If I want a side job as a flight attendant, what would be some options?
Let’s take a look at some of the factors to consider and list down some of the most flexible and held job positions available to flight attendants.
Here are some jobs that many flight attendants have on the side.
1) Uber/Lyft Driver
If you own a car and live in an urban neighborhood, driving for Uber or Lyft could be a great option for a side job.
What makes this job great for flight attendants is the flexibility to set your own hours. If you have a day off you can choose to drive, or not. Some flight attendants even drive on reserve days. Though it might be good to take rides closer to the airport in this case.
Some flight attendants testified that they have made a few extra grand per year doing this side-gig. Their pro tip is to pick high demand hours.
💲 Income Potential: $25 per hour
2) Food & Grocery Delivery
Similar to driving for Uber there are tons of companies like Uber Eats, or DoorDash, that need drivers to deliver takeout orders.
If you live in bigger city, you might even be able to take on this side gig without a car! Some companies supply eBikes to people who deliver in highly populated areas where parking can be a challenge. If you go this route, you can make some extra cash and get your workout in!
💲 Income Potential: $19 per hour
3) Bartender or Server
If you’re a people-person and don’t mind serving people even on your days off, then it’s a great way to earn an hourly wage plus tips.
You will need to make sure the restaurant managers understand your schedule as a flight attendant and allow you to change your shifts from week-to-week as needed.
💲 Income Potential: $11.80 per hour
4) Do Cake/Cookie Decorating
Having custom cookies made for birthday parties is all the rage these days! There is so much market potential for starting a cake and cookie decorating business from your home.
I know a flight attendant who does it on the side and really enjoys it because it’s a calming kind of work, very different from the chaos of flying.
💲 Income Potential: $15 per hour
5) Realtor
Maybe it’s because we have the welcoming smile, 😊 but many flight attendant work as realtors on the side. You do have to take classes and get a license to be a realtor in the US, but the investment is worth it!
If you schedule meetings and house showings on your days off, you can save the paperwork for something to do on layovers.
Flight attendants constantly meet new people, so it’s a great opportunity to increase your clientele as well.
💲 Income Potential: $95,000 per year (Based on the US average)
6) Substitute Teacher
The requirements for this job vary by state and region, (Florida doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree while New Jersey does), but it’s a fulfilling and relatively well-paying job once you start.
Like reserve flight attendants, schools need both scheduled and emergency substitute teachers throughout the school year. Scheduled substitutes usually fill in for teachers with planned absences, (maternity leave for example), while emergency substitute teachers can essentially be short-called just like a flight attendant.
Most schools have online platforms that allow you to go in and sign up for certain days.
If you happen to wake up early on a day off, you can log into the platform and see if they need someone last-minute.
💲 Income Potential: $11 – $16 per hour
7) Freelance Writer/Editor
If you enjoy writing or proofreading other people’s writing, there are tons of opportunities to work as a freelance writer and/or editor.
The best way to get started is to join an online freelance portal, like Upwork, and look for jobs that interest you.
Once you have a few people sending work your way you can easily crank out a writing assignment on layovers, while on reserve, or even during long sits between flights.
💲 Income Potential: $15 – $30 per hour
8) Sales Associate
You can do this job at a brick-and-mortar store or as an associate for direct sales companies such as Mary Kay or Avon.
I knew a flight attendant who worked at a home furnishing store so that she can furnish her new home on employee discounted prices!
If you go the direct sales route, you have an advantage as a flight attendant since you are always meeting new people and can easily turn coworkers into customers.
💲 Income Potential: $15 – $21 per hour
9) Babysitting
Do you love children and have experiences with kids? Then babysitting may be for you.
You can even babysit for other flight attendants! Since you understand their schedule and they understand yours they are truly the best clients if you want to babysit on the side.
If you have kids of your own it’s a great idea to do in-home babysitting, especially for other flight attendants. The kids will think they’re having a sleepover, and you can make a little extra money doing the things you already have to do for your own kids at home.
Either way, babysitting is a great way to support flying parents and make a little extra cash!
💲 Income Potential: $17 – $25 per hour
10) Social Media Influencer/Travel Blogger
Flight attendants live a unique lifestyle and have access to many travel benefits that most can’t enjoy.
If you’re not shy about sharing your lifestyle and like to share your travel experiences (whether it be a layover or personal travel), it could be an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. You get to share your knowledge about the accommodation, transportation, famous sights, and how to best spend your time.
It is a competitive market, however, so don’t expect to go viral and get a big paycheck immediately.
Alternatively you can create content for influencers who have already “made it” either as a content manager, or by simply selling your travel photos to them.
💲 Income Potential: $17+ per hour
11) Massage Therapist
Being a massage therapist is also a great job to have on the side because they get to set their hours. (Notice a theme yet?)
You can either work at an established spa or take on your own private clients. This is another one of those jobs where your main customers could be other flight attendants, since we are constantly in need of a good massage.
It’s versatile depending on how much time and effort you would like to invest in this side job.
💲 Income Potential: $20 – $34 per hour
12) Renting your Space
Renting is scalable, you can either rent out your whole home while you’re out on trips Airbnb style. Or you could rent out a space bedroom or lease a bit of your garage space for storage.
If you can invest you could even acquire additional properties to rent and become a landlord.
This is another gig that is super marketable within the aviation industry. Renting out a spare room to a commuter is a great way to make extra money and you’ll feel more comfortable having a fellow flight attendant sharing your home.
💲 Income Potential: $500 + per month
13) Open a Crash Pad
I know tons of flight attendants who run crash pads.
Of course, this side gig would demand an upfront investment in the place to put the crash pad, as well as the bedroom furniture (like bunkbeds), but once you have it up-and-running you can even employ a cleaning service to take care of the little maintenance things that come up.
We all know there is plenty of demand for it.
💲 Income Potential: $1,000 + per month
14) Private Nail Artist
If you are good at doing other people’s nails, you can set up an in-home nail salon and take on private clients.
Of course fellow flight attendants would be great clients. I personally used to love going to a fellow crew members apartment to get my nails done instead of a big salon because it is quiet and sometimes, we just want calm when we’re doing our self-care.
💲 Income Potential: $15 – $40 per hour
15) Dog Sitter/Walker
If you love dogs working as a dog walker is a great opportunity for flight attendants.
You can find last minute gigs on sites like Rover. Or you can offer your services to flight attendants who need a dog sitter.
Walking dogs as a side-gig is also great because you get to spend time with dogs, get your steps in, and enjoy being outside in the fresh air. Plus, dogs aren’t people.
💲 Income Potential: $15 – $25 per hour
16) Sewing/Tailoring
If you know how to sew or tailor this could be a great work-from-home side gig for flight attendants. You simply have to market yourself to other flight attendants who may need their uniforms tailored or mended.
If you don’t get enough work from within the airline, apparently, you can also find freelance sewing jobs on Upwork!
💲 Income Potential: $15+ per hour
17) Turn Your Creative Hobby into Money
You can turn pretty much any creative hobby into a source of income. You could knit, paint, make ceramics, create cool stickers, or design jewelry the list of options goes on-and-on!
There are also multiple ways to generate income from your creative hobby. Of course you could sell things on Etsy. But you could also set up a booth at local arts festivals or galleries.
💲 Income Potential: $15+ per hour
18) Modeling
Flight attendants are beautiful people and let’s face it, there are many of us that could be models.
You can always send your headshot to various modeling agencies and see if you get any commissions. You can usually schedule the photoshoots when it suits your schedule.
💲 Income Potential: $50+ per hour
19) Catering
If you like to cook and can get your kitchen properly certified, you could start your own catering business.
Catering can take on many forms. You could do traditional catering for events, do meal-prep for a client, or even work as a private chef for dinner parties.
💲 Income Potential: $25-$50 per hour
20) Acting Extra
Though this is more of a temporary gig, if you are based in LA, or anywhere else where lots of movies and TV shows are filmed, you could probably find work as an extra.
Since filming runs on a tight schedule you may have to work your flying schedule around it by taking time off, or trading trips to open up a few extra days off between trips.
But then you can brag to your colleagues about being in an episode of their favorite series.
💲 Income Potential: $100 – $150 per day on set
21) Go on a Game Show
This isn’t a side job per se, but it is a fun way to make some extra money, if you do well.
I know a flight attendant who has made going on game shows into a true side job, he’s been on everything! Flight attendants make great game show participants because we are friendly and usually charismatic. So the casting agents love us.
💲 Income Potential: $0 – $1,000,000 per game show
22) Seasonal Work at Retail Stores
If you aren’t already busy enough flying through the holiday season, many retail stores take on extra part-time staff during the holidays.
You will need to make sure the manager hiring you knows you are a flight attendant and understands your schedule might need to be a little more flexible than the high school student who also applied for the job, but it is theoretically possible.
Plus, you get the employee discount for whichever store you work for!
💲 Income Potential: $9-$15 per hour
23) Work Font Desk at a Hotel
Combining flight benefits with hotel benefits is a killer combo! I know plenty of flight attendants who cashed in on this opportunity by working shifts at hotels on their days off.
Most of the time hotel management is willing to work with your crazy schedule because they know you understand the industry and can provide their guests with top-notch service.
💲 Income Potential: $15-$25 per hour
24) Work as a Server at Oktoberfest
This one is maybe a bit out-there but hear me out. The beer tents at Munich’s famous Oktoberfest hires thousands of servers every year, many from abroad.
Beerhall servers make thousands of euros in tips each season. But you would need to take the time off from the airline in order to be able to work the whole season.
You get days off though, and you can use those to explore Munich or the Bavarian alps.
💲 Income Potential: $2,000 – $5,000 per season
25) Write a Book
Flight attendants have tons of material for writing a book. Take that on-the-job inspiration and put it into a hilarious romantic comedy, or a gripping thriller, as flight attendant authors Lacie Waldon and T.J. Newman have done.
Getting a book deal isn’t always easy, but if you write a best seller, you have a lot of earning potential!
💲 Income Potential: $10,000+ per book (Depending on how many copies sell)
26) Do What You Did Before Becoming a Flight Attendant
If you are motivated to do something in your field, there will be an opportunity.
I know flight attendants who still work part-time as nurses, lawyers, accountants, paramedics, teachers, college professors, you name it, there is probably a flight attendant making it work somewhere.
The best part about doing your old career as a side-job is the fact that it keeps your experience fresh, and leaves the door open to return to it full-time, should you ever tire of life in the skies.
💲 Income Potential: $15-$45 per hour (Depending on what you’re doing).
Bonus: Invest in Your Education
Though not a job, and likely to cost you money, rather than make you money, investing in your education is never a waste.
Whether that means going back to school to get a degree, or training in a particular vocation, or even learning how to code at a coding boot camp. Gaining skills are a pathway to a great side-hustle.
Final Thoughts
There are many reasons why a flight attendant would like a side job whether motivated by money or circumstance. Whatever the reason may be, there are options out there so check with your airline regarding their policies on side jobs and good luck!
