Pros
Best flying you will ever do in your career! Asia, Europe, Africa from day 1! That's something that would take 10-15 years + at a mainline carrier. Less than 1 year on reserve. Great passengers (primarrily US military). No prior flight attendant experience needed- and it seems they may prefer it. Great job for adventurist types that don't have a lot of bills to pay.
Cons
1) Management that not only encourages pursers, and other flight attendants to write up fellow employees for extremely monor infractions, but punishes those that don't! That breeds not only favoritism, but juvinile "back- stabbing". For instance, if I'm flying purser and a flight attendant shows up for a flight with her hair slightly touching her shoulders, and I decide to simply pull her aside and mention that she either put her hair in a bun or get it cut (without writting it up to management) and another flight attendant, or purser mentions the 'infraction' to management- I get in trouble! This breeds almost a high school environment. And while some seem to have impunity when it comes to infractions, others are terminated for things as minor as not checking in at base prior to a deadhead (non-working airline repossition flight). 2) No airline benifits, or pass-travel on any carrier. 3) Over 70% of pursers (lead FAs) hired, and nearly the same percentage of flight attendant instructors are inexperienced, and first time flight attendants (some that had barely completed probation at the company). That does not mean they're unknowlegable, but when it comes down to the 99% of what the job is out on the line, they have no experience. 4) The company makes an almost unbelievable ammount of simple logistical mistakes when it comes charter contracts- causing a massive loss of contracts, and loss of potential new contracts. For instance; a company out of Korea wants to charter a 747 from Miami to London. The company added no languge qualified flight attendants onboard, did not look into special catering options, did not make security or informational material in their language, did not consider security screening delays prior to departure (3 hour delay) etc...These were simple things that any employee would've been able to improve upon, yet were overlooked. And while the previous destinations and national origin of the passengers was changed, the story of that lost contract is completely accurate. 5) FSI/ Flight Services International is who you're employed by- NOT Atlas Air- which is painted on the aircraft, on your luggage tags, on the Crew ID badges that you wear, and the airline that you tell everyone you work for. Why?? Good question! There's hundreds of stories as to why, but if Atlas Air wanted to employ their own flight attendants they would. it's not that hard to do. They're a huge cargo airline that's been around since 1991. The fact that a 3rd-party manages you, as well as signs your checks should give you pause. With all that being said, I had good relationships with other flight attendants, as well as managemnt while employed there. It was just something I observed after many, many years with the company. If you're looking for an enjoyable job, and enjoy all the travel- FSI (Atlas Air) is a good pick. If you're looking for benifits, or to make money- RUN! When paychecks come out every 2 weeks, it's feast or famine.
