[defguy]

Typed on phone so no formatting. Not a single credible poster imo. There are different airlines and i cant speak for them all, my ex flies for United. She gets paid $60/hr flying international. Starting pay is $17/hr (probably higher now) but it is really hard to get in; now you need a degree and the hiring process is more strict. Its unionized and benefits are awesome. I flew for free for several years with with my ex and a few times solo. Due to weird gay marriage laws they allowed my ex to have a "partner" so i got to fly free as her partner despite us not being married. As far as i know ALL flight attendants and all airlines have this option. There are a TON of other awesome benefits as well. Now for the negatives. Hours are all over the place, you dont get to choose so get used to really screwed up sleep patterns. However every other month you should be able to "build your own schedule." as a rookie you have less leeway with this so its not as great as it sounds... Yet. Everything is based on seniority: Benefits, where you can go, the kind of flights you get, flexibility in building your schedule and swapping shifts, etc. So as a rookie itll suck for a few years. My ex gamed the system and there are many ways to do it if you think outside the box or get lucky. I have also met MANY flight attendants. No disrespect to Kona but none of what he has said is accurate; definitely not for the entire industry. Plenty of straight flight attendants who get to hook up with other flight attendants. Not everyone is a scumbag, that goes for all industries not just flying. I met a LOT of flight attendants so im a pretty credible source. Other drawbacks are flying free based on seniority as well. You fly free on standby so the flight you want might get full and you have to take a different flight. Ive waited all day in airports to catch a flight despite my ex good seniority; flights fill up or more senior members jump ahead of you, you really dont reap the benefits until 5+ years in. 5 tough lonely brutal years. For flight attendants its cool to be able to sit in a cafe in paris whenever you want but it gets old quick when youre forced to travel alone. Another drawback is that major cities/airports are HUBS. United has a HUB in houston, chicago, Las Vegas, SFO, Denver. So if you live outside of these cities you need to fly in just to "show up for work". my ex lived w me in TX a long way from her hub out of state so she would lose a full day just to get to work and a full day just to get home. Basically if youre stationed in Houston you must either live there or suffer a long commute just to show up for work. You dont get to swap HUBS until much higher up in seniority, everyone wants to be in the Hawaii HuB but you need some 30+ years for that kind of seniority. Overall a great gig, great benefits, awesome pay, but a young players lifestyle. It isnt really sustainable and MANY flight attendants move on. The airlines encourage this making it easy to leave and even offering buyouts because they can replace higher pay seniority with fresh new graduates at 1/2 to 1/3 the pay.