Flight Attendant Lingo

After becoming a flight attendant I quickly learned that they have a whole new language with lingo I have never heard of. Once you become familiar it is all easy to understand, but for you newbies here is a little run-down of what flight attendants are talking about!

What is a Crashpad – There are two types of crashpads: a cold bed and a hot bed. A flight attendant uses a crashpad when they commute in to work trip the next day or get in late from a trip and need a place to sleep for the night. Most crash pads have a limited number of nights you can spend in the crashpad to ensure people are not “living” there. A crashpad is not meant to only a flight attendant’s primary home. Most crashpads have two to four sets of bunk beds in each room and quite a lot of people renting on a monthly basis because typically you will never have all of the tenants there at the same time because of crazy schedules.

What is a cold bed– A cold bed is a bed (usually a bunk bed) that is yours and yours only you rent on (typically) a month to month basis. When you are not there nobody else sleeps in your designated bed. You pay a little bit more for a cold bed than a hot bed.

What is a hot bed – A hot bed is a bed (usually a bunk bed) that you rent on a (typically) month to month basis. A hot bed is not a designated bed that is yours only. You just sleep in whichever bed is open and available that is provided. A hot bed is typically cheaper than a cold bed.

What is Standby or Airport Alert – A reserve flight attendant can get standby (or as we used to call it airport alert) for an assignment. This means the flight attendant will show up at the airport ready to go as if they are going on a trip just in case they are needed in the event a line holder calls out sick last minute, a crew misconnects, etc. They are assigned a 4 to 6 hour time (depending on your airline) increment where they typically sit in the crew room watching Netflix, reading, play ping pong, etc. just waiting to make sure all the flights covered and go out on time. If they are needed crew scheduling will call them and assign them a trip.

What is a line – A line is a set schedule of trips for the month. Having a line means that you have the freedom to know your schedule for the entire month and you are not on an on call reserve. A flight attendants goals is to become a line holder. Having a line allows you to pick up, trade and drop trips that you do not want. If you have a line that means you work for every hour you fly.

What is a Reserve – A reserves is a flight attendant who is on call and does not have a set schedule of trips for the month. As a reserve you will have your set off days (but some of those days are flexible and can be rolled), but you do not know what trips you will fly. Reserves get a get paid a minimum number of guarantee hours despite if they fly less.

What is a deadhead – During a trip sometimes you need to get from point A to point B to work a flight. In this case you will deadhead. It means that you fly as a passenger and do not actually work the service of the flight. Typically it is up to you whether you would like to deadhead in uniform or out of uniform.

What is a commuter – A lot of line holders are commuters. This means that the flight attendant does not live in the area where they are based. Most commuters have crashpads and fly in to their base the night before their trip, work the trip and then commute and fly back to their home. This is very uncommon among reserves because you can be called as little as 3 hours prior to your trip.

What is a CJO – A CJO is short for Conditional Job Offer. When you get through all of the interview process and the airline wants to offer you the job you receive a conditional job offer based on the fact that you will successfully complete training.

What does F2F mean – This is short for Face to Face interview. It is quite a long process to become a flight attendant. Typically you apply, then you may be invited to a complete a phone or video interview, then if you pass that you are invited to a face to face interview. If you pass the face to face interview it is the last step to acquire your CJO.

What does TBNT mean – This is short for Thanks But No Thanks. Unfortunately, if the airline decides not to go forward in hiring you they will send you an email informing you that they appreciate your interest, but are going to pass for now. Once you receive a TBNT it is not the end of the line with that company. You typically just have to wait 6 months before applying again.

What is sit time – During a trip you might have 3 or 4 legs in one day. Most of the time each leg will not line up perfectly to where you fly in and fly out and you don’t have to wait for your next flight. The time that you have to wait for your next flight is called sit time. So if you come in from a flight and your next flight’s check in time isn’t for 2 hours that means you have 2 hours of sit time. You can do as you wish on sit time: go get food, take a nap, read, wait at your next gate or wait in a crew room.

Having trouble understanding any flight attendant lingo? Comment down below with any questions you may have! I’m happy to help.