I have a sister of whom I am very proud. After
kids were grown she found herself divorced after years of unhappy marraige. So she went back to work. She found job market brutal after all those years as a housewife, but she stuck with it, and got a ticketing job with Continental Airlines. She allowed herself to dream about returning to flight attendant's job she'd given up when she got married, and thanks to a 1968 court ruling which struck down mandatory resignation ages and to fact that my sister is still in great shape, today she is flying again. And she loves it!The Office of Travel and Tourism Industries has posted following statistics regarding travel in 2000: 26,853,000 Americans traveled to foreign destinations, while a record 50.9 million international travelers visited United States, which means lots of international air travel. Add to that domestic air travel and you can see that there are a lot of jobs out there. Post September 11, 2001 figures have not yet been released, but we hear news of financial troubles with airlines on a daily basis. So, are flight attendants' jobs secure? I've had a look around to try and get a feel for industry as it stands today, and though there have been some layoffs among smaller airlines, particularly charter companies, many companies are also hiring. In U.S. Southwest Airlines and Continental both appear to be weathering storm well.
Glamorous as it sounds, working for airlines is not all sweetness and light. The constant threat of lay-offs notwithstanding, it can be as repetitive as any other job in a service industry, with long hours and downright abusive passengers to look after. The plus side is that you get paid to travel. I was nosy and read some online discussions between flight attendants (www.flightattendants.org), and discovered that difficulties aside, these people really LOVE what they do.
Here are some of reasons why:
With practice and seniority, flight attendants are often able to group their flights together is such a way that they have 1 - 2 weeks off every month.
There is a lot more variety than in a "normal" 9 - 5 job. You get to fly to different cities, work with different crews, and move your schedule around so you never have to get bored.
Airline employees usually get 2 paid weeks off after 1st year with a maximum of 5 weeks per year after 20 years of service. They fly for nearly free and get discounts on hotel accommodations and car rentals. Close relatives are entitled to super cheap passes as well. The only stipulation is that people traveling on "buddy passes" must fly standby. So if flight fills up with regular passengers, everyone with buddy passes will get bumped and have to wait for next flight, (not a good way to travel with children!)
Plus most airlines also make interline agreements with other carriers so that employees can fly free or nearly free to just about any place that has an airport. If you visit flightattendants.org/interline.htm you will find a long list of interline companies which offer package holidays, tours, and cruises exclusively to airline employees and their accompanying family members and traveling companions.
Though majority of them are women, job is now open to men and women between ages of 18 and 60. Most airlines set height requirements for flight attendants between 5' and 6' since taller people have trouble moving around cabin of aircraft, and shorter ones have trouble reaching overhead lockers. Being in good physical condition is important, since job demands it, but old weight restrictions have relaxed. Today airlines say "weight must be in proportion to height". And thankfully, a court ruling in 1990 banned smoking on all domestic flights, thus eliminating second-hand smoke inhalation as an occupational hazard for flight attendants.
Though airline passengers tend to think of flight attendants as waiters, in actual fact, flight attendant's primary responsibility is to safety of passengers. My sister told me she spent several days practicing getting people out of aircraft safely, and she showed me bruises she got from sliding repeatedly down that inflatable ramp you see on little safety card in seat back in front of you. Other standard safety training includes basic first-aid, CPR, and fire-fighting.
