Why Every Group of Friends Needs a Flight Attendant

They always say, “Every friend group needs a lawyer/doctor/mom!” And so on. But I’ve never heard them say, “Every friend group needs a flight attendant/pilot!”

And I think they’re wrong.

I read a great post by @sarasadventuresig about how current and former private jet flight attendants make for some of the best, if not the best, job candidates and she hit the nail on the head. Because this career requires such a wide range of skills, there’s not much that could scare us off, and certainly nothing that we wouldn’t give a shot at.

We Have Decision-Making Skills

The top 3 things conversations with your crew are…

1. What hotel do you want to stay in?
2. Where do you want to eat?
3. What time in the lobby?

And none of these are sufficiently answered with “whatever is fine,” and “I’ll do whatever you want to do.” Because we all know that’s not true and we are some of the most opinionated people out there. Sure, we can go with the flow of it a lot of the time because we don’t have a choice, but when we have a choice, we can make a decision.

If you’re friends with a flight attendant and you ask them what they want to eat for dinner, where they want to go, what they want to do tonight, they’ll have an answer for you, obscure as it may be at times – hint: the answer is ALWAYS Mediterranean food.

In flight, we have to be able to make a decision at the absolute drop of a hat in regard to safety, screwed-up catering, or guests’ needs. “I don’t know,” is quite literally never the answer.

We’ll make the decision whether it’s out of impatience, our control “issues” as some may say, and out of the ability not only to make said decision but continue to plan around them.

We Are Directionaly Capable (most days)

*disclaimer* this does NOT apply to me. I am considered by those near and dear as directionally challenged, and that’s putting it nicely. Upon receiving my driver’s license in September I was promptly gifted with a Garmin for Christmas roughly 90 days later. I’m the only person I know who can confuse the direction of a Google Map.

Some days it feels as though we were picked up by a crane with a blindfold and dropped right in the middle of a city or town with little to no knowledge of it whatsoever. Some find this intriguing, others terrifying. The ones who enjoy it are those who are said flight attendants. Maybe it’s something about the challenge or our natural instincts to wander and explore, but we always manage to find our way around.

However, despite my personal issues with navigation, I manage to find my way time and time again in countries without a sign of English. It’s like a superpower we’re born with that we don’t realize we have until we put on our superhero capes (our black dress and tights).

Need us to help navigate home from a night out? Done.

Looking for the best route out of or around traffic? We’re on it.

And even if you don’t ask us to do it, we’re going to go ahead and do it anyway as it’s second nature and tell you why our way is better than yours.

We Come Bearing Stories

At least, the ones we’re allowed to share. These stories don’t always make sense, or even seem like there’s a chance any of it is true, but they are.

Many of us sign NDAs and there’s an unspoken rule of what you can and cannot share, but what we can we will but we must be prompted. I’ll be the first one to admit, I love talking about my job because I do in fact love it, but I also know how it can be perceived by those who don’t work in aviation or understand. “Ugh we were going to stay at the Marriott Luxury Collection but we had to stay at the regular full-service Marriott and the towels were so uncomfortable.” And “Yeah, we only were able to stay in Nice for 5 days this time but it’s fine because we’ll be back in a few weeks.” Or “Yeah I prefer the breakfast buffet at the JW Cabo far more than the Marriott in Monterey.” Those are RIDICULOUS statements but if you get in a group of pilots and flight attendants, these are common gripes and conversation topics. It’s not to say that we’re picky or pretentious, but these are the stories and topics that come up and we THINK are normal.

I get caught between, yes I can talk about this until I’m blue in the face, but also not wanting to sound pretentious because it’s easy to get desensitized and thinking that the things we get to do and see are the norm, because they aren’t and we are fortunate.

So when you want a good story, we’re your people, but if we can’t or won’t share, see above. Like the time I walked 3 miles home to the hotel through strawberry fields with bleeding ankles from my new Vans. Or the time I ended up on a yacht. Or the kid who got playdoh in the carpet on the jet. Or how I walked for 4 hours for bagels in Budapest.

You’ll Eat Well With Us

Now, this conversation comes up at least 3 times a day on layovers, and 68% of the time the flight attendant is making the final decision. “Can pick good to excellent restaurants in any given city using only Google Reviews and a map” should be added to our resumes.

These fall into 2 categories – our favorites from cities we spend entirely too much time in so we eat like locals, or restaurants we went to the single time we went to that city. Both categories are filled with winners and because they have a flight attendant’s opinion, they extend beyond the Longhorn or Cracker Barrel in the hotel parking lot.

We know tacos, we know Thai. We know about pasta and pizza and will pair it with your new favorite happy hour spot. And we REALLY know about Mexican food and margaritas. We know boujee and dives, Michelin and takeout.

Because we thrive on decision-making, this is one decision best left to flight attendants if possible. And if you let us, we’ll just go ahead and order for the table and you can thank us later.

You Won’t Get Sick of Us

Because we aren’t as available as we would sometimes like to be and are committed to making every second count with our family and friends. We are present.

It doesn’t matter if you ask us if we’re around in 2 days, 2 months, or 2 years from now, our answer will be the same “Maybe?”. It’s not because we don’t want to commit to spending time with you, but PTO in private aviation is not the same as PTO in other jobs, and the rate at which circumstances and trips change, we can hardly keep up.

Our presence can feel fleeting but when we spend our time with loved ones, we are PRESENT. Phones down (unless it’s work), fully engaged, and eager to catch up. And if by catching up you mean pitchers of Aperol on the patio, or facemasks and Sex and the City in the hotel robes we accidentally packed away…or anything in between.

We Know About Travel and destinations

While we may not be able to give you the “10 Most Instagramable Spots in Milan,” we can tell you about the things that matter, like where to eat, drink, find a decent coffee, best walking routes, and where to sleep.

We will give advice on how to book your flights (and also how not to), which hotels are worth it, and fill up your lists and agendas with “things to do” faster than Instagram can alter your entire algorithm to “dogs eating foods in hats” videos.

Where is worth the hype and what isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We’ll tell you that the chimney cakes in Budapest are better than the ones in Prague and which dinner restaurants to splurge on because *vibes*.

And happily do so. We would love to sneak all of our favorite people into our suitcases and take them everywhere but that’s not possible, despite the size of some of our suitcases. But since we can’t, this is the next best thing to be able to share with you all of the things we love and where you can find them.

The more I write, the more I realize that there IS a type of person who’s a flight attendant..it’s called “A”. However, there certainly is a place for at least 1 or 10 of us in our group of friends (4 physically at the same time, max).

Call your fellow flight attendant friend and tell them you love them (and apologize if you’ve called them and it’s 3am wherever they’re at) and if you don’t have a flight attendant friend, go ahead and become that one. What? Like it’s hard?