks of a flight attendant/airline employee. As a soon to be ‘million miler’ on Delta, I certainly wished I had all of that money spent on airfare in my bank account. Best Wishes!
S’up Sassy!
Just want to say, think you’re amazing, love reading your rants!
I have also had to start another job alongside flying which can be especially fun after a 12 hour flight… I do love flying though, couldn’t imagine doing anything else!
Keep on posting!
PS. What’s wrong with some of the twats that comment on your rants?