Just TROLLEY DOLLIES?

[EZYJET2006]

Hi im looking at pursuing a career in cabin crew but people keep making comments like oh its like a waitress in the sky bla bla and the pay is not that good especially for long hours!

Is there much criticism on the actual aircraft from passengers?


cheers

[captainyonder]

My ex was cabin crew and she used to get fed up with leary businessmen, but other than that she really enjoyed the job. I think most people have a lot of respect for the job that the cabin crew do. If anything it's the flight crew that can be the most idiotic towards cabin crew at times. Some of the Captains I've flown with are convinced that you are just there to get our coffee and any other urges we may feel at any particular time! Ignore the prats and enjoy the job! I'm sure you'd love it, you are just as important to the safe operation of the aircraft as the guys sitting in the flight deck and you should be proud of that.

[Rachman]

Don't listen to them! Cabin crew are, first and foremost, required only for safety reasons. Any other duties you are involved in whilst fulfilling your function as cabin crew are secondary. Depending on which airline you end up with, these duties will include food and drinks services and/or tax/duty free goods services, which are designed primarily to earn the Company (and you)some extra profit. After that comes passenger welfare, and this will include being able to cope with medical emergencies, potentially dangerous confrontational situations, badly beahaved kids and even more badly behaved 'grown-ups', as they like to call themselves!

It is a responsible and demanding job for which you will have to give up any notion of your (probable) previous 9-5, Mon-Fri lifestyle.

If this is not enough to put you off, then you can be sure to eventually enjoy
an enormously rewarding job and a great sense of 'belonging' to the great aviation fraternity.

Well worth giving it a shot and good luck!

Rachman

[banewboi]

i don't know why but it doesn't seem to matter how bad the pay gets and how **** we get treated we just can't stop flying, once you've started if it's for you, you'll never look back, it's not just a job it's a lifestyle, it grips you with both hands and never lets you go, i know many people who have ended up wanting to get out for one reason or another and it's not long before they're back, it grips you and noone know why!

[crib08]

[quote=Rachman]Don't listen to them! Cabin crew are, first and foremost, required only for safety reasons. Any other duties you are involved in whilst fulfilling your function as cabin crew are secondary. Depending on which airline you end up with, these duties will include food and drinks services and/or tax/duty free goods services, which are designed primarily to earn the Company (and you)some extra profit. After that comes passenger welfare, and this will include being able to cope with medical emergencies, potentially dangerous confrontational situations, badly beahaved kids and even more badly behaved 'grown-ups', as they like to call themselves!

It is a responsible and demanding job for which you will have to give up any notion of your (probable) previous 9-5, Mon-Fri lifestyle.

If this is not enough to put you off, then you can be sure to eventually enjoy
an enormously rewarding job and a great sense of 'belonging' to the great aviation fraternity.

Well worth giving it a shot and good luck!

Rachman couldnt have put it any better. Depending on which airline you end up with the money can be very good. With my airline, I have been very lucky. In the last 3 months I can say I have earnt at least 1,600 a month and this month and next I will be looking at near 1,800. In the 4 yrs of flying my smallest pay packet would be my basic of 900 pounds but that would only be because I hadnt worked at all that month.

You dont get that much stick from the pax if any. The only problem we seem to have is when the pax have had a drink too many and want another. Most of us are in this job for the people you work with. These days I think thats the only reason why some crew stay at there airline.:ok:

[MissApproach]

It is nice to hear some positive comments. Out of interest can you declare what company you are working for-the salary sounds good? I am moving back to the UK and looking to continue my flying career. I have been flying for 10 years, but alot of the airlines that are currently recruiting are offering Junior positions (which I don't mind initially) but I can't justify the low basic salary of 9/10k pa! Oh and I am limited to BRS base.
Cheers!
Sunny

[Gatwick07]

Why are you limited to BRS? 'FlyBe' fly from Exeter, there's many airlines to choose in Birmingham (Monarch, First Choice, MyTravel Lite to name a few) or why not move nearer London for the biggest choice? Anyway, good luck and happy job hunting!!

[skybitch]

I'm 12 years in the job and would not still be doing it if it was a bad career choice....
I gave up a 25k job to do it and have never looked back .. I have had some of the best times of my life.. the job is challenging .. rewarding...tiresome...
but no two days are ever the same.. Yes people can be rude and sometimes volatile but in 12 years I can count the volatile on one hand and the rude on well maybe 6.. but equate it for every 1 rude passenger 200+ are lovely it is only the vile ones we remember and only for a very short time....
I have been privelidged to travel extensivley with my job and work with some amazing and entertaining people..We also have the odd first aid incident stroke,heart attack.epilepsy..but you are well trained and can deal with it..
It is a lifestyle choice ..It is not for everyone and if you are willing to work hard and work well in a team it might just be for you...
We dont like moaners or people that slack off and have saturday night fever we do like hard workers and people that are fun and want to get the job done..
Good luck and hope you will be as happy and successful as i have been..
also hope you can spell better.!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[cabingal]

I haven't had that many passengers sayin things like that - only the odd one but I always reply with the fact that if there was a fire on the ground, the fire brigade could be called, if someone took ill on the ground, an ambulance could be called. Some people are just rude - they have no idea of the exams + intense training we have to go through + some are so
ignorant that they wouldn't even listen if we tried to explain!:mad:

[johnrizzo2000]

When i was flying last week from boston to dublin, we had a short stop in shannon. A lot of the passengers got up and walked around, and some got chatting. two in particular were chatting near me, and were discussing the fact that one of the cabin crew was only 19 and were saying ''why would anybody ever want to do that job. its not even glamourous like it used to be. its a real waste, and there's no skill needed for it. what will she do later on in life?'', and the woman she was chatting to replied ''yeah, i know, i mean look at the senior cabin crew. shes in her thirties and shes just a trolly dolly. why would you waste your life?''. The funniest thing was, the senior cabin crew was standing behind!!!!!

I though that those two women were just ignorant! it worried me a little, because i would like to be a cabin crew sometime, and would love to work for the airline i was travelling on!!!! i guess the questions about career choice, and sexual preference (for male), are something all of us wannabe cabin crew will have to face!:mad:

[cityjet]

Im working as a junior for Cityjet. I gotta admit its a wicked job i have only been doing it for a year, though i am able to perfect my french. I speak french all day long so im continually using my brain. People get cabin crew wrong, there are so many thick passengers. Cant find there tray table.....dont understand what the fasten seat belt sign means....asking if they can sit anywhere when it clearly states a seat number.
People under estimate us but i find at cityjet passengers respect you. Im not sure whether that is partly down to me but i feel well treaded. Only a handful of ungreatful pax's.


Im male im st8 aswell dont be put off its worth it. I got a degree in a dif subject area did not think i would be doing this but i aint looked back since.

Try out cityjet it is a great little company.

roy

[Sylphie]

I don't think I've ever overheard negative comments about Cabin Crew. Most people tend to admire them, treat them courteously and some even fancy them ;)

Yet when I was little, when I first saw a flight attendant, or what I called an 'Air Hostess' .. my mother and father laughed, mainly at me being uncomfortable with vomit. Assuming this would be a major turn off for me. Through my teens I kept coming back to 'Flight attendant' as a potential career, and never received negative comments. Even from the parents who once thought it was just a childhood fleeting dream.

You know, I think it may all just be a bit of a jealous twinge within. I mean, take the people talking about the 19 year old girl. I'm sure a lot of their judgement may have been based on the fact she landed a job that takes her around the world, or around the country at such a tender age. And the 30 year old CC? She is probably senior enough to choose her shifts. I'd sure be jealous of that. :ok:

[TightSlot]

Posting as a normal CC, not a Mod...
:)

I've been flying for 26 years now - I think after a while you reach a sort of Zen-like state with regard to abuse and weird passenger behaviour.

A lot of people dislike us for various reasons, sometimes justified, sometimes not. Many people don't understand our primary reason for being on board, and others do understand but don't care anyway. Most people think all male CC are gay and most females are sluts. Some of each are, some aren't. People often believe we are stupid, again, some are, some aren't.

Sometimes CC behave in a manner that simply doesn't help the cause: They become a different person when the uniform goes on and behave in a way that they believe is appropriate for the job/uniform rather than in a way that reflects common sense and courtesy. The best crew behave naturally and exactly the same, whether in or out of uniform, both to colleagues and customers. You can't fight the whole human race if it thinks one way and you think another, nor can you change perceptions in one go. A pleasant and understanding manner, combined with a reasonable explanation will usually work better than yelling the rules at somebody or endlessly picking them up on minor indiscretions.

As to whether it is all worth it? In my time, I've been to places, and seen and done things that most people only think about from home. I've worked with people that have made my life and work a pleasure, and eventually married a CC. I've trained and mentored young people an watched them develop from shy and hopeless teenagers into confident and self-assured adults (and good crew into the bargain). There are two people still walking the planet thanks to my part in a team working CPR, and one who sadly isn't. That's in addition to the other medical incidents that were dealt with. There's loads of other stuff - I'll spare you all that - but yes, it was worth it.

[GorgeousKiwiGal]

It answer to your question; "is it worth it?" Yes, absolutely. 100%. In saying that, I believe it's all about one's mind set. If you go in to the job as a new CC member looking for faults, looking for those occasional negative people who put our job (or us) down, or even go in to the occupation thinking "will it be worth it?", then I kindly suggest you go down a different career path.

It's like anything, hun, if you go in there wised up, trained to the very, very best of your ability and with a POSITIVE attitude and maturity - you will have the time of your life! I can honestly say in my F/A career I haven't encountered any detracters who put down my profession (to my face at least - lol). Infact most admire it, ask tons of questions about it or want mentoring so they can get in to it to. Of course, there are some passengers who treat you like a "sky waitress" or "sex on legs", but that is easily handled and with the right attitude is easy to laugh off ... or in the worst cases it is very easy to have the passenger arrested :E.

If this (CC) is something you really want to do, then go for it, absolutely. There more of us out there - the better. But, please go in to it with the right mind set, the right goals and values and educate yourself as highly as possible about the life, duties and career of a CC member. It's definitely not for everyone ... but for those of us who have flying in our veins ... we will never be happy doing anything else.

All the very, very best :ok:.

[peachy lady]

Just to say, great to hear all the positve comments about life as crew, ive been doing It for approx 7 years. Tried to leave, lasted 12mnths and was scratching walls to come back...
Be warned it gets in your blood............

[cavortingcheetah]

:)

In my opinion both as flight crew and a very frequent full fare paying passenger; the real function of cabin staff is to ensure that as many of us as possible, including themselves, get to safety in an emergency. The drinks, food and so on are a valuable extra but actually the cabin staff are there to cater for the unmentionable occurence when their training and expertise will really be needed. I get extremely irritated when passengers abuse the cabin crew in whatever form that abuse might take. So too do plenty of other frequent travellers. Many of us are perfectly aware that the customer who sloshes back the booze or makes a nuisance of themselves is the one to watch out for if and when the mustard hits the ham sandwich.
Those of us who travel a lot, can usually suss out those cabin crew who will keep their heads when all around are loosing theirs. We expect them to be able to do so.
I was recently on a flight from Barbados to Philadelphia and we knew that the cabin crew, in spite of their age and experience, were woefully incapable of handling an emergency. Sure enough, a nasty situation arose, over the Bermuda triangle to boot, which didn't help morale much, and the cabin crew performed miserably. It really doesn't do when there are people groaning in the aisles with broken bones and impacted necks for the cabin crew to be nipping up and down the aircraft telling everyone that they, the cabin staff, will need to rub themselves up with Ben Gay on getting home or that the false teeth, implanted after a previous motor car accident, may be damaged -some of us were even showed the damned teeth - all this whilst the Captain was deciding whether to divert into DC. In fact, on this flight, if there had not been a couple of hostesses from another airline on board, matters might have become rather more lamentably hilarious.
So, at the end of the day, I think it is fair to say that cabin crew should be professional people with an attitude reflective of that ethos. Excuse the following statement please, but passengers do not like to feel that a cabin crew member is a silly little trolley dolly only in the job for the next exciting night stop. By the same token, passengers should never assume that such might be the case.
Oh yes, you will have no idea how stupid some people can be on an aircraft until you witness it for yourself. I don't suppose it's a terribly good idea to presuppose that passengers have any intelligence or air cred at all!:{

Good luck!:D