Passenger Attendants
Provide services to ensure the safety of passengers aboard ships, buses, trains, or within the station or terminal. Perform duties such as explaining the use of safety equipment, serving meals or beverages, or answering questions related to travel.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Monitoring
- Critical Thinking
- Persuasion
- Instructing
Key knowledge
- Transportation
- Customer and Personal Service
- Public Safety and Security
- Personnel and Human Resources
- English Language
- Mechanical
- Psychology
- Geography
What the work involves
- Provide boarding assistance to elderly, sick, or injured people.
- Open and close doors for passengers.
- Respond to passengers' questions, requests, or complaints.
- Explain and demonstrate safety procedures and safety equipment use.
- Perform equipment safety checks prior to departure.
- Signal transportation operators to stop or to proceed.
- Greet passengers boarding transportation equipment and announce routes and stops.
- Determine or facilitate seating arrangements.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Social, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (50.1% of expert ratings)
- Related experience
- None (73.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (56.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Passenger Attendants is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 64% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 78% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 56% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 63% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Limited freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 79% of occupations compared | 80% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 68% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 84% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 93% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.19%
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 0.36%
- Important: 18.3%
- Very important: 18.92%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 18.11%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 25.26%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 37.16%
- Some freedom: 25.88%
- A lot of freedom: 36.96%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 18.35%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.17%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0.36%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0.76%
- Every day: 80.36%
n = 14, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.57%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.49%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.57%
- Every day: 18.37%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.81%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 31.94%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.46%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0.23%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 14, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly serious: 18.16%
- Serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely serious: 1.17%
n = 14, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 53-6061.00 · SOC 53-6061 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8