The Aviation department and the people working in it are always looked up to by the people as they always consider their life to be a lavish and comfortable one. But that’s not always the case, for example, taking an example of the Flight attendants i.e., the people who serve and look after the needs of the passengers traveling on board are considered to be paid pretty well for traveling the world, but there are different case and scenarios on which their pay depends like the airlines they are working in, their seniority i.e., their years of total work and serving, the hours they work for, etc. There are many such factors, let’s take a look at these factors in brief: –
- Airlines working for –
Different airlines have different pay scales and different categories for their payment i.e., their paying scale varies from country to country(different countries have different expenditure & resources), and also on the type of operation whether it works on a charter plane, private jet or whether it is a low-budget or major-budget airline. Major airlines having more budget often pay to the flight attendants more than the local or low budget airlines but one’s research is important before applying.
- Their experience level –
In the same company only, there are different salary bands for the people working in it which usually depends on the seniority or the years of experience of that individual as it is always considered that the more experienced ones know more than the one’s who joined recently, for example, a junior Iberia can have half the pay compared to that of their senior. More years of experience provide one with more base salary as compared to the ones who joined recently creating a difference in their take-home pay.
- Pay per flight-
All the flight attendants are paid a base salary but add on to that they are also paid flight per hour. That pay doesn’t include the time when you are on the ground either it includes the time when one is in the terminal when they do boarding, briefing as well as the time in between the flight, it also pays for the flight delay if caused any. So, pay per flight starts from the time when one flight starts flying from the starting point to the other place it lands.
- Commissions above Salary-
Few airlines or companies also offer commissions which can be an add-on to your salary such schemes can be of offering 10% or 20% commissions on all duty-free services.
- Your contract or salary conditions-
For Example, the salary offered to a flight attendant working in Norway is higher than that compared to the ones in Italy because the living conditions and expenditure in Norway are more than in France.
- Third-party hiring-
Third-party hiring is more common and preferred in almost all sectors nowadays. But these third-party contractors usually pay low wages, benefits as well as conditions hence two people working in the same position can have different salaries if one of them is the third party hired.
More factors can also increase one’s paycheck-
- Working shifts- people offering overnight shift services in red-eye flights( flights that fly at late hours or the ones which offer an overnight journey to the passengers)are usually provided with credit.
- Position of aircraft – whether you are in a business class,
Economy class or first class.
- Language Versatility – you earn a bonus for each new foreign language you speak.
- Allowance – you also get a transportation allowance per month.
But with these conditions also comes a lot of perks and benefits like Flight attendants usually get the benefit of free/ discounted airfare not only for themselves but also for their friends and relatives but it comes with a condition flight standby that you only get seats on the plane only if there are empty seats.
Flight attendants also get an extra contribution to their earnings from benefits like health benefits, medical care benefits, etc. And these also add to the safety of the individual.
So, after learning about all the facts the actual question that comes to our mind is that how much actually Flight attendants make?
But to be honest there’s no appropriate answer for that question. Because this variability in pay scales is in the view of the fact that different airlines have different standards and metres, hence when one starts working in an airline only then they can get to know the actual payouts.
It is even possible to swap your flight with another flight scheduled for your co-mate. Few airlines also offer the option of bidding for a flight i.e. you can bid for a flight if you like the destination or if it offers a high overnight allowance. But there’s a twist that among all the flight attendants who applied for it, the senior cabin crew member’s bids are prioritized.
Different airlines also have twister like either they offer you a complete monthly schedule stating how many flights you will be boarding, how many hours you will be working, how many of will you get or you get a complete disrupted schedule.
The pay scale is often less for flight attendants with a maximum number of training days. But few airlines like Ryanair provide some allowance for accommodation as well as food during one’s training period.
Different airlines offer different categories to work in for flight attendants.
For Example, British Airways offer 4 fleets to work in and offers different pay-scale to all the fleets.
So, seeing the overview one can easily say that there the pay scales of a flight attendant depend on various variables some of them are stated above but still there are many more. So for the people who often think about choosing the aviation line just because of the living comfort and eye-catching salary they need to learn about all the factors stated above. One should do his/her research before applying to a particular airline.