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Saturday, October 01, 2005Many months ago myself and my Korean-American friend and fellow Tattoo staff writer Minha Lee who hails from Savage, Minnesota outside of Minneapolis in the U.S. put a lot of sweat and hard work into an article on exploring the life of a flight attendant from all sides including lots of insider information. Minha put a excellent effort into researching the background and history of flight attendants and I interviewed two flight attendants. A fifth year reserve flight attendant employed at a large commercial airline based in Toronto, Canada as well as a 19 year American flight attendant at the world's largest airline; American Airlines. This veteran flight attendant Kiki Ward is also the authour of The Essential Guide to Becoming a Flight Attendant that has lead many flight attendants on a skyward path to the globe's skies. You can check her website here that is a great resource. You can also leave your comments on my user friendly comment board on the right-hand side of this blog. Affix your seatbelt by putting the metal fittings together, pulling on the strap to adjust, put your seat in its upright position, stow your luggage beneath your seat or in the overhead compartments, stare at the safety video and prepare for take off! Traveling is something that many people do for pleasure. But what if traveling to foreign countries on regular basis was your job? As a flight attendant you will experience many opportunities of travel that you haven’t even dreamed of. How do you get your post in the clouds and start flying for a living as a safety officer and multi tasked attendant prowingthe globe?There is nothing unusual about the ubiquitous flight attendants of today's airports and planes that we often take them for granted. Many people don't realize how much struggle the flight attendants went through for the future of their proffesion. Until the 1930s, teenagers and/or small men took on the basic role of the flight attendants. The turning point in the history of flight attendants was the year 1930. A registered nurse named Ellen Church came up with an idea of incorporating nurses to the airplane crew. Steve Stimpson of Boeing Air Transport helped with turning the idea into reality. The Boeing Air Transport hired eight nurses to try the idea out for three months. It turned out to be successful and the nurses were eventually called "stewardesses" . Afterwards, a nursing degree wasn’t required to be a stewardess, but just like the nursing proffesion, it turned out to be an occupation that women dominate in. Untill recently, there were many negative sides to being a stewardess, or otherwise now known as a flight attendant. Before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came to ensure equality in the airline industry in 1968, the stewardesses had to retire upon marriage or retire by the age of thrity-five. Still, there were many hurdles that the stewardesses had to overcome. In the 1970s, The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), fought for many rights for the stweardesses. The many stewardesses used to be fired after their airline company knew of their pregnancies. AFA helped to guarantee maternity leave for those in need. The airline companies started to employ male flight attendants in 1972 after a sex-discrimination case. In the 1980s and the 1990s, AFA continued on to fight against many requirements to be a flight attendant, such as appearance, age, and weight. They were successful in changing many of the regulations. Even thought majority of the flight attendants of today are still women, the advancement in the field of equality for the flight attendants has been tremendous. Now,the airline industry truly recognizes flight attendants as vital component of their industry. As society’s need to travel increases, so will the need for the flight attendants "The best flight attendant resume requires that you grab the attention of the screener. Airlines receive thousands of resumes a day and only the most competitive resumes, utilizing key words and customer service ethic are accepted for interviews/ selection" said Kiki Ward, American Airlines flight attendant since 1986. Airlines have a minimum age requirement of between ages 18-21 and they often have a height requirement and many Asian and European carriers still have weight restrictions though they’re gone in the rest of the world. You must have good vision or proper contact lenses or glasses and they also check for citizenship requirements and conduct a background check. Being fluent in at least one foreign language is helpful for international flights or being bilingual in countries where it is necessary. Friendly, flexible people who "are able to fly anywhere around the world at the drop of a hat" Vivian Song, a flight attendant since 2000, says are important. To "be ready two hours before going to London, England for example" Vivian Song says. "The airline can phone you at anytime except during official time off. If you are easily annoyed, not very friendly and don’t really care for travel, flight attending would not be your career choice. If you love meeting people, travelling and have a good personality, flight attending would be a good fit," Kiki Ward stated. And Vivian Song told that it "starts here as a mass cattle call, you pass each of the six interviews over three days, they (the airline recruiters and human resources staff) weed people out slowly because of their demeanour". It then ends with a group interview. However, according to Kiki Ward, this process is most common "some airlines use a combination of methods, a telephone interview followed by an invitation to a open house or to a private session" Once selected, you are then sent to a training facility and put up in a hotel room with a stranger for as short as three weeks up to two months. Vivian Song recalls she had to dress like she was in a business job in suits for the men and heels and dresses for the women and make sure you have tidy hair. The airlines access your grooming, Song said. She had to pass 54 examsduring her training from 7am-5pm every day for the duration of the two months. The course that the airline offers "Covers everything you must learn to graduate and become a flight attendant from safety to service and grooming. The most specific exercise is of course evacuation procedures. It is done with models of planes in swimming pools with rescue nets and lifeboats and your proficiency demonstrated in a real life simulator" Kiki Ward Says.Once graduated you start as a on-call reserve junior flight attendant,covering flights that have had a plane change with a bigger airplane that needs more flight attendants or if someone books of because they are sick or another reason. Once employed "All flight attendants return yearly for recurrent training overall they must know for the job, including re- demonstrating evacuation drills, safety equipment and much more" Ward says. It’s into uniform, and pinning your nametag and flight attendant wings, given to you when you graduate from your training program and worn as a sense of pride always.Upon arrival at the airport, flight attendants then use their Airport Restricted Access Pass to enter the crew lounge for their airline, which is a room scattered with computer terminals, and couches where flight attendants can relax or a have a nap before flight time. At many airports, the supervisor’s offices are also located right around here. Your premiere duty with the airline is to sign in at one of the computer terminals, confirming your body is there and will be on this flight, let’s say from Vancouver- Calgary for instance or Vancouver- Rome, Italy. This is an essential step that if attendants fail to do so, you may have a negative report from your supervisor at your airline. Following this sign in process you are free to use the computer to check email if you like and you also check your personal mailbox that’s located in this area, to check for any mail or memos from the airline that are delivered here. Any phone calls to family or friends can happen at this point before your journey kicks off. Once the time comes you make your way to the gate and await the aircraft to arrive. Once the airplane has arrived at the gate, the flight attendants check to make sure the emergency equipment is all in order and in place and that there is all the nessecary catering and beverages. Any problems are immediately addressed by the purser along with the airport. Once complete the flight attendants and the purser along with the flight attendant attend a briefing in the cabin along with the pilots. The pilots inform the flight attendants of any passengers who will need special assistance throughout the flight, they also inform the crew of the expected flight time and weather that’s expected. The pursers inform the crew of special requests, meal requests and the attendants decide on the positions they will take throughout the plane. The passengers then begin to board as the flight attendants greet them at the door, help them with seating and stowing carry on luggage in the overhead compartments. Once the final passengers board and the cabin quiets down, the flight attendants walk around closing all the overhead compartment doors and remind passengers to stow away all baggage and turn and put away all cell phones and electrical equipment. The flight attendants then take their positions throughout the plane and either oversee that the passengers are watching the safety video that the purser flips on, or on smaller domestic discount airlines, demonstrate how to use breathing masks and lifebelts in case of depressurisation or water emergencies , and motion where the exits are of the plane Flight attendants make announcements and do a seatbelt check before they strap themselves in their jump seats as the plane taxis and takes off. Once the aircraft reaches its initial cruising altitude on domestic flights, attendants prepare beverage carts and snacks on short flights or domestic flights, during mealtimes they heat the meals in ovens located in the galley and brew coffee and tea and uncork a couple bottles of wine and alcohol. Flight attendants also use the interphone system to see how the pilots are doing every so often on domestic and every few hours on international or long haul flights to make sure " (pilots) are okay for everything, everything is going well and they have enough fluids and food and other supplies" Song says. In-flight flight attendants hand out headsets for music and TV, apply first aid for mild and serious situations, serve beverage service and sell duty free shopping items from fine liquors to smoked salmon to models of the plane on both international and domestic flights. On international, flight attendants reply to the call button on passenger’s armrests heating baby bottles, "comfort passengers based on our training. Oftentimes just explaining the process of flight and the noises the airplane makes...is very calming to a scared passenger. Pursers are " In charge or planning and overseeing the execution of the service as well as money handling" Kiki Ward says. Flight attendants may make translations from the flight deck if the pilots don’t speak the other route languages. During the in-flight period flight attendants can be: immigration/emigration information officers, security guards, travel consultants, concierge attendants, mediators, rescuer performing CPR or other forms of first aid in emergencies. Flight attendants also enjoy socializing with other passengers when on their breaks or the cabin is quiet sharing their life story or just having general conversation because "there are almost always interesting people to talk with" Kiki Ward says. "Very rarely" Kiki Ward says flight attendants need to deal with air rage or drunks. However when this does occur, Song says "first you cut them (drunk passenger) off from anymore alcohol. In case the passenger defies attendants or become abusive towards the flight attendants and passengers "there are restraining ties you can use to hold them (irate passenger) down in extreme situations" Song says. "I (Song) have never actually used these yet". Being abusive towards crew and/or passengers is a serious crime and flight attendants can call a head at the destination airport for police to meet the plane upon landing to take them away.n addition other rare emergencies need to be dealt quickly while keeping the passengers calm including rejected takeoffs where the plane tilts and doesn’t get off the ground, a evacuation over water where lifebelts need to be put on and evacuation slides and lifeboats operated. "a break can be taken on international flights, and flight attendants are allowed to sleep on those breaks" Kiki Ward says. "As long as all the meal, drink and snack services are done, we're free to sit down, we do patrol the cabins every once in awhile, make sure everything's okay" Song said. On these breaks crew can head for a lower deck mobile crew rest or LDMCR, which is a area below deck down a small staircase where "big huge bunk beds you can take in and out" are located for rest. On newer aircraft these areas also include TVs, video game systems and music systems as well.As the plane begins to make it’s descent, flight attendants finish putting things away and tidy up the galleys, before collecting garbage and then doing a final seatbelt check prior to landing. They then strap themselves in their jumpseats. Once landed, flight attendants make a final announcement and remind people to remain in their seats and to be careful when retrieving luggage as it may shift in-flight. They assist with retrieving luggage from the overhead compartments, join the pilots saying goodbye to the passengers and then assist with deplaning anyone who may require special assistance. They then walk around the cabin, and the purser fills out a flight report, needing to report how the flight went and any problems that flight attendants reported to him or her. The crew then leave, leaving the aircraft cleaning crew to do their job. You are laying on your couch in your family room, watching a movie or perhaps having dinner with a friend If at home your phone rings, if away your pager beeps and you run to the nearest phone and call the airline schedulers tell you when where and what your flight or multiple flights will be in detail if on reserve. Reserve flight attendants are called upon to work 2-3 flight roundtrips in an average week, it could easily be more or less. Reserve means you are always on call except on breaks to work, "to go to London (England) in two hours for instance" Song says. Working for a discount airline means, flight attendants often work flights in pairs domestically. Full time flight attendants begin to get ready to leave the house as they already know the schedule for the whole month and will often work with the same three person team with a in-charge flight attendant or purser, both then head for their airport base, ensuring they arrive at least an hour before flight time International flight attendants generally only work one flight a day unless working four roundtrip flights with a shuttle such as in Canada’s Golden Horseshoe area, from Toronto-Ottawa or Montreal. Shuttles operate flight every hour usually for a ten hour span throughout the day and each flight is less than an hour. On a trip I took last year to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, the flight attendants on my flight with a discount airline in Canada flew from St. Johns, Newfoundland where they would have completed a layover, flying to Halifax, Nova Scotia where they would have had at least a 40 minute break on the ground before picking up passengers and taking off to Toronto. Once in Toronto, they would disembark and go home. A new set of flight attendants were waiting to board the plane to take the rest both new and exisiting passengers to Calgary, Alberta taking a short break there then on to Vancouver, British Columbia. One of the highlights of being a flight attendant is the ability to travel across the globe and spend your life in not one city but a bunch, not one country but all over the world. Don’t dream about going to Paris or China, go! It’s possible with this job to travel for free in addition to the flights that you work, you can fly anywhere free to anywhere your airline flies when there is a spare seat or jump seat on a plane. You also get steep discounts for worldwide travel and can pass these benefits on to friends and family who can also travel with you. Once landed in a domestic destination "some flights will have the minimum, about 40-50 minutes before you take off again, but sometimes to can be scheduled to have 3 or 4 hours on the ground before taking off again" Kiki Ward says. "Domestic layovers can be as short as 8 hours or as long as 30 hours or more. International flights are usually always a minumum of 24 hours" Kiki Ward says. "Your layover is your time and you can do whatever you want to do as long as you are back at the scheduled pick up time" when the airline provides transportation back to the airport from in front of your hotel. Often in certain neighbouring countries such as Vivian Song's comment that "there is no real incentive to go to the U. S" from her Canada based airline because most of the airports that reserve flight attendants go to are far from the cities and they stay at a airport hotel, so almost never they have time to get out of the airport, coupled with short layovers of 8 hours or less for her. "On a normal domestic layover you would most certainly meet the crew for dinner, but often that is all there is time for" Ward says. "Then of course there are times when you are really tierd and it’s all about shutting the door and ordering room service" Ward says. International flight attendants generally only work one flight a day unless working four roundtrip flights with a shuttle such as in Canada’s Golden Horseshoe area, from Toronto-Ottawa or Montreal. Shuttles operate flight every hour usually for a ten hour span throughout the day and each flight is less than an hour. On a trip I took last year to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, the flight attendants on my flight with a discount airline in Canada flew from St. Johns, Newfoundland where they would have completed a layover, flying to Halifax, Nova Scotia where they would have had at least a 40 minute break on the ground before picking up passengers and taking off to Toronto. Once in Toronto, they would disembark and go home. A new set of flight attendants were waiting to board the plane to take the rest both new and existing passengers to Calgary, Alberta taking a short break there then on to Vancouver, British Columbia. "International layovers are different, because there is usually a lot to see, particularly in Europe, so we try to make the most of these sightseeing or shopping" Ward said. Vivian Song said that international destinations are "great" especially her favourite of London ,England. Song she always tries to "make a point to go out and explore the city and wander around". She at least does one event every time she goes to a international destination in addition to wandering and taking some time to rest. She says that it's much easier for the younger flight attendants to see and do much more then the senior flight attendants who may be in their 60s or 70s and can’t handle too much and "don’t really care because they have seen it all" after working transatlantic flights round trip to London every weekend for the last 30 years. On her last flight to London, Song said she caught a play of Romeo and Juliet and the world famous Shakespeare Globe theatre. She strives to see something different every time when she goes to destinations she has been to before. Song said that the passion for Paris, France is very strong and compares with the people who are flying there, saying that it’s the most sought after destination on earth for her airline. Stating that "nobody really doesn’t want to go to Paris". Throughout her last four years as a flight attendant and on her own using her free and discounted travel benefits, Song has covered Canada coast to coast, gone to Boston, Massachusetts, San Francisco, California, and other major U.S cities. Overseas across the Atlantic ocean using her travelling benefits Song has vacationed in New Orleans, Los Angeles , Jamaica , Seoul, South Korea New Zealand, Glasgow, Scotland among many other destinations on her own. Following a domestic trip, reserve flight attendants are home free and can rest or do as they wish for a minimum of 12 hours when the airline can't call you as you are on your crew rest. Coming home from working a international trip, the airline if forbidden to call you for 24 hours following your arrival on home soil. Since the commercial and civil airline industry’s inception in the 1960's when PanAmerican would deliver personal birthday cakes and other fashionable airlines would carve whole chickens and turkeys onboard, and the sexy era of stewardesses who would dance in mirror lined dance floors in neon tight uniforms, the industry has greatly changed. "The glamour era of flight attendants or "stewardesses" is effectively over." Ward says. "Airlines do wish to project a groomed image but there are no longer weight standards, age requirements or restrictive grooming standards, the career is much more open and available now that those changes have been made. Airlines are now basing selection much more on personality and customer service work ethics." Ward said. Anyone who says that flight attendants are "floating waiters" and have a very menial job in the world can be proved wrong. Is keeping people’s lives safe and providing excellent customer service while flying all over boring? Song said that she has worked with many people who are: professional photographers, dentists, lawyers and medical students who studied and flew simultaneously to pay their way through medical school as many students do, while they go to college or university. You have to pass high school, yet only working 2-3 days a week and on average as few as 17 days a month, there’s lots of time to conduct other interests and take courses to pursue other interests and jobs on the side. People become flight attendants to have a different lifestyle, one where they don't sit in a cubicle. Many flight attendants can fluently speak 4-5 languages, they have much more opportunity to use them in the air then on land. "It's not a 9-5 job, we only work 2-3 days a week, yet get paid almost as much for working the same as a person who works 5 days a week" Song said. "You don't get a lot of money with this job but enough to live comfortably" Song said. Flight attendants have an extremely important job "they (the general public) don't know that when we (flight attendants) ask you to put your cell phone away it's very important for your safety" "Menial tasks must be done for safety reasons" Song said. Song has "tried to travel a lot to the furthest corners of the world" otherwise she wouldn't be able to. " Being a flight attendant allowed me opportunities that I would have never had, and most flight attendants will tell you that. You spend time in places people only dream of going to. You spend time with celebrities from time to time and you see and hear things everyday from passengers that can touch you deeply or keep you laughing for days. It is a fun and exciting job and a job that keeps you stimulated and rewarded....the ability to work about half as much as most people is another reason. It is simply one of the best jobs in the world" Kiki Ward says. Teague Neal blogged on 8:58 PM
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Teague Neal |