Pet Peeve: Airport Appreciation

Posted in A Day in the Life of a Flight Attendant | 9 comments

One of my biggest pet peeves of being a flight attendant is airport appreciation. To those of you not in the industry you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Well here’s a quick explanation.

When the airline builds our trips (sometimes known as pairings) which include all of the flights we’re scheduled to work, there is sometimes “sit” times (or the time between flights of which we have to work) in between flights. Extended sit times, usually more than 2 hours we refer to as “airport appreciation time.”

There is nothing to do durning this time but wander through the airport, maybe grab some over priced airport food, catch up on phone calls, emails, etc. You would think we would WANT “sit times,” but we don’t. Remember flight crews are usually only paid from the moment the door closes to when it opens in your arrival city. For these sit times, we’re only earning per diem, which at my airline is $1.75 an hour. So, for those 2-3-4 hours in between flights I’ve made, maybe: $5. Talk about unproductive!

One of my past trips drove me crazy. Actually, I drove myself crazy. I bid for the trip only because of the layovers and didn’t bother to look at what flights I would be working. The first day I had a one hour sit, the second day I had a two hour sit, and the worst of all, the third day I worked a flight departing at 645am arrived into San Francisco at 8am and didn’t work my next flight, a transcontinental one mind you, until 1130am! That day in particular killed me. I was up at 4:15am to get ready for my 530am van to the airport to work a flight at 645am, and didn’t get to my final arrival city until 730pm east coast time, or 430pm pacific. I worked a 11 hour day and only got paid for 6 hours thanks to the sit time. Whats sad is on day three my whole crew walked into the lounge we have, and found 2 other crews on 2 or 3 hour sits.. all with nothing to do! We all went out for breakfast together… and still had time to kill afterwards.

Usually sit times are a real downer. You’re awake, your working, all of a sudden you’re sitting around with nothing to do.. you get tired.. and then CRAP! It’s time to work a 5 hour flight!

Unfortunately the FAA has no regulations in place regarding how long between flights we can sit around. It falls under the “duty time” limitations, but thats a whole other topic.

Lesson Learned: Don’t bid for trips based on layovers or any other criteria without looking at the actual flights to be worked. Sit times are a waste of time.