What flight attendants average annually at seven large U.S. airlines, based on 75 hours of flying a month (some fly more).

Starting pay

American $17,598
Continental $17,550
Delta $16,596
Northwest $19,593
Southwest $18,396
United $15,498
US Airways $16,704


After 14 - 19 years

American $39,988
Continental $43,335
Delta $40,140
Northwest $44,190
Southwest $48,627
United $33,372
US Airways $33,831

Source: Association of Flight Attendants

 

Geez, I never realized the FAs were paid so poorly. Especially the starting salaries!!! What would ever motivate somebody to take a job with a starting salary of $16K? At least the SWA FAs are getting decent salaries after 15 years on the job. Those poor UAL FAs are making less than $34K after 15 years on the job? No wonder they always seem so damn cranky!!!!

 

BTW, how many hours on average does an FA fly per month? And when you say 75 hours per month, is that pretty close to 75 hours a month on a regular job? Or is that 75 hours from liftoff to touchdown and all the rest of the time isn't included in that number?

 

I'm also amazed at how low the starting salaries are.

 

Not really surprising. After all, the job is entry level and requires only a high school diploma and company provided training. Certainly, we play a crucial role in our passengers safety but, we are paid based on the hum drum stuff we do every day...not the hair-raising stuff we hope we never have to do. Think the wages listed are low...you should see what the commuters pay.

To name a few:

-Travel Benefits
-Health Insurance
-Advancement Opportunity(foot in the door)
-Flexible work schedule
-Boredom with typical "9-5" job
-"Glamour"(boy it was hard to type that one with a straight face)


Don't let the numbers fool you. Quite a few of my not-so-senior co-workers do quite well for themselves. A few months back I overheard a co-worker who like me has been flying a little less than 10 years talking with her mortgage broker. Evidently, she was in the process of applying for a home loan and was answering salary questions...the number she quoted was in the high 70s and she is not a workaholic. Within contractual and FAR guidelines we can work as much as we choose. Senior F/As around here are just as quick to pull out picks of their lake house or new boat as the pilots.

Part of the problem is continual give backs in an attempt to keep UAL solvent...the other is plain old efficiency. The hub and spoke system means crews spend a good part of their day sitting around. The article on the front page of today's USAToday about the UAL F/A is a perfect example. SWA pays us a decent wage but, they also work our tails off to earn it.

 

Depends on the airline and how you define "fly". There is a vast difference between the number of hours we are paid for and the number we are on duty.
At SWA the average schedule pays about 95-100 flight hours...I don't know where they are getting that 75 hour mess from...I need to transfer to that base!

No. Currently, I am in the middle of a 3 day SWA trip. By the time, I get back to base in a couple of days I will have been away from home around 60 hours...on duty 30 hours and paid for about 24. Full time at SWA for an F/A is about 100 credit/pay hours a month. At most jobs 160 hours a month is full time...100 per month or 25 hours a week would be considered part-time. Trying to apply the way we work to the typical 40 hour work week will just give you a headache. It takes the better part of our first year on line to grasp the basics...the detailed ins and outs take years as we are governed by both Federal Aviaton Regulations and a Collective Bargaining Agreement that are constantly changing.

Or is that 75 hours from liftoff to touchdown and all the rest of the time isn't included in that number?[/QUOTE]

 

There was an article in the newspaper a few months ago, where they said that a pilot at a commuter was starting out at about $15K. I don't know where they can go from there, but that's definitely got to be a "love to fly, and I'm single" job.

 

First things first, captain at that same commuter, or an FO at another commuter if you get furloughed. There are also many flying opportunities outside of the airlines. You can fly for a corporation, a charter company, or perhaps a fractional ownership company. I know of one charter company who will hire an experienced flight attendant at $50k/yr. You will work your butt off, but it's decent coin for being new on the property. Oh yeah, charter and corp flying doesn't have the same seniority restrictions on pay that the airlines and fracs do.

 

Hmmm, that's interesting info. Thanks for the answers! I realize now that it really can't be compared to an average job now what with all the overnights, etc.
One thing though: How do they get away with paying you for 24 hours if you are "on duty" for 30 hours? What constitutes "on duty"? When you are walking from gate to gate and waiting for the next aircraft that you will work in? Or is "on duty" the time that you are actually on the ground waiting for the flight to push off? I'd hope that counts as "on duty" because I know how hard the SWA FAs work during that time cleaning up the cabin, etc.

 

When the plane is on the ground at the gate....I am off the clock. During turns when we are deplaning, cleaning the aircraft, boarding, etc...I am not getting paid. We are paid for "flight" time rather than "duty" time. This issue was a major sticking point during out last contract negotiations. If you think about...we can work up to 7 legs a turn with a 20-30 minute turn between each flight. Add all that time up and multiply it by the number of flights in a day and the "free" labor starts to add up. We have worked with the company to find an equitable solution to the situation. However, in general...when we are on the ground, we are not getting paid. If anything, it is an incentive to get us to do all we can to get the aircraft off the gate as quickly as possible.

 

Wow, that's interesting. I could (maybe) see FAs not getting paid if they were sitting on the ground waiting like the FAs at other airlines do, but to be on the ground and ACTUALLY CLEANING THE PLANE AND NOT GETTING PAID, that just seems wrong!!!

So another question: Who decides what routes the FAs get? Is that a seniority thing? Whoever gets the HOU-DAL flights and has to do as much cleaning on the ground (the turnaround on that flight is probably almost as long as the flight itself) as actual flying gets completely screwed as compared to an FA on a LAX-BWI non-stop who flies (and gets paid) for 7 times as long and all they have to do is clean once and give out a snack pack and 2 rounds of drinks. It doesn't seem fair to the HOU-DAL FAs, or does each FA get allotted a certain amount of short-range, mid-range, and transcon flights per pay period, which would make it much more equitable IMHO?

 

Except that these terms were set BEFORE the pay rate was negotiated. Presumably FAs get a higher rate per hour for fewer hours this way, and they have an incentive to minimize ground time. I call that a win-win.

As to who gets what route, for most airlines crew members submit bids on "trips" and they are awarded in order of seniority. Often a senior person will bid on the most desirable trips and then trade with another employee to get fewer hours, while still being paid for the original longer trip. Senior people can sometimes even hold a second job this way.

 

Hey Inflt, do you guys still get paid on a per "trip" basis? That would really throw out all of the standard 75 hour min guarantee comparisons, wouldn't it?

 

As I said, this was a major sticking point in our contract negotiations. However, we all knew what we were getting into when we signed on to work here. It not so much cleaning as "tidying"(that's what it actually says in our contract..."tidy"). We remove newspapers and snack wrappers from seats and seatback pockets...fold pillows and blankets and cross seatbelts. I might bit peeved if they asked up to vacuum the carpet or clean toilets. When all 3 of us pitch in, the whole thing takes less than 5 minutes.

Everything in this job is seniority driven. Where we are based, what schedules we fly, the position we fly on the aircraft...vacation...everything.


You can't assume that all 8,000 of us prefer to do the same type of flying...we don't. Personally, I would much prefer 4 or 5 short flights a day as opposed to one transcon. No Thank You. I don't mind working a little harder for my money if it means I get to keep my sanity.

Our schedules are based on how the aircraft flow through the system. Any attempt to try to balance out the flying as suggested would mean we would be constantly changing planes...not efficient. HOU and DAL are two of the most desirable bases in our system...the "price" people pay for being based there is working a higher percentage of short flights. The Flight Attendants based down there are among the most senior in the company...they are there because they choose to be.

Unpaid ground time has always been the SOP at SWA...it is not a new development that came out of our most recent negotiations. Whether our pay was high, low, or in the middle....we were never going to be paid for time on the ground.

Yes, we are indeed paid by the "trip". Generally, when these type of comparisons are made, a forumla is used to convert "trip" pay into "hourly" pay.

 

Many people in the field go into the field not necessarily for the pay, but either because they love the airline industry and/or the travel availability and benefits. The same thing for some that go into education -- it may pay less, but they get a 2-3 month break and a lot of holidays compared to a standard 9-5 job with two weeks vacation.