The ugly reality behind the jet-set Instagram photos: Flight attendants reveal the six things they hate most about their jobs (including not getting paid…until the cabin doors close)

You’ve seen the glamorous Instagram photos – now read about the ugly and shocking realities of being a flight attendant.

Jay Roberts, who worked for Emirates as a senior member of cabin crew, asked flight attendants around the world through his popular cabin crew lounge network, Fly Guy, to list the top three things they hate about their job. He then published a list of the six most common responses, along with his thoughts on why they were reported to him.

Here in reverse order…

6 – illegal passengers

Jay writes: “Passengers are one of the main reasons most of us sign up as flight attendants. We love meeting travelers and making sure they stay safe and comfortable during their time in the air. However, don’t let our friendly smiles don’t fool you That love quickly turns to disgust when passengers take out their frustration and bad manners on us.

“I notice [on my social media pages] the myriad of unreported aggressions because flight attendants are often too exhausted to handle the check-in process.”

Jay notes that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigated 91 cases of wrongful passenger behavior in the US in 2017 – and 1,099 in 2021.

5 – Work for free and unorganized work

“It’s no secret that most pilots earn the big bucks to work up front,” Jay writes in his post. “However, many people are not aware that in the back the flight attendants who are busy saying good morning during boarding and helping you with your seat and luggage problems are doing it for free.

“It is common for airlines not to pay the crew until the door closes or the brakes are released during pushback. Just like the passengers, the crew hates delays, but unlike the passengers who are there of their own accord, your crew waits to work and doesn’t get paid for it.’

The fact that crews often live far from their operations compounds the problem, Jay says, and last-minute flight schedule changes are another widely expressed aversion in this category.

4 – bad memory

“Unsurprisingly, memory loss is the fourth thing flight attendants dislike about their jobs,” writes Jay. “Many ex-crew members said they felt the effects on their memory long after they gave up their wings. Hypoxia, jet lag, irregular sleep and stress are the main factors that contribute to our memory loss.”

3 – Problems with health, illness and nutrition

Based on data collected from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database, the publication ranks flight attendants as the 8th unhealthiest job on their list of “47 jobs that will always be bad for your health,” according to Jay.

“It is common practice for airlines not to pay the crew until the door closes or the brakes are released during pushback,” reveals Jay

“An appropriate synonym for flight attendant would be fatigue stewardess,” writes Jay

Jay adds: “The most frequently cited health risks were exposure to pollutants, disease, infection, minor burns, cuts, bites or stings. Flight attendants I asked had dry skin, limited access to healthy eating habits, back injuries, bloating and insomnia as their main complaints.”

2 – feel lonely

Jay says, “It seems hard to believe that someone who has been locked in a tube in the sky with hundreds of people for most of their life can feel so alone. But the truth is that when the goodbye is over, we will be isolated in our hotel rooms in distant countries, far from our homes and support networks.”

1 – Fatigue and exhaustion

“An apt synonym for flight attendant would be fatigue monitor,” writes Jay, “because every flight attendant I know is constantly trying to reduce their fatigue. It’s a battle few win. The more time zones we cross, the more jet lag we get, and at some point in our careers we give up and learn to live with an overdraft on our couch.

“The exhaustion can be so severe that it is not uncommon in our death-like sleep to bump into the walls of our hotel rooms when we get up to go to the bathroom.”

“Most of the flight attendants we interviewed repeated this experience, often saying that when they travel, they wake up and don’t know where they are, what day, what month or even what year it is. “

For more from Jay visit www.instagram.com/aflyguytravels And www.facebook.com/aflyguyslounge.