Flight attendants across the aviation industry are speaking up against low wages and miserable living conditions they have to endure as part of their jobs.
One Delta Air Lines flight attendant, Beth, shared dire living conditions, such as sharing a temporary living space she referred to as a “crash pad” with seven other rotating employees for $325 to $450 a month. This is on top of a $1,800 apartment where she lives with her father, who is suffering from cancer. Beth complained that no one tried to keep the place hygienic, and she and other employees got bitten by bugs.
There is a common concern that air attendants have to stay in dirty apartments that look like something between a hostel and a low-budget Airbnb room.
Some flight attendants who cannot afford even a shared apartment end up living in their cars while remaining hungry and using gyms to take a shower.
Kay is one such Frontier Airlines employee who is just starting out his career and had to go through a month of unpaid training during which she had to do driving, delivery, and pet sitting gigs to pay her bills.
Even when she starts her job, she will only make $23,000 before taxes and insurance for her first year. This meager salary came when the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median pay of $68,370 for flight attendants in 2023. This number is almost three times Kay’s yearly salary.
Depending on the airline, first-year flight attendants are likely to make between $23,000 and $32,000 per year.
Flight attendants in their mid-careers talked about the industry’s deceptive wage practices. For instance, Rich Henderson, with ten years of experience, noted that it is a common practice to spend six hours on the flight, but attendants are actually working 12 to 14 hours a day, including boarding work.
American Airlines issued an employment letter to one of their recruitees, claiming to provide compensation of $30.35 per hour of flight, but did not give any compensation for work spent on the jobs of the flight. This wage practice essentially means that newly recruited employees are being paid $12 to $15 an hour they spend on their jobs.
Even senior attendants, like Martinez of Alaska Airlines, with 16 years of experience, stated that she sleeps with her boy in a car because she cannot afford a place to live while her daughter lives with her grandparents.
Other attendants also complained that despite massive safety responsibilities, flight attendants make less money than someone working in a fast-food restaurant.
The flight attendants union, the Association of Flight Attendants, stated that they are working hard to get off-flight compensation for the attendants.
