I was a flight attendant for 2 years. Here are the answers to 10 questions passengers always ask.

13.08.2024 - 22:13 / insider.com

I spent two years working as a flight attendant for a major US airline, and I heard every question you can think of. 

I started my career in San Francisco and a year later transferred to New York. I flew domestic and international flights, but I never knew where I was going the next day, so it was always an adventure. 

Read on for some of the common questions people always wanted to ask me on flights.

Heels are part of the uniform requirements for my airline, and I had to wear them at the airport, during boarding, and while welcoming passengers on the plane.

But as soon as the plane took off, we could change into flats. 

This depends on the length of the flight.

On domestic flights, we don't take breaks. In my experience, flight attendants are only allowed to take time to eat when the food/drink service is done.

On international flights, everything is different. We legally must take a sleep break, which we do in a special compartment of the plane located above economy seats. It's a room only flight attendants know how to access.

We switch out — while some flights attendants are working, others are resting.

This is the most common question I got, and I never knew the answer.

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Flight attendants are often working on reserve, which essentially means they're on call every day.

I'd only find out about my next trip the night before the flight. Sometimes, I'd even get the call a few hours before the trip. 

Flight attendants generally receive hourly pay. Everybody's pay is different depending on seniority, and our salary grows a little every year.

We also only get paid for the time we're in the air. So all the time we spend going through customs, waiting by the gate, and managing delays on the ground is unpaid.

For example, flying from New York to Chicago is a two-hour flight, so the flight attendants only get paid for two hours. 

I've seen a lot of beautiful countries, but a lot of times, I only arrived to sleep at the hotel for 12 hours and fly back early in the morning.

Sometimes, I had a nice, long 24-hour layover in Los Angeles or Hawaii, but most of the time, it was a quick nap at a hotel by the airport.

Luckily, in my experience, layovers for international flights were a minimum of 24 hours.

I was based in two cities on different US coasts, so I had a chance to fly to Asia and Europe a lot.

The country that stole my heart was Japan. It was the experience of a lifetime.

I was lucky enough to arrive right on time for the cherry-blossom season. My layover was only 24 hours, but I had a chance to visit a temple, try delicious street food, and check out a local grocery store to buy snacks I could never find back home. 

This is complete nonsense. We have different tanks for the toilet and the