What is the primary responsibility of a flight attendant?

The primary responsibility of a flight attendant is ensuring the safety and comfort of passengers. Flight attendants are trained to manage various situations that can arise during a flight, such as emergencies, medical incidents, and passenger conflict. Their primary focus is on maintaining a safe environment, which includes conducting safety briefings, performing safety checks, and being prepared to respond to emergencies.

While serving food and drinks is one of the tasks performed by flight attendants and contributes to passenger comfort, it is secondary to their primary role of ensuring safety. Handling luggage is typically managed by ground crew members, and flight attendants do not perform maintenance checks on the aircraft, as that is the responsibility of licensed aircraft maintenance personnel. Thus, the emphasis on safety and passenger wellbeing underlines why ensuring safety and comfort is the fundamental duty of a flight attendant.