One thing is clear after reading a Washington Post deep dive into the occupation of flight attendant: The harsh realities of the job are a world apart from the often glamorized public perception of it. And no, the piece by Natalie B. Compton isn't talking merely about the joy of dealing with angry, drunken, whiny passengers. The story is mostly about the pay, which is so low that new hires often have to resort to side hustles such as driving for Lyft or Uber, or cramming into packed "crashpads" with other flight attendants to save money on rent. Consider that the projected annual pay for first-year attendants is $23,000 at Frontier Airlines, $25,000 at Alaska Airlines, $27,000 at American Airlines, and $32,000 at Delta Air Lines—a pay scale that came to light when an AA letter went viral on Reddit.
"Being a flight attendant is great if you get up to 12 years and beyond," says a Delta flight attendant, one of 18 current or former attendants who spoke to the newspaper. (The median salary is $68,000.) "But when you first start out, you're just barely surviving." Indeed, some face "homelessness and hunger," per the story. Still, not as many as you might think opt out, which Compton chalks up to the "sunk-cost fallacy"—the idea that they've already put up with such miserable conditions they should hang on for things to get better.
An example of those conditions: Attendants typically get paid for time spent in the air, but not for the hours spent boarding passengers and waiting at airports. Consider, too, that training of three to six weeks is often unpaid. It's all legal because they are deemed "essential" aviation workers and thus are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act. (Read the full story, which notes that unions have been making progress this summer in negotiations. Or check out other longform recaps.)
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