The Flying Homeless: How Prestige Disappeared from the Skies - and So Did Everything Else

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April 28, 2025

Written by Frank Glassner:
CEO, Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants

Once upon a time, flight attendants were aspirational. Icons of the jet age. Polished, poised, and admired. They weren’t just crossing oceans – they were crossing into a new cultural archetype: independent, worldly, stylish.

That was 50 years ago. Let’s fast forward to today.

The jet bridge hums. A flight attendant fixes her scarf in the reflection of the galley coffee pot, checks her smile, and boards the plane. By the end of the day, she’ll have crossed four time zones, served 500 drinks, and probably cried once. Welcome to the modern skies.

Today’s flight attendants are better known for duct-taping unruly passengers, working 18-hour days while being paid for 9, and crying quietly in airport bathrooms. They live in shared crash pads, miss holidays, have failed relationships, and get bumped from “free” flights for high-margin cargo.

Some call them the “flying homeless.” It’s not mean. It’s accurate.

The profession that once flew high is now broken—financially, emotionally, and existentially. This isn’t just a story of decline. It’s a modern workplace tragedy with a boarding pass.

I. From Icons to Interchangeables: The Commoditization of a Calling

Once a symbol of glamor, the flight attendant has become an economic afterthought. The shift began with airline deregulation in 1978 and spiraled from there. As an example:

• Starting pay: $28/hour (in-flight only)
• Top scale after 20+ years: $67/hour
• Actual hours paid: Only the time between cabin door close and open
• Everything else—commute, delays, airport sprints? Unpaid

It’s a two-tier system designed to reward attrition: phase out the veterans, cycle in younger, cheaper, more desperate labor.

It’s become a gig job at 38,000 feet.

II. The Human Cost: Broken Lives at Cruising Altitude

The toll is not just professional - it’s deeply personal.

• Flight attendants are 2 to 5.7 times more likely to experience sleep disorders, depression, and chronic fatigue
• Higher rates of cancer, respiratory illness, and reproductive issues—thanks to cabin air quality, radiation exposure, and brutal circadian misalignment
• Substance abuse and burnout are rampant
• Divorce? Among the highest rates of any profession
• Parenting? Usually done via FaceTime or through guilt-wrapped souvenirs

Yes, they are trained for emergencies. But in reality, the biggest emergencies are playing out in their own homes and health. They’re putting out fires everywhere but the galley.

III. Case Study: The Hamster on Ritalin

Meet a senior United flight attendant, based in the Bay Area. She’s not failing—she’s a model employee. But let’s break down her real life:

To the outside world, she looks successful - uniformed, polished, airborne. But behind the scenes, her life is measured in unpaid hours, roadside naps, and family moments missed.

• Commutes 50 miles each way to SFO
• Weekly expenses: $70 gas, $40 bridge tolls, $88 car depreciation (400 miles/week) = $198/week x 50 weeks = $9,900/year just to get to work

Her schedule?

• Up at 4:30 a.m.
• Leaves at 5:30 a.m.
• Arrives at SFO by 7:00 a.m.
• Reports at 8:00 a.m., flies long-haul routes (D.C., Newark, Hawaii)
• Returns 11:00 p.m.
• Five hours sleep
• Repeats this four days straight

That’s 3,600 work hours a year, but she’s paid for just 2,100 of them. The rest? Disregarded. Unseen. Uncompensated.

She’s a Hamster on Ritalin, comes and goes in the dark, spinning a winged jet wheel at 38,000 feet, and calling it “living the dream.”

She calls Friday–Sunday “family time,” but it’s basically 36 hours of limp emotional leftovers from a week that chewed her up and spat her out over multiple time zones and thousands of miles.

Any wonder why her marriage is cracked, her kids are a disaster, and her body eventually taps out?

This isn’t a job—it’s a slow-motion crash in a navy-blue uniform. Flight attendants deserve a champion. But even champions can lose the plot when their spotlight grows brighter than their members’ future.

IV. The Bitter Truth About Their “Free Travel”

Flight attendants still talk about the “free travel” like it’s a secret golden ticket. It’s what they want to believe, but here’s the reality:

• Standby Coach, available space only
• After discount ticket employees, their kids, retirees, and buddy passes
• Often bumped from international flights due to weight restrictions to make room for profitable cargo

So yes, you may get booted from your “free” seat for a pallet of iPhones or 20 crates of Chilean sea bass.

Jet-setter dreams, meet cargo-priority capitalism.

V. Why Stay? Why Not Teach Kindergarten Instead?

Let’s be honest. This isn’t the best gig in town.

Compare it to public school teaching:

Teachers are needed, honored, and supported (at least publicly). They get summer breaks, holiday time, and actual quality of life. And they don't have to pay $10,000 a year just to show up for work.

Flight attendants? Work more, earn less, collapse harder, and have significant challenges maintaining relationships. It’s no contest.

VI. Sara Nelson and the Union That Flew Into a Storm

Sara Nelson once looked like the future of labor. The head of the Association of Flight Attendants–CWA (AFA), she electrified rallies, stood next to her heroes Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, and was floated for Secretary of Labor.

Today? Sara Nelson has become a punchline.

She’s too busy rallying to free “Our Brother” Kilmar Abrego Garcia and was recently quoted saying that “Joe Biden has done more for American workers than FDR.” (Has she ever heard of FDR’s Depression-era New Deal creating an estimated 15 million jobs, the National Labor Relations Act, the NLRB, the Fair Labor Standards Act, Social Security, etc.?) Perhaps she’s due for a random urine test.

The truth is:

• United’s contracts are stalled
• United flight attendants haven’t had a raise in over six years (but Sara has)
• Flight attendant morale is collapsing
• Her members are demanding: Where’s the fight? Where’s the progress? Where’s Sara?

Meanwhile, Delta—non-union—delivers better wages and benefits, stronger employee satisfaction, more flexible scheduling, and better internal culture.

Sara built a brand for herself, but the rank-and-file are tired of hashtags. They want results. And all they’ve gotten is the turbulence off of her empty “power to the people” speeches.

VII. Automation Is Already Boarding

The future is coming—and it doesn’t require a name badge or a coffee pot.

• Smart carts
• AI-based passenger interaction
• Biometric boarding
• Robotic safety demos
• Emotion-sensing headsets

Airlines don’t dream of better unions. They dream of fewer humans. ANA has already tested AI-powered ‘robot porters’ at Japanese airports.

One human “supervisor” with two AI assistants per plane? It’s not sci-fi. It’s a cost-saving inevitability.

Flight attendants aren’t just replaceable - they’re being quietly prototype-tested out of the job. And no, the robot won’t smile. But it also won’t complain, get sick, or file grievances.

VIII. Conclusion: A Profession That’s Lost Its Wings

Flight attendants used to inspire awe. Now, they inspire concern. They are tired, disposable, and gaslit by an industry that still markets their job as glamorous.

The reality? Broken bodies. Broken marriages. Broken promises. Broken dreams. All for $9,900/year in commuting costs and a middle seat to Phoenix. The wings are still pinned to the lapel. But the lift is long gone.

We should stop asking why no one wants to have relationships with them. We should start by asking why we’ve made them so easy to leave behind. The next time you order a drink at 35,000 feet, remember: the person handing it to you may have just cried in the airport bathroom.

Not because they can’t do the job. But because no one cares that they still do.

IX. What Would Frank Do?

Let’s be blunt. If this were a boardroom strategy session, I’d say:

• Stop sugarcoating the job. Prestige is dead—let’s stop pretending it’s just “sleeping”
• Redesign the profession—or automate it with dignity
• Design leading-edge HR and compensation programs along with a “best places to work” culture to avoid becoming a union target (Delta, Emirates, etc.)
• If you’re represented, demand more from union leadership. It’s not all about money, it’s about job satisfaction. No more speeches without results
• “Rebuild the narrative. Create PR campaigns that reflect the reality and not the fantasy, because dignity starts with being seen, not just dressed up.”
• Steer workers toward better options. It’s not just your job - it’s your life. And let’s not forget they have families too
• Revalue emotional labor with real lifestyle benefits, not “travel privileges” that can be revoked by cargo weight

We owe it to the people doing the work to stop romanticizing their sacrifice—and start either fixing it or calling time of death.

X. Final Descent

This is not just a job. It’s a cautionary tale of economic devaluation, emotional exhaustion, and industrial indifference.

Flight attendants used to inspire wanderlust. Now they inspire pity.

They serve millions of passengers every year, but no one’s really serving them. And unless we start paying attention, the next time you look up to ask for a ginger ale - there might not be a human there to answer.

Welcome aboard the era of flying ghosts.

This is your final descent.

FBG

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Frank Glassner is the CEO of Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants and a widely respected authority on executive pay and strategic compensation design. Known for his discerning judgment, consummate diplomacy, incisive insights, and unwavering discretion, he is a trusted advisor and confidant to boards, CEOs, and institutional investors worldwide.