Being a flight attendant can be a "comfortable" job for the most senior employees at an airline. Senior flight attendants get preference when choosing the flights they'll work for a month — bidding, as it's called in the industry — and make top pay for the hours they're in the air.
"A flight to Asia is like a 30-hour, three-day trip," a Chicago-based flight attendant for American Airlines, who, like everyone who spoke with Business Insider for this article asked not to be named, explained. "Those go very senior because you'd only need to work three trips a month to make a living. A comfortable living at that, when you're at top pay."
Despite many routes to Asia being suspended, and service on other routes being reduced, most flight attendants said they had not had any trouble getting their normal number of work hours, and didn't expect to — at least, not at first.
That's because some flight attendants choose to work fewer hours per month, either because they're earning top pay and can afford fewer hours, they have side gigs to supplement their income, or even just because they want or need some time off.
"I've actually been working more it seems, which is really surprising due to the circumstances," the United flight attendant said. "But that's usually totally normal around this time of year, so that's positive. I know March is a time when many senior flight attendants take their vacation as well, which leaves some open trips."
"I'm worried though as the virus spreads that hours and flights will be cut," the Spirit employee said. "Especially to international destinations that we serve. It's scary that we may lose a lot of flying."
"They are working on pay protections for the crews who suddenly lost hours," the Chicago-based American Airlines said. "They are also allowing people to start the month with no hours, typically you would be forced no less than 40 but on average about 70-75 hours scheduled."
"That helps a lot when you have people who would rather not work, allow those who do, work the trips," he added.
However, as flight schedules continue to be reduced with dropping travel demand, some of the flight attendants said they were beginning to feel more anxious about their work situations.
Flight attendants at airlines with a labor contract, including American and United, said that they expected the airline to offer voluntary unpaid leaves if they end up needing fewer workers until demand picks back up. Flight attendants taking those leaves would not be paid, but would continue accruing seniority, would retain benefits including healthcare, and could continue using their employee travel benefits.
For someone wanting time off, or with a side job, the leave can be appealing, and would mean that the flight attendants who want to continue working will still have enough hours available.
On Wednesday, United announced it would reduce its domestic schedule by 10% and its international network by 20% for April and May, and said it would offer the leaves.
Before the announcement the United flight attendant said that she had heard it was a possibility. After an email from the airline's CEO and president, she said that while she was still hopeful and positive, she was beginning to feel slightly anxious.
"I just really hope enough people take those offers," she said. "Everything is so uncertain right now."
"This sort of thing is definitely unnerving," an American flight attendant said. "Rumors of furloughs have been flying around unchecked lately, and true new hires, the ones with barely a year or two — or in some cases only a few months — under their belts are clearly distressed."
"There are flight attendants in my base with upwards of 40 years seniority, so getting my hours in, holding decent trips — that's always something of a concern," she added, noting that she was short of 10 years of seniority. "Whether or not a pandemic will make that even more difficult going forward — I suppose it just doesn't pay to borrow trouble."
One thing that had her especially anxious was the airline's sick-leave policy, which she described as "notoriously punitive" industry-wide.
"If, like me, you have an interest in internal advancement, calling in sick can come back to haunt you," she said. "How am I supposed to care for myself, my coworkers, and the public without sabotaging my career?"
Despite her anxieties, she said she was also going to try and stay positive.
"There's very little I can do to prepare for that except try not to be frivolous in my spending, so I'm trying to just go about my life and not assume the worst."