Flight attendants save lives. Stop asking them to work for free.

The recent aviation disaster in Japan has once again highlighted the incredible efficiency and teamwork of an airline crew tasked with an emergency situation.

The sequence of events for Japan Airlines 516 must have been terrifying for the nearly 400 passengers aboard. A routine landing, followed by a violent thump as the Airbus A350 struck another airplane on the runway, causing an explosion and fire to ignite the still-speeding aircraft. 

At the time of impact, JAL 516 may have reduced its landing speed of 160 miles an hour, but not by much. Video taken from inside the plane reveals an aircraft at considerable speed trying to stop as quickly as possible with a fire that was increasing by the moment. 

Airline training was in play during all of this, as the lead flight attendant communicated with the other nine flight attendants on the next steps to be taken, as well as relaying any limited information that might have been provided by the flight deck as the aircraft began to slow in speed. 

Flight attendants were also shouting commands to the passengers on the next step in the evacuation process as the plane was still moving. Flight crews are trained to relay specific evacuation orders while also projecting a sense of calm to keep passengers from a state of panic. Once the aircraft was stopped and the emergency exits were opened, the chutes deployed and a rapid process ensued to get everyone off the burning plane — and without any passengers stopping to grab their large hand-carry luggage (a bad trend of late).

In other words, these “Emergency Evacuation Specialists” did their job. This is just the latest heroic action by a flight crew, and one that reminded me of the 2005 Air France 358 accident, which was unable to stop on a rain-soaked runway. The plane went off the runway, broke into pieces and immediately caught fire. The flight crew helped remove 297 passengers in less than two minutes — right before the airplane exploded. 

It takes a gate agent 40 minutes to board an aircraft, yet these amazing flight attendants can get everyone off in less than 100 seconds, even with several of the exits blocked and in limited visibility.

As I travel and see my fellow passengers snap their fingers demanding their next drink, I want to take their iPad and smack them up-side the head. These highly trained airline professionals have one job when we fly and that is not to bring us drinks, but to save our tails in the event of an emergency. I would like to say the disrespect is limited to passengers, but airline management provides an even bigger slap across the face to these men and women.

Amazingly, many of these flight attendants are not paid during times when they are keeping us safe. They are literally working for free to protect us.

Most airlines only pay flight attendants once the plane door is closed and continues until the door is opened at the arrival airport. The time it takes passengers to board and to deplane is an unpaid period for many flight attendants, even though they are positioned at their emergency exits in the event of an emergency evacuation.

In 2022, United Airlines Flight 1658 had arrived at a gate in Denver when a fire broke out and flight attendants were required to evacuate some of the passengers out the rear emergency exits. There was no loss of life, but with many airlines the work of the trained flight crew, as they protected their passengers, would have been off-the-clock.

A few airlines have addressed this by offering partial hourly pay to flight attendants during the boarding and deplaning process. Partial pay? Isn’t it as important to keep us safe when the door is closed as when the door is open? This pathetic attempt by airline management to address the situation falls well short.

The final insult to the story is that the average entry pay for flight attendants is $30,000 to $40,000. Some American Airline flight attendants are paid so little they actually qualify for food stamps in Massachusetts.

With all of the government focus on holding airlines accountable, how can we allow this injustice to continue? These men and women are tasked with saving lives — and yet many of them will work 30 to 40 hours a month for free while positioned at their safety post during a flight operation.

Since the crash of Continental 3407 in Buffalo in February of 2009, the industry has made great strides in increasing aviation safety, pilot pay, crew rest periods and crew-member training, but flight attendants have been ignored along the way. It is time to recognize these important airline employees for the critical job they do — and to stop asking them to work for free. 

Jay Ratliff spent over 20 years in management with Northwest/Republic Airlines, including as aviation general manager. He is an iHeart aviation analyst.