Have you ever dreamed of being a flight attendant? Come on, admit it: even though the airline industry isn’t as glamorous as it once was, who hasn’t wondered what it might be like start the work day in New York and end it in Beijing?
A friend of mine recently started training to become a flight attendant for Air Canada, mostly to foot the bills for her PhD program in Fine Art. She beat out thousands of others applicants for the job, not just because she’s attractive, well spoken and charming, but also because she’s bilingual (English/French.)
For the next two months, she’ll be holed up in an airport hotel in Montreal, bunking with a roommate 17 years her junior, attending classes 12 hours a day and doing about four hours of homework a night, all for minimum wage (while she trains, anyway.) Sound appealing? We didn’t think so either, but once the training is complete, there are some definite perks to the job. (We’ll get to those in a minute.)
Applying for the Job
Many airlines require a minimum age of 18 to become a flight attendant and some of the major airlines put the minimum at 21. You’ll need a high school diploma and airlines are increasingly looking to hire those with a college degree. If you don’t have a degree, though, customer service experience is a plus. You’ll also need a passport, if not when you’re hired, then definitely once you start. Also, there’s a height requirement: no shorter than 5 feet and no taller than 6-foot-3, according to eHow.com. You’ll also have to be physically fit, and have a cool enough head to manage an emergency.
Training for the Job
This may come as a surprise, but being a flight attendant isn’t just about greeting customers and serving drinks. Training usually lasts about six weeks, and will require that you to relocate to the airline’s home base (my friend lives in Toronto, so she had to sublet her place for two months while she is in Montreal.) You can expect full days of classes with several hours of homework a night and exams as often as every other day, on which you’ll need to score a 90 percent to pass. The material isn’t hard to learn, but it’s sheer volume will keep you up at night. You’ll also be expected to observe on flights during the training period and your final exam will likely consist of a mock emergency during which you’ll have to prove you have what it takes.
Perks of the Job
Hands down, the biggest perk of being a flight attendant are the flight benefits. They vary from airline to airline, but in general, you can expect to fly just about anywhere for between zero and $30 per flight or even per trip. Flight attendants can also get standby tickets on other airlines at a discount of between 75 and 95 percent. Some airlines also offer family and friends travel benefits, stock options and discounts on hotels, cars and sometimes cruises. Of course, you can also expect great health benefits, a retirement savings program, and with seniority, you can earn up to 10-20 days off a month!
Downside of the Job
By far the worst part of starting out as a flight attendant is the low salary, which is anywhere from $14 to $20 an hour, with the bigger airlines paying toward the upper end of that scale. But that pay is based only on flight hours and on average, a flight attendant will work 75 hours a month, according to FlightAttendantFacts.com. At $20 an hour, that’s just $1,500 a month! Of course, there are also per diems of about $1.50-$2 an hour for every minute that you are at work (in addition to the time you are on a flight), and the average flight attendants work between 150-400 hours of time away when they are making that money on top of their flight hour pay. As with any job, the pay gets better with time — up to $28-$50+ an hour after about 15 or 20 years of work.
If you’ve got the travel bug, then being a flight attendant could be just the ticket! Besides, think of the stories you’ll have.
Photo by alexindigo via Flickr.