If you are still living under the illusion that being a flight attendant is glamorous, then just take a look at these pictures, because this is the reality for many crew members, especially during their first few years in the job.
A uniquely US concept where new-hire flight attendants are paid so little that the idea of affording a hotel room between flights is so unrealistic that they resort to what is known as the ‘crash pad.’
A crash pad is an apartment or house that has been converted to sleep as many flight attendants as possible. Bunk beds are stacked high, privacy is in short supply, and the sanitary conditions are sometimes questionable.
Crash pads were created to solve a very real problem: Most airline bases are in cities where the cost of living are so, buying or renting a home is out of reach of many flight attendants.
Instead, they live somewhere much cheaper and ‘commute’ hundreds or sometimes thousands of miles to the airport they are based out of, using ‘non-rev’ flying privileges.
But in between flying assignments, there’s not always enough time to travel home. And with hotel rooms so outrageously priced, flight attendants resort to securing spots in privately run crash pads… sometimes paying up to $600 a month for access to their own bunk bed.
Alexis, who is a flight attendant at one of the three big US carriers, shared images of her crash pad on TikTok, explaining: “The way I would try to work as much as I could so I didn’t have to sleep here.”
This isn’t the first time that crash pads have been talked about. Back in 2022, Boston’s Inspectional Services Department raided an illegal flight attendant crash pad in the East of the city.
The crash pad was actually a garage, but it had been converted to house as many as 20 flight attendants in bunk beds spread across two bedrooms. It was shut down because not only had the space been converted without permission, but it was also missing a fire escape and smoke detectors.
It’s believed that the crash pad had been in use for around eight years before a flight attendant filed a complaint and inspectors moved in to take action.
Replying to the photos of the crash pad used by Alexis, several commentators asked whether they were looking at photos of a prison.
While another summed up the whole situation pretty succinctly: “Oh my god… What is that?”
Pilots now get extremely well paid but U.S. airlines – and BA – still scoff at the concept of paying a living wage to FA’s.