Cabin Crew

Cabin crew work for airlines is a very popular aspiration and competition is high. If selected for consideration, airlines often require applicants 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.

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.

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.”

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