Flight Attendant Friday: How Long of a Day Do Flight Attendants Work?

With my hectic schedule the past few weeks, I’ve neglected to answer some reader emails.  And I have lots of questions waiting.

Today’s questions comes from Ariana:

Q.  How many hours do you work each day?  How many flights?

A.  The work day of a Flight Attendant is set by the contract they work under, having been negotiated by the Flight Attendants (or the union representing them) and the airline. 

It typically begins one hour prior to the scheduled departure of the first flight of the day, and ends one half hour after the aircraft arrives at the crew’s final destination for the day.  The length of that duty day can range from 10 1/2 to 14 hours, with the majority of airlines at 12 hours.  Provisions for extra crew members and onboard rest provisions occur for longer flights.

The number of flights in a work day will depend on both the contractual length of the day and the type of flying.  Transcontinental or transatlantic flying will often mean only one flight per day as the flight time is in the range of 5-10 hours.  More flights can be scheduled into a day when they are shorter.

On Flight Attendant Fridays I try to answer questions about the job of a Flight Attendant, my personal experiences, and the airline industry and travel industry in general.  If you have a question, please email it to me and I’ll answer it on a future Friday.

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