Flight attendants say they fight for airplane meals and sleep in their cars | Hacker News Reader

Flight attendants say they fight for airplane meals and sleep in their cars

fortune.com

23 pointsrntn11 comments

> Like many airlines, American pays its attendants only for the time the plane is in the air.Boarding passengers, waiting between flights, and traveling to and from the airport all mean flight attendants typically work about two hours for each “flight hour” they are paid.

I wonder how this is not considered wage theft.

According to this, that pay structure has been generally supported by flight attendant unions, as it benefits more senior members, though at the expense of more junior ones: https://viewfromthewing.com/why-flight-attendants-havent-got...

> the starting wage jumps to $31,959 per year

You have to wonder why they don't go work at a restaurant. There's a shortage of waitstaff, the pay is at least marginally better, and it should be much lower stress.

> a shortage of waitstaff, the pay is at least marginally better, and it should be much lower stress

Travel perks. If you're young, it can be a vastly more-rewarding experience.

This. It might not actually be rewarding, but it plays off bygone glamour, so there are always more young people willing to make that trade.

They don't work at a restaurant because a Middle Eastern airline is ready to snap them up readily. The average salary of a junior flight attendant in the GCC starts at around that range but jumps to about 50% within a few years. Plus they get to travel a lot more as compared to in the US.

Long-haul for a middle eastern airline actually sounds manageable because there are fewer boarding cycles, the schedules are more rigid, and you're less likely to get stuck in a random city because of weather or delays.

The restaurant industry is tough. FOH can make good money, but unpredictable and you are generally treated like shit. BOH has to work harder and isn't paid well, also generally treated like shit. Wage theft is rampant in the restaurant industry, as is substance abuse.

I picked restaurants because flight attendants area also treated like shit, though they do get some downtime, and enough shit and it's a felony.

https://archive.ph/XYKOZ

I wonder what the non-rev and ZED travel perks are valued at.

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