It's very sad that people on here are trying to say that if we don't earn enough, go elsewhere, or live where we can afford to. When I joined the company I COULD afford to live on my salary, but inflation has gone up every year as has the cost of living and my salary has not. When other professions threaten strike action over terms and conditions, their managers don't say, "if the salary we can afford to pay you doesn't support your lifestyle, then go elsewhere!', it's outragious! They sit around the negotiating table and try to sort something out because most companies value their staff and don't want to loose them! Furthermore most people get a salary rise EVERY year, we DO NOT. We have not only missed a raise on the odd year here or there, we lost out every single time the airline had a tough year due to terrorism, fuel surcharges, expansion of the route network and number of aircraft, each time we heard how tough things had been and thanks for our hard work, but the company couldn't offer us a pay increase at this time!
And this rubbish about us having such a glamorous job that we shouldn't complain about terms and conditions is ridiculous! There are many people in the world that have wonderful jobs which include amazing benefits including travel, company cars etc etc, should it be said that they too should work for peanuts because their jobs are so glamorous or they get good benefits? Yes we get to go to wonderful places, but we work for a living to earn money. After years of travelling, one hotel bedroom looks much like another and yes we do shop because how else should we pass the time of the day from when we arrive to when we leave? We also use gyms, swim and go to the movies or should we be expected to sit in our room and wait until check out saving every penny that we are given? So when eventually we give up flying we can say, oh yes, I travelled the world but I never left my hotel bedroom because I couldn't afford to do anything!
Our job really isn't a bowl of cherries, I've dealt with 2 deaths during a flight, a number of SERIOUS medical emergencies, I've had a bomb scare mid flight and have had to restrain a passenger who was attacking one of the crew! So yes it has it's highlights, but sitting in a galley at 4am in the morning on New Year's day trying to keep my eyes open whilst writing my flight report then suddenly having to go and help an elderly lady who had collapsed only to find that she has just had a stroke, reminds me that our job really isn't always that glamorous!! You should try consoling the family of someone who has had a stroke during a flight sometime whilst making sure that the person in question is offered the very best medical attention possible until we land!!