Becoming a Flight Attendant - My Experience

Ever wondered what it takes to become a flight attendant? Probably not, I know I never did before I applied for the job and by sheer luck I was hired, only then did I became a little curious. Now I have a weird obsession with aeroplanes finding them some what.... sexy? Don't get me started on those A350's! I never had this before, it's like the obsession is contagious, anyway I digress.

The process started by submitting an application followed up by the most awkward video I have ever filmed. We were given some questions to address in the video and were to submit this online to the company. It turns out I was not alone in having an awkward, embarrassing video. One night at ground school after a cheeky wine or two we shared these videos with each other, let's just say we were definitely not hired from those videos!

After making it through a group interview and a one on one interview (in which there were questions I didn't even have answers to), passing a 50 metre swim and treading water test, and a medical test, I got the call. I was informed my training was to start in two weeks, maybe less, it was crazy soon though, considering I didn't expect to even get an interview! If I could pass on any advice for interviewing to be a flight attendant, be yourself, research the company grooming policies and follow what you can for your interview, this is what I did and safe to say it worked for me :)!

For those that don't know, flight attendant training is often referred to as ground school and oh man it is intense! Six weeks of intense learning and exams. Throughout those six weeks there were many hi's and low's among all of us. I trained with 10 other people and spoiler alert, we all passed in the end!

Learning all the emergency procedures and how to operate all the equipment was definitely challenging. I tend to go a little overboard sometimes with studying and this was no exception! I was freaking out I was going to fail my first exam in the second week. So I spent the WHOLE weekend studying from when I woke up to when I went to bed! I should mention that each written exam has an 80% pass mark. If you get below 80% twice that's two fails and potentially the end for you. With the practical exams we had two attempts with each piece of equipment or procedure. If you fail on the second attempt twice, seeya! It's brutal! But what I came to understand is that it's so important to nail these drills and procedures and know you're stuff, because when we're up in the air, the flight attendants are it and we have to be able to respond quickly and appropriately, which could (touch wood) potentially be the difference between life and death.

The first week or two were the most intense because everything was so new and exciting all at the same time. As the training went on, I found I needed to study less and downgraded my freaking out, just slightly. As the weeks go on you're essentially building knowledge upon knowledge so everything starts to make more sense as you progress.

In the first week we were taken on a tour of the airport and a familiarisation of the aircraft, where we would be doing our emergency procedure exams eek! The most exciting thing we did on this day was...... drum-roll...... we got to sit in the flight deck (cockpit). I'd never done this before, I was like a little kid in a candy store! Again, why did this excite me now, I have never had a desire to sit in the flight deck before, it's contagious I swear! But it was super cool hehe.

One of our practical exams involved a swim test. I did not know that was coming! I'm a descent swimmer, but it's not something I enjoy, unless I'm at a beach and swimming involves sun and sand! The photo I have posted here is of my group in the pool looking absolutely fab in our white over-sized, heavy overalls and face squishing life jackets. There was a lot of swimming, saving each other and treading water. The worst part was when they turned the lights off, it was pitch black, the trainers then turned on the ice cold rain water! Not fun! Thankfully we all got through in one piece!

Now let's talk about the emergency procedures practical exam. We did ours on a live aircraft because there are no simulators in Australia that are the aircraft type we were training for. This meant 4 nights of training in the middle of Canberra winter. These sessions went until roughly 1-2am each night! And for those that don't know, our winters are pretty cold! Not Canada cold though, let's be real, I might think it's that bad but in reality it's probably not. To survive these nights we all banded together and made a snack station with chocolate and lollies to keep us all going. Morale food is not to be undermined in times like these. I also took a thermos of coffee! I'm sure that's what got me through these late, intense nights! As part of these exams we were required to open the emergency exits, including the window exits. This meant the aircraft was required undergo a pressurisation test once this component was complete, while we were still on the aircraft! Never have I ever had my ears block so badly, the pressure was absolutely unreal. Thankfully that didn't last too long, I could not get over how much it hurt! But at least the airplane would be safe!

Well we all passed our practical exams so rest assured you will safe flying with us. There were a couple of second attempts, including myself, whoops, but we all got through in the end.

Once all the stress of exams was over and after much anticipation we finally received our uniforms! It sounds really silly but we were so excited to get these uniforms and be presented with our wings. These were both a representation of how hard we all worked throughout those six weeks to earn the privilege of wearing this uniform.

Soooo you want to be a flight attendant? Let me tell you, it's totally worth it! And I'd do it all again! I love my job, I love the people I work with and I love the company I work for. Keep in mind this is only my experience, different airlines will do things differently so keep this in mind.

I'd love to hear other peoples experiences in the comments section below, or if you have any questions about the application process etc. drop them in the comments as well.

Remember the sky is the limit!

XOXO