Flight Attendant Salary: How Cabin Crew Pay Works

In the US, the median annual wage for flight attendants was $63,580 in May 2025, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In the UK, the government's National Careers Service puts the average salary at about £21,000 a year for new cabin crew and £28,000 for experienced crew.

Those figures are a useful starting point, but they don't tell the whole story. What you earn depends on the airline, where you're based, your experience and how your pay is structured. Some airlines pay mainly by the flight hour. Others pay a basic salary and add flying pay and allowances.

This guide explains what cabin crew earn in different markets, how each type of pay works and what to check before you accept an offer.

Pay ranges widely. In the US, the lowest-paid 10% of flight attendants earned less than $35,110 in May 2025, and the highest-paid 10% more than $136,430.

The table puts the official figures next to pay rates that some airlines publish. The airline figures show how individual employers pay. They aren't averages for each country.

Sources for the table: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, National Careers Service, SkyWest careers, Endeavor Air careers, Jet2 cabin crew vacancy, Finnair careers and Emirates Group Careers.

Cabin crew pay usually follows one of two models. It helps to know which one an airline uses, because it changes what a headline figure means.

At US airlines such as SkyWest and Endeavor Air, most of your pay comes from an hourly rate for flight time. SkyWest counts it "block to block": from when the main cabin door closes and the brakes are released until the brakes are set and the door opens at arrival. Boarding is paid separately.

On top of the hourly rate, there is:

·  Boarding pay. SkyWest pays $7.58 for each completed boarding in your first years.

·  Per diem. An hourly allowance for time away from base. SkyWest pays $2.25 for every hour you're on duty away from your base, which it estimates adds about $4,387.50 a year on average. Endeavor pays $2.25 an hour for each assignment, from when you report to your base until the assignment ends.

· A monthly guarantee. Almost all new US flight attendants start on reserve, which means being on call to cover trips, according to the BLS. Reserve crew are guaranteed pay for a minimum number of hours: at least 76 flight hours per bid period at SkyWest, and 75 hours a month at Endeavor. At Endeavor, anything above 75 credit hours is paid at your hourly rate.

So the hourly rate is only part of the picture. Your monthly pay depends on the guarantee and on how many credited hours you fly above it.

Many airlines elsewhere pay a fixed monthly salary, then add pay linked to the flying you do.

· Finnair sets your basic salary by experience under a collective agreement. On top come allowances, such as Sunday and night duty allowances, and daily allowances.

· Jet2 quotes on-target earnings, which include commission, flight duty pay and sector pay.

· Emirates combines a basic salary, an hourly rate for the flights you operate and an overseas meal allowance. It also provides shared accommodation free of charge.

When you compare offers, check what each figure includes. Emirates' average of AED 11,244 a month is the basic salary plus about 90 flying hours, so your own pay will be higher or lower depending on the hours you fly and the allowances that apply. Jet2's £35,200+ is an on-target figure that includes commission.

·  Seniority. Where airlines publish pay scales, your rate rises with years of service. At SkyWest it stays the same for the first two years, then rises each year, from $31.26 an hour after three years to $50.21 after 25.

·   Extra flying. If you're paid by the hour, flying credited hours above your minimum guarantee, or picking up eligible extra trips, increases your earnings. Hours below the guarantee don't add to your pay.

·   Previous experience. Finnair takes earlier cabin crew experience into account when it sets your basic salary.

·   Promotion. Airlines have senior cabin roles. Emirates, for example, describes progression up to cabin supervisor and purser. None of the airlines in this guide publishes pay for those roles, so ask about it during recruitment.

·   The type of employer. In the BLS figures for May 2025, flight attendants at nonscheduled operators, such as charter airlines, had a higher median wage ($70,700) than those at scheduled airlines ($63,570).

Find cabin crew roles

Pay, contracts and bases differ from airline to airline, so read the terms of each vacancy carefully. You can browse current cabin crew jobs on Aviyond to compare airlines and bases. If you're just starting out, our guides to becoming a flight attendant and cabin crew assessment days explain the next steps.