Air Cabin Crew

Air cabin crew look after airline passengers and are responsible for their comfort and safety during their flight. They serve food, sell goods and deal with any problem or emergency that arises. They are sometimes called air steward, air stewardess, air hostess or flight attendant.

The Work

Air cabin crew have a range of tasks, before, during and after a flight.

Before taking off you could be:

• attending a briefing about the flight


• preparing the aircraft for flight, checking on board supplies and safety or comfort equipment


• welcoming passengers and helping them find their seats


• explaining and demonstrating emergency and safety rules and checking that passengers have fastened their seat belts and stored their luggage in the correct place.

• dealing with passengers' requests and ensuring their comfort and safety


• serving meals and drinks, tidying up and selling duty free goods


• passing on information from the pilot on the loudspeaker system


• if there is an emergency, reassuring passengers and making sure they follow safety procedures


• calming nervous or sick passengers and giving first aid


• dealing with any drunk or aggressive passengers.

• making sure passengers leave the plane safely with their hand luggage


• checking food and duty-free stocks


• filling in flight reports.

Conditions

• It can be cramped, noisy and warm on a plane.


• You would spend a lot of time on your feet.


• You may have to work long shifts and be on stand-by to work at short notice.


• You may have to work at weekends and on public holidays.


• You may have to spend some nights away from home, especially if you work on long-haul flights.


• You might spend most of your time in different airports without seeing much of the countries you pass through, especially if you work on short-haul flights.


• You would have to wear a uniform.


• On occasions, you may suffer from jet lag.

Getting In

• You should have a good general education. Some Standard grades, including English and maths, are helpful.


• There are courses which could help you to prepare for application to an airline at: Adam Smith College: National Qualification (NQ) in Skills for Holiday Representatives and Cabin Crew; Cumbernauld College: Introductory Skills for Flight Attendants and Holiday Representatives; Glasgow Metropolitan College: Airline Cabin Crew Preparation. Contact the colleges for details.


• There are also some online courses which can provide training - see below for websites.


• For some airlines you need to be able to speak a second language.


• For many airlines you need to be able to swim.


• There are normally height and weight restrictions, and your weight should be in proportion to your height.


• You need to have a medical examination, and you should have good health, hearing and eyesight. You should not have any visible tattoos or piercings.


• You must have the right to live and work in the UK.


• You often need previous experience of working with people. Airlines may prefer you to have at least one year's experience in a field such as customer service, retail or travel agency work.

What Does It Take?

You need to be:

• smart and well groomed


• confident


• tolerant


• calm


• good at coping in a crisis


• able to be firm with difficult passengers.

• good communication skills


• a pleasant and helpful manner.

Training

• Airlines provide 4-6 weeks of training, covering topics such as safety and first aid; customer care; immigration, customs and security rules; currency exchange; preparing and serving food; pre- and post-flight checks, sales and report writing.


• This is followed by a period of several months of in-flight training, supervised by experienced staff.


• There are several training schemes which will help your chances of gaining employment. See the website www.cabincrew.com (below).

Getting On

• With experience you may gain promotion to posts such as senior cabin crew member, cabin services manager or purser.


• Alternatively, you might move to ground based work in areas such as administration,
  recruitment services or training.

Pay

The figures below are only a guide. Actual pay rates may vary depending on:

• where you work


• the size of the company or organisation you work for


• demand for the job.

More Information

There is a lot of competition for this kind of work. You might find temporary work during busy holiday seasons before getting a permanent job.

There are vacancies on various websites such as www.aviationjobsearch.com and www.CabinCrew.com (below).

Addresses

The following organisation(s) may be able to provide further information.