Originally Posted by
sophiabecker
Please inform yourselves before applying to be a Cabin Crew on this particular airline. The truth is not widespread and can’t be easily found on internet. These Open Days are more like a recruitment for slaves, you are never told about how things really work around here and people fall really easily on their trap because of the “high” paying salaries promises.
Once you join expect to have no private life, you literally sold your life to them… the company will interfere on every aspect of your professional and PRIVATE life, you will be forced to live within company accommodation where security guards register every move you make, on your days off you must remain home 12 hours before each flight, actually is 12 hours before your pick up time, so most of the times you arrive home from work and is already “locked down” for the next duty.
Even worst, if it’s your day off and next day you have an early morning flight starting at 4am for example you must be locked home by 1pm on your day off since pickup time is usually 3 hours before the flight and you must be home 12h before pickup time. You can never leave home between 4am and 7am, cameras are used to enforce all these rules 24/7 in addition to check points where you must swipe your ID to enter and exit home even on your day off.
Visiting hours are limited to 10PM, all your visitors are registered and photographed on arrival, their documents will be retained until they leave the building. From time to time your accommodation will receive spot checks, this is when someone from the company enters your accommodation WITHOUT knocking on your door and will inspect your place looking not only for illegal items but also to evaluate if it is clean and organised, they will open all your kitchen stuffs, drawers, fridge, etc…
The airline operates its own set of rules when comes to flight duty limitations, contrary to a normal airline cabin crew is constantly abused by a no limited block duty limitation. Expect to fly 140h a month while on any normal airline your fly 75h to 100h the most. Also contrary to a normal airline cabin crew have longer daily duty limitations compared to pilots, so it’s not uncommon for the deck crew to get some rest on a layover after a long flight to Moscow for example while the cabin crew is forced to operate the returning sector based on these absurds duty limitations.
Recently the company is undergoing adjustments to become EASA compliant, but was unable to adjust it self to flight duty limitations because not enough cabin crews are willing to endure this kind of life for much longer than 2 years, this is the minimum time before you are allowed to resign with no penalties, if you try to leave early they will charge you money for that.
Job security is close to zero, you might be terminated and no explanations given for using your mobile in uniform, for getting pregnant (this also will put you in jail once being pregnant and not married is a crime on this part of the world), for not wearing your hat on a crew bus (even when curtains are closed), for any passenger complaint, or anything the managers decide to pick on you.
Getting married without company’s approval is also a reason for termination. The country labor law prohibits unions so you are on your own if any issue arises within the company (or your personal life once the airline controls all aspects of it). To make things worst the country adopts an “exit permit” system which requires company approval every time you need leave the country, so if any major issue arises you will be held in the country until investigation is concluded, so it’s not uncommon for crew to simply jump the ship during a layover or going home for a visit and never coming back.
Working environment is extremely stressful, for some reason the report culture is very present and reports among colleagues is highly encouraged by the company, and believe me when I say that every single report is processed and you will be called to the office in order to give explanations. The average of the cabin crew being hired by the company is 23 years old, so you can imagine how crazy it gets when you give reporting powers to all these people who never worked for an airline before.
Being an expat woman on this country is also a concern, the locals are very respectful in general but 90% of the population is male labours coming from the subcontinent (so is the company management), expect to suffer constant sexual harassment when walking on the streets at any time of the day. The country in general is extremely safe, but bad things that happen here are always hidden by the local media, filming and posting things on internet is illegal so we never know how safe this place really is.
Relationships with colleagues are highly “discouraged” by the company and may lead to arbitrary terminations, this is the only part I can’t verify but the “fear factor” around this matter is very real.
Please do yourself a favor and talk to people working here before applying for this job. More info can be found at glassdoor.com where employees post reviews of the company, just look how many bad reviews for cabin crew job.
Wish you all luck
* Lot's of spaces added as per GrahamO request, he/she got issues with "no spaces and punctuations "