I spent nine years working
as a flight attendant. I found the airline subculture to be very fascinating
and unique. I knew I would eventually write about it. Flying all over the
world, staying in a new hotel every night, meeting hundreds of new people every
day…it was difficult, intimate and lonely all at the same time.
Flying isn’t what you
think. There isn’t any typical path for flying as an attendant. We
had attendants from other airlines, other countries. What you’ll find
is that some flight attendants haven’t taken a single college class, others
have associates or bachelors and masters degrees, it was such a great
experience.
Airlines are looking for hard working, flexible, dependable and friendly flight
attendants. They want to know that you can be on call, work odd hours, and
check in on time, every time, even when they don’t give you much notice. The
only way to achieve that consistency is to show up early.
I flew as a bird, every
day in a country interacting with different cultures. What a life; Full of
lessons and great adventures.
I tried to enjoy every
moment even when I was tired. Sometimes
I was exhausted after exceeding 24 hours of duty. What a hectic life but full
of surprises.
Working as a team with the flight crew was our main goal. Communicating,
arguing and fighting were also part of our work but our main goal was safety.
We were doing our best to maintain our professionalism.
I cried many times, I
locked myself inside the lavatory because of our stressful job. Yes my friends
it is not easy to be a cabin crew, flying is not only about service but it is
about security first and safety of our passengers.
“It is all jobs
in one job”
Being a flight
attendant for nine years was a blessing and a gift as I got the chance to fly
the whole world. Every day there is something to talk about , my life is full
of great and amazing memories that i am sharing now with my great family and
husband and one day with our kids.
So take off , cruise
and always land safe.
And tomorrow another
thought of the day.
