Flight Attendants
Also called: Aircraft Cabin Agent, Airline Attendant, Airline Flight Attendant, Airline Hostess, Airline Stewardess, Airplane Flight Attendant, Cabin Attendant, Door and Arrival Attendant
Monitor safety of the aircraft cabin.
What flight attendants do
Typical tasks
- Verify that first aid kits and other emergency equipment, including fire extinguishers and oxygen bottles, are in working order.
- Announce and demonstrate safety and emergency procedures, such as the use of oxygen masks, seat belts, and life jackets.
- Monitor passenger behavior to identify threats to the safety of the crew and other passengers.
- Walk aisles of planes to verify that passengers have complied with federal regulations prior to takeoffs and landings.
- Direct and assist passengers in emergency procedures, such as evacuating a plane following an emergency landing.
- Prepare passengers and aircraft for landing, following procedures.
- Administer first aid to passengers in distress.
- Determine special assistance needs of passengers, such as small children, the elderly, or persons with disabilities.
- Attend preflight briefings concerning weather, altitudes, routes, emergency procedures, crew coordination, lengths of flights, food and beverage services offered, and numbers of passengers.
- Reassure passengers when situations, such as turbulence, are encountered.
- Check to ensure that food, beverages, blankets, reading material, emergency equipment, and other supplies are aboard and are in adequate supply.
- Prepare reports showing places of departure and destination, passenger ticket numbers, meal and beverage inventories, the conditions of cabin equipment, and any problems encountered by passengers.
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Flight Attendants salary
The median annual wage for flight attendants is $63,580 (BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, national). The lowest 10 percent earn less than $35,110 and the highest 10 percent earn more than $136,430. The mean annual wage is $77,440.
How does your pay compare with people your age?
Your numbers are not sent or stored. The comparison uses this occupation's BLS wage percentiles, adjusted for age with BLS median weekly earnings by age group (Q3 2026).
Pay by percentile
Annual wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Percentiles are a good proxy for pay by experience.
Projected pay for Flight Attendants (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
Today $63,580 → in 3 years $70,300 → in 5 years $75,200 → in 10 years $89,100 (10-year range $76,600–$103,400). The model assumes pay growth of +3.4% per year.
What drives the annual growth rate
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Flight Attendants
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Flight Attendants? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Flight Attendants
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
The same job in Japan
| Flight Attendants United States | 客室乗務員 Japan | |
|---|---|---|
| Median / average pay | $63,580 | ¥5.72M ≈ $36,406 |
| Pay in 10 years (est.) | $89,100 | ¥7.94M |
| Outlook score | 70 | 63 |
| AI replacement risk | 25% Low | 16% Very low |
| Workers | 132K | — |
Matched by occupation (SOC code). Yen converted at 157.25 JPY/USD for reference; Japanese figures are averages, U.S. figures are medians, and the surveys define occupations differently.
Skills, education and requirements for Flight Attendants
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Education of workers
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 2 — some preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★☆☆☆☆ Easy to enter (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become flight attendants
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as flight attendants
Career-path guidance is being prepared. Pay by percentile is shown in the Pay section.