Flight Attendant Schedules

I made a TikTok several weeks ago calling on the holy spirit to activate (a trending sound over there at the time) while I submitted my bid for Thanksgiving off. It was brought to my attention that most people do not know how flight attendant schedules work so I’m going to enlighten you. It's kinda weird if you’re coming from the perspective of a 9-5. Now, let me say that the TikTok was all in jest because I don’t actually care if I have Thanksgiving off. We, in fact, get double time holiday pay for that day so I actually prefer to work. Christmas is the only holiday that I refuse to work. However, I figured that my fellow flight attendants would get a kick out of it so I made it.

“What’s A Holiday?”- said every airline everywhere

Think about it...you, John Q. Public, can purchase a ticket to fly ANY day of the year. That means that the airline essentially doesn’t close for any holidays. Someone has to be there to check you/your bags in, load bags onto the aircraft, check your documents to board the aircraft, make sure that you’re comfortable while you’re on the aircraft and fly the planes. You get the point. All of the folks that do these jobs signed up for the gig knowing that there’s a good chance that they’re going to miss a holiday or two with their families. So who decides who works and who stays home on these highly coveted holidays?

Seniority

Everything at the airline is dictated by date of hire aka seniority - work schedules, pay rates, bases, etc. The airline puts out a bid packet every month for the trips they need covered. We flight attendants have a 5-day window to review the schedules and submit our bids. Bid awards are announced a day or two after the bidding window closes. So much can affect one’s awarded schedule - how many flight attendants are on vacation, how many are out on a medical leave, etc. That’s why it’s always good practice to bid for what you want; not what you think your seniority can hold. And to complicate things, one’s seniority can change from base to base. For example, once upon a time I was based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when I had about 5yrs seniority at my airline. Five years is VERY junior at most airlines. Atlanta and Orlando were our main bases but we had a few “satellite” bases. Milwaukee was tiny. I decided to commute to so that I could have much better seniority instead of being at the bottom of the list in Atlanta. Let me tell you those were the best 2yrs of my flying career! I was at the top of the seniority list. I really hate bidding so I had to force myself to bid 5 lines (A line is a flight attendant’s schedule for the month) but I’d usually get my first or second choice. I’d get all of the holidays off without even trying! It was AMAZING! That was very short-lived because my airline was acquired by another airline and our new company decided to close that base. It really sucked but such is life in the airline business. I had to return to the bottom of the list in Atlanta.

How Do You Get Seniority?

Well, there isn’t much a flight attendant can do to control his/her seniority apart from choosing a base where they think they’ll be on top as I did when I went to Milwaukee. The trade off for such a strategy is either commuting to another base outside of the city in which one lives or relocating usually at one’s own expense. Another way to gain seniority, albeit at a much slower pace, is for those above you to leave the company. That doesn’t happen often enough to have a significant impact. The best way to gain seniority is for the airline to hire new flight attendants.     I was hired back in 2007, just before the Great Recession. The company was growing by leaps and bounds but unfortunately that all stopped when the economy tanked and fuel prices rose in 2008/2009. I was lucky to get in when I did because the airlines stopped hiring for a few years. By the time the industry began to grow again, I’d already crossed over to my new airline and had to commute to Chicago (a larger base). My seniority in Chicago was decent. I was probably in the middle of the heap. That lasted about 4 or 5yrs until I could return to the Atlanta base. 

What Happens If I Don’t Bid?

Omg…ask any flight attendant if they’ve forgotten to bid and watch the look of dread wash over their face. It’s different at each airline however in most cases, it means that that flight attendant will get whichever schedule they DON’T want. At my old airline, it meant that I’d have to sit reserve. At my current airline, it means that I’d probably get a weekend and/or a holiday schedule of flying. Sometimes it’s not the end of the world; it just means that you may have to put in a little extra work to get the days off you need/want.

Trading Trips

Once our schedules have been released to us by the company (on our boards), we are responsible for making sure that trip is covered. If I can’t work a trip for whatever reason, I will try to give it away to another flight attendant or trade it for another trip. This tool comes in real handy at times. For instance, Christmas is the only holiday I refuse to work but some people don’t mind working it. I was able to trade my 3day Christmas trip for someone’s 3day New Years Eve trip but I also had to work an extra day trip for a total of 4days. I was happy to take that “penalty” day if it meant I had Christmas off. Flight attendants also have the option to call out sick but I won’t get too deep into that right now. I’ll save it for another blog post.

Reserve vs Line

Flight attendant reserve is when a person is on-call for the airline and is required to answer the phone and accept his/her flying assignment. S/he has “on” days and “off” days and basically has no idea when, where or if they are flying those days. Every airline has a reserve system which is meant to ensure that the daily operation can avoid interruption in the event that a flight attendant gets sick, weather causes misconnections; basically any unforeseen circumstance that may arise. Reserve flight attendants play a critical role in the airline’s daily operation which is why most airlines would love to have as many flight attendants on reserve as possible. Without getting too deep into the different types of reserve that exist, I will say that on my “on” days I consider myself “property of crew scheduling” (the department that is responsible for making sure all flights are covered with the necessary flight crew). I really don’t make any plans for my “on” days because that’s a sure fire way to have my plans canceled by the scheduling gods. A flight attendant’s “off” days are their own. S/he has zero responsibility to the airline. But that doesn’t mean that the airline won’t call! Scheduling is just like that ex that calls when s/he finds out that you’ve moved on - oh, they're gonna try it! It only means that the flight attendant is not required to answer the phone. And you better not answer because if you do…you’re on the hook for whatever trip they want you to work. True story…they tried to get me the day before I was leaving for my vacation in Greece but they missed me. I NEVER answer calls from an unknown number.

Trips

A common question flight attendants are asked is how long are our shifts. We don’t work in shifts. We work trips. A trip can be a day, 2days, 3 days, etc. Each airline is different in terms of how long a trip can last. My airline can schedule a trip up to 4 days long however flight attendants can schedule themselves up to 6 days at a time. I know it’s confusing but try to keep up. It’s confusing for me too as I try to explain it. So the company builds lines each month that flight attendants bid for monthly(we covered this earlier). The trips they build can only last a maximum of 4 days at a time however a flight attendant can choose to fly beyond those 4 days by picking up another trip. For instance, let’s say that my awarded line is 3 day trips flying Thursday-Saturday. The trip may look something like this:

Thursday-Report 0600

Atl-Mdw 

Mdw-Den

Den-Boi

Friday-Report 0500

Boi-Den

Den-Sfo 

Saturday-Report 0700

Sfo-Bwi 

Bwi-Atl 

Trip ends at 1800 in Atl 

I completely made this up but this is what a typical trip at my airline could look like. The first day has 3 flights, the second and third days have 2 flights each.  Notice that once I leave Atlanta, I don’t return until the last day. That is because flight attendants do not return home every night like at a regular 9-5. We sleep in different hotels in different cities and yes, the airline pays for the hotel and transportation. Now say I’m not satisfied with the schedule I was awarded and I’d like to fly more for extra money. I can pick up another trip that starts on Sunday (or any day I’m off) however whatever extra flying I pick up cannot total more than 6 consecutive days. 

There’s so much more I could say about our schedules but I’m writing this as I’m about to land in Chicago. That’s about all I have to say for now. I don’t want to bore you. I’ll do part 2 at another time. We’re about to land so I gotta go. Thanks for flying with me! I hope to see you again soon.