A former flight attendant has revealed why she quit her job after only a year – and has shared how much she was earning on the job.
Ashlee Rogers, who was a Virgin Airlines hostess, shared the reasons behind her ‘bittersweet’ decision to leave the aviation industry.
She says the cons of being a flight attendant started to outweigh the pros, and has now decided to pursue a career as a social media influencer.
Ms Rogers explained that because flight attendants did shift work they could be expected to work ‘any hour any day of any week’.
‘It changes everyday, it changes every week and I found that in itself to be really exhausting,’ she said.,
‘Aviation is a 24 hour industry, it never stops. So because of shift work and having hundreds of employees it makes the job really hard to be flexible’.
‘It’s hard to get time off and it’s hard to swap shifts. You have to put in notice for your annual leave months in advance and even then it might not be approved.’
Ashlee Rogers, who was a hostess on Virgin Airlines, shared the reasons behind her ‘bittersweet’ decision to leave the aviation industry (pictured)
Ms Rogers added that she earns $1,000 a week after tax – but that she could have earned more if she had worked more overnight shifts.
She clarified that the rostering system is determined by individual preferences such as having weekends off, preferring early morning or late-night shifts. However, these preferences are not guaranteed.
‘So it is a bit hard to plan your life around the job, it is doable, but it’s just a little bit harder,’ she continued.
Her third reason for quitting was how unpredictable the aviation industry is.
‘Nothing is guaranteed. Your shift for that day is not even guaranteed. Whatever you have tomorrow is not guaranteed. Everything can change in a second,’ she said.
‘You might just be going in for a day shift, next minute you might be away for four days. You don’t know what’s gonna happen.
‘They can pretty much send you anywhere at any time.
‘Obviously there are rules around that but they can just change your roster, they can change whatever shifts you have.’
Ms Rogers said rosters were only sent a month in advance so flight attendants didn’t know if they were going to be away on an overnight or on stand-by days.
‘So when you’re on stand-by days you don’t know where you’re going or what you’re doing. I like to be organised. I like to know what I’m doing,’ she said.
Her final reason was simply being more of a homebody.
‘As much fun as it is going on overnights, exploring new places and things like that I started to dread it in the end and I didn’t want to go away,’ she said.
‘I didn’t want to leave my partner, I just wanted to be at home at him and when I was in these hotels all I could think about was I wanna be at home.
‘I’m not even enjoying that aspect of the job.’
The budding influencer decided to pursue a career in social media after finding the cons of being a flight attendant started to outweigh the pros (pictured)
Ms Rogers (pictured) explained that because flight attendants did shift work, she was expected to work ‘any hour any day of any week’
Ms Rogers said she had met some ‘amazing’ people and that being a flight attendant could be the best job in the world if you made it your lifestyle.
‘And it’s a great lifestyle at that, but it’s a lifestyle on their terms, on your employers terms. You could be in Bali one week, and you could be in Fiji the next week or you could in Perth and that’s great, that’s a great lifestyle,’ she said.
‘Your basically travelling for free, get to go to all these amazing places but it’s not on your own time if you know what I mean.
‘So if you can adapt and you can just kind of surrender to whatever shifts they give you, wherever they want to send you, then you will love the job and you’ll probably stay in the job forever.
‘I will definitely miss flying and I’m so grateful that I had this opportunity. It definitely pushed me outside of my comfort zone and I met so many people that I would have never have met before.
‘But now it’s time for my next chapter.’
Her views on the industry resonated with Aussies.
‘My daughter has literally just left today. She was short haul and it just made her ill and exhausted. She’s heartbroken because she loves the job,’ one said.
‘Girl my life has changed since I stopped flying! I feel refreshed and don’t get nearly as sick anymore it’s incredible,’ a second said.
‘Depends on the airline tbh mine doesn’t have a lot of these problems, it’s sooo easy to swap and get time off with mine,’ a third said.
A fourth shared: ‘Yes yes yes! You literally explained all the reasons why I left this lifestyle… thanks for the reassurance. I needed that today.’
Ms Rogers (pictured) explained that rosters were only sent a month in advance so flight attendants couldn’t plan their lives like other full-time workers