Flying the skies... but never seeing outside the plane (Air Cabin Crew)

Member Name: suzanneb84

Product:	Air Cabin Crew
Date:	31/08/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great fun, good for confidence

Disadvantages: low pay, no career prospects

I was Cabin Crew for a year whilst considering my options for careers after university. I worked for a well known budget airline and found it an easy way to pass nine months but would not return to the profession. The plus points are that you undertake an extremely intensive 4-6 week training course which means you are 100% confident in the air (normally you only have 3 crew for 150 people, fine normally but what happens if something medical or an emergency happens - no-one to deal with but you!), the shift patterns are three days off, three early starts (4am) then 4 lates (2pm) which is great as you hardly seem to feel you are at work and you can easily fit in a second job if you want to, you get good discount, you always fly with different people (this can be a good or bad however i loved the variety) and most of all every flight is different, from emergencies to panic attacks to stag dos to arguing couples to (best of all) silence as everyone is asleep! However, and this is a big however, whilst you gain respect and interest for your job when you talk to people, the job has little career prospects (you have to fly a year before you can be a senior, and in todays economy promotions, turnover and expansion just arn't happening... and after that, well there isnt much!), the pay is very poor (basic is around £11k and the rest is per flight and commission so if you have a quiet month.... well, its makes it hard ot plan finances... security in money is not a strong point in this career), and, this last point is a bad one for me at least- because of your pattern you only end up being friends with cabin crew and never see old friends. The only other thing to mention is that dont forget with short haul you never get off the plane!

Summary: Do it as a stop-gap only