Scheduling for flight attendants, to me, is super hard to understand. Lets try and work it out together.
One thing you should know is that it depends on each airline.
Words you need to know!!
- Reserve:when you are on call 24/7 and must be available to cover shifts due to cancellations, sick calls, or other operational needs. The schedules are unpredictable and can involve long work stretches and layovers but you get 12 days of the month off. You get a minimum guarantee but other than that you’re on call for a segment of 3-6 days and they can send you wherever.
- Bidding: when you bid for your desired says off, layovers, specific trips, who they want to fly with and then they will get their results back in a few days
- Line Holder: when you have a pre-built schedule of trips and can choose shifts based on their preferences, such as preferred days, hours, or destinations. They can also swap or drop shifts, giving them more control over their work schedule.
Destanie explained to me that her specific airline requires new flight attendants to be on reserve. Reserve is when you are on call 24/7 and must be available to cover shifts due to cancellations, sick calls, or other operational needs. The schedules are unpredictable and can involve long work stretches and layovers but you get 12 days of the month off. You get a minimum guarantee but other than that you’re on call for a segment of 3-6 days and they can send you wherever. Destanie is 2 years in so now she can do one month of being on call and one month off, so it rotates.
Hannah also mentioned something called bidding. Bidding is where you bid for your schedule (days off, layovers, specific trips, who they want to fly with) and Rosie told me that they will receive them a few days later. After another several days, they can trade our trips around with other flight attendants and available trips that don’t have anyone assigned to them. Hannah told me that the schedule is so flexible because you can work your trips and move things around.
Another thing Hannah mentioned, along with Aly, was being a line holder or having a line. This is when you have a pre-built schedule of trips and can choose shifts based on their preferences, such as preferred days, hours, or destinations. They can also swap or drop shifts, giving them more control over their work schedule. Aly is only a year in and is still on reserve, for her, she gets 11 days off a month and she can work up to 6 days in a row. Logan told me that scheduling has everything to do with seniority meaning the longer you’ve been with the company, the more likely you are to get the schedule you bid for. With Logan’s airline, they have no maximums or minimums which is HUGE! This means a flight attendant can work as much or as little as they want, but you can pick up, trade, or switch schedules with other flight attendants.
Unless you are a flight attendant, this may seem super overwhelming and confusing. For me I have done enough scrolling through flight attendants social medias accounts where I can grasp a basic understanding of how this works. Each flight attendant that you may come across on social media will tell their viewers that it is confusing and hard to understand at first but it just takes time and you have to ask questions!! I hope this was helpful!!