At the risk of starting a flame war, I have been trying to work out the true economic value of a Flight Attendant position. There are obviously many different ways to look at this question and it is easy to come up with arguements that almost any job is overpaid and equally easy to claim it is underpaid.

So I will admit I don't really know what the job requirements are for an FA position nor do I know how much speciallized training is required. But from the surface I can come up with two different professions that can be compared with an FA on opposite ends of the spectrum - Waitress and Firefighter.

The comparison with a waitress is easy to make and addresses the most visible part of a FA's duties. But as we all know there is much more to an FA job than that.

The comparison with a firefighter is somewhat more interesting as a firefighter job is much more physically demanding and involves a much higher element of danger. But both have a primary responsibility of protecting public safety and both are "1st responders" (albeit for specialized circumstances for an FA) requiring specialized training and very long work shifts away from home separated by significant blocks of time off.

BTW, according to salary.com, the median wage for a firefighter is $37,737 and for a cocktail waitress, $13,925.

Any other interesting comparisons?

-Bruce