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Flight Attendant Jobs
Now Featuring 55 airlines (many offering flight attendant jobs):

Air Canada, Air Wisconsin, AirTran, Alaska, Allegiant Air, American, American Eagle, Atlantic SE, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Chautauqua, Colgan Air, Comair, CommutAir, Continental, Delta, Easyjet, Emirates, Etihad Airways, ExpressJet, Frontier, GoJet Airlines, Gulf Air, Hawaiian, Horizon, JetBlue, Mesa, Mesaba, Miami Air, Midwest, NetJets, North American, Northwest, Omni Air, Piedmont, Pinnacle, PSA, Qantas (UK), Qatar Airways, Republic, Ryan Int'l, Ryanair, Shuttle America, Singapore Airlines, Skywest, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, Trans States, United, US Airways, USA3000, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, WestJet, and World

10 Ways Becoming A Flight Attendant Changed My Life
by Marsha Marks
Relaxing in 4 star hotels, with drivers on call.
Prior to becoming a Flight Attendant, I had a good job in middle management, with a large US Corporation, with lots of travel. But, I never relaxed when I traveled. Instead I had to attend meetings, and every minute of the day was scheduled. Imagine, my surprise, when I realized -- as a Flight Attendant, once we get to the hotels – our time is our own. Rooms, transportation and food is all paid for, and we have pre-scheduled drivers who pick us up on time and get us back to the airport the next day! They even drive us to shopping if we want. When I settle into a 4 star hotel, now, I take a bubble bath, order room service, and read -- something I never have time to do at home! (And would never do, if I were not a Flight Attendant.)
Parties that only Flight Attendants are invited to.
Before I became a Flight Attendant, I was trying to meet Mr. Right, but couldn’t seem to find him among the dross that everyone had to sift through to find a true Gem. Then I became a Flight Attendant and on my first night of Flight Attendant Training, I was invited to a party, (happening the next weekend) for Fight Attendants and Aerospace Engineers. There I met the man of my dreams, educated, intelligent, gainfully employed and incredibly handsome, and oh so grateful to be meeting and dating a Flight Attendant. We were married a year and a half later!
Able to pursue my second career – with time and energy left over.
The whole time I was in the corporate world, I would get up at 6AM to get ready and drive an hour to my work, and then work 8 hours and drive an hour home. I was exhausted. I only got 2 or 3 weeks vacation a year! I had no time to pursue what I really wanted – writing the great American Novel. But, shortly after becoming a Flight Attendant, I found I had tons of days off every month. Lots of months, I only worked 9 days! So, I had time to pursue my “dream career” of being a writer. In 2002, I became the first Flight Attendant ever to sign a three-book deal with a division of the largest publisher in the world. Many of my fellow Flight attendants are Nurses, Lawyers, Teachers, and Real Estate professionals, - all career’s they can pursue, on their days off.
Meeting and networking with the rich and influential.
When my husband and I were trying to sell a condo in LA and living in Seattle, we flew down to LA to check on our property. Of course we flew Space Available. And of course, the space most often available was in First Class. So, we sat next to the rich and influential, and met people who asked us if we could use what they couldn’t…like box seats to pro-games they weren’t going to be able to attend. Tickets to the symphony, - they wouldn’t be able to make the night in question. And invitations to top “benefactor” parties, where we met Senators, and congressmen, and CEO’s. Believe me, this would not have happened, if I had never become a Flight Attendant.
Glamour.
I always thought I’d grow up to be Miss America. It would just happen, I thought by write In ballot. But, it turns out, you actually have to compete for these titles, and I never did. When I told all this to my fellow wing sister, she said, “If you can’t be Miss America, and you can’t be a model, then you become a Flight Attendant.” And the glamour is there by profession.
Instant membership in a most elite sorority.
My Wing Sister, Melanie, (who now is a real estate mogul) tells of the time she was engaged to a Physician. They attended an exclusive black tie dinner party. At the table when everyone was introduced, Melanie said she was a bit intimidated by other people’s titles and education…until they asked her what she did, and she said she was a Flight Attendant. The whole table turned to her and said FLIGHT ATTENDANT! And for the rest of the evening, she was the “star”. Becoming a Flight Attendant is like gaining an entrance to an elite sorority. A sorority which everyone is curious about!
The longer you work, the less you work.
How would you like to work 8 days a month and make a full-time salary? (Legally). Flight Attendants make more and work less, with each passing year. It's the nature of the business - all schedules and pay - are based on seniority. The more senior you are, the better trips you have and the better the pay.
My family flies free anytime anywhere – and my friends get buddy passes.
I don’t think I need to say anymore about the wonder of being able to offer my family and friends trips to Hawaii, or Rome or New York, First Class. It’s great – and certainly would never happen if I were not a Flight Attendant.
Education.
Where else could I actually get paid, to discover up close and personal, that the Mona Lisa is in fact, a quite small painting. Or see what the Cathedrals look like, in Rome. Or visit the North Pole at Christmas. Some education can best be learned, while on the job. The job of a flight attendant!
The heartfelt knowledge that each day, I can make someone’s life, a little happier.
People who travel are usually tired, and stressed. They board my flight looking for someone with a smile and a reassurance that all will be well, and this flight will be wonderful. I love making someone’s day simply by offering a pillow and a blanket, or a beverage with lots of ice. I love my job. And there is not another job that can so change someone’s life, like that of becoming a Flight Attendant

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A Day in the Life of a Flight Attendant
by David Silverstein
A day on the job. For a flight attendant that could mean...a trip to Paris...or an emergency landing. It can be fun, an adventure, or both...but is it work? I’ve found that working for a major airline this past year has been one of the hardest jobs I have ever had, and yet one of the most enjoyable. The schedule and the passengers challenge me in ways I never could have imagined. But nothing beats hanging out in Las Vegas for 24 hours with a company-paid hotel room and expense money. The thousands of us flying encounter many different experiences during the course of a day. This is a day (well, technically a trip) in my life...

5:45 P.M. Friday: The Assignment

In the airline industry, seniority rules. Mechanics, pilots, flight attendants, customer service agents--all of these employees enjoy pay rates, schedules and benefits based on their length of service with the company. Among flight attendants, seniority determines status as a lineholder or reserve. Lineholders have a flying schedule set at least one month in advance; they know when and where they will work and on what types of aircraft. The airlines use reserves to fill open flying time and to cover positions vacated by lineholders calling in sick or on holiday. If you are a relatively new flight attendant, like me, you can expect to sit reserve for a couple of years. Flight attendants often receive a set schedule (known as a block) after less than two years, but at some bases, flight attendants can sit reserve for more than ten years.

As a reserve flight attendant, my "work day" begins with a call from a crew scheduler. Each airline operates differently; at mine, schedulers call reserves on-duty to ask what trips they want to fly the following day. Trips are paid by the flight hour, from the time the aircraft door is shut to the time it is opened. And for every hour away from base, flight attendants are paid expense money. This particular Friday evening, when crew scheduling calls, I choose a four-day trip on the Airbus 319--one of our newer aircraft. It pays better than average and overnights in Raleigh-Durham, Washington, DC and Denver. Working what the airline labels the "C" position, I serve in the economy cabin and sit in the front, near the boarding door. With my trip set, I pack. I take a few extra pieces of my uniform and some clothes for the overnight. I go to bed early since I must check in early the next morning.

7:30 A.M. Saturday: Check-in

This morning, I go down to the crew room below the airport concourse in Philadelphia. Each base has a crew room complete with couches, computers and supervisors’ offices. Pilots and flight attendants also have boxes or folders there for company mail. Before starting a trip, a crewmember must check in for it. First things first, I use the computer to sign in for the trip. If you do not sign in an hour before the trip departs, you are liable to get written up by your supervisor. Since boarding begins 30 minutes prior to departure, there’s not much time to spend in the crew room, but I have a few minutes to check my box for memos and chat with friends. I head to the plane to meet up with the rest of the crew.

Communication between the cockpit and the cabin plays a vital role in maintaining a safe environment, and the crew briefings at the beginning of a trip set the tone. Once on the airplane, Becky, the lead flight attendant, briefs Mike and me on safety procedures, delegates announcement responsibilities and confirms that we have our emergency manuals. Afterward, the captain conducts his briefing, reviewing safety-related issues, flight time, weather, and what he likes to drink.

Ready, Set, Go: Inflight

About 30 minutes prior to departure, the agent working our flight comes down the jetway to begin boarding. Becky nods okay, and we finish checking our emergency equipment and catering supplies. From the forward galley, Becky and I greet the passengers and prepare drinks for first class customers. Mike hangs out in the back, monitoring the dwindling space in the overhead bins. Boarding tends to provide the biggest headache, especially considering I do not get paid until that door is shut. With a nearly full flight, it is pretty much guaranteed that space in the overhead bins will go quickly. Tensions mount, but bags need to be checked. Though the company no longer requires passenger counts, many pilots prefer to have them. When you see the flight attendant slowly coming up the aisle silently moving his or her lips, sometimes motioning his or her hands, that flight attendant is taking a count. As easy as it may seem, it often takes more than one count to get it right.

Once all the overhead bins are shut and the passengers are seated, the flight is ready for departure. I verify that the passengers seated in the window exit row are willing and able to assist in an emergency if necessary. Before shutting the door, the agent hands Becky a copy of the manifest, which lists first class passengers, passengers with special needs or meals, and gate connections. We arm the exits, enabling the slides to inflate if the doors are opened. After the safety video and a final cabin walk-through, the three of us strap into our jump seats and I practice my 30-second review, which includes evacuation commands and door operation procedures. It is still a thrill when we taxi onto the runway and the engines roar. You learn to recognize the strange (and initially scary) noises as just the lavatory toilet seat coming down or unused hangars banging in the closet.

Once we level-off at 10,000 ft, I head to the back and help Mike prepare for the breakfast service. To no one’s surprise, we serve the staple of the skies: omelettes and French toast. In the back galley, we brew coffee, cook the meals in the ovens and set up the carts. Since the beverage cart comes stocked with cans of sodas and juices, we just add a few things on top such as some cream and sugar for the coffee. Once the meals finish cooking, we begin serving from the front of the cabin to the back. It turns out we are short a few meals and have to ask the company employees traveling on the flight to go without a breakfast. I hate doing that, but they do not seem to mind. Space is undeniably tight on the beverage cart, and accidents are bound to happen. I am no exception on this leg, knocking a can of soda on a passenger as I reach for it. Not much spills, but he is still peeved. I give him a sorry form to get his pants dry-cleaned at the airline’s expense. Finishing the service, I settle in the back row with a book, assisting in the cabin as needed. Passengers occasionally bring cups and other trash back for me to dispose of as they head to the toilet, but the remainder of the long flight is a coffee break of sorts for us.

Service in first class is usually more involved. With 12 or fewer passengers on the smaller jets, it also tends to be more intimate. No carts are needed, and food and beverages are presented in china and glassware. Various types of people fly first class, but that cabin mostly fills up with business people and other frequent flyers. Celebrities occasionally make an appearance. A friend served Sissy Spacek once, and another flew with the members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

During the flight, a problem arises, which is relatively common on longer flights. Sitting in the back, I notice the smell of cigarette smoke coming from the lavatory. A passenger exits and it is obvious he has been smoking. There is no sign of the cigarette in the trash, but I advise him that smoking in the lavatory is a violation of a federal law and comes with a large fine. There are set procedures to deal with situations like these and paperwork to complete.

We cruise through the rest of the day with little problem, except when I smash Mike’s finger in the overhead bin as we both try to close it. He’s okay, though he is quick to point out the tiny white scratch on his fingernail. An extra flight attendant joins us in Denver for our next leg to Charlotte. She notices a pregnant woman sitting in the exit row, and the four of us discuss whether the passenger is qualified to do so. Since no regulation explicitly excludes pregnant women from those seats and the passenger insists she is both willing and able to assist in an emergency, we decide to let her stay there. The last leg of the day is the easiest. Since the airline needs us in Raleigh-Durham, but does not need us to work from Charlotte, we deadhead on another crew’s flight.

Gas, Food, Lodging: The Layover

We arrive in Raleigh-Durham at 8:00 P.M. I take Mike and Becky to the restaurant where I once waited tables. My old boss gives us dinner on the house, certainly a welcome treat on our first-year salary. We have an early start again the next morning and there is not a whole lot to do near the airport in Durham, so we don’t stay out late.

On an overnight, the airline provides each crewmember with his or her own hotel room. Long layovers (at least 15 hours off) land you at a decent hotel downtown, near the beach or some sort of shopping venue. For shorter layovers, you will usually stay at or very near the airport. My crew, both the pilots and the flight attendants, stay together the entire trip--layover and all. Some airlines work a little differently, putting flight attendants and pilots in separate hotels. The airline also covers meals, if you count the expense money paid for the trip.

12:40 P.M. Tuesday: Check-out

The next few days of the trip are surprisingly uneventful. The video system on the Airbus, sophisticated as it is with its automatic preprogramming, occasionally malfunctions. Threatened with having to do the safety demo the "old-fashioned way," we manage to play the video manually. At the end of day two, as the plane pulls off the runway at National Airport in D.C., I persuade Becky to spice up the arrival announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our nation’s capital," she says, instead of the scripted "Welcome to Washington, DC." I cannot tell if anyone notices. By the end of the fourth day, most of the giddiness has been replaced with exhaustion.

At the end of the last leg, we land in Philadelphia. The trip is now over. I am released from duty 15 minutes later. This rest period lasts at least eight hours and is guaranteed to be free from phone contact from schedulers. Leaving the airport, I head out to the employee parking lot, pick up my car and head home. Back in my room, I unload my bags and unplug the phone.

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Graduating from college? The sky is the limit
by David Silverstein
Attention college seniors: I am the voice of your not-so-distant future. I was once where you are now, sweating and worrying about my future, forced to answer the never-ending question from family and friends: "What are you going to do when you graduate?"

The Onset of Panic

I can relate. But you do not want sympathy; you want advice. The best advice I can give you is to relax. You do not have to figure out the rest of your life in the next six months. You have a lifetime to sketch out those dreaded career goals. In the meantime, take a job you can enjoy: teach in an under-served school system, try your luck in Hollywood, work your way across the world, or do as I did, and take to the skies -- become a flight attendant.

Peace Corps Volunteer or Flight Attendant?

I joined the "real world" just over a year ago, after four unfocused years of college. The flexibility of my psychology major allowed me to explore my many interests, from Latin-American music to the social constructions of health. I studied abroad for a year, wrote for the college newspaper and conducted HIV education programs. By senior year, I was confused. I did not know what to do following graduation -- which of those diverse paths to pursue. My senior year I took the minimum course load (12 hours in the Fall and an awesome 8 hours in the Spring) in order to devote most of my time and energy to the job search. I spent most of those days in the library, glued to a computer screen, combing through every imaginable online job listing. There were jobs I wanted that I never could have gotten and jobs I could have gotten but never wanted. Graduation day loomed, and I was freaking out.

All was not lost, though. I had two very real possibilities. The Peace Corps was a definite interest. I could experience some far-away place and contribute to the betterment of the world. The other idea emerged from my closet obsession with air travel, which I finally managed to do something about. Along with the Peace Corps, I applied for a flight attendant position. I know…it seems strange to mention being a Peace Corps volunteer and a flight attendant in the same breath. But both captured my overwhelming love of travel. It was not an easy decision, but in the end, I decided to put the Peace Corps on hold and take the job as a flight attendant. It was time to have some fun and fulfill an old dream.

Is It Right For Me?

You would not be reading this article if you weren’t at least mildly interested in an airline career. But how do you know if it is right for you? I have friends who often get frustrated with their 9 to 5 office jobs and toss around the idea of joining me. After we get past the benefits (which are fantastic) and get into the actual work, their interest sometimes waivers. It is a demanding job, and it takes more than a "people person" to solve crises - both large and small - in such tight quarters and with very limited resources. You must possess good self-esteem and the sense not to take everything to heart cranky passengers and crewmembers throw at you. You have to be able to work strange hours, including nights, weekends and holidays. But of course, there are many advantages: you do not have to go to work every weekday from 9 to 5, you typically get more time off than at a typical job, and you very rarely see any kind of a supervisor or boss. Plus, working holidays may mean having a hotel room in Times Square on New Year’s Eve!

Landing A Flight Attendant Job Is Difficult

Landing a job at one of the major airlines is very tricky since the number of applicants far outweighs the number of positions. There is good news though: most airlines are growing and hiring more flight attendants than ever. And a college degree does carry weight. While no carrier I know of requires an applicant to have a degree, many of the flight attendants I know have undergraduate degrees. A few have even pursued advanced degrees while continuing to fly.

Some airlines actually recruit on campus, though many conduct open interview sessions around the country. Consider applying if you’ve harbored that steward/ess dream since your first plane ride, or if the job sounds fun and you do not know what else you’d like to do. If you are headed to grad school but want a break or need to save some money, think about deferring. Airlines do not require minimum commitments; you can fly for a month, a year, or 30 years. If you only want to fly temporarily or decide it is not for you, no problem. You are not locked in. JFK-based JetBlue even designed a limited one-year program with recent grads in mind.

As I mentioned earlier, competition for these jobs is intense, and I recommend checking out AirlineCareer.com's online resource (forgive me for sounding like an advertisement). This will give you the best opportunity to get hired. Of course, you could just wing it, but I can almost guarantee you won't get hired without some assistance.

Why It's All Worth It

The benefits that come with an airline job cannot be beat, especially for those of us just starting to make our way in the world. Considering the work involved, the pay is decent. But it is the free travel that lures many into the industry. No matter how long you’ve worked for an airline, it is undeniably cool to be able to hop on a plane and go anywhere on a day off. This past year alone, I spent Thanksgiving in London and New Year’s in Frankfurt. For fun, I vacationed in Thailand. "What are you going to do when you graduate?"
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