I am a Seattle based flight attendant and a mom and absolutely love my jobs. I do not plan to leave my job as a flight attendant anytime soon.
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My schedule
I will explain how my schedule works first. So my schedule is not like any other job. I am able to manipulate it how I want it or close to how I want it every month. Every month, I bid for the following month's schedule. You can bid for certain trips, routes, days off, layovers, times you want to start and end, ext. There is an infinite about of things you can do with your bids. I like to just keep mine simple and just bid for east coast trips but mainly Orlando layovers. Doing this means I can layover at home(Orlando). So what I usually like to do is work for 2 weeks and then have 2 weeks off. This works out everything month, so far. Working for 2 weeks straight might seem like a long time to be away from family, but not for me.
When I work for those 2 weeks, I put as many Orlando layovers on my schedule as possible so that it doesn't feel like I am gone for long. My layovers are usually 24 hours. I can say that I am lucky with how my schedule works for me. I had my son while I was working as a flight attendant so I was able to build up some seniority to be able to work my schedule this way. Sometimes, I am able to take off more than 2 weeks. Honestly, this job is so much better than any other job I could work and the flexibility I have with my schedule is amazing. Don't get me wrong, I would love to be based where I will or live where I am based but it is what it is. We make it work and my son is happy. That's what matters.
Working while pregnant
Being a flight attendant and working while pregnant is just like any other job, to an extent. I can still do all the things I am supposed to do at work. I have no problems working in the air and doing what my job entails. The huge difference is that I can not work all the way until the baby is born. As many may know, doctors usually recommend that you do not fly after a certain week of pregnancy. Well, my job only allows us to fly up to 24 weeks and then we start maternity leave. Some might think this is a little too early and I thought the same. I felt perfectly fine and wanted to work more so that I can save up more money. Once on maternity leave, I LOVED it! It was truly the best thing ever. I could relax and not stress my body. I could go on walks and just spend time with family and friends. It was perfect to just have a little relaxation time before the baby arrived. I did get a lot of questions about sickness when flying. Here's the thing, I didn't get sick before I was pregnant. Yes, that first trimester, I did get sick. My advice is to just suck on any hard candy like a jolly rancher. It helped so much!
Maternity Leave
(Not sure how other airlines work, but this is my airline).
Best thing ever!!! So I pretty much start leave when I am 6 months pregnant. I get to relax before the baby comes. Once the baby is born, you go back when the baby is 4 months old. Now you have the option to do an extended leave for 8 more months. Which means you can be home from the time he was born to the time he turned 1. Of course, that is exactly what I did! This was something I was able to do because our finances were in a good place. My husband was still working and I was still getting paid. I had STD and I used my vacation/sick leave in order to stay on the insurance. My checks weren't too big once STD was done but it was still nice to get paid while enjoying every first with my son. Yes, I was a stay at home mom for the first year. Would I ever be a stay at home mom, yes! It was nice to just be there with him. Financially, it is just not realistic. I'll be able to do it again though with the next kid.Typical month
So each month is different as to when my 2 weeks will be put. It might be at the beginning of the month or at the end of the month. When my schedule comes out, I usually have to trade some of my trips for shorter trips or trips to the east coast (if my schedule didn't turn out the way I wanted). Once I have my schedule situated, I just work the trips I have. When I am not home, my husband watches our son and we also have family nearby that watch him when we both work. We have it easy with child care and that's what helps us out. I still explore during layovers (depending on where I am). Normally I stay in my room and workout/read/watch tv. I am pretty boring on layovers now. When I am home for 2 weeks, I spend time with my family. I play with my son and he loves having dance parties. I take him to see my family and just spend time with them and enjoy the outdoors. He is an easy-going kid. When I am not home, it can be hard sometimes. It is just hard to be away from him but I know that I will see him soon enough. I get plenty of pictures/videos from my husband and family.Overall, I love my job both as a mom and as a flight attendant. I have so much support from family and that just makes things so much easier to keep my flight attendant job.
Have an amazing day star shines!
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