Flight Attendants’ Nightmare: Shocking Truth Behind Standby Shifts

Airline cabin crew play a vital role in ensuring a safe and comfortable flight experience for passengers. Their responsibilities are twofold: managing passenger safety on board and providing attentive in-flight service. Their daily schedule can vary depending on the flight type, keeping their work dynamic and exciting.

Crew flight schedules can include flights, turn flights, and standby, among others. A layover flight is a schedule where the crew stays at the destination before returning. A turn flight is a round trip completed in a day. A double sector is a schedule where a turn flight is assigned twice a day, which can be physically demanding and challenging. Standby is when the crew is on hold to step in when an unexpected situation leads to crew shortage. Standby schedules occur about 1-2 days a month.

A national petition recently surfaced, raising concerns about airline crew standby schedules. One crew member described the disruptive nature of these schedules, revealing that their time (9 days) was riddled with standby assignments, making it nearly impossible to plan personal events. “The possibility of work calls constantly overshadows important moments like family gatherings and school meetings,” they shared in the petition. This frustration stems from flight schedules that seem to prioritize immediate needs over long-term workforce well-being. The crew member highlighted a key reason behind standby schedules: insufficient workforce.

According to aviation safety regulations, a flight cannot be operated if the required number of crew members is not on board. Airlines are required to assign one crew member for every 50 passengers. If even one crew member does not board, it violates safety standards, which is why standby crew members are needed. This is why airlines give standby schedules to their crew members.

The standby schedule of the crew is referred to as “RF (Ready for Flight)” or “standby.” Standby schedules are divided into those at the airport and those at home. When on standby at the airport, the crew must wait in the airport lounge, fully dressed in their uniform and ready to be deployed on a flight at any time during a set duration.

During this time, the crew must pack for all possible situations since they don’t know which flight they will be assigned to. This could include packing both summer and winter clothes. It is the least preferred flight schedule among crew members.

Similarly to airport standby, home standby requires the crew to be fully dressed and on standby at home for a set duration. They must report to work immediately if they are assigned to a flight.

Asiana Airlines mostly requires crew members to report to the headquarters for standby, which is included in their working hours. However, Korean Air’s RF schedule involves standby at home, so if they are not assigned a flight, it is considered a day off. Crew members must wait for a call during the set hours. If they are assigned a long-haul flight that lasts 2-3 days, they have to cancel all their plans. This often leads to personal schedules being canceled and is a major source of dissatisfaction among crew members.

Air Busan’s official YouTube channel released a video titled “What Does a Standby Crew Member Do at an Airline?” In the video, a crew member arrives at work at 6 AM. After arriving, they head to a private sleeping room for standby crew members. Since they don’t know when they’ll be called, they sleep in their uniform, with their hair and makeup done.

Breakfast is served an hour and a half later, but the looming uncertainty of their flight assignments casts a shadow even over their meal. In the past, they’ve received schedules as late as 10 AM.

Standby crew members have a set of tasks to complete while they wait for flight assignments. Once they’ve finished these duties, they can use their time until around 1:30 PM. The crew member explains that flight assignments are uncommon at this specific time. If they don’t get called for a flight, they can typically head home after their standby shift ends. It’s essentially like showing up to work in uniform, ready to fly, but potentially going home in the same clothes if there are no assignments.

Each airline is different, but often if the crew is on standby at the airport and not assigned a flight, only transportation expenses are provided. Some airlines pay for the time spent on standby. Air Busan includes standby duty in the basic pay, but there is no separate flight allowance. The flight allowance is paid for the time allocated if assigned to a flight.