By The Way
‘Barely surviving’: Some flight attendants are facing homelessness and hunger

Working “on reserve” with hours of unpaid labor makes it difficult for new flight attendants to turn the job into a career.

By Natalie B. Compton
August 26, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Compton interviewed 18 current or former flight attendants to report this article. She has reported on airlines for The Post since 2019.

Kay had already worked a full day when Frontier Airlines called her to pick up a shift. The recently hired flight attendant had been awake since 4 a.m. driving Lyft, one of the few side gigs she could manage with her unpredictable schedule. ... Her new career was off to a rough start. There were three-and-a-half weeks of unpaid training. Her first few paychecks were lower than she’d anticipated. She gave up her apartment in Atlanta, where median rent is about $1,500, and had been renting a room from a friend.

The only way to make ends meet, she said, was to juggle all the gig work she could find: Instacart shopping, pet sitting, Lyft driving. The ride-share company was offering a $500 bonus for completing 120 rides in four days. With her projected pay of $23,000 a year before taxes and insurance, chasing the extra money felt necessary. ... So after working for Frontier from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., Kay turned back to Lyft. By the time she reached the bonus, she’d gone nearly 24 hours without sleep.

New flight attendants like Kay learn that although their work has been deemed “essential” to the transportation infrastructure, it’s hard to stay afloat. A complicated pay structure that prioritizes hours in the air and entry-level wages that are on par with service industry jobs makes it difficult for many to turn the job into a career.

“I have to supplement my income. But then I’m also not sleeping,” said Kay, who spoke on the condition that she be identified only by the name she uses outside of work, because she fears retaliation from her employer. “We’re expected to save people on the plane … and we’re not getting paid a living wage.”

{snip}

By Natalie Compton
Natalie Compton is a staff writer for By The Way, The Post's travel destination. Twitter