How to Become a Flight Attendant

In most jobs, you go in expecting to learn lots of new things. This is true of flight attendants as well, except the old travel adage is especially apt here: The more I see, the less I know.

Travel broadens the mind. And if you’d like to open up your mind to experience all around the world, becoming a flight attendant is one of the best ways to actually make money while traveling.

It’s still work, but the people who do it tend to love what they do. So what does it take to both lead and serve passengers as you fly around the world? We’ve got a comprehensive look on how to become a flight attendant, what to expect and how to use job boards like ZipRecruiter to find open positions.

What Do Flight Attendants Do All Day?

If you’ve taken a long flight somewhere, you probably already have a good idea of ​​what the life of a flight attendant is like. But there’s a lot that goes on behind the curtain.

Flight attendants certainly work hard, from the staging that goes on before people file in and take their seats to the curtain call when it’s time to disembark the plane.

Flight attendants work up to 12 hours a day, not just on international flights, and they do so while working mostly on their feet. Here’s a look at a typical shift for flight attendants.

Pre-Flight Briefing

How confident would you be in a flight during which the cabin crew looked confused or concerned?

Meetings are a must for any cabin crew, and they’re mandatory before each flight in many countries. And at the heart of those meetings is safety.

Flight attendant crews are often dynamic. You may get to work with familiar faces fairly regularly. But on any given flight, you can expect to work with new faces or faces you haven’t seen in a while.

Pre-flight meetings help crew members establish rapport and give them time to get comfortable with each other.

Flight crews and pilots will also meet with the cabin crew to eliminate confusion and address concerns. They…