To wonder why people become cabin crew

[MrsKravitz]

Not knocking cabin crew at all but just wondering what the benefits are. It looks such an awful job. People are at their worst when flying (ime) and the cabin crew have to rush, spend so many hours on their feet in horrid aircon, manage hot drinks in turbulence etc. From what I gather, the duty free benefits arent what they used to be and stop overs arent as long and glamorous. I always wonder....

[thebird]

For a young person it's a great way to see the world while being paid. If you manage to work for one of the scheduled airlines like BA and have and older contract then the money is very very good for a position with little qualifications. I know they are responsible for safety on board but it's a cushy number being paid £35-£40k to serve drinks and chicken or beef. It beats years of Uni and tuition fees!

[LadyOfTheManor]

I couldn't do it. Then again I don't see it as glamorous what so ever...I see it as serving people food and drinks in the air. If I wanted to do that I'd become a waitress but get to sleep in my own bed every night.

[Bartimaeus]

Not a job I would enjoy (I don't enjoy flying) but when DH was a student he worked longhaul in the summer holidays and earned a fortune. Plus saw many many interesting cities (and some not so interesting places!). Generally his stopover would be 3-4 days, so he got to visit LA, New York, Toronto, Johannesburg, etc. etc.

He said he always had enough time to do some sight-seeing and the hotels were good too. Occasionally when they went to a more remote country they'd be welcomed by the ambasador and invited to an excellent dinner!

The downside was that you lose concept of the normal working week. He'd work 4-5 days then be off for 4 days. He'd start at random times and get home in the middle of the night etc. Not ideal for family life but like I said, great for a student.

[Al0uiseG]

I knew some girls who worked gpfor Gulf Air back in the eighties, they were cash rich and it wasn't down to the salaries

[Chundle]

My cousin is air hostess she brings home £1500 after tax basic wage that's before her add ins for trips. The longer the trip the more she gets. One month she got £3000. This month she has spent 9 days straight in Canada and a week straight in Barbados plus a couple of shorthauls! She gets duty free allowances. Not bad I'd say!

[MrsKravitz]

I have had some short ad fat hosties on my flights..and tall and fat

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

I couldn't do it. I find plane travel excruciatingly boring. I would go insane doing back to back flights.

And they wouldn't have me because I'm short and fat.

[TalkinPeace2]

now that stewardesses are no longer fired on marriage or pregnancy
there are good options for working up
budget airlines are a step on the ladder that leads to business class long haul
at which point you are on good money , controllable shifts and glamorous stopovers
or, like a friend at my gym, skip the sleepovers, take the cash and put both sons through boarding prep school and have the money to be with them at nice day school when too old to do the flights
her kids are pretty well adjusted
and she's still glamorous!

[RevoltingPeasant]

LR I used to think that God had no legs and just floated along in a swishy robe.

This is probably why I'm an atheist....

[baguettecut]

It is a shit job.

And I feel for the poor wives of some if those Captains & First Officers when they're downroute.....

[MrsKravitz]

Isnt the free travel on a waiting list and only after a certain number of years of service?

[AngryFeet]

I went for a Fear of Flying course with Virgin 2 years ago and the cabin crew were telling us how much fun their job is - first class travel free, lovely hotels, breaks in different destinations (they were long haul), shagging pilots etc etc.

I would hate it - clearly due to the course I was on

Probably a fun job for a young singleton. Not sure short haul could be much fun but then lots of jobs are mundane to be honest.

[LineRunner]

I used to think that God was called Graham.

[Sidge]

When I was little I wanted to be an air hostess called Stephanie.

It was the most glamorous thing I could think of, I thought being an air hostess would be the business - all that foreign travel. (No idea why I wanted to be called Stephanie though).

Then my mum pointed out that cabin crew are just glorified waitresses in the sky and hardly see the places they go to as they rarely go much further than the airport.

Now I'm a nurse - it couldn't get much less glamorous

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

I think it's a great job for a young person. Possibly as you get older, it gets less exciting and maybe more difficult if you've settled down.

If I had my time again I would have been a stewardess quite happily.

[ggirl]

God it does look a shit job doesn't it..but then as someone else pointed out loads of jobs are shite.
Funny that it's perceived as glamourous

[Empusa]

The travel apparently, and it's somehow seen as glamourous. I worked for one airline in the data entry/plane maintenance dept. which is where cabin crew tended to be moved to if they were pregnant. All the ones I met were desperate to get back to being cabin crew, there was always a bit of an "elite" feel to it. You either had to be current or ex cabin crew to be part of the "cool gang".

It was a little weird.

[LynetteScavo]

I had a friend who went to work for Virgin, and the pay was shockingly low. (Maybe that's just when you first start? )

And yes, she partied like there was no tomorrow. She told me she once did an 11 hour flight with a hang over, drank over 2 lt of water and didn't wee once.

[LineRunner]

Exit Dan Dare!! I used to fly with them to the Middle East. You could smoke on the plane and get pissed and everything ......

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

Free flights
Glamour
The pay used to be good - esp with BA

[Ineedacleaneriamalazyslattern]

I know someone who does long haul for one of the big airlines and as much as the job itself isn't glamorous he earns pretty good money, has good stop overs and really actually enjoys it.

[ExitPursuedByAGryffin]

A woman I know vaguely (through a good friend) was cabin crew for Dan Air (remember them anyone?) and then another airline and became quite senior. Through contacts she made she now works private jets, short haul, works sparingly, earns loads and meets loads of rich men who spoil her rotten.

Doesn't sound too bad.

[Esta3GG]

I knew some air crew in India that partied like nothing on earth. They were permanently off their collective tits.
They got plenty of free travel too - decent long haul work isn't the same as those poor fuckers in orange uniforms plugging overpriced toot to cheapskates off for stag-weekends in Prague.

[RitaMorgan]

I think it depends on what airline you work for to an extent. I have friends who work for Air France and Lufthansa and the money is ok, and you do get stopovers in Thailand or the Dominican Republic etc. Plus, lots of time off and you can live in various cities in Europe as your base.

Easyjet and Ryanair are possibly not quite so fun but a job's a job - working in a pub or a shop isn't massively exciting either.

[LineRunner]

Ah yes, the travels to a strip of tarmac somewhere to the north of Faro.