Typical Flight Attendant Work Day

If you have wondered what it is really like to work as an airline flight attendant, I will provide you with detailed information on what of what happens during the course of a normal work day.

My back round: I worked in the airline industry for over 25 years. I worked as an airline flight attendant for over 17 years with America West Airlines, Comair, and Chautauqua Airlines. Due to permanent nerve damage in my right knee/leg, I can no longer work as an airline flight attendant.

So, I began a business called, "Flight Attendant Consultant": www.flightattendantconsultant.com.

The purpose of my business is, to assist prospective flight attendants as they pursue an airline flight attendant career. If you, or if anyone you knows is interested, or actively seeking an airline flight attendant career, please check out our site for more information: www.flightattendantconsultant.com Airline Flight Attendant Career-Typical Work Day/Sample Flight And Trip.

27. Typical work day: Working 6:00AM Flight: 1. Get up at 3:30AM. 2. 4:30AM hotel van to airport. Need to be in the lobby at least 15 minutes prior to your scheduled airport transportation to be sure you have a seat on the van.

If this is day one of my trip, I will most likely work the first flight from my crew base. While I was based in Corpus Christi,St. Louis, Grand Rapids, and Cleveland, I stayed at a hotel near the airport, the night before the first day of my scheduled trip.

So, if our show time (report time) was 5:15Am to work a 6:00AM flight, I would try to get on the 4:30AM hotel van. This allowed me enough time to get through TSA Airport Security, and report to the aircraft ahead of my 5:15AM report time.

With Comair and Chautauqua Airlines, when starting a trip from our crew base, we were required to be at the departure gate, at least 45 minutes prior to the scheduled flight departure time. The pilots and I would meet at the departure gate, prior to getting on the aircraft to begin our pre flight duties. Usually, the captain would conduct our flight crew "briefing", before beginning our pre flight duties.

A. Dealing with TSA-Airport Security; At least once per day, you will be required to go through airport security, in order to get to your gate to prepare to work your flight.

In many of the larger airports, there will be a separate airline crew line at the security check points. If so, this usually will allow for a quicker, and easier airport security experience. However, sometimes, there will be many other airline flight crews also utilizing the airline crew line.

So, as you are approaching the airport security line(s), check to see which line is moving faster. It may be quicker to utilize regular passenger security lines. As a flight crew member, it is acceptable to go ahead of passengers in the security lines. Most passengers understand, their flight cannot leave, until the flight crews are already on the aircraft. While long lines can occur at anytime, the early morning period at airport security, is often the most crowded time of day.

My advice is, always be pleasant to all TSA agents. Never argue. Most of the time, airline crew members get through airport security quicker than airline passengers. To make it even faster, before you even arrive at the conveyor belts, take off all jewelry, take out any metal from your pockets, and place those items into a small bucket or tray. Take off your shoes. Remove your laptop computer, I Pad, etc...and place those items into a bin or bucket. Be sure to have your Airline Crew ID Badge, visible as you pass through the security checkpoint. Some TSA airport security checkpoints, will require airline crew members to display two (2) forms of photo ID. MCO (Orlando) was one of those airports. So, I made sure I had my passport and Airline Crew ID Badge out and visible to present to the TSA agents While most of the time, passing through TSA Airport Security was easy and quick, I do recall one morning where, I had to undergo a personal screening.

During one of my first trips with Comair, we had an overnight in Kalamazoo. When we arrived at the Kalamazoo Airport the following morning to work the Kalamazoo-Cincinnati flight, I noticed the TSA Security Checkpoint only had one line. Kalamazoo did not offer a separate airline crew TSA security line. So, the captain and first officer, went ahead of all passengers to get to the front of the line. I followed them. When it was my turn to go through the security checkpoint, the TSA officer pulled me aside. The TSA officer informed me I would undergo a random screening. I was taken to a small room, near the TSA checkpoint. The TSA officer asked me to remove all my belongings from my pockets, remove my shoes, and watch as the TSA officer took every item out of my bags. Then, the TSA officer asked me to remove my shirt, and pants. So, I stood there wearing only socks and underwear.

I asked the TSA agent if there was any reason I was selected for a random screening. All he would say was, anyone is subject to random screening at anytime, including airline personnel. The TSA officer was in no hurry to go through all my belongings. I do not know what he was looking for, but I found

the entire episode to be upsetting to say the least. Even more important, this also caused our departure to be delayed. Passengers cannot board the aircraft until the flight attendant is on board, and has completed the required pre flight duties. After nearly 20 minutes, the random security screening came to an end. I rushed as fast as I could to our gate. Even though our departure from Kalamazoo was 10 minutes late, we arrived into Cincinnati on time.

Ever since that "incident" in Kalamazoo, I never enjoyed staying overnight in Kalamazoo. In addition, the hotel in Kalamazoo, was not one of the better hotels.

Other than the "random screening" in Kalamazoo, I've had very few issues with TSA airport security check points. Most of the TSA officers are friendly and helpful. After awhile, most TSA officers knew me by name.

Anytime we fly into, or out of any city in Canada, we are also required to present our passport, and fill out forms pertaining to our visit in Canada. Most of the time, going through customs in Canada was easy and quick. In addition, the airports in Canada had a separate airline crew line for customs.

Anytime you are working a flight, dead heading on a flight, or even commuting, always wear your airline flight attendant uniform.

Especially when passing through TSA airport security. Again, be sure to have your airline crew ID badge, out and visible anytime when going through TSA airport security, or going through customs.

Security measures change often. Be sure to read any bulletins pertaining to airport security and procedures. Bulletins are updates on changes within our airline, airline or TSA procedures.

We would receive bulletins in our V File (personnel file) inside our crew room, or crew lounge. We are required to read, and place all bulletins in the appropriate location in our FAM (Flight Attendant Manual).

3. 5:15AM show time (report time). Get on aircraft. Conduct pre flight duties.

Check lavatory for soap, towels. Prepare ice in ice bucket. Turn on coffee maker. If any blankets, put them in overhead bin. Crew briefing with pilots. Prepare to greet passengers.

Greet all passengers with a smile. Leave your personal problems at the door! Be pleasant to every passenger. Every time!

Make pre flight announcement. I always mentioned the flight time.

For example, I would say, " Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard American Connection flight 2306 with non stop service to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. My name is Brian.

Our flight time to Chicago is approximately 30 minutes. If there is anything I can do to make your flight more enjoyable, please do not hesitate to ask."

As soon as main cabin door is closed, begin Safety Demo. We had a CD which we played during the safety demo.

Then, make announcements on drink service.

4. 6:00AM Flight GRR to ORD. 30 minute flight. No drink/snack service on this flight.

But mention drinks are available on a request only basis.

5. During the 30 minute flight, walk up and down the aisle several times, in case someone requests a drink, or has any questions.

Do not just sit in your jump seat.

Show you are available for any questions. Your job is to help ensure the safety and comfort of all passengers. On a longer flight, once you have completed your drink/snack service, cleaned up, prepared your catering list, collected trash from passengers, then its ok to sit and read.

However, every 10 minutes or so, get up and walk up and down the aisle with a trash bag.

Also, check the lav every time you go up and down the aisle. You want to be visible and show you are available at all times.

6. Approximately 10 minutes before landing, the captain will make a gradual decent announcement.

Once this announcement has been made, this is your time to prepare for landing.

During gradual decent, this is the time to collect all remaining service items (trash), as well as making a PA announcement with connecting gate information. When you get the passenger count list from the gate agent, usually the paperwork will include connecting gate information.

7. After landing, make your welcome announcement. Make sure people remain sitting with their seat belts fastened.

People are in a hurry to get out of the plane.

However, if someone begins to get up while the aircraft is taxing to the gate, make another announcement to remain seated.

Once at the gate, the captain will usually open the cockpit door. Then, he/she will say its ok to open the main cabin door.

Or, the captain may say to wait, due to the Jetway not being ready, or stairs not in place, etc....Your aircraft may or may not be equipped with "air stairs".

Air stairs are stairs built into the main cabin door. Air stairs fold up when closed. When the main cabin door is open, the air stairs deploy allowing people to walk up/down stairs into, or out of the aircraft.

If there is no Jetway, and your aircraft is not equipped with "air stairs", stairs, or possibly a ramp, will have to be brought to the aircraft. Sometimes this takes a few minutes.

Do not let passengers out of the aircraft until you determine it is safe to do so.

Or, getting a signal (thumbs up) from gate agent, or ramp agent.

You must remain on board until every passenger has left the aircraft. Once you have determined every passenger has departed, make a complete sweep of the aircraft (including the lav) to be sure every passenger has departed.

Do not assume! Make sure everyone is off the plane!

8. Often, we had to change aircrafts in Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, or sometimes LaGuardia. If so, I had to first clean the aircraft myself. This means picking up trash under each seat, and in the lavatory.

Then, take my bags out of the aircraft, and move onto the next plane, if it was here. Often, we would have to wait for our plane to arrive.

But if the plane was at the gate, I would usually get on board, to get a head start on pre flight duties, and getting my catering done.

Catering meant putting away all the soft drink cans, snacks, napkins, preparing the ice buckets, etc....

Usually the catering people will not put the soda cans into the drawers. That is part of our daily duties.

Sometimes the catering people would not arrive until close to, or even after boarding has begun. This is where you have to be very organized.

You may have to put all the catering items into a closet until the boarding process has been completed.

Yes, I have had to sort out, and put away soft drink cans, napkins, ice, etc...as fast as I could.

If it was too many items to put away, sometimes I had to wait until we reached 10,000 feet, or until the captain said it was ok for me to get up out of my jump seat.

9. Second Flight of the day: ORD to OMA (1 hour flight). Boarding begins 20 minutes before departure. Almost full flight (45 passengers).

Always greet each passenger with a smile. Even if they do not reply or smile back. Focus on what each passenger brings on board.

Always ask yourself, will that bag fit under the seat, or overhead? If not, valet check the bag at gate.

With Comair and Chautauqua, we had valet checked bags. The passengers picked up the bag at the

gate, not at baggage claim.

It is a good idea to have a few valet checked tags in your hand as passengers board. Sometimes, the gate agent does not provide passengers with these tags. Often the ramp agent, or gate agent has extra valet tags. Ask them for some. You will need them.

Wheelchair passengers usually board first. But not always. Try to sit wheelchair passengers near front of plane. Preferably in an aisle seat. The arm rests can be raised making it easier for passengers to get in/out of seat.

Once everyone is on board, make PA announcement, with estimated flight time. Then, wait for final paperwork from Captain. Hand final paperwork to gate agent. Close main cabin door. Close cockpit door. Put in CD for safety demo.

You will demonstrate how to use drop down oxygen mask and seat belt.

After safety demo, final walk through to make sure all passengers have their seat belts fastened.

Sit in jump seat. Buckle up. Call Captain on phone. Tell Captain cabin secure for take off.

At 10,000 feet, receive notification from Captain. Give PA announcement about drink/snack service.

Get up from jump seat, begin preparing beverage cart for service.

I always started beverage service from the rear of the aircraft.

On a one hour flight, I have about 30 minutes to get the service completed. On a full flight, I have to move quickly.

On average, it takes me about 20-25 minutes to complete a beverage service.

Of course, the more coffee I served, liquor sold, or handing out cookies, snacks, etc.. cut into my service time. However, with very rare exceptions, I was able to complete the beverage service.

Immediately after completing the beverage service, I took a trash bag. Walked up and down the aisle collecting cups, napkins, wrappers, etc....from passengers.

Up until we begin our final descent, I will walk up and down the aisle every 10 minutes or so.

Also, checked the lav every time. Part of our job is, to keep the lav as clean as possible.

When Captain (or sometimes the First Officer) makes the final descent announcement, that is my indication to ensure all passengers have seat belts fastened.

Also, did final walk through for collecting trash.

Then, sit in jump seat, strapped in with seat belt. Recite emergency procedures in my mind, every time.

"Brace, brace, heads down stay down. Brace, Brace, heads down, stay down. Release seat belts get out, release seat belts get out.

Stand back, stand back. You, you stand at the bottom, help people off, send them away.

Leave everything!! Come this way, run down the stairs, move. Come this way, run down the stairs move!".....

As soon as we land, get to the gate, and let all the passengers leave the aircraft, my job is to clean the cabin as quickly as possible.

Layover in OMA is only 30 minutes. Shortly, the gate agent will come aboard and ask me if I am "ready" to receive passengers.

The gate agent will often ask if I need ice. Unless the ice drawer is full, I always say yes to more ice.

At this point, I have brought out the demo items (seat belt, and oxygen mask). I have the CD ready to go.

Also, I ask the captain for flight time, or if possible, just look at the "paperwork" to see flight time.

Also ask or look for any "alternate" airports listed.

If an alternate airport is listed in the paperwork, this could mean possible bad weather near, or on the way to Chicago.

Soon, passengers begin boarding for the flight to ORD. As soon as passengers have boarded, I make my welcome aboard PA (with flight time).

After I have conducted my passenger count, I give the passenger count form to the Captain. During this time, I will go back to the exit row, and "brief" exit row passengers. Always brief exit row passengers, before the main cabin door is closed.

If any seating changes need to be made, the time to do this, is before the main cabin door is closed.

10. Third Flight of the day: OMA to ORD (1 hour flight). Again, at 10,000 feet, get the indication it is ok for me to get up.

I make my PA beverage service announcement. At this point, everything should be ready to go. While cleaning the galley after the last flight,.

I always prepared the ice, snacks, and beverage cart for the next flight. Saves time.

At the end of the beverage service, again, immediately get a trash bag and go up and down the aisle picking up cups, napkins, wrappers, etc....

Then, go back to galley, clean up, and prepare the catering list. While some flight attendants will ask for extra soda cans, especially popular drinks such as Diet Coke, I usually only ordered what could actually fit into the two beverage carts. However, if possible, I would order at least 2-3 extra bottles of water. The reason is, often, the pilots would each request a bottle of water.

Key Point: If you ever spill anything on the galley floor, or near the main cabin door, such as Diet Coke, or anything "sticky", use Club Soda to clean it up. Club Soda will remove any stickiness, and clean the floor too. For this reason, I always made sure I ordered at least one extra Club Soda can.

Again, I always go up and down the aisle, collecting trash (and checking on the lav) every 10 minutes or so. This is to help prevent cleaning up a lot of trash at the end. But also, keeping an eye on what is happening throughout the cabin.

I always wanted to be visible to passengers, and available at anytime to answer questions, or assist in any way.

When I get the final descent notification, I do a final walk through collecting trash, and ensuring all passengers have returned their tray tables to the up right and locked position. Also, made sure all passengers are seated with seat belts on.

At this point, I will also announce any connecting gate information. Usually, the gate agent will provide a passenger list, as well as a list of connecting flights/gates. Sometimes the list will include our gate assignment, but not always.

For this reason, sometime during the flight, I will call the captain to find out what are gate will upon arrival.

Sometimes, however, the gate will change, even after we have landed. For this reason, as soon as I open the main cabin door,I look at the gate number. If our gate has changed, I will make a quick announcement as passengers are leaving the aircraft.

As soon, as all the passengers have left the aircraft, again, my job is to clean the cabin as well as possible.

This means, collecting all trash under the seat, on the seats, anything visible in the seat pockets, etc.....

However, do not reach inside any seat pocket with your bare hands. I have seen dirty diapers, dirty napkins, half eaten sandwiches, etc...

Also, there have been times when passengers leave behind items such as dirty needles. For this reason, do not reach inside a seat pocket with your bare hands.

If you find items which have been left behind by passengers, such as cell phones, tablets, cameras, wallets, etc......

Immediately report and bring these items to the captain or gate agent. Do not take it upon yourself to locate or track down the passenger, unless you see him/her.

There have been cases where, flight attendants have been accused of stealing or not returning passengers items.

If, however, during a quick turn, where you don't have time to clean the plane, if you find items left behind by passengers, when you arrive at the next destination, again report the items to the captain, and gate agent. The gate agent can call the station manager, or gate agent at the previous airport to report an item has been found.

11. Fourth Flight Of the Day: ORD to DBQ (35 minute flight). AA Connection and AA Eagle were the only airlines which served DBQ (Dubuque, Iowa).

Again, catering would bring the supplies on the plane, but it is my job to put away all the soda cans, bottled water, snacks, napkins, etc.....

Sometimes the catering truck would arrive just as passengers are beginning to board. Not great timing!

However, I would put away, what I could as quickly as possible. Often, I put the remaining catering items in a closet in the galley, to get them off the floor and away from passengers.

Then, after I had given the final passenger count form to the captain, I would use these few moments, to put away more catering items.

If I could not get everything put away before I closed the main cabin door, I would find time once we were in the air, and after reaching cruising altitude.

It is a short, 35 minute flight over to DBQ. Usually these flights were full, especially on Sundays.

While I have been to many cities and towns during my airline flight attendant career, Dubuque became one of my favorites.

The reasons are: When we arrive into DBQ, there is only one gate. No waiting for a gate assignment. A quick taxi from the runway/tarmac over to the gate.

Once at the gate, the gate agents were always ready for us. Yes, DBQ does have a jetway.

The baggage claim was right near the bottom of the jetway. Easy and quick access for passengers.

During the 35 minute flight, there is not enough time for a full beverage/snack service. Working alone,

it would be nearly impossible to serve 50 passengers with about 15 minutes of actual service time. However, after we got to 10,000 feet, I would make an announcement, which would say........

Beverages will be served on a request only basis. This meant, passengers could ask for a drink, but the beverage cart will not be going up and down the aisle. I would go up and down the aisle a few times, to see if passengers had drink requests.

Upon landing in DBQ, we were not the last flight of the day. So, again, after all passengers had left the aircraft, I had to clean the plane. Moving as quickly as possible, as often, the next crew working the outbound flight, were already there, or about to come on board.

Overnight in DBQ: People may ask, is there anything to do in Dubuque? Yes! First of all, the hotel van was usually there waiting for us at the airport. If not, they were quick to come pick us up.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn, in beautiful and historic downtown Dubuque. Nice hotel, nice clean rooms.

While the hotel did have a restaurant, I would always head over to my all time favorite buffet, located at the Diamond Jo Casino. It was a quick 10 minute walk over the freeway, over to the Diamond Jo Casino. If I walked past the Diamond Jo Casino, there was a nice river walk, along the Mississippi River.

The Diamond Jo Casino, had the best buffet I have ever tried! The food is very fresh, with a wide variety. The salad and soup bar is amazing! So much to choose from!

The buffet had different breads, rolls, pasta, seafood, excellent pizza, stew, meats, but my favorite was always the fried chicken! Far superior to any fried chicken at any fast food or, sit down restaurant!

The desserts were amazing! So much to choose from! I always walked out of the buffet very full, but very happy!

Along with the great buffet at the Diamond Jo Casino, during hockey season, Dubuque has a team in the USHL called the Dubuque Fighting Saints. While not as good as NHL hockey, it was fun to see young hockey players learn and expand their skills.

Great seats and low prices for Fighting Saints games! Plus, the hotel van would take us to/from the Dubuque arena.

Below, are actual trips I worked. These schedules are provided to airline flight attendants.

Sample actual work schedule (trip)

A. One day trip example.

Sunday Flight 4765 CLE-LGA Flight 4765 LGA-CLE Flight 4745 CLE-MSP Flight 4999 MSP-CLE

Depart 1102 1302 1638 1806

Arrive 1237 1450 1741 2049

Block Time 0135 0148 0230 0143

Ground Time Total Block Time 0025 0148 0025 0709 1047

TAFB: 10:47 (Time Away From Base) Total Block Time: 7:09 Total Duty Time: 10:47 When beginning a trip, I was required to report for duty 45 minutes prior to departure.

On this day, I reported for duty at 10:13AM. My per diem pay began at 10:13AM. Then, when we arrived after working the last flight of the day, I continued to earn my per diem pay, 15 minutes after the flight had arrived. So, on this day, my per diem pay continued until 2104.

So, during this one day trip, I worked 7:09 flight hours. I was away from my base for 10:47 hours.

So, if my flight hour pay was $20.00, I earned $141.80.

Plus, since I was away from my base for 10:47 hours, my per diem was $1.75 x 10.47 hours=$18.32 Total: $141.80+$18.32= $160.12 So, I earned $160.12 by working this one day trip.

B. Four day trip example.

Friday Depart Layover Flight 6050 CLE-LGA 0727 Flight 6075 LGA-RIC 1030 Flight 6038 RIC-DTW 1250 Flight 6129 DTW-LEX 1526 Flight 6129 LEX-DTW 1710

Arrive 0900 1215 1444 1643 1834

Block Time

Total Ground Time

Total Block Time

0133 0145 0154 0117 0124

0130 0035 0043 0026 0753

1207

Saturday Flight 6031 DTW-GSO 1026 Flight 6031 GSO-DTW 1240 Flight 6067 DTW-ROA 1516

1206 1429 1641

0140 0149 0125

0034 0047 0454

Sunday Flight 6110 ROA-LGA 0715 Flight 6122 LGA-YHZ 0944 Flight 6122 YHZ-LGA 1314 Flight 6056 LGA-IAD 1655

0848 1244 1429 1827

0056 0200 0215 0132

0056 0030 0226 0720

Monday Flight 6063 IAD-LGA 0600 Flight 6045 LGA-CLE 0745

0710 0939

0110 0154

TAFB: 7512

Total: 2311

0035 0304

0700

1157

0424 Total Duty: 3528

When beginning this four day trip, I was required to report for duty at 0642 (45 minutes prior to departure).

My time away from base was 75 hours, 12 minutes.

My total block time (flight hours) was 23 hours, 11 minutes.

Total duty time (time worked, including ground time) was 35 hours, 28 minutes.

Let's say my flight hour pay was $20.00.

Flight hours worked: 23 hours, 11 minutes x $20.00= $462.20

Per Diem: 75 hours, 12 minutes x $1.75= $131.46 Total: $462.20 + $131.46= $593.66 So, I earned $593.66 for working this four day trip.

Hope you enjoyed reading this!

Brian Godfrey Flight Attendant Consultant www.flightattendantconsultant.com