Airplane hostesses are responsible for safety and customer service.
Airplane hosts and hostesses, also called flight attendants, work long hours and spend a lot of time away from home. Their work injury rate is much higher than the national average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as working in a moving aircraft leaves flight attendants susceptible to injuries. Wage rates for flight attendants are consistent across regions and, due to the nature of the work, flight attendants usually only reside in certain states.
Beginning Flight Attendants
The BLS quotes the Association of Flight Attendants, the largest flight attendants' union, to state that beginning flight attendants made a median annual wage of $16,191 in 2009. Wages increase on a set scale as flight attendants gain experience. Starting wages for all flight attendants are generally identical, according to the pay scheme for new hires.
National Salary Averages
A total of 88,202 individuals were employed as flight attendants in the U.S. in 2010, according to the BLS. The average annual salary was $41,630. The median wage rate was $37,740; the bottom 10 percent of airplane hosts and hostesses made $24,930 or less. The top 10 percent made $63,990 or more.
Location of Flight Attendants
Flight attendants usually reside in the home bases of the airlines for which they work. For this reason, most airplane hosts and hostesses reside in a few U.S. states instead of in all parts of the country. Texas, California, Illinois, New York and Florida, in that order, had the highest levels of employment for flight attendants in the United States. Attendants can be away from their home base one-third of the year; during these periods their hotel accommodations and board are provided by the airline for which they work.
Highest Paying States and Metropolitan Areas
The state with the highest average wage for flight attendants was Michigan, according to the BLS May 2010 wage data, at $55,070 per year. Michigan was followed by Arizona at $52,480, Kentucky at $50,450, Texas at $47,500 and Washington at $44,630. The highest-paying metropolitan area in the U.S. was Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Michigan, at $55,120, followed by Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Michigan, at $54,360 and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona, at $52,530.
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