A trip of a lifetime 3 - Are flight attendants overpaid?

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Stepside

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Edited By Stepside
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So after I woke up yesterday, my usual coffee, cigarette and newspaper in hand, I read that the Air Canada flight attendants are going on strike. Greeeat. Glad I'm not going to be making any international (or domestic for that matter) flights across the pond any time soon...ugh. Our itinerary was to take a red-eye flight from Ottawa to London direct (on Air Canada) on Sunday the 25th, landing in London Monday morning and hopping on a regional flight to Berlin to officially begin our journey. Now that that those perky stewardesses have decided to strike on Wednesday, that leaves us with a couple options.

  • We could take an Air Transat Flight from Toronto to London. While this sounds okay, it would add another $400 to our trip because as we live in Ottawa, we'd still have to get down to Toronto. On top of that (bullshit) we'd have to deal with Air Transat's rickety planes and the constant fear of dying. As well, the Air Transat flight arrives at Gatwick airport. Our connecting flight to Berlin leaves from Heathrow. $#$^@#$^@#^@
  • We could grab an Air Lingus flight from Newark, but that all poses the same issues as mentioned above.
  • We could wait until Wednesday (when the strike actually begins)

So we're going to wait until Wednesday I think. Our Minister of Labor is getting her sweet little candyass involved in the process so hopefully she'll be able to mediate the issue. Hopefully we didn't just screw ourselves.

So it begs the question. Are flight attendants already overpaid?

Turns out that Air Canada flights attendants receive...wait for it...$51,000/year in salary. On top of that, they get an estimated $27,000 in benefits. Now that's more than most teachers. It's more than a lot of rural cops in the US. Should we treat them like valued members of the workforce? Of course we should. But on the flip-side, some can make the argument that the position is just a over-dignified waitress job. Yes they have to go through extensive training, but in the end, most airlines have started showing the "security briefing" on the seatback TVs now and with the advent of air marshals and automated systems...

Do you really deserve $51,000 to serve me water and pre-made meals and blankets? I would argue that a greasy-spoon diner waitress/waiter works his or her ass off way more than someone serving drinks in a fuselage which in the end, is a controlled environment.

What do you guys think?

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#1  Edited By Stepside
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So after I woke up yesterday, my usual coffee, cigarette and newspaper in hand, I read that the Air Canada flight attendants are going on strike. Greeeat. Glad I'm not going to be making any international (or domestic for that matter) flights across the pond any time soon...ugh. Our itinerary was to take a red-eye flight from Ottawa to London direct (on Air Canada) on Sunday the 25th, landing in London Monday morning and hopping on a regional flight to Berlin to officially begin our journey. Now that that those perky stewardesses have decided to strike on Wednesday, that leaves us with a couple options.

  • We could take an Air Transat Flight from Toronto to London. While this sounds okay, it would add another $400 to our trip because as we live in Ottawa, we'd still have to get down to Toronto. On top of that (bullshit) we'd have to deal with Air Transat's rickety planes and the constant fear of dying. As well, the Air Transat flight arrives at Gatwick airport. Our connecting flight to Berlin leaves from Heathrow. $#$^@#$^@#^@
  • We could grab an Air Lingus flight from Newark, but that all poses the same issues as mentioned above.
  • We could wait until Wednesday (when the strike actually begins)

So we're going to wait until Wednesday I think. Our Minister of Labor is getting her sweet little candyass involved in the process so hopefully she'll be able to mediate the issue. Hopefully we didn't just screw ourselves.

So it begs the question. Are flight attendants already overpaid?

Turns out that Air Canada flights attendants receive...wait for it...$51,000/year in salary. On top of that, they get an estimated $27,000 in benefits. Now that's more than most teachers. It's more than a lot of rural cops in the US. Should we treat them like valued members of the workforce? Of course we should. But on the flip-side, some can make the argument that the position is just a over-dignified waitress job. Yes they have to go through extensive training, but in the end, most airlines have started showing the "security briefing" on the seatback TVs now and with the advent of air marshals and automated systems...

Do you really deserve $51,000 to serve me water and pre-made meals and blankets? I would argue that a greasy-spoon diner waitress/waiter works his or her ass off way more than someone serving drinks in a fuselage which in the end, is a controlled environment.

What do you guys think?

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#2  Edited By Stepside

Edit: They're going to ratify a deal...thank god..