Is It Really A Great Job??

[DELTABOY]

I know there are an awful lot of people on this site who are real cabin crew followers & believe it is a great job, some appear to think its almost up against a career in show business or modelling!. But is there anyone out there who like me has flown for a fair while & come to the conclusion that the job really is quite awful?
Does anyone out there know what i mean when you witness the thankless role a cabin crew member plays onboard todays airliners. The heckling & insults shouted out on charter flights, pax demanding that they have rights & playing mind games with the crew. The distasteful drunken behaviour of greedy pax & the yob/ladete culture of both men & women which seems to sadly be the norm in British society now, half naked unruly children running up & down the ailse of a densely packed cabin & the parents throwing used nappies ontop of your meal cart when your back is turned. The pressure on airlines to push their crews harder & harder by operating further & further afield all in one day. Crew being spat at & smashed over the back of the head with glass bottles by psychotic individuals.
I firmly believe that new recruits should understand that when all is said & done, it is a particularly meanial job dressed up in a smart uniform & if they are intent on going for a charter company they should ensure that they watch copious ammounts of the 'Trisha' show to try & aquaint themselves for the onboard clientele, this is also a useful tool in understanding their language. It should also act to soften the shock they will encounter on those night TFS, RHO, CFU, ALC, IBZ,s.
Yes ofcourse the job can give you a wonderful opportunity to see the world & all its rich diversity & cultures. It can also increase your social life... or kill it flat. You can meet & work with some great people & also some very strange ones too!
Its so true when people say that the golden days of flying are well 7 truly over. It took me many years to pluck up the courage to leave flying as i really didn't know what else to do, that is also another danger. If you are young & want to get into a cabin crew career, make sure you have a skill or trade to fall back on. That is why there are alot of very bitter & unpleasant flyers out there who are trapped & secretly despise the job but can't get out.
But I wish anyone who is entering into this profession for the first time much luck & i really hope it is what their looking for!:ok:

[c.r.m what is it]

Delta boy,

totally agree, with what you say, but please don't think those things only happen on charter flights, because i can promise you they don't.

Keep thinking how much I want to still do this and come up with the same answer, what else could I do!!

But good luck to anyone who is just starting their flying career, it's not all bad.

[exmax]

Hi

I also flew for a long time, loved it and left for personal reasons. Would I go back to it? Who knows, maybe, maybe not. I too had that "what else can I do?" question in my thoughts but I think if you apply yourself mentally, then you can do anything you desire if you put in the work. Since becoming ex cabin crew, I have worked as concierge and worked in a 5star hotel and now starting a job doing reservations.

I agree Deltaboy, flying isn't the same as it used to be, it really isn't. I'd put that down so many factors and unfortunately it seems we live in a world where people want something for nothing.

Exmax

[topdog1]

I hate to say it but I totally agree with you.

[Alien Species]

am in total agreement. i left flying and trained to be a nurse, was a tough decision, but one that changed my life. am now living in the states and getting to press my call bell on my trips home!!

[RaverFlaver]

From what I have experienced has been not as severe as yours. Sure you have some tossers on board everynow and then, though it's no different to dealing with an annoying customer in another role.

I just tend to block out the "bad passenger" and think of the fabulous time I will have once we touch down.

It depends how you look at it, and as such I tend to be quite positive and thoroughly enjoy it.

RaverFlaver :)

[exmax]

Trust me, hotel guests are no different to passengers and I've dealt with both:rolleyes:

I think you have to say to yourself, it's a great job if you make it work for you, have fun and set out to achieve what it is that made you want to fly as crew in the first place. At the end of the day, it works for some and not for others.
If you have a bad passenger/situation and great crew to support you through the experience then it's never so bad. The point I was really trying to make in my earlier post was that people want something for nothing - passengers nowadays can fly for so much less than yesteryear and expect the same level of standards to match. With increased frequencies, more routes and less layover (party):eek: time, it's bound to be less fun than it used to be.

Personally, it was the best career I ever had and to anyone embarking on it for the 1st time, go in with your eyes well and truly open.
Exmax

[Flying_Sarah747]

The serving of pax is just a small part of the job though, even though that's what the airline pays me to do, it's DEFINATELY not why I'm there...I have to agree that if that's all it was, I wouldn't be doing it, but the amazing, interesting, cultural, crazy, and wild times I have down route makes up for the actual 'job' itself.

[Lite]

Despite all of the negative factors that are involved with the job of working for a charter or no-frills airline (I've done both!) I think that there are a lot of benefits to the job as well. Even though it's not the glamorous career it once was, I still have had the opportunity to; visit new places (either as a nightstop or getting ridiculously cheap crew rates), meet interesting people (from celebrities, to "celebrities", to those who just have a compelling urge to inform me why they're travelling), learn more about different cultures & had time to pursue hobbies & alternative careers like writing & drama.

I wouldn't call it a dream job, but it can be a fun one with a good group of co-workers & nice passengers the job is great. It only takes one rowdy group of pax or a real jobsworth of a purser to blacken the day!

[gatfield]

No matter what service industry you are in, people can be arseholes and your patience can wear thin.

Do what a friend of mine did - leave cabin crew and really fly.

[DELTABOY]

Thanks guys for all the replys on this topic. Its always interesting hearing other peoples thoughts & views. As mentioned earlier no matter what job you do when dealing with the general public its going to have its good moments & very bad ones too. Also what raverflaver says is very true, you have to keep a positive outlook on the job & not let it get to you. I wonder how long one can keep that up for. It appears to me to be a job you can easily burn out in....& it creeps up very quickly. I can remember flights where i had a cabin of whinging demanding americans, crew falling out with each other, a w***er of a captain, numerous IFE breakdowns popping up all over the place & a female pax shouting in my face that the airline & aircraft were a piece of s***t with her sticky child standing next to her agreeing. Ofcourse not every flight is quite as unpleasant & perhaps dramatic as this, but what used to make me inwardly panic was the fact that you can't go anywhere & take a breather, especially if you have a really nasty punter who follows you around the a/c like a heat seeking missile. I mean its not as if you can pop the o/wing exit open & go for a little wing walk ( & perhaps a crafty ciggy while your at it) to try & get your head together & settle your nerves. The harsh reality was sometimes like a thriller film......There's NOWHERE to run! AAAAHHHHH:eek:
I suppose the cabin crew role is like the swan, graceful, calm & serene on face value, but paddling like a steamer underneath to keep it going for 13hrs!:D