The Best Airlines for Flight Attendants in 2026, Ranked by Their Pay Scales

Delta Air Lines is the best airline for flight attendants in 2026, but only by a hair. Its pay scale runs from $38.40 to $86.32 an hour, and it paid 8.9% of eligible earnings in profit sharing for 2025, roughly double United’s share and many times American’s.

This list ranks 12 US airlines on the pay scales in force in October 2026: the year-1 rate, the top of scale, boarding pay, 2025 profit sharing and whether training is paid. Every figure comes from a union contract, an airline careers page or an SEC filing, and the few that do not are labeled.

The big surprise is how close the top three now sit. United’s new contract, ratified in May 2026, pulled its scale level with Delta and American, so the choice comes down to profit sharing, training and bases rather than the hourly rate.

Rank	Airline	Year-1 pay	Top of scale	Boarding pay	Hiring, Oct. 2026
1	Delta Air Lines	$38.40/hr (reported)	$86.32/hr (reported)	Yes, since 2022	Open, 2027 classes
2	United Airlines	$38.21/hr	$87.47/hr, rising to $100.13 by 2030	Yes, since Aug. 2026	Rolling windows
3	American Airlines	$37.91/hr	$87.04/hr	Yes, since 2024	Open, 2027 classes
4	Southwest Airlines	$32.62/trip (about $37.97/hr)	$82.14/trip (about $95.61/hr)	No	No open window
5	Alaska Airlines	$32.96/TFP (about $29.17/hr)	$76.48/TFP (about $67.68/hr)	Yes, since 2025	Windows only
6	Hawaiian Airlines	$28.96/hr	Not published	No	Windows only
7	SkyWest Airlines	$30.32/hr	Not published	Yes, since 2023	Posted by location
8	Envoy Air	$29.73/hr	Not published	None listed	Open, $2,000 bonus
9	Republic Airways	Above $27/hr	Not published	Yes, since Jan. 2026	No posting seen
10	Endeavor Air	$26.23/hr	Not published	None listed	Open
11	Avelo Airlines	$28/hr	Not published	None listed	Open, 4 bases
12	JetBlue	$26.03/hr (reported)	$63.68/hr (reported)	None verified	On hold

1. Delta Air Lines

Delta wins on the one number nobody else matches: profit sharing. It paid employees $1.3 billion on February 13, 2026, or 8.9% of eligible annual earnings for 2025, which Delta says was “more than four weeks of extra pay on average.”

Delta does not publish its flight attendant scale. The Cabin Crew Forum reports a June 2026 scale running from $38.40 at the start to $86.32 after 12 years, following a 4% raise effective June 1, the fifth raise in five years.

Delta was also the first major US airline to pay for boarding, at 50% of the hourly rate, from June 2, 2022.

Its nearly 30,000 flight attendants fly from 20 bases, the most of any mainline airline here, which matters because a new hire usually starts on reserve at whatever base has the openings. Training is seven weeks in Atlanta. Delta posted application windows on June 1 and September 2, 2026, both for 2027 classes, and the minimum age is 21.

2. United Airlines

United’s flight attendants waited six years for a raise and got a big one. On May 12, 2026, they ratified a five-year contract with 82% voting yes, bringing a 31% average wage increase, boarding pay and $741 million in retroactive pay.

Since July 30, 2026, the union’s pay table runs from $38.21 an hour in year 1 to $87.47 in year 13. The top rate climbs every July 30 and reaches $100.13 in 2030, the highest scheduled rate on this list.

Boarding pay, new from the August 2026 bid month, is 50% of the hourly rate for each actual boarding, worth about 7.4% more pay on average by the union’s estimate.

The weak spot is profit sharing, about 4.5% of wages for 2025 according to Paddle Your Own Kanoo, roughly half of Delta’s. Training is six and a half weeks in Houston. It is not paid by the hour, but trainees get two meals a day, a $140 weekly stipend and a $1,000 bonus on graduation.

3. American Airlines

American’s scale is almost identical to United’s: $37.91 an hour in year 1 and $87.04 from year 13, after a 3% raise on October 1, 2026. The contract, ratified by 87% in September 2024, made American’s union, APFA, the first unionized flight attendant group to lock boarding pay into a contract.

American is also the most transparent airline on this list. Its own FAQ states the 75-hour monthly reserve guarantee, per diem of $2.95 an hour domestic and $3.50 international, and an estimated first-year salary of $34,119 before boarding pay and per diem. The 10 bases include Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami and New York LaGuardia.

Two things keep it at No. 3. The seven-week training in Fort Worth is unpaid, though hotel, transport and three meals a day are covered. And profit sharing for 2025 came to about 0.3% of pay, a $55 million pool across the whole company.

For how those hourly rates turn into a paycheck, and why the clock only starts at the cabin door, see our breakdown of how much flight attendants make.

4. Southwest Airlines

Southwest has the highest pay ceiling on this list once you convert its unusual pay unit. Flight attendants are paid per trip, defined in the contract as a 243-mile segment, with longer or slower flights earning extra tenths of a trip.

The 2026 scale runs from $32.62 a trip for new hires to $82.14 at the top step. Using the 1.164 trip-to-block-hour factor the union and company agreed for 2024, that is about $37.97 to $95.61 per block hour. Southwest also schedules reserves for at least 78 trips a month and pays per diem of $3.04 an hour domestic.

The catch is that Southwest flight attendants chose higher trip rates instead of boarding pay, so boarding is unpaid, and from August 1, 2026, report time moved five minutes earlier. Training is four weeks and unpaid, with a $1,200 stipend at graduation. No outside hiring window was open in October 2026.

5. Alaska Airlines

Alaska has the most valuable boarding pay of any mainline airline, according to its union: half a trip-for-pay unit per departure, which adds 9.6% to pay on average.

Like Southwest, Alaska pays per trip-for-pay (TFP), a 243-mile unit equal to about 1.13 hours of flying. The rate rose 3% on March 2, 2026, to $32.96 per TFP in year 1 and $76.48 at the top, or roughly $29.17 to $67.68 an hour. Alaska’s careers page still shows the 2025 rate of $32.00.

Profit sharing for 2025 was “nearly three weeks of additional pay,” per the company. The trade-offs are six bases, all on the West Coast and in Alaska, and six weeks of unpaid training in Seattle with a $40 per diem. Hiring happens only in posted windows.

6. Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian now flies on Alaska’s operating certificate, but its 2,507 flight attendants keep their own contract, an extension ratified in April 2025 and amendable in February 2028. That contract pays by the flight hour and, unlike Alaska’s, has no boarding pay: management refused to negotiate it until the joint contract talks.

Hawaiian’s careers page lists pay starting at $28.96 an hour, a figure that looks like the April 2025 rate. The upside is the Alaska Air Group profit-sharing plan, which Hawaiian crews joined for 2025, and three bases in Honolulu, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Training is the longest here: eight weeks in Honolulu, unpaid, with a $40 per diem. The joint Alaska and Hawaiian contract is still being negotiated, with the next session set for October 26 to 28, 2026.

7. SkyWest Airlines

SkyWest is the best regional airline for flight attendants. It starts at $30.32 per flight hour with a 76-hour monthly reserve guarantee, the highest year-1 rate of any regional on this list, and in 2023 it became the second major US airline after Delta to pay for boarding.

Its 4,831 flight attendants work from 21 domiciles, including Chicago, Denver, Detroit and Salt Lake City, so there is a base near most job-seekers. Per diem is $2.25 an hour away from base. SkyWest has no national union, and its top of scale is not published.

8. Envoy Air

Envoy, a wholly owned American Eagle carrier, raised its entry pay to $29.73 an hour and was actively recruiting in October 2026. New hires get a $2,000 bonus, $1,000 during training and $1,000 at graduation for committing to a year.

The best perk is travel: Envoy staff get the same space-available privileges as American employees, including for parents. Against that, ground school in Irving, Texas, is unpaid, the four domiciles are Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami and Phoenix, and relocation is at your own expense.

9. Republic Airways

Republic merged with Mesa in late 2025, and the combined group of nearly 3,000 flight attendants ratified a joint contract by 91% in January 2026. Its headline gain was boarding pay, which the union says raises pay by up to 16% on average.

Pay starts “above $27” an hour with a 75-hour guarantee and 11 days off a month. Training is the shortest of the 12 and one of the most generous: 19 days, paid, with per diem, hotel and travel covered. Its careers page says it is “hiring all positions,” but no flight attendant posting was listed on October 18, 2026.

10. Endeavor Air

Endeavor is Delta’s wholly owned regional, and its main draw is the route to Delta: free or reduced-rate travel on Delta and more than 80 other airlines. Pay is lower, at $26.23 per credit hour from April 1, 2026, and Endeavor puts average first-year earnings at $28,000.

Training is four weeks, two in Minneapolis and two online, and pays $1,500. The six bases are Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, New York (LaGuardia and JFK), Minneapolis and Raleigh-Durham. The union contract runs to March 31, 2027.

11. Avelo Airlines

Avelo is the pick for anyone who wants to sleep at home. Its October 2026 job postings promise “local day trips with no overnights,” pay of $28 an hour in year 1, a 75-hour monthly guarantee and $2.25 an hour per diem on duty.

It ranks low because the job is less secure than the pay suggests. Avelo flight attendants voted to unionize in 2022 but still have no first contract, the top of scale is unpublished, and the airline closed three bases in January 2026. New hires relocate to their base at their own expense.

12. JetBlue

JetBlue rounds out the list because its pay is low for a mainline airline and it is not hiring. The Cabin Crew Forum reports a 2026 scale starting at $26.03 an hour on the premium scale new hires sit on for six months, with a top rate of $63.68.

JetBlue told Reuters in June 2026 that hiring was “temporarily on hold,” and it lost $602 million in 2025, so profit sharing is unlikely. The union contract becomes amendable on December 13, 2026, which makes JetBlue the one to watch: a new deal could move it up this list quickly.

What about international airlines?

Emirates is the one big foreign airline that recruits Americans in person, with open days in New York on October 27, Miami on October 29 and Dallas on November 14. It states an average monthly pay of AED 11,244, which it converts to $3,061, plus free furnished shared housing, transport to work and 30 days of leave.

That is about $36,700 a year, a little above American’s estimate for a first-year flight attendant before boarding pay, so the real draw is housing and travel rather than the salary.

Singapore Airlines pays about SGD 4,000 to 5,000 a month but interviews only in Asia, and Cathay Pacific, Skytrax’s best cabin crew of 2026, requires the right to work in Hong Kong.

How to choose between the top airlines

Seniority decides almost everything in this job, from your base to your schedule, and it does not transfer between airlines. A flight attendant who switches carriers starts again on reserve at the bottom of the new scale, so the first mainline job is usually the one you keep.

That makes bases and profit sharing more important than a dollar of difference in the hourly rate. If you live near one of Delta’s 20 bases, Delta is the safest bet. If you want the highest ceiling and can wait for a window, Southwest pays the most at the top.

If you want a job now, the regionals with open postings, such as Envoy, Endeavor and Avelo, are the fastest way in.

Before you apply anywhere, it is worth reading our honest look at whether becoming a flight attendant is worth it. For airlines ranked by their own employees across every job, not just the cabin, see the best airlines to work for.

FAQ

Which airline pays flight attendants the most?

At the top of the scale, Southwest pays the most: $82.14 per trip in 2026, or about $95.61 per block hour using the union’s conversion factor. Among airlines that pay by the hour, United’s top rate of $87.47 is the highest today and rises to $100.13 by 2030. For new hires, Delta, United and American all start between $37.91 and $38.40 an hour.

What is the best airline to work for as a flight attendant?

Delta Air Lines is the best overall in 2026. Its pay scale is level with United and American, but it paid 8.9% of eligible earnings in profit sharing for 2025, has 20 bases, and pioneered boarding pay in 2022. United is a close second after its May 2026 contract.

What is the hardest airline to get hired at as a flight attendant?

Delta is usually the hardest. In 2016, about 150,000 people applied for around 1,200 Delta flight attendant jobs, and Delta still warns of a high volume of applications in every posting window. Southwest is also hard to get into because it opens outside hiring only occasionally, and it had no window open in October 2026.

What is the easiest airline to get hired at as a flight attendant?

Regional airlines that are actively recruiting are the easiest way in. In October 2026, Envoy was offering a $2,000 bonus to new flight attendants, Endeavor had applications open with $1,500 training pay, and Avelo had postings at four bases. Pay is lower than at the major airlines, so many flight attendants treat a regional as a first step.

Do flight attendants get paid for boarding?

At most big US airlines they now do, usually at 50% of the hourly rate. Delta started it in 2022, SkyWest followed in 2023, American in 2024, Alaska in 2025, and United and Republic in 2026. Southwest, Hawaiian and Frontier flight attendants still do not get boarding pay.

Is flight attendant training paid?

It depends on the airline. American, Alaska, Hawaiian, Southwest and Envoy do not pay an hourly wage during training, though most cover hotel and meals and Southwest pays a $1,200 stipend at graduation. United pays a $140 weekly stipend and a $1,000 graduation bonus, Endeavor pays $1,500, and Republic’s 19-day training is paid.

How much do flight attendants make a year?

The median annual wage for flight attendants was $63,580 in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $35,110 and the highest 10 percent more than $136,430. First-year pay is far lower: American estimates $34,119 for a new hire on the 75-hour reserve guarantee, before boarding pay and per diem.

What is the best international airline for flight attendants?

For Americans, Emirates is the most practical choice because it recruits in US cities and provides free shared housing in Dubai. It states an average monthly pay of AED 11,244, about $3,061. Cathay Pacific won Skytrax’s best cabin crew award for 2026, but it requires the right to work in Hong Kong.