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Aviation glossary

Cabin crew

Also: flight attendants, cabin attendants, purser, stewards

Operations and flight

Crew members responsible for passenger safety in the cabin and for in-flight service, as distinct from the flight crew who fly the aircraft.

What it is

Their primary role is safety: they check the emergency equipment, give the safety briefing before take-off, monitor the cabin, deal with medical emergencies and, if ever needed, lead an evacuation. Food and drink service is the most visible part of the job, but it is not why the rules require them on board.

Regulations set a minimum number based on installed seats: in Europe and the United States, generally one cabin crew member per 50 passenger seats or part thereof. A 50-seat regional jet can therefore fly with a single flight attendant, while a 737 fitted with 189 seats needs at least four.

The team is led by a senior cabin crew member or purser, who coordinates the service and liaises with the pilots. Training covers firefighting, first aid, survival in water and evacuation drills, and is refreshed through recurrent courses.

On Vuelopedia

An aircraft's record shows its seats by class with a cabin map, the figure on which the minimum cabin crew depends.

Boeing 737

Related terms

Cabin configurationInterior layout an operator chooses for its aircraft: seat count, classes, seats per row, seat pitch, galleys and lavatories. EvacuationRapid, orderly exit of an aircraft’s occupants through the emergency exits, often by escape slide, when staying on board is more dangerous. Pilot in commandThe pilot designated as ultimately responsible for the operation and safety of a flight; at an airline this is the captain, who normally sits in the left-hand seat. Passenger capacityNumber of passengers an aircraft can carry, which varies with the cabin layout chosen by the airline and is capped by a certified maximum. Cabin classesService levels into which an airline divides its cabin, such as first, business, premium economy and economy, each with its own seats and service.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Cabin crew. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-crew

MLA

“Cabin crew.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-crew. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Cabin crew.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-crew.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Cabin crew. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-crew (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_cabin_crew,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Cabin crew}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-crew},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-crew}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/cabin-crew |title=Cabin crew |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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