Tart with a Cart, Trolly Dolly, Sky Harlot!

Being a flight attendant, or as I like to say 'Air stewardess' is a somewhat lusted after job. It appears to be very glamorous, chic, and oh-so-international. We carry with us connotations where ever we go, who ever we meet - see http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sky%20harlots and people have a preconception of what you are like the minute you answer that you 'fly the skys' for a living.
Ive had a little interest in my blog via emails and comments, relating to this side of my life rather than the sugar. I though id post entirely on what its like, how to do it, and how to start.

Firstly you have to pick an airline. I work for a major UK international carrier, and its the company I always wanted to work for. I decided I liked them, and I went for it. Nothing else would do (In the UK admittedly we have far fewer to choose from)
If you choose a short-haul airline, it will be a completely different job to the one I'm about to explain. This is because you will work different hours, fly back and fourth domestically or short distances, sometimes up to 3 or 4 sectors a day. You wont see anything of the country or state, your lifestyle will literally be on board that plane. That's not to say its a bad job, its still more exciting that 9-5 in an office I guess, and I hear the money is good at short haul level. It also means you will be home every night, ideal for having a life outside of work and of course if you have a family or children.

I am a long haul stewardess. This means my flight times are at minimum 6-7 hours, and at most 12-14 hours. I have to legally stay where ever I fly for the minimum of one night. An example of a short 'bullet' flight like this - London to New York. A 6-7 hour flight, which allows us one night and one day in Manhattan, before checking out and working home.
Depending on the airlines schedules and many other factors including flight time limitations and time change, you will get a varying amount of time in each destination. As a general rule of thumb, when I fly to the West Coast of the USA Il spend 3 days there, so that's San Fran, Vegas, LA. When I fly to Africa/India it will usually be two nights. If I fly to some Caribbean destinations including Barbados, Havana Cuba, St Lucia, this is usually a 3-4 night stay. Then you have the longer haul trips including Sydney Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Mauritius and Indian ocean which can result in a 9 day stay.

Benefits

Every place that we fly to we get put into 5 star hotels at the other end, and we get paid an 'allowance' for being there. This is our expenses that we will incur by living away from home for 1-10 days. The rate is fabulous, usually $200 per night, and of course you never end up spending all of this, especially in quite places like the Caribbean where there is no shopping, so you can bring it home with you. This 'tops up' our money each month. As you can imagine, if we do a 9 night trip at $200 a night that can work out at almost 2k a trip.

On top of this we get our monthly wage. You can be working in Economy at the lower wage, or in First Class or be a supervisor and get paid higher up the scale. You will work your way up, even though admittedly they are not particularly great wages. Again, pay works differently between airlines, and I work at an airline well known for not paying all that well compared to some of the others - but I think we make up for it in Allowance and lifestyle.

We also then get a pay each time we fly this is called flight pay, or sector pay. So this is added to our wage packet, and obviously the more you fly the more you will earn on top of your basic salary.

The main benefit I think is our lifestyle. We get to work as little or as often as we like. There are legal implications on the amount of hours we spend in the air, so this limits your work. I usually fly 3-4 times per month, the max being 6 short flights. Some months you may just work one long flight, and have the rest of the time off. Some months you wont work at all so that your 'flying hours' are managed throughout the year, but you will still get paid your basic salary

Its a great feeling to go to work once or twice per month and still get paid the same!

Your airline will also give you great deals for your own lifestyle. Each is different, but for example I get 10 free return flights anywhere on our network per year. I am allowed to take friends with me, so if I have 3 nights on a Caribbean island I can get a friend a free ticket and bring them along! :-) We also have upgrades, so enjoy flying first class and little things like this.
I love the uniforms, that's one of the best bits! You will usually get a designer uniform, made by someone like Vivian Westwood as an example.

Not So great bits

Working strange hours can put a strain onto you physically and mentally, and is apparently not great for your body. Flying is obviously risky and you have a lot of responsibility at all times (hence the hard training)

You may find it hard to sleep at home, or to readjust to your sleeping patterns. Your internal body clock will be all over the place.

You also may find planning a social life hard as you don't know what your doing or where you will be, I think this would be harder for people with Children but saying that I know plenty of people who fly and enjoy a perfectly normal home life too. Like I said you get plenty of time off so there are ways of working it out. We also get 28 days of holiday each year which is paid.

Applications
If you like the sound of this the best thing to do is google airlines that you know have a base close by, and apply for an interview. There used to be an age limit (21-35) but they had to scrap that as its discriminative. Speaking another language/languages is fabulous and will give you an extra something. As will medical back ground like a nursing qualification for example.

There are no set qualifications and any 'courses' are just a rip off, if you are good with people and have customer service experience that's all you need :-)
You need to be tall enough to handle a door in an emergency and this can differ between airlines. I am a petite 5'3 and a half. You also cannot be too tall as some of the planes are small!

You will need to look good and be well groomed at all times, and be fit and healthy, but I think here in the UK we are more 'old school' with regards to the glamour. Ive flown with a few international airlines and been shocked at the girls nails, hair and general grooming. You also find they favour more attractive girls as cabin crew, but again that is discriminative so that's not an official thing!!
Once you decide, apply with professional photos if needed and prepare for a grueling interview. Interviews can be anything from hours to days. Mine was a full day interview, and many include 'rounds' which you will have to keep making it through before your invited to the next part, its like X factor! Mine was including Maths and English tests, Group interviews, One on One interviews, group presentation, role play... etc.

Once you get the job you will have some of the hardest training of your life (I'm very passionate that people have the preconception we are airheads and yet its one of the most intensive training programmes on which we are tested everyday) You may spend 4-8 weeks training, day in day out, with exams everyday and you get the boot if you don't pass with flying colours. You will learn survival in Antarctic conditions and at sea, be required to "ditch" into a pool, make use of all doors and slides, know every location of every piece of equipment by heart on a fleet of maybe 1-4 different aircraft models, and all the safety that goes with it and differs between each!

Its a fabulous way to see the world without 'roughing it' by backpacking, and you make some great friends :-)

I do hope I didn't bore anyone too much, but there is so much to write!

Baby Bow xx