Airline cabin crew jobs
Getting cabin crew work
Not really a seasonal job any more, this is a great career to move into following a season or two in travel. Our aim here is to provide you with all the information you will need in regards to these highly sought after positions.
You can dramatically increase your chances of getting an airline cabin crew job by doing a course first.
Finding Airline Jobs
As with most industries, airlines are turning to the internet for their recruitment needs. Cabin crew work for airlines is a very popular option so much time is spent sifting through online applications. On the basis of this application, airlines often require people to attend a series of interviews and assessment days operated by their specialist recruitment staff. This is essentially a customer services job, very similar to repping work. The usual personal skills such as team-working and communication are one of the main defining factors and languages are highly desirable.
Another similarity with repping or courier work is that the customer only sees the easy bits, there are many operations going on behind the scenes, quite rightly hidden from the clients eyes. Overall, the life is hectic, disorientating and hard work. But, as with almost all working travel, the social life and variety more than makes up for it.
Extensive Travel
Whereabouts you travel is unpredictable, you will be placed on routes according to operational requirements. At the risk of sounding repetitive, if you like working as a courier or rep in the Alps, where the conditions are similar, you will love this life.
Career Prospects
A major difference between repping and working as airline cabin crew is that airlines tend to offer better prospects for secondments and career development. Airlines have a far larger infrastructure than tour operators and therefore a greater variety of careers and roles. The work is also highly transferable and you could join in on job swapping programmes to travel even further whilst still building experience and a career. In this respect, airline cabin crew work is very well suited to people who have a few seasons under their belt and want to do something a bit more permanent without losing the lifestyle.
British Airways recruitment
“At its most fundamental level, we are responsible for passenger safety in the cabin. Beyond that, crews share a common goal - to see British Airways customers walk away at the end of a flight contented. We're not about to deny that the job has its glamorous elements. The work's exciting, the social life can be great fun, and wherever our crew travel they are always well looked after. However, it can also be an exhausting and disorientating lifestyle that places tough demands on family and social commitments.”
Once you have passed through the recruitment phase most airlines have a long probationary period where you work with experienced cabin crew staff before being made up to full cabin crew status. With budget airlines you can usually request a transfer to another base, with long haul airlines this could be a top international location as they like to staff certain routes with people who have the right languages and local knowledge with which to help customers.
Aviation industry links
Civil Aviation Authority
Air Safety, Economic Regulation & Consumer Protection
International Transport Workers Federation
Represents aviation workers in almost every major airline in the world.
Association of Cabin Crew Employees
Independent Trade Union; No political party allegiance