Random flight attendant questions
 

Honestly, just curious about these things
1. Do flight attendants on domestic and international flights pick positions on the aircraft based on seniority?
2. Is there a purser even on domestic flights? Does that person always work in F?
3. Can people coming straight out of training work in F?

1)It's up to the purser or lead FA what each member does.
2)In general domestic flights just have a lead FA. However on domestic widebody aircraft they usually are still have a purser.
3)Of course. It's a matter of who the lead FA assigns to First. Although in general I think it's one of the more seasoned FAs.

Some of these must be unique to DL. I know on UA & AA flight attendants bid for both specific flights (via a line) and work positions on that flight (and I thought DL did too).

Think you're confusing bidding for lead FA/purser with bidding for a cabin to work. DL/UA/AA bid for flight and lead FA/purser.

It would be scheduling nightmare otherwise. It would lead to FAs saying I'm not helping in the other cabin.

3) Pretty sure they can. Last year had a FA from 2015 graduation I or something class working D1 on a MSP-AMS flight telling me she was really new.
Other D1 aisle on that flight was also worked by a new FA (she was originally on stand-by)
Noticed that if there are FA's that are really new the pre-flight safety demonstrations are a live briefing performed by those flight attendants standing up in the aisles. Don't know what's up with that, the more senior mama's never seem to do those live briefings on TATL flights.

FAs bid for position. I have a junior FA friend who bids for FL and often gets it because senior FAs don't want it.

I don't know the specifics at all, but there are preset responsibilities for each FA position (FA-A, B, C, etc.) For example, FA B might be assigned to the aisle during boarding on 319/320s. Are there any FAs here to confirm or correct this? I only learned of this when I asked a FA why she wouldn't help with the bins and she said "that's the B line's job" or something like that.

I hava friend who's a SkyWest FA, and is almost always the most senior on the flight. She has told me that she chooses to NOT work F, because F pax are a PIA.

;) :eek: :)

If no PDB means a written complaint from a customer who says he'll never fly Delta again, I can see why that's true

Conversely, a new FA might get assigned to the F cabin on non-meal flights because there may be less stress dealing with the small cabin -- assuming the first-class passengers behave.

On a recent AMS-MSP flight, there was a male FA working J who had to only be 19 or 20.

I'd assume that international routes would always get more senior crews. Maybe he knows someone? I don't think I've ever seen someone that young working mainline anyway.

That is actually not true. There are certain positions and when you work which position does depend on seniority, at least on international flights.

Take a trans-oceanic 763ER flight with 8 FAs for example. There is the Purser (or often called the "A" line) and the Customer Service Coordinator (often called the "B" line). These are positions which FAs can bid on in their monthly bids (if they are Purser-qualified for example, they can bid on the "A" line). These are the only two positions that are fixed in the same cabin coming and going. Delta has a guideline/rule that the regular FAs (i.e., non-A and non-B) have to work one cabin one way, and work the other cabin on the return (so if you worked Delta One on the outbound, you are supposed to work Coach on the return). When you choose to work which cabin will depend on seniority - and all that is determined at report/sign-in time.

The language (LOD) speakers follow similar rules. Let's say on this 763ER, there are two speakers - each will work one cabin one way, and when they choose to do so (e.g, who works D1 outbound and Coach return) depends on their seniority. If there's only one speaker, then s/he is supposed to work in Coach both ways.

Sometimes they trade shifts. Sometimes they work for someone if they need off. Sometimes they fill in for vaca's, sick days, last minute call offs, misconnects, etc.

Depending on the base, international routes are easy to get for junior FAs. I think NYC is one base where junior FAs are getting international flights. The destination and layover duration influences who would bid for it. Minimum age is 21 btw

There are many junior FAs who get to work on international flights especially during the summer when senior FAs take vacations and there is a lot of additional seasonal international flying, particularly out of a junior base like NYC.

Preferences are all over the place...there are many senior FAs who like to work domestic only (easier, less to do), many who like long trips with long layovers, and others who like to do "turns" (i.e., same-day roundtrips either domestic or international).

ALL DL mainline FAs have "A" days, which are standby days when they are on call. Someone with seniority calls in sick, or misses the flight, the newbie can be called up.