Career Explorer Transport and logistics
Grows with AI
Flight attendants
Monitor safety of the aircraft cabin. Provide services to airline passengers, explain safety information, serve food and beverages, and respond to emergency incidents.
Among the most resilient careers: more resilient than 84% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +8.8% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on ethical judgement and emotional intelligence.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $63,580
- Job growth to 2035
- +8.8%
- Openings a year
- 18,500
- People doing it (2025)
- 134,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
- Provide general assistance to others, such as customers, patrons, or motorists
- Monitor individual behavior or performance
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Inspect vehicles
- Monitor safety or security of work areas, facilities, or properties
- Administer emergency medical treatment
What the work looks like
- Verify that first aid kits and other emergency equipment, including fire extinguishers and oxygen bottles, are in working order.
- Announce and demonstrate safety and emergency procedures, such as the use of oxygen masks, seat belts, and life jackets.
- Monitor passenger behavior to identify threats to the safety of the crew and other passengers.
- Walk aisles of planes to verify that passengers have complied with federal regulations prior to takeoffs and landings.
- Direct and assist passengers in emergency procedures, such as evacuating a plane following an emergency landing.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- More of these jobs, as airlines continue to replace smaller planes with larger aircraft or add more seats to the existing planes, which will result in more flight attendants on average per aircraft.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Aircraft cargo handling supervisorsHuman edge, growing, Index 97, +9.2%
- Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialistsHuman edge, growing, Index 99, +13.1%
- Captains, mates, and pilots of water vesselsHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +4.0%
- Medical assistantsHuman edge, growing, Index 89, +12.9%
Also known as: Flight Attendant, In-Flight Crew Member, International Flight Attendant, Purser, Inflight Services Flight Attendant.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.