Jeff767

This is somewhat true. A days are assigned to the junior portion of the seniority list at each base. Usually the bottom third of the list will have a block of A days. It can be a 3 or 6 day block. If you see a very junior flight attendant on a decent international flight more then likely she was called in from A days to cover a no show or sickout. A days function like reserve at other airlines. International flights are additionally staffed with one or two extra flight attendants based on load. A last minute increase in load can have a reserve added to the flight. If the high load is known in advance they will post the load positions a few days prior and they are picked up by seniority.

ATLMike1234

It's my understanding that the type of aircraft does not determine whether there is a Flight Leader or a Purser. A domestic A330 still has a Flight Leader, and an international A319 still has a Purser. Anyone have any input on this?

355F1

Can't remember what these days are called but my dad flew for Alaska for like 30 years and has days where he had be on Reserve, meaning he couldn't leave the house in case they needed a pilot for a fill-in. He typically had a couple days per month--this was before cell phones.

Ryno1234

OK, kind of along this thread: are FAs allowed to choose their own outfits from a few Delta approved ones? On my flight last night, there were three uniforms: a navy skirt/onezy type thing, a red skirt/onezyy type thing and navy slacks with a white shirt and navy vest. All female. Is it just personal preference?

langbr01

I believe this to be the case. Many senior flight attendants prefer not to work first and typically have that option.

HelloItsMe

I once saw a move called Naughty Stewardesses.
Was that a documentary?

jeet

Yes. they can pick any of the approved uniforms.

In my personal experience - based on couple hundred flights (domestic only) in last few years this is more out of laziness. F passengers being PIA is a lazy excuse and I am not surprised that only senior FAs have this excuse.
F is lot more work on mainline. 16-20 F seats, all drinks and food is served from galley so quite a bit of walking and then when food service is done in F they are expected to help out in main cabin as well.
Typically I see a senior and young FA in first with young one doing all the grunt work and then helping with main cabin service as well.

FWIW in all my flights I have seen not seen any F passenger who fits the description of PIA.
May be I live in the nicer part of country

777Pax

AA bids for the flight (actually line of flight -- i.e. whole month calendar of trips) AND work position during the monthly bid process. They can trade any given trip with other F/As either on the same trip or a different trip.

However, the position they assume during the trade is the position they work for the entirety of the trip. There are a few exceptions like when trips get split due to OSO that they may be assigned to work a different position on some legs but this is the exception, not the norm.

The Purser/Lead on widebody aircraft does have the discretion to reassign duties based on operational requirements.

stevneil

I'm not surprised. I was on a UA 777 EWR-DEL flight up front with a very senior flight crew. Prior to the safety video, the crew had to reset the entire AVOD system, which forced them to do a manual safety demo. They could barely do it. They're not used to it. Those fresh out of training are surely much better equipped to do it.

Widgets

This is true for all frontline airport and in-flight service staff. There are basic rules about what to wear depending on what's chosen. For example, all Sky Club staff must wear blazers. Men must wear ties with white shirts. Pocket squares must be worn with a vest or blazer.

The current uniform pieces for male FAs are: red turtleneck, navy turtleneck, navy vest, single-breasted blazer, double-breasted blazer, short sleeved white shirt, long sleeved white shirt, navy crewneck sweater, flat front pants, and pleated pants. Some pieces can't be worn together, and some pieces must be worn together.

djjaguar64

I think it does not matter for N. American airlines who works in the F o J cabins as they are not service oriented anyways. But it does matter for Asian airlines especially SQ & CX.

TrojanTraveler

This helps me understand a recent AMS-JFK D1 flight. The D1 FAs insisted that they don't serve champagne in D1, there was no snacks with drinks prior to mean service, ice cream should be served when people are still eating their entree, etc. Many people in the cabin were a bit pissed off'd, with one pax actually saying "can't you see I'm still eating my entree"? The only one who had a clue appeared to be an on board leader who spent much of the flight running around.

While I understand that DL can have these junior FAs, I found the ignorance on D1 service astounding (and given the prices DL charges, unacceptable)...it's not like DL has recently changed how they do D1 service.

jrl767

another great typo

TrojanTraveler

I swear it wasn't some sort of freudian slip

They were actually pleasant, just amazingly clueless. Someone pointed out that champagne was listed in the D1 menu, showed it to an FA, and was told by the FA "oh, that's only when leaving the US".