How to become a travel attendant or travel steward
Official title: Travel attendants and travel stewards
Also called: Cabin attendant, Flight attendant, Ship’s steward
Travel attendants and travel stewards ensure the comfort and safety of passengers, serve meals and beverages and render personal services, usually on aircraft and on board ships. They may plan and coordinate housekeeping and social activities on ships.
Main tasks
- Greeting passengers entering aircraft or ships, checking tickets or boarding passes, and directing passengers to their seats or berths
- Announcing, explaining and demonstrating safety and emergency procedures such as the use of oxygen masks, seat belts and life jackets
- Assembling and serving pre-prepared meals and beverages
- Selling duty-free and other goods
- Taking care of general needs and comfort of passengers, answering inquiries, and keeping cabins clean and tidy
- Directing and assisting passengers and following prescribed procedures in the event of an emergency, such as evacuating an aircraft following an emergency landing
- Verifying that first aid kits and other emergency equipment are in working order
- Administering first aid to passengers in distress
- Attending pre-flight briefings concerning weather, altitudes, routes, emergency procedures, crew coordination, lengths of flights, food and beverage services offered, and numbers of passengers
- Preparing passengers and aircraft for take-off and landing
Pay · Outlook · AI and this job
- Median pay: HK$16,500 a month
- About 732,700 people in 2025, and about 740,500 projected by 2028. (+1.1%)
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
Do you need a degree to become a travel attendant or travel steward?
Usually not. Only 6% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
Will AI change the work of a travel attendant or travel steward?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
- Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- Census and Statistics Department (Annual Earnings and Hours Survey): Monthly and hourly wage percentiles by occupational group (5 groups) (Tables 220-23014, 220-23024, 220-23003) (2025 (May to June 2025), released 2026-03-23), retrieved 4 October 2026
- Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Updated 4 October 2026