Treatment of pilots and cabin crew?
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Join Date: Aug 2012
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Treatment of pilots and cabin crew?
Hi to all,
The purpose of this post is im doing an aviation operations course before starting my pilot training and ive been tasked with doing an investigation in 2 weeks into the treatment of pilots and cabin crew and how the airline CEO's influence and impact this.
So id be forever grateful if you could post saying how you and/or relatives/friends etc in the industry are treated by the airline they work for as well as how much influence the airline CEO's have over their treatment. The treatment includes how theyre addressed and spoken to, if theyre overworked, if theyre underpaid or not, if they have to do unusual tasks (such as cleaning the plane themselves, yes im looking at you Ryanair!!) etc.
Ive been interested in this since realising how michael o'leary of ryanair treats his pilots so id like to hear from a few people if possible. Please do state airline names but no personal information is needed just what job you/the relatives/friends do and the airline(s).
The information given will only be used for me to to combine with my research to reach a conclusion for my investigation.
Thank you to anyone who replies or even anyone who takes the time to read this. This is extremely important to me so i hugely appreciate any help i can get.
Many Thanks
The purpose of this post is im doing an aviation operations course before starting my pilot training and ive been tasked with doing an investigation in 2 weeks into the treatment of pilots and cabin crew and how the airline CEO's influence and impact this.
So id be forever grateful if you could post saying how you and/or relatives/friends etc in the industry are treated by the airline they work for as well as how much influence the airline CEO's have over their treatment. The treatment includes how theyre addressed and spoken to, if theyre overworked, if theyre underpaid or not, if they have to do unusual tasks (such as cleaning the plane themselves, yes im looking at you Ryanair!!) etc.
Ive been interested in this since realising how michael o'leary of ryanair treats his pilots so id like to hear from a few people if possible. Please do state airline names but no personal information is needed just what job you/the relatives/friends do and the airline(s).
The information given will only be used for me to to combine with my research to reach a conclusion for my investigation.
Thank you to anyone who replies or even anyone who takes the time to read this. This is extremely important to me so i hugely appreciate any help i can get.
Many Thanks
Join Date: Apr 2010
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I have done the cleaning,(no drying
),loading,fuelling and other tasks.
What you need to know is unless you are really passionate about becoming a pilot,please dont.
You have more chance,in general,to end up jobless and in debt than flying for a major airline.
The only reason why my morale is not all the way down to my fancy airline socks is that i am still enjoying the flying.
The day that goes away, i will give up the gloves.
Good luck.
),loading,fuelling and other tasks.What you need to know is unless you are really passionate about becoming a pilot,please dont.
You have more chance,in general,to end up jobless and in debt than flying for a major airline.
The only reason why my morale is not all the way down to my fancy airline socks is that i am still enjoying the flying.
The day that goes away, i will give up the gloves.
Good luck.
Join Date: Jun 2002
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From where I sit it would be fair to say cabin crew are underpaid and overworked. They have to put up with pathetic briefings and almost criminal lack of support from their managers plus abuse from the people they look after. They take about three months to recruit and six weeks to train (and several years to be really good). Unfortunately there is no shortage of applicants, hence their relatively low ranking in the airline hierarchy. Despite that, I have met very few cabin crew who didn't do their job properly. Yes, some take the piddle every now and again, but most are pretty upbeat and do their jobs to the best of their ability with a very genuine smile on their faces. And for that they are to be both commended and respected.
But I do know of some exceptions.
But I do know of some exceptions.
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You poms are being too polite
Most airlines treat their cabin crew like ****. As Piltdown Man said, it takes around 5-6 weeks to train a Flight Attendant from scratch.
Many airlines consider them to be temporary employees, by which I mean they hire them young and work them to death. They leave a few years later. But that's no problem because they'll just recruit some more "young-uns" and repeat the cycle.
Pilots are (generally) better treated, but only because it takes so much longer (and much more money) to train them.
In the U.S. many of the regional pilots are so badly paid that they qualified for welfare. It took the Colgan Q400 crash (look it up) to prompt the Americans that something was wrong with their system.
I can't speak for Europe, but it appears (from here in Oz) that P2F schemes are getting more and more common. So if you want to pay for your (integrated) flying course, PLUS pay an airline for 500 hours RHS in a 737 or A320, then fill your boots.
If you get into one of the big legacy carriers, different story, and good luck with that.
Here in Oz, if you work for the majors you get paid pretty well. Some airlines make you work pretty hard for it; others not so much. But the majors haven't done that much hiring since the GFC. If you're in one of the big regionals you get paid okay (but not that well) but get flogged.
What do the CEO's have to do with it?
Everything.
Many airlines consider them to be temporary employees, by which I mean they hire them young and work them to death. They leave a few years later. But that's no problem because they'll just recruit some more "young-uns" and repeat the cycle.
Pilots are (generally) better treated, but only because it takes so much longer (and much more money) to train them.
In the U.S. many of the regional pilots are so badly paid that they qualified for welfare. It took the Colgan Q400 crash (look it up) to prompt the Americans that something was wrong with their system.
I can't speak for Europe, but it appears (from here in Oz) that P2F schemes are getting more and more common. So if you want to pay for your (integrated) flying course, PLUS pay an airline for 500 hours RHS in a 737 or A320, then fill your boots.
If you get into one of the big legacy carriers, different story, and good luck with that.
Here in Oz, if you work for the majors you get paid pretty well. Some airlines make you work pretty hard for it; others not so much. But the majors haven't done that much hiring since the GFC. If you're in one of the big regionals you get paid okay (but not that well) but get flogged.
What do the CEO's have to do with it?
Everything.
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Im doing a level 3 Aviation Operations extended Diploma in order to get background information and experience on the industry before I start my pilot training. I finish the course in less than 8 weeks and this is the final huge assessment and this is my task to do an investigation on this issue within the industry.
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A HUGE thank you
Just wanna say a HUGE thank you to everyone whose posted a reply. I appreciate this massively, this will help so much with the investigation. Lets just hope (being optimistic) that the industry improves before I get my wings 
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As we are on the subject, you'll often find Cabin Crew Managers and Base Stewardesses can be pretty mean and regularly bully their subordinates. Many have very poor reputations and often dish out mean, unjust and dreadful appraisals of their staff. Their records are regularly kept as long as they are with the company. Pilots records are normally kept for three years. Our Chief Pilots appear to be reasonable people and are not people to be feared. However, when things do wrong, pilots often involve their union representatives early in the disciplinary process. We want to get value for our 1% subscriptions. But I'd not hold my breath for improvement on the cabin crew front. Unite are keener to take on the government than they are looking after "silly cabin crew" as overheard by one of there members.
