thisisallison

Have you ever thought about another career such as a blogger, vlogging, or even owning your own business? Maybe you’re like me and thought about doing something totally different than what you’ve been doing. For me, it has been wanting to become a flight attendant. So, if you’re thinking about being a flight attendant, let’s explore your options while hearing about my journey throughout this process. First of all, this is definitely a process. I have always wanted to be a flight attendant since I was a young child. It was that one flight I took at five years old that always stuck with me. To me, flight attendants and pilots are very special people because they have a huge job to do: make sure customers get to their destinations safely and on time. Being thirty thousand feet in the air, that’s not always an easy  task, but they have to do that nonetheless and they do it effortlessly, might I add.

My application process started in December of 2017. I applied to Delta, American, and United which are considered legacy airlines. I was invited to do video interviews for all three but received a TBNT (thanks but no thanks) soon afterwards. As a matter of fact, I only applied to Delta and American and decided to not do the video interview with United because I was defeated with the two TBNT’s that I had received. I felt like such a failure, but guess what? Hundreds of people want to become flight attendants as well, so be prepared for the competitiveness that comes with this career field of choice. You would be amazed to know that amount of people of all ages and different stages of life that are chasing the dream to become a flight attendant just as you are. It’s simply unexplainable.

Exactly a year later I again took on this task and started applying to become a flight attendant once again.  However, this time was different. I read blogs and watched videos. I researched the companies that I applied to which was something that I had not done the first time around. Interesting enough, I got a lot of interest based off my application submission alone so I knew that my resume was not an issue. It had to be something else, like my interview skills or maybe I didn’t seem as personable, for instance maybe my personality was not shining through during my video interviews. If you don’t know what a video interview is, it’s when you dress up like you are actually going to a live interview but instead you are sitting in front of your computer or tablet. Questions will appear on the screen and you have to answer them within a minute and that’s it. With most companies you only get one chance to record, however, with other companies they allow you a chance to re-record. And that’s the video interview in a nutshell. After that you wait to see if you made it to the next round which could mean a F2F (face-to-face) or some other kind of assessment. Whatever it was, I was ready for round two. I made it farther with each legacy airline than I had the year before, so to me that was progress. I even learned the difference between mainline and regional carriers and didn’t limit my options this second time around. I applied to several regional carriers as well. I chose regional carriers that were wholly owned by a legacy carrier because they are contracted which means job security for you and flight benefits of that legacy carrier. That in itself is a huge perk, along with the opportunity to advance within the company. As flight attendants, there are other jobs that you can advance into such as inflight supervisor, flight instructor, or even becoming a recruiter.

There’s a lot that goes into trying to become a flight attendant. You have to know the company’s reserve policy, as well if you are allowed to commute to your base along with what your base options are. Many people don’t know this, but you have to think about where you are going to live as a flight attendant. Are you going to keep your apartment or house, or are you going to pack it up and move into the city where you are based? Or are you going to keep your apartment or house and just live in a crashpad? The crashpad is just as it sounds, it’s a place to crash for less than what you would pay monthly for an apartment. A crashpad is a place where you are paying for a bed basically while you are on reserve because you do not have your own place to live in at your base  or if you are commuting into your base for a day or two and do not want to get a hotel. These are all things to take into consideration when thinking about becoming a flight attendant. Pay is the biggest thing to consider. When you are starting out as a flight attendant, you will typically take a pay cut from what your original career field was. In some cases, a huge a pay cut. But, the money will come the longer you stay with the job. From what I have researched, the first year is the toughest with any company you decide to go with, whether it be mainline or regional.

What I learned is that you have to have patience. Patience is key. Your application can be under review or in progress for months, but that’s just how the aviation world works. As far as my application process goes, it was no longer than three to four weeks before I knew where I stood with the airlines I applied to. As I mentioned previously, I made it farther this time than I had last time but still received TBNT’s from four mainline carriers but was offered a CJO (conditional job offer) by a regional carrier. It’s considered a conditional job offer until you successfully pass training. I am letting go of a career that I have been in for sixteen years to pursue a career as a flight attendant and a pay cut as well, but it’s what I want to try.  I believe that God opens doors for you for a reason and you have the decision to walk through them or not. After careful thought and consideration, I am making the decision to walk through this door that he opened because this is the airline that he chose for me, not the one that I chose for myself. I only have five pieces of advice for people that want to become a flight attendant:

• Have patience.
• Do research.
• Save money.
• Be willing to relocate.
• Don’t get discouraged.

With that being said, I leave for training soon for a regional carrier that is wholly owned by a legacy airline and I’m beyond excited to see where this new career change takes me because that’s the way I am approaching this. I may not want to fly until retirement but it’s great to know that there are other options for me in the event that I don’t. As I said before you can work in recruiting, be an inflight supervisor, or even a flight instructor. In most cases, they only ask that you have one year of flying experience under your belt before you seek advancement. Simply put, this career is what you make it.Therefore, in the words of Hellen Kellar, “ Live the life you imagined,” because that’s what I intend on doing! Now go get those CJO’s!

With love, peace, and happiness,

L. Purvis