Originally Posted by
telloh
At most airlines in the United States, crew is payed from the time the airplane "blocks out" until it "blocks in" -- i.e. from when the door is closed and brakes released until the brakes are set and the door is opened.
And, this sometimes leads to poor FA attitudes, especially around times of contact negotiations when the union reps are stirring up trouble. Sometimes you'll get attitude about pre-departure drinks, hanging up of coats, and the like, including a comment about "we're not even getting paid for this" since the door hasn't closed yet.
But the truth is that that's just a convenient way to measure time on the job, and the pre- and post-departure duties are taken into account when the hourly wage is set. Put another way, for those carriers that have a longer period of time that FA's are considered on the job, the hourly rate is less, all other things being equal.