Flight Attendants

Low Risk
Low High

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
6.9/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

37% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Assisting and caring for others

Very important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
Jobs that also use this strength

Working directly with the public

Very important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Psychology knowledge

Quite important
Why this matters
Understanding human behavior, motivation, and individual differences to assess needs, respond appropriately, and support behavior change or mental health.
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Show 1 more strength

Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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What users think

Based on 509 votes

37% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 37% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Flight Attendants will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Flight Attendants was $67,130 ($32 per hour).

The median annual wage for Flight Attendants was 35.6% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Flight Attendants' job openings is expected to rise 9.2% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 130,110 people employed as 'Flight Attendants' within the United States.

This represents around 0.08% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Flight Attendants'.

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What people are saying (30)

Leave a comment
z
08 Nov 2025 02:26
Flight Attendants go through a long training process to learn about safety, evacuations, CPR, medical procedures, and how to handle emergencies. It’s not a job that AI can just replace easily. AI might be able to help with small stuff in planes, but it can’t fully replace Flight Attendants. If I was a nervous passenger on a plane, I don’t think I would feel comforted by an emotionless robot compared to if an actual person was helping me calm down.
Kevin (No chance)
23 Aug 2025 15:31
Just imagine a metal robot in a tube during severe turbulence, helping injured passengers off a broken plane, resolving conflict, etc. One kick and it would be on its back out of commission
PY (No chance)
22 Aug 2025 08:28
Only few flight attendants on each flight, you can't reply on robot during sudden emergency
annie (No chance)
25 Oct 2024 03:04
because companies wont be willing to pay for that amount of robots and the maintenince that is needed on them, real people would be cheaper
trained as flight attendant
07 Mar 2025 23:01
For real people need to pay for hotels and meals, and sometimes flight attendants are transported as passengers if the flight is from another city. Their holidays can last two months to prevent overwork. People are always more expensive, need just the higher level of technology.
Anonymous (Highly likely)
23 Mar 2024 12:38
You automate the plane to give instructions during turbulence and emergencies. Ease passengers into by updating the seats, rows, and overhead panels with attendants still onboard. From a safety perspective what is 2 attendants per class going to do for 20+ people, nothing other than give instruction and help 1 or 2 women and children. After introducing passengers to those improvements kick it up a notch and introduce 1 robot attendant for every 1 human attendant. This robot would initially be programmed to serve drinks and snacks. You would order it prior to the flight and on your phone or TV during the flight. Now that you have safety and procedures programmed right in to the plane and passengers have interacted with it over the last 10 years with a few iterations to their programming over time and passengers have been able to be served by a robot, the in cabin experience can now be fully automated. You could even design the robots to be smaller in size to fit more than two attendants in the class. Ultimately decreasing burnout by human staff, boarding times, the time it takes to get to the customer, etc.
passionate FA
11 Apr 2025 04:34
This proves to me you have a very low understanding of what Flight Attendants actually do. Our main priority is not serving drinks and snacks, its safety. We are trained in water evacuation, fire evacuations, to preflight all our equipment, memorize the detail of every aircraft, ect. There is a greater risk/safety breach with AI being in these positions than a human. It is not simply “customer service”, it is problem solving and ensuring safety of all passengers. If anything would be replaced, potentially gate agents. But FAs and pilots are crucial.
D. H.
06 Jul 2025 13:52
More than tens of thousands would need to be spent per robot just to create and maintain it. The airplane would need more fuel and more space for your plan. You would need super advanced plus millions of dollars in technology for a first responder robot.
PK (No chance)
29 Jan 2024 02:41
FAA requires a crew member 1 for every 50. Flight attendant position is based on safety and security designated by FAA not customer service!!!
tony (Low)
02 Jun 2023 20:39
You're still going to need human intervention in an emergency. There are too many changes on a moments notice during flight to completely trust it to AI.
Philip (Uncertain)
12 May 2023 18:40
I think aspects of the job could be automated but parts of the job won't be
Sofie (Highly likely)
08 Aug 2022 18:37
Humans can decide quicker in an emergency situation, but robots can take a while.

Plus, robots can't do such things as CPR or use a first aid kit, for example. So, it's pretty risky.
h (Low)
31 Dec 2021 01:27
AI and robots could mess up emergencies and need a connection to stay "alive"
A flight attendant (Low)
06 Dec 2021 16:31
By federal law (FAA), there needs to be 1 flight attendant per 50 seats on a plane. The number can never decrease even with robots. Good luck getting those robots to handle medical emergencies or breaking up fights between ignorant passengers or helping all you ungrateful passengers evacuate during an emergency in 90 seconds or less with no ability of rational thought LOL
Collin Tredo (Low)
17 May 2021 17:00
This job requires a friendly human face, people will be less comfortable having to talk to and trust a robot/AI when they get on a plane.
A (No chance)
10 Apr 2021 10:07
Flight attendants use their knowledge to solve a situation given the surprise factor... it’s impossible to programme a robot that knows how to act in front of a surprise factor situation. And by the way flight attendants are there to save u not to make u happy. First priority is safety the If it’s possible the service time will come.
Spiros (No chance)
10 Apr 2021 01:55
Flight attendants are there for one specific reason: safety. For this, human presence is important
Erebus (Low)
24 Mar 2021 17:52
It involves emotional labour which only a human is capable of.
JP (Moderate)
02 Aug 2020 16:53
With the global pandemic focusing minds on the amount of human contact passengers have on flights, I could see cabin crew being reduced in number to improve safety, with a Purser and assistant at each end of the aircraft being supplemented by robots which would handle more of the non-emergency workload. Robots would reduce the expense of accommodating cabin crew at destinations and would be able to clean the cabin autonomously using UV lights to disinfect the cabin air and surfaces.
A flight attendant (No chance)
22 Jul 2020 08:27
Will absolutely not happen. What most do not realize is that flight attendants are on board for safety. It's just not something that can be replaced by robots.
Ebork (Highly likely)
03 Jan 2020 11:48
Flight attendants make or break flying. They'll be robots soon enough.
THM
27 Jun 2020 09:20
Flight attendants make your flying safe you ignorant.
Izme;-;
31 Mar 2021 08:21
I think that is wrong you see robots can also break easy, if there is a drunk passenger or causing harm robots can break with their wires. In medical procedures or any emergency humans would be faster than the robots having to mechanically bend down taking longer than humans.
JD (Highly likely)
20 Apr 2019 05:36
With the lousy customer service and the awfully attitudes these "air stewards(esses)" possess nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised that a machine will end up doing their job not only more quickly and efficiently, but for little to no cost of maintenance on said droids compared to paying salaries w/ benefits, retirement, etc & dealing with greedy unions, to people who don't do their job properly and are not even qualified to in the first place. Given the recent horrific experiences passengers had to endure from these "flight attendants", I see machines replacing these incompetent humans in the future. It'll save the airlines plenty of revenue and avoid lawsuits and having to pay these poorly trained service attendants for mediocre to dismal services provided. The only ones to blame would be the flight attendants themselves, because a machine did a better job than they ever would.
Karen
05 May 2019 06:17
When you have a heart attack on the plane who’s going to administer first aid to you? A robot? A flight attendant is there to save your ass not kiss it and their customer service is based on your attitude. It goes both ways
Ordinary Internet User
04 Sep 2019 13:28
They will hire some flight attendants for those situations. For example, Today : 10 human flight attendants Future: 1-3 human flight attendants, 7+ robot flight attendants. Capish? :P
Eternity
22 May 2020 04:27
With COVID, it would be ideal if airlines used robots instead. We'd rather not use flight attendant "services".
GG
09 May 2019 16:11
JD deserves the most awful flying experiences after the rudeness he showcased here.
MC
16 Jul 2023 10:31
JD I don't know what airline you have been flying on. I have been involved in the airline industry for over forty years, have traveled on numerous air carriers, and have never experienced what you have described in terms of lacking flight attendant professionalism, training, emergency, and medical preparedness.

I have witnessed a decline in the manners and decorum of the passengers traveling. Possibly, the added stress to passengers of airport safety procedures has taken a toll on their nerves. I remember when friends and family could accompany passengers to the gate. Now, the seats are packed in like sardines in a can.

Airline competition made the way for no-frills service and more passengers in smaller seats on airplanes. This has taken a toll on everyone's stress levels. Still, I see friendly FAs who are doing their best to accommodate everyone onboard and assuage those who are already frazzled by the time they take their seats.

A robot may make the dispersion of in-flight commodities easier but it can never take care of all of the emergencies that FAs are trained to handle, the medical emergencies, the duplicate and other seating problems, the myriad of human interactions that FA's handle, unaccompanied children, wheelchair passengers, interaction with cockpit and ground staff, etc., etc. the list goes on, not even considering a major emergency like a hijack incident.

You have vastly underestimated the uber-selective hiring, initial and ongoing training that FAs have. Did you know that they have to take FAA-mandated emergency testing yearly on every airplane which they are qualified to work and pass the test with a 90-100% grade. This includes physical testing in airplane simulators., first aide, resuscitation and cardio procedures etc.

If you see an FA behaving in the unprofessional manner you have described, you should write a letter to the airline about that employee.
Dolly
22 Dec 2024 16:31
Your ex a flight attendant?

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Job description

Monitor safety of the aircraft cabin. Provide services to airline passengers, explain safety information, serve food and beverages, and respond to emergency incidents.

O*NET-SOC code: 53-2031.00