Benefits Of Being A Flight Attendant
“Be a flight attendant and travel the world!” I remember seeing vintage ads that made being a flight attendant look so elegant and glamorous. These stylish women were so independent and beautiful in their hats and white gloves.
Today air travel has changed so much. Gone are the days when “stewardesses” carved prime rib plated on silver out in the first-class aisle.
The days when flying was a luxury and people dressed for the occasion have disappeared. Today, I see grownups getting on flights in giant slippers and pajamas.
The days of elegant air travel were before my time. However, I revel in airline nostalgia.
I have been a flight attendant since January 2006. That may sound like a lot to some, but that is not that long in the airline industry.
Because being a flight attendant is such a great job, the turnover is low.
There are flight attendants who have been with the same company for 50 years and more because the job is fantastic and so are the perks.
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Flight Attendants Get Free and Paid Travel
Flight attendant travel benefits top the list as the best benefit of being a flight attendant.
Travel is one of the best parts of the job. You have to love to travel, or this is not the job for you, because that’s all you do. Free travel is excellent, but how about PAID travel?
Sometimes flight attendants have layovers for days at a time. You can take your family with you or even your spouse or boyfriend. Maybe you have a friend who already lives in that town. You can explore by yourself, with your crew, or whoever tagged along.
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Flight Attendants Get Free Flights
Even brand new flight attendants get free flights on their days off.
Not only do flight attendants get free flights, but so do their immediate family members.
The whole family travels for free. It is on standby, so everyone travels space available. With some planning, everyone can take advantage of this great benefit.
As a flight attendant, if your airline has agreements with other airlines (Most of them do!), you can fly for free there too.
Learn More About the World
If art is one of the great loves of your life, you can travel the world and go to different museums. Museums that you may never have had the chance to visit if you were not working as a flight crew in such a world-traveling career.
You can get your Korean skincare from Korea and your compression hosiery from the UK for those lucky enough to be flight attendants.
There will be stores you get to visit for all of your favorite products over this amazing planet. Amazon’s got nothing on you, and you can bring your products from China in one day.
The world is literally in the palm of your hand when you are a flight attendant. You can go to Italy for pizza, France for bread and Belgium for waffles.
The Best of Everything The World Has to Offer
It’s beautiful to get out of your environment and learn about new cultures and customs. You can take international flights to have breakfast in Paris, lunch in NYC, and dinner in Honolulu all in one day.
There is so much good food out there in the world, and eating it straight from the source country always tastes best! This is one of the best reasons to be a flight attendant.
There are many great cities throughout the US, too, where you can find some great food. Who needs always to leave the country when you can find comfort food in some obscure little town?
Flight Attendants Get Great Pay
How much do flight attendants make? Many flight attendants enjoy making six figures a year. Each year you get a raise for a published number of years.
The flight attendant salary can be one of the biggest perks once you accrue some seniority.
Some airlines have low pay, but many airlines have flight attendants making over $60 an hour.
If that isn’t an awesome reason to be a flight attendant, I don’t know what is!
No Waiting in Long Security Lines
A perk to being a flight attendant is you can go through exclusive crew lines or employee lines and skip the long lines that the rest of the public travelers must use.
Sometimes, you may still have to go through the regular lines, but that is infrequent, and you can get moved up to the front. Flight attendants have to get to work!
Flight Attendant Perk – Discounts
Flight attendants get discounts on almost everything at the airport and hotels.
Not only that, but many airlines allow you to take advantage of their corporate discount on things like cell phone plans, computers, new cars, rental cars, and so much more.
Some outside restaurants and activities also give flight attendant discounts. Flight attendants have lots of friends, so companies love to offer them discounts because they tell their friends and coworkers.
Flight Attendant Bonuses & Profit Sharing
Some airlines offer monthly and or quarterly bonuses that are really nice things to supplement your income.
If you are lucky enough to become a flight attendant with an airline that offers profit sharing, you receive a percentage of your yearly earnings as a bonus. That percentage can be anywhere from 1 – 16 percent!
Delta recently awarded their flight attendants 16.6 percent of their yearly earnings. That works out to about two months’ salary!
Flight Attendants Make Great Friendships
Crew members are fast friends and family. That is one of the first things you will learn on your journey to be a flight attendant.
There really isn’t anyone who can understand your lifestyle that isn’t in the aviation industry. You will make lasting friendships with your co-workers that are a bond, unlike any other.
Making A Difference
If you enjoy helping people, being a flight attendant is the perfect job for you. People take airplanes for all kinds of reasons.
Once, I had a very unruly passenger who broke down in my arms crying because he was going to a funeral. He was already on his second leg in his second-time zone of the day and starving.
My crew and I fed this customer, consoled him, and helped him through a tough time. He was traveling alone and hungry.
We were his support system and fed him the best we could with what we had. I’ll never forget that connection.
Sometimes unruly passengers are really just going through a stressful situation. So it’s important to always look for a deeper meaning behind a person acting slightly irrational on the aircraft.
Flight Attendants Have Flexible Schedules
A flexible schedule doesn’t happen right away, but as your seniority grows, so does your flexibility! Flexibility is one of the best flight attendant benefits.
Companies are always offering leaves of absence. When you take advantage of a leave of absence, you can take long periods of time off without being penalized.
As your seniority increases, you can hold most of the month off and work the best productive (highest money-making in the shortest amount of time) trips or the longest, most coveted layovers on the beach or other fabulous destinations.
Meet Your Favorite Celebrities
Celebrities are people too! They often want to sleep in first-class because of their busy schedules, but often they are almost as happy to meet the crew as you are to meet them.
Robert Deniro was married to a flight attendant for 20 years. Kris Jenner got her start as a flight attendant and is now a significant player in the entertainment industry. Does that make you want to be a flight attendant?
There are so many benefits of being a flight attendant and to me, it’s the best job in the world.
Not All Airlines Are Created Equal
Some airlines are better than others for benefits and the key is finding the best airlines for flight attendants.
Do all of these benefits make you want to be a flight attendant?
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Great information. I am retired and love to travel this would be a wonderful adventure. Just applied with Delta hope to become a flight attendent soon.