A Day In The Life of A Flight Attendant: Behind the scenes at 35,000 feet

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Morning Routine

A day in a life of a flight attendant starts with my alarm going off at 8:00 am, and I roll over to hit the snooze button (yes, I’m one of those) and cuddle back into bed. The second alarm goes off at 8:05 am, and I finally roll out of bed. 

I get up, wash off my skin care routine from the night before, then brush my teeth and finish off with tongue scraping. I’m a little bit of a health nut. 

I then make my way downstairs to take two tablespoons of my true sea moss and pop a seed probiotic supplement. I then make myself my protein mushroom coffee, which is just pretty much bone broth protein powder in my coffee. Trust me!! This is amazing! 

Check-In Time

Fast forward to being ready and out the door for check-in time. We are required to report for duty one hour before departure for each trip, and that is considered our sign-in time for work. We use our company-issued tablets (really, it’s an Apple phone) to sign in for work. We find out which gate we are going out of by using our tablets or looking up the flight number. Before you sign in for your trip, you know ahead of time what position you are working in the aircraft, and that pretty much tells you what your crew duties are for the trip.. 

So today, I am working down and back up from Aruba. This is considered a high-time one-day trip worth good credit. I will be working in position four on a Boeing 737 aircraft. My job duties on this flight involve monitoring overhead bins and doing passenger exit row briefings. 

At the start of every flight, the crew will do a crew brief to discuss any particulars about the flight. The necessary information is relayed, and each flight attendant will then break to do their mandatory equipment checks. Boarding then begins… 

Boarding Time

I like to think of myself as a friendly person, so when I’m monitoring overhead bins, I like to partake in a bit of passenger chatting. I slide into a row and greet anyone, good morning… As I was standing in a row, I started talking to a passenger who was telling me about the last time she flew down to Aruba and how her aircraft started to fill with smoke and they had to divert to Miami instead. “Yeah, no, we are not doing that,” I tell her.

A couple then chimes in our conversation and shares how last time they flew to Aruba, their luggage was stolen. I asked if there was anything important in the bag. The husband begins to tell me that there was a gimble in it. So, of course, I asked, “Whose bright idea was it to leave something valuable in their checked bag?” and he smirked and slowly raised his hand. The conversation continued a bit until I bid farewell and told them I had to go to work now.

Now that the bins are closed, emergency exit seat briefings are done, and all roller-board bags are stored, we can close the boarding door. Yes, all three have to be accomplished in order to get the forward boarding door closed. I bet you didn’t know that now.. The lead flight attendant makes an announcement for “flight attendants to arm doors,” and you follow the instruction by arming your respective door. Then you wait for the all-call, which is done by interphone.

Safety Demo & Safety Checks

Once aircraft movement begins, we start our safety demonstration. Based on your working position is where you stand for your demo. During the demo, there are four items that are demoed. This happens for every single flight you operate. And guess what? If, for whatever reason, we have to return to the gate, the demo has to begin all over again, no matter what.. After the demo, safety checks are done. So, pretty much it’s doing a cabin walkthrough and ensuring tray tables are up, device holders are stowed, and bags are under the seat in front of passengers. Once all is complete, we take our respective jumpseats. The captain will make an announcement for flight attendants to prepare for takeoff. I hope you’re in your seats at this point. 

Service

Our cruising altitude is when our beverage service begins. Again, based on the position you are working in, you are placed on the beverage cart. There is a rhyme and reason for everything. On the cart, depending on my mood, is whether I will partake in random conversation. Remember, I’m very playful, but it’s all based on my mood and also on the flight time. Sometimes you have to serve an entire cabin of passengers in under an hour.. You are hustling, I’m telling you.. 

Beverage service is done, and now trash pickup is next. This is either done with our trash bags or a trash cart. During our trash service is my only opportunity to look a passenger in the eye and say trash without getting sucker punched. 

The captain will get on the interphone and say Flight attendants, prepare for landing which is our indicator to prep the cabin for landing. Cabin Lights are turned on, announcements are made, and a walk-through trash service is done. We still monitor the bags, device holders, and tray tables as well. Once all tasks are completed, we take our jumpseats again. 

Landing

We land, sometimes people clap (it’s annoying, so don’t do it). Then we taxi our way to the gate. Once at the gate, the lead flight attendant will make an announcement to disarm your doors. Everyone disarms their two doors and waits for the all-call. 

Deplaning has begun. You say bye and enjoy your vacation, or whatever you want to say that’s appropriate. But once everyone is off the plane, cleaners come on and tidy up the appearance, then get off. We then do it all over again with a set of new passengers to board. 

Fast forward to finishing my trip and getting the last passenger off, I stay on the aircraft until the lead flight attendant does a final walkthrough to ensure no passenger or belongings are left behind. They are also the last person to double-check that you have disarmed your doors before anyone can get off the plane. 

This pretty much sums up what my day-to-day looks like. The process and procedure are always the same. What makes it different than any other day is if there are issues involved or incidents coming from both the crew and passengers alike. 

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Until next time…
Stay curious, stay kind, and stay buckled.

🎙️ See you on the jumpseat.