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Piedmont Airlines flight attendant guide

Bases, pay, training, hiring windows and the interview process — from dated sources.

Last updated August 2026 — dated facts carry their own as-of dates below.

Big-picture snapshot

Piedmont Airlines is a wholly owned American Airlines Group subsidiary flying as American Eagle — headquartered in Salisbury, Maryland, with a fleet that is 100% Embraer ERJ145 (roughly 68–72 aircraft) on east-coast routes. Heritage note that trips up applicants: today's Piedmont is the former Henson Airlines; 1980s "Piedmont" nostalgia refers to a different airline entirely.

The single most differentiating fact about this job: the ERJ145 is a 50-seat aircraft certificated for a single flight attendant (the FAA minimum is one FA per 50 passenger seats), so Piedmont FAs work the cabin alone. You are the entire cabin crew for every emergency, medical event, and unruly-passenger scenario, with only the flight deck behind a locked door as backup. Training and the interview both select hard for solo confidence — interviewers listen for independent judgment, not just teamwork scripts. That solo-E145 reality holds through at least early 2028: Piedmont announced 45 dual-class E175s in June 2025, but the first delivery is Q1 2028 — today's job is solo E145 flying, and saying "you fly E175s, right?" in an interview is a real miss.

Piedmont also sits at the strict end of the regional appearance spectrum. Verbatim from the official page (checked August 2026): "Flight attendants may not have visible tattoos." And: "Facial, multiple, upper ear piercings as well as extreme colors and/or styles of hair are not permitted while in uniform" — read: no nose studs (stricter than Delta, Endeavor, or Mesa, which allow a single side-nose stud). Whether makeup or uniform coverage satisfies "not visible" is not spelled out — don't assume a workaround without recruiter confirmation.

Baseline requirements (official page, August 2026): "21 years of age or older," high-school diploma or GED, valid driver's license and valid passport, English fluency, and a published height gate few carriers still print: "Stand no taller than 6'0" with a minimum height of 5'2"" — note the 5'2" minimum (SkyWest allows 5'0"). The gate is ERJ145-driven: a low-ceiling, single-aisle 50-seater. Physical specs from postings: lift up to 50 lbs, push/pull service carts in excess of 150 lbs. No swim test appears in any Piedmont FA requirement list reviewed.

Piedmont Airlines flight attendant bases

Three FA crew bases (official page, checked August 2026): Philadelphia (PHL), Charlotte (CLT), and Harrisburg (MDT) — matching the pilot domicile map. MDT is a real FA base: small, cheap to live in, and deeply junior-friendly; PHL and CLT are the hub operations.

New hires should expect reserve first. No published reserve-length or monthly-guarantee data was found for Piedmont — do not trust hold-time claims you read elsewhere. The seniority list is small (roughly 300–550 FAs per AFA-era counts), which cuts both ways: fewer vacancies, but fast seniority-percentile movement when growth comes.

Flow trap: there is no flight attendant flow-through to American Airlines. The five-year no-interview flow you may have read about is a pilot program. Piedmont FAs wanting mainline apply through American's normal external process — wholly-owned regional experience helps a resume, nothing contractual.

Piedmont Airlines flight attendant pay & reserve

Piedmont FAs are paid per flight hour — boarding, ground delays, and airport standby are not paid at the hourly rate. Numbers below as of August 2026:

  • Starting rate: verbatim from Piedmont's own page — "Wages are $28.08 per flight hour." Posting text cites a salary range of $34,700–$48,800/year (treat as the company's posted range and verify). Stale figures still circulating — $19.06/hr and $27.25/hr — are superseded; reject them as current. On the regional scale: between SkyWest ($30.32) and Endeavor ($26.23).
  • Monthly guarantee: not published for Piedmont (peers run 75–76 hours). Do first-year math on realistic flight-hour months, not 160 duty hours.
  • Boarding pay: none found. American mainline's boarding-pay provisions (2024 APFA contract) do not extend to Piedmont — different union (AFA-CWA vs APFA), different contract.
  • Per diem: $2.00 per hour (official page) — the lowest of the regional set researched (SkyWest, Endeavor, and Horizon all pay $2.25).
  • Profit sharing: actually listed on Piedmont's official FA page — unusual for a regional — alongside holiday pay, paid sick days, commuter hotel rooms, 401(k) with company match, PPO health/dental/vision, and free travel on the American network (6,800+ daily flights). No percentage or formula is published, so don't budget a number.
  • Contract status — the big caveat: Piedmont FAs are AFA-CWA represented. The arc: unanimous strike-authorization vote October 2021 → four-year contract ratified March 2022 by 87% (immediate 3–12% raises, base rates up 24–56% over the term). That four-year term runs out around 2026, making the contract amendable roughly now — a new negotiation cycle is likely underway or imminent as of August 2026, though no FA-specific 2026 negotiations coverage was found. (Careful: the July 2026 CWA "historic settlement at Piedmont" headlines concern CWA-represented ground/passenger-service workers, not flight attendants.) Today's $28.08 reflects the top of the 2022 contract's step-ups and could be re-rated at any time.

Piedmont Airlines flight attendant requirements

Piedmont Airlines requires flight attendants to be at least 21, hold a high school diploma or GED, and stand between 5'2" and 6'0" tall.

  • Minimum age: "21 years of age or older" (source: piedmont-airlines.com, checked 2026-08).
  • Education: High school diploma or GED required (source: piedmont-airlines.com, checked 2026-08).
  • Height / reach: You must stand no taller than 6 feet, with a minimum height of 5 feet 2 inches. You also need to fit the aircraft's dimensions and jumpseat. Posting specifications separately include lifting galley equipment or carry-ons up to 50 pounds and pushing or pulling service carts over 150 pounds (source: piedmont-airlines.com, checked 2026-08, and posting specifications).
  • Tattoos: "Flight attendants may not have visible tattoos." The page doesn't establish whether makeup or uniform coverage is acceptable — confirm with recruiting (source: piedmont-airlines.com, checked 2026-08).
  • Piercings: "Facial, multiple, upper ear piercings as well as extreme colors and/or styles of hair are not permitted while in uniform." (source: piedmont-airlines.com, checked 2026-08).
  • Hair & grooming: Extreme hair colors or styles are not permitted while in uniform, and you're expected to present a professional image (source: piedmont-airlines.com, checked 2026-08).
  • Passport & work authorization: A valid driver's license and a valid passport are both required, along with unrestricted travel eligibility to and from the U.S. (source: piedmont-airlines.com, checked 2026-08).
  • Languages: You must read, write, and speak English fluently; no bilingual program has been found for Piedmont (source: piedmont-airlines.com, checked 2026-08).

Requirements change between hiring windows — confirm them on the Piedmont Airlines careers page before you apply.

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Sources

  • piedmont-airlines.com/flight-attendant/
  • piedmont-airlines.com FA frequently-asked-questions page
  • afacwa.org Piedmont ratification and strike-vote pages; Philadelphia Inquirer on the March 2022 contract; AFA Piedmont CBA PDF
  • piedmont-airlines.com "Upgauging to a Dual-Class Future"
  • cabincrewhq.com Piedmont requirements
  • Candidate-report aggregations: Glassdoor, Indeed, aviationinterviews.com

Source links from our Piedmont Airlines research file

Data compiled from airline careers pages, union publications, industry press, and candidate-reported interview intel — wave-dependent facts carry as-of dates. Candidate reports are unofficial; confirm requirements on the airline's own careers site.

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