By the time 33-year-old private jet flight attendant Kelley Lokensgard greets her VIP passengers on the tarmac, she has been working for hours.
“I grocery shop the night before, then arrive two hours before the flight; I load my flower arrangements, prep my boarding appetizers, and touch up the cabin,” Lokensgard, the chief cabin attendant at Silver Air Private Jets, told Business Insider. “People don’t realize how many fingerprints they leave behind.”
That behind-the-scenes work is part of serving wealthy vacationers, business executives, and celebrities who expect flawless service and discretion.
Lokensgard, what started in 2021, said the job can be nonstop: she’s on duty for up to 21 days a month, sometimes at a moment’s notice, and is responsible for catering meals and tailoring each flight to client preferences.
This is a level of invisible labor that few people outside private aviation ever see; it’s not the glitz and glamour that social media often portrays. But Lokensgard — whose background is in music, youth education, and fine dining — said she loves the grind.
“It’s a lot of schlepping and problem-solving and delicate communication with a lot of moving parts and people; you have to be a laborer to want to do this job,” she said. “I can’t imagine something that better suits my random scope of skills.”
Private flight attendants are a small but growing niche within aviation. Jobs, which are largely non-union, span from small and medium-sized private companies like Silver Air to mega operators like NetJets and VistaJet.
While many roles offer full-time benefits, as in Lokensgard’s case, others resemble gig work, which can allow for a flexible lifestyle but often comes with less predictability and fewer labor protections than at most US airlines.
The work often involves long, irregular hours, extended travel, and the demands of high-profile clients. And private flight attendants usually don’t have access to the free standby flights that commercial crew typically enjoy — meaning they only fly if a seat is available.
Still, there’s a significant payoff. Lokensgard gets to see the world through the destinations of her clients — essentially for free — while earning much more than most of her airline counterparts.
Lokensgard, who lives in Los Angeles, earns in the low six figures, though she said some veteran, freelance, and specially skilled VIP cabin attendants can make as much as $350,000 annually. Glassdoor puts the nationwide median annual salary at about $94,000.
By comparison, commercial flight attendants at American, Delta, and United typically earn a base salary between $30,000 and $80,000, depending on seniority, along with a per diem and additional pay opportunities like overtime, holidays, and international flying. Many senior crew members reach six figures after years of service.
To prepare for her role, Lokensgard completed five days of training and an online course: “There was so much to learn, it’s professionalism, luxury, service, and safety,” she said. Silver Air also sponsored culinary classes.
Her training is far shorter than the weekslong courses commercial flight attendants must complete, though that’s because the Federal Aviation Administration does not regulate corporate cabin attendant positions — its “flight attendant” rules apply to airlines and public charters, not private jets.
This means cabin training varies widely across private operators, though Lokensgard, as chief attendant, said she is incorporating more shadow flying and collaborative learning at her company.
Private aviation is not your normal 9-to-5
Lokensgard spends most of her days on the Gulfstream G550, a giant multimillion-dollar private jet with a bedroom and enough range to travel across oceans and continents. The plane has an owner but is also managed by Silver Air as a rental; Lokensgard serves whoever is on board.
She said these often long flights mean she is away from home for days at a time and must work early and late hours. A flight from the Los Angeles-area Van Nuys Airport to Tokyo, for example, would take about 11 hours and involve at least two meal services, she said.
Lokensgard must organize catering for the passengers, but is regularly asked to cook. She’ll meal-prep meats and vegetables the night before and has access to an approved skillet, oven, microwave, and chiller to work with on the plane.
“Sometimes our clients don’t want catering, and I will be told, ‘Hey, arrange steak, sushi, chicken tenders, french fries, salads, fruit platter, snacks, and desserts for the flight,'” she said. “I’ll shop at Erewhon, or I’ll ask a local steakhouse to sear a steak that I’ll finish off on the plane. Your head just explodes with ideas.”
Erewhon is the US’ most expensive grocery store and a hotspot for the LA elite.
Besides food service, Lokensgard said she must also perform safety checks, prepare meals for the pilots, and make the bed, among other duties. She added that there is surprisingly little time to rest, even on ultra-long-haul flights.
On the ground, Lokensgard is responsible for tasks like dishes, dry cleaning, and arranging catering for the next trip. After international flights, everyone clears customs, and Lokensgard must follow agricultural rules when disposing of food and trash.
Rest policies vary by operator. Lokensgard said her crew gets at least a day of rest after long-haul international flights; previously, Silver Air cabin attendants often finished such trips only to almost immediately hop on a commercial flight home. She receives a minimum of 10 hours of rest after shorter flights.
Lokensgard added that it sometimes makes more logistical sense for the crew to stay with the plane for a few days in its destination, giving her extra time to explore places ranging from major cities like London, New York City, and Nice to quaint ski towns in Austria.
“I make the most of it since we’re sacrificing time away from our families and communities,” she said. “We explore, see museums, and eat amazing food.” She also dedicates time to cultivating relationships with local chefs in the cities she visits for catering needs.
Once home, Lokensgard said the first thing she does is wash her clothes and repack her suitcase, adding that she keeps a spare uniform in her car: “I have my road wardrobe and toiletries and my home ones.”
That constant readiness is essential in private aviation.
For example, on one reserve day — when she’s on standby for last-minute flights — Lokensgard was called at 6 a.m. for a flight that had to take off by 8:30 a.m. But the plane was departing from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, at least 30 minutes from the crew’s Manhattan hotel.
“We’re ripping back the covers and packing our bags,” she said. “We’re calling to get the fuel trucks ready; I’m DoorDashing food to the airport and studying the client’s eight-page portfolio, but we were in the air by 8:26 a.m. That really built trust with the client.”
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