I'm a flight attendant - AMA!

[HighlandsExpat]

I am a flight attendant for a Canadian airline. I am based in Vancouver and have worked at this airline for over eight years. I grew up in the UK but have dual citizenship. Ask me anything!

Is it true that if someone dies on the flight they leave them in their seat until landing, so presumably the passengers sitting next to them would have to stay doing so until the end of the flight? 😱😱😱

This is a really interesting thread, thank you!

Please can you explain this? I don't catch your drift!

Would you feel comfortable flying to Dubai at the moment? I am there right now and I see some US airlines are cancelling flights .

I think there was a recent news story about this? I've never had this happen but we are able to move the body to another part of the plane away from others. On a full flight I suppose there isn't anywhere to move them though.

My airline has suspended our flights to Dubai, as well. I would feel fine travelling there as a passenger on another airline although I have been to Dubai and it has zero appeal to me.

We are on a stopover on the way to Australia and we leave tomorrow. It’s our first time here and it’s a very interesting mix.

Is it rude to ask the attendant NOT to open my drink? Sometimes I don’t want to drink it immediately but don’t want to be awkward if it’s a rule that they have to open it for me. Sorry this is lame, it’s just something I always think about when flying 😂

I'm sure they wouldn't mind just giving you a can. I've had people ask me that and it's not some sort of rule that we must open beverages!

That's good, I'd personally like to see the return of discouraging suitcases as hand luggage because I've heard some airlines won't let people put their rucksacks and coats in the overheads because they anticipate so many suitcases.

My DD is Cabin Crew for EasyJet and mostly loves it. EZY fly short to medium haul and there aren’t many layovers and that suits her, most EZY crew say they like their own beds!

The routes that get a lot of stag and hen groups are sometimes challenging, alcohol rarely brings out the best in travellers. Hand luggage is one of the biggest causes of issues, everyone wants their case directly above their head and that’s just not possible.

I think being an FA is as much a lifestyle as a job and it’s not for everyone. My DD tends to work the late flights, so leaves home around lunchtime and gets back in the early hours of the morning, we live about an hour away from the airport. The summer schedule is full on, winter a bit less so but it’s hard work!

Fun! I found it interesting the first time but it's just not somewhere I think I would go back again and again without feeling bored. Just a personal preference 😀

Ooo, my question is about an air Marshall… is there one on each flight or is that fantasy?

What type of training do you have to do for your role and how long does it take to qualify? Do you have to take an exam or do assignments or anything like that?

And do you have to have a certain level of education before you can apply for the training? And do you have to be of a minimum age?

much appricated,

is the mile high club so to speak still common or more myth than common ?

That's only for flights to/from the United States, and it's at random.

It depends on the airline. For mine, we did have examinations after our training. There are also practical exercises that are pass/fail, things like did you follow the procedure for a landing on water? The airline has made investment in training you (we were paid during training) so they do everything they can to prepare you and get you ready. We also do recertification throughout our career.

When I joined, there weren't any education requirements aside from graduating high school. You had to be 18+ since we serve alcohol. My airline also often will only hire people who can speak two or more languages since we are in Canada and provide service in English and French but also have route languages since we serve a lot of global destinations (Hindi for India, Italian for Italy, Danish for Copenhagen, etc).

In my experience a strange myth. Modern aircraft lavatories are the size of a shopping trolley - perhaps if one is an Olympian gymnast they can squeeze in there with someone and join the mile high club 😂😂

Are the toilets better in First Class??

Thank you for all that! It’s really interesting to read that it’s the airline that pays for your training, I had no idea. I had just assumed you train on an independent course at a college or something and then had to apply for jobs afterwards with any airlines that had vacancies.

If the airline has paid for your training, how long are you obliged to work for them before you can look at moving elsewhere?

Depends on the aircraft. Sometimes they are slightly bigger and we provide hand lotion and a little air freshener spray.

My airline doesn't have any sort of requirement after training. We had people drop out during training and they weren't required to pay anything back. We made minimum wage during training so it's not like the airline was spending a ton of money on us 😂.

Courses for flight attendant training are a waste of money, in my opinion. The airline is primarily looking for people who have solid customer service experience and are comfortable working with the public. You can't get that in a classroom (apart from teachers - quite a few flight attendants are former teachers!), you have to work and find a job that requires working with a lot of different people all day.

Swapping airlines isn't a big thing in Canada or the US. Mostly because your pay and benefits get better as you gain seniority and also because the pension is based on years of service. If you transfer to another airline, you start at the bottom. We do have some flight attendants who worked previously on budget airlines but it's not as common as you might think.

Good luck with it OP!

You have mentioned Hindi for flights to India, I am surprised it is not Punjabi due to the number of Sikhs in Canada, although I suppose most will speak English.

What do you do if a flight is empty or only has a couple of passengers? Is it business as usual or do you have a bit of a party?

You're right, it's Hindi and Punjabi as well as English and French. I haven't worked a flight to India in ages - it's showing 😂

If a flight is very quiet, we usually conduct the drink and meal services and then relax. This isn't against the rules - we are allowed to sit and talk quietly, read or use our phones. This happens on a lot of longer flights, too - there is a set amount of work and tasks and then we are free to sit down. Not in business class though - either in the last row of economy or in the galley.

@TeabagsAtDawn I asked the OP the question. I’m Canadian myself, so I was enquiring whether they work for Air Canada (red livery) or Westjet (blue).