Living in the Clouds

I have a sister of whom I am really proud. After the kids were fully grown she found herself single after years of unhappy marraige. So she went back to work. She found the job market brutal after all those years as a housewife, but she stuck with it, and got a ticketing job with Continental Airlines. She allowed herself to dream simply about returning to the flight attendant's job she'd given up once she got married, and thanks to a 1968 court ruling which affected down the mandatory resignation ages and to the fact that my sister is still in great shape, now she is flying again. And she loves it!

The Office of Travel and Business Industries has denote the following statistics regarding travel in 2000: 26,853,000 Americans traveled to foreign destinations, patch a record 50.9 million international travelers visited the United States, which means lots of international air travel. Add to that domestic air travel and you can see that there are a lot of jobs out there. Post Sep 11, 2001 figures have not yet been released, but we hear news of business troubles with the airlines on a daily basis. So, are the flight attendants' jobs secure? I've had a look about to try and get a feel for the industry as it stands today, and tho' there have been several layoffs among smaller airlines, particularly charter companies, many a companies are as well hiring. In the U.S. Southwest Airlines and Continental several appear to be weathering the storm well.

Glamorous as it sounds, working for the airlines is not all sweetness and light. The constant threat of lay-offs notwithstanding, it can be as repetitive as any different job in a service industry, with long hours and downright abusive passengers to look after. The plus side is that you get paid to travel. I was curious and see several online discussions between
flight attendants (www.flightattendants.org), and discovered that difficulties aside, these folk actually LOVE what they do.

Here are several of the reasons why:

With practice and seniority, flight attendants are often able to group their flights together is such a way that they have 1 - 2 weeks off every month.

There is a lot more variety than in a "normal" 9 - 5 job. You get to fly to several cities, activity with several crews, and come your schedule about so you ne'er have to get bored.

Airline employees commonly get 2 paid weeks off after the 1st year with a maximum of 5 weeks per year after 20 years of service. They fly for nearly free and get discounts on edifice accommodations and car rentals. Close relatives are entitled to super cheap passes as well. The only stipulation is that folk traveling on "buddy passes" must fly standby. So if the flight fills up with regular passengers, everyone with chum passes wish get bumped and have to wait for the next flight, (not a nice way to travel with children!)

Plus most airlines as well do interline agreements with different carriers so that employees can fly free or nearly free to simply just about any place that has an airport. If you visit flightattendants.org/interline.htm you wish find a long list of interline companies which offer package holidays, tours, and cruises alone to airline employees and their concomitant family members and traveling companions.

Though the majority of them are women, the job is now open to men and women between the ages of 18 and 60. Most airlines set height requirements for flight attendants between 5' and 6' since taller folk have trouble moving about the cabin of the aircraft, and shorter ones have trouble reaching the overhead lockers. Being in nice physical condition is important, since the job demands it, but the old weight restrictions have relaxed. Now airlines say "weight must be in proportion to height". And thankfully, a court ruling in 1990 illegal smoking on all domestic flights, thus eliminating second-hand smoke inhalation as an activity hazard for flight attendants.

Though airline passengers tend to think of flight attendants as waiters, in actual fact, the flight attendant's primary responsibility is to the security of the passengers. My sister told me she spent several days practicing deed folk out of the craft safely, and she showed me the bruises she got from slippy repeatedly down that expansive ramp you see on the little security card in the seat back in front of you. Different standard security training includes basic first-aid, CPR, and fire-fighting.

Here are a few things to consider if you want to be a flight attendant:

* You may be away 4-10 days at a time.

* Starting salaries are quite low, but increase handsomely with seniority.

* Attendants may be regular for up to 16 hours at a time on several long haul flights. (My sister says she doesn't sit down for
the whole trip on a 10 hour trans-Atlantic flight.)

* Depending on whether you activity for a small or large airline, you could be a crew of 1 or 18, who serve up to 400 passengers.

* Several flight attendants see nothing but the same two cities day in and day out as they fly back and forth between them, patch others enjoy layovers in the worlds most exotic locations. Shop
about before you commit to an airline.

* Carriers look for candidates with nice communication skills,
adaptability, and who activity well without supervision.

* For international flights, bi-lingual and tri-lingual applicants are preferred.

* Attendants should have a minimum of a high school education or GED, and most have at least several college.

* Flight attendants obtain 4 - 6 weeks arduous training from the airline that hires them, whether or not they have had any previous experience or training.

* Regarding lay offs in the presently troubled airline industry, here are several quotes I gleaned from a flight attendants online forum at www.flightattendants.org (If you actually want to hear what FA's are saying, go see these discussions, they are really enlightening):

Here's the pro: "The airline industry is in trouble but it isn't going to hell simply yet. I've been working as a FA for simply about 3 years and believe that my job is secure. I do activity for a regional but haven't seen a lot of folk come from different airlines to us because of layoffs. We suspended hiring in
Sep until the beginning of the new year and plan to start once more in the spring. In the fall there is commonly less flying overall than in the different months so it ready-made sense to finish hiring. The 1st year the money is actually funny and that's once a lot of folk leave. At (blanked by Kim) we start at $16.69 an hour with an 80 hour guarantee (Monthly), there is no max but it would-be be hard (if not impossible) to fly more than 100 hours in the
better and busiest of months. Right now most folk are deed pretty close to 85 hours. Per diem is $1.40 an hour from check in to 15 minutes after block in. There is no talk of layoff or the institution trying to ask for concessions." - skywaiter

And here's the con: "The airline industry, especially the charter industry, is really more a seasonal operation. Tho' airlines fly year round there are more flights in the winter and summer than in the spring and fall. So for the 1st few years of employment with a charter carrier it is common to be arranged off during the slower seasons. (This from a Canadian FA, with more dramatic seasonal traffic fluctuations than in the States.) Newer crew members go through layoffs, being on and off of reserve. Eventually, though, if you stick it out you get enough seniority to fly year round. Not everyone can wait about and suffer the ups and downs of the industry, which helps others hold their jobs year round. You won't always be at the bottom of the list and it only gets better." - FlyLucky (Moderator)

If this sounds like a job you want to pursue, follow a few of these links for more information:

www.flightattendantcareerguide.com
www.aepsairfairs.com - Aviation Worker Placement Service Job Fairs
www.aeps.com - Aviation Worker Placement Service
www.flightattendants.org
www.wiai.org - Women in Aviation International
www.nbaa.org - National Business Aviation Association, Inc.
www.afanet.org - The Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO
www.aviationcareer.net - AviationCareer.net

(c)2003, Kim Davis - www.kpdavis.com and www.yachtie.net
Kim is a writer and web designer. Subscribe FREE to her weekly e-zine for those who seek a life less ordinary, "Extraordinary Jobs for Ordinary People" http://www.yahoogroups.com/groups/Extraordinary_Jobs