‘Biggest Pet Peeve’: Flight Attendant Puts Apologetic Customers Who Book Flights On Holidays On Blast

A lot of travelers say things to their flight attendants with the best of intentions, but that doesn’t mean the comment will land as intended.

One flight attendant is calling out the one thing that she hears all the time during the holidays that irks her every time. Watch out; you may be this exact type of person.

Flight Attendant Issues Holiday PSA

In a viral video with more than 90,000 views, Rain Clements (@rainclements), a flight attendant who often posts videos about her job and has 617,000, delivered a pointed message to holiday travelers.

“Merry Christmas to everyone except for the passengers that tell their flight attendant that they hate that they have to work on Christmas while they booked a flight on Christmas,” Clements says.

“But somebody has to work,” she points out.

She adds in that “if you’re not one of those people, Merry Christmas.”

She’s obviously trying her best to keep within the holiday spirit, given that she’s wearing a festive peppermint-esque neck scarf and jingle bell earrings while delivering her PSA.

The Reality of Holiday Travel

According to The Points Guy, nearly 65% of Americans planned to travel during the 2025 holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, a significant jump from just 51% the year before.

Among those traveling, 60% planned to fly to their destinations, with half booking domestic flights and over a quarter flying internationally. Generation Z and millennials were nearly twice as likely to plan international flights compared to older generations.

Weather delays topped travelers’ concerns this year, with 51% worried about weather-related disruptions—up from 43% the previous year. About 47% expressed concerns about high volumes of travelers, while 32% worried about airline delays and cancellations.

Flight Attendant Holiday Pay and Schedules

While passengers are jetting off to spend the holidays with loved ones, flight attendants are working and their compensation varies dramatically depending on which airline they work for.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, flight attendants routinely work nights, weekends, and holidays because airlines operate every day with overnight flights. They may spend several nights per week or month away from home, with on-duty shifts varying from 4 to 18 hours or longer for international flights.

Holiday scheduling typically depends on seniority. Junior flight attendants are far more likely to work Christmas and New Year’s, while senior staff can bid for these days off. According to aviation forum discussions, some airlines use a points system where each Christmas worked earns points, making you less vulnerable to holiday assignments in future years.

But even when flight attendants do work holidays, the extra pay isn’t guaranteed or standardized across the industry.

As the Association of Flight Attendants explains, holiday pay is calculated by taking the hourly rate times credited flight time, divided by hours away from home, then multiplied by the number of hours away from home that fall within the holiday. Flight attendants are eligible for pay on a maximum of five holidays per year, including their birthday.

Simple Flying notes that cabin crew rarely get Christmas or New Year’s off and are expected to be available 365 days a year at any time. It’s one of the busiest and most chaotic times of the year, with winter weather causing delays and schedules changing rapidly.

Commenters React

“I had a passenger say to me ‘thank you for spending the holiday away from your family to allow me the opportunity to spend it with mine’ and honestly it was so nice. That is what they should say. Not ‘oh dang, they have you working on Christmas?’ I’m like…….well you being on this flight is the entire reason that I have to work it? Like HELLO?” a top comment read.

“Literally me. I said if one more person says to me “THEY’RE MAKING YOU WORK CHRISTMAS?!” I’m going to crash out,” a person said.

“Like a thank you for working today would suffice,” another wrote.

BroBible reached out to Clements for comment via email and Instagram direct message.