Pros
-Constant variety, ability to see the world/country, easily visit friends you haven't seen in years -As a very flexible job (job flexibility varies by base), you have the ability to pursue so many hobbies and sometimes second jobs while working full time. -You have the option of living literally anywhere in the world and commuting to work/base (however, it can be very stressful and difficult). -Delta is unique with regards to the scheduling system. The ability to swap trips and trade them with available trips was a lifesaver sometimes and led to a pretty cool lifestyle. You have the ability to work a lot all at once in order to easily have 7-10 days off in a row, for example. You also have the option of just picking up available trips if you want to work more. Also, have a cool/easy trip? It might get picked up by someone else who wants to work more and you just got a free day or two. - I liked the structured yearly pay scale where you're guaranteed consistent raises throughout the years, capping off at 15 years. -Profit Sharing in February was always a treat! -I met countless celebrities, politicians, and just plain interesting people from all over the world in just a few years. -Only 6 days of being on call per month as opposed to many airlines that are full time reserve - I was based in NYC for 2 years and SLC for 6 months. Western bases are by far less stressful.
Cons
-Flying standby is stressful even though it's a perk of the job. Every year flights seem to be more and more full which means it's harder to get on them, negating the very benefit of flying for fun -Trips seem to be declining in quality. My best year was my very first year when I was most junior in 2016.. 4 hour airport sits are common in between flights, long duty days of 12-15 hours, minimum hour layovers on domestic flights only leaving you enough time to sleep, etc -Flight attendants seem to constantly be understaffed. My monthly schedule started getting more and more packed, leaving less room to move things around. - It's such a big company that you feel like a number. Your supervisor never really gets to observe how well you work and performance reviews are solely based on unreliable reviews from passengers. Passenger reviews talking about gate agents or their poor experience with TSA brings down your rating as a flight attendant. You may form somewhat of a relationship with your supervisor, only to discover you've been transferred to someone else because the base size is increasing. -Getting flown into off days, rotations changing mid-trip, and delays are always a risk with this type of job. Some might say these circumstances increased over time. I think it also depends where you're based as East Coast bases tend to have worse luck with that sort of thing. -Not necessarily home every night, so packing food for a 3 day trip can be a challenge, especially when you're trying to stay healthy. -My personal health started to decline only 4 months into the job. I have a history of autoimmune issues (which had been resolved before this job) and this lifestyle was not the best fit for me long-term. The first year I was periodically pulling 24 hour days, running on adrenaline, in order to see as much as I possibly could. The second year I slowed down substantially and tried to organize as much of a "normal" schedule as I could in order to help my sleep cycle/health, but realized how difficult it was with time changes and/or short layovers. Even when trying to find "easy" trips with short duty days and plenty of rest time, it was taking me at least 3 days to recover when I'd get home. It seemed as if all of my off days were taken up by trying to get as much rest as I could and I just couldn't catch up. I started to consistently feel like a zombie and the beauty of travel completely lost its glamour for me.
