‘This Is All I’ve Ever Known’: Amid Cuts, Airline Workers Wonder Where They’ll Land

Lizz Jansen’s first airline job was not one she thought would launch a career. She dreamed of becoming a photojournalist. Her parents, both airline workers, helped her get a job processing crew members’ receipts for reimbursement.

“It was boring, but it was a job, and it was insurance, and I was 19 years old, and I needed something,” she says. Jansen wound up spending 20 years at the company, a major airline.

The sudden drop in air travel because of the pandemic has left Jansen and tens of thousands of other airline workers wondering what they’ll do next. For some it’s a career change; for others it’s finding a temporary job and hoping that the industry recovers soon.