Courtesy of Danny Elkins.
Danny Elkins has been a Delta Air Lines flight attendant for more than 13 years.
Being a flight attendant isn't like your typical 9-to-5 job.
According to Delta's careers page, flight attendants can expect 4 a.m. wake up calls and sporadic hours, delays and flight cancellations that will nix plans, and weekends and holidays spent working. The tradeoff, though, is getting to see the world and not having to take your work home with you.
Flight attendants submit their montly scheduling choices in a process called "bidding," and the more seniority they have, the more they're able to determine which routes they fly and days they get to take off.
Every new flight attendant at Delta flys six monthly "A days," or days they are assigned to be on-call at or near the airport. For people who commute to work - many flight attendants live in cities other than where they are based - that can mean flying standby from home to base and then waiting to possibly be called to work a flight. For some, work commute means two four-hour flights across the country.
While the job is demanding at times, it does help to work for an airline employees seem to love.
On Glassdoor, employees rate Delta Air Lines four out of five stars, citing pros like great perks and benefits, a professional and friendly environment, and flexibility.
Danny Elkins, a 35-year veteran who's been a flight attendant with Delta since it acquired Pan American World Airways' North Atlantic routes in 1991, would agree.
During his tenure as a flight attendant, Elkins has held several titles including Language of Destination flight attendant, International Coordinator, Code Share flight attendant, and flight attendant recruiter.
We spoke to him to find out what it's really like to be a flight attendant with Delta. Here's what he said: