Expert: D. Norkus - 1/19/2008

Question
hey i was wondering if i am going to be a flight attendant in london ontario canada , it's not that big of a city so do you think i would be ever gone longer then a couple days? and what pay should i expect to recieve at the beginning and is there raises? and as well should i go to college take travel and tourism for it?

Answer
Stacey,

As a flight attendant, yes you will definitely be gone from home longer than a few days sometimes. Your actual schedule,  the kind of trips you fly and time away from home will depend on the airline you are employed with and the kind of flying they do. Canadian F/As have very much the same experience as do other F/As all over the world.

For instance a flight attendant with smaller Canadian airline Calm Air will be flying much different trips than a F/A for much larger Air Canada doing transcontinental or international trips. With some smaller carriers, you may be  back in your crew base or "domicile" every other day or two while with a large airline, you may be abroad and not home for several days or a week. A domicile is an airlines hub city where crew members begin and end their trip sequences. (Note a base is NOT necessarily the same city where you live. Many crew members are domiciled in a city an hours flight or more away from where they live and they chose to "commute" to work.) You say, "if i am going to be a flight attendant in london ontario canada". I am not clear if that means you live there and want to be a F/A or you have been hired by an airline that has a domicile there. Jazz has a hub in London, Ontario so perhaps you are trying to be hired there?

Here is a link to a video interview with a Southwest Airlines F/A about her career that describes what you need to know and what to expect:
http://www.swagov.com/programs_services/adopt/video_library/flight_attend.wmv

Regarding flight attendant or travel schools:
In the USA, the airline will train you. I am not positive about those in Canada but I believe most of them operate just as the American carriers do and train all their F/As to standard once hired. No need to take any special school. Each airline establishes it's own specific hiring criteria, policies and requirements, therefore, contacting the airlines individually is the best way to seek employment information and find out about any specific hiring qualifications. Each airline has a jobs or career section on their website, so seek that out. For example, hereis the Air Canada page and it says nothing about F/A schooling required before getting hired-
http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/career/attendants.html

Of course, if there is a program for minimal cost at a local community college (less than $200) it couldn't hurt to take it so you can be sure about your career choice. But as far as high dollar F/A training schools go, they aren't necessary.


You can find out all you need to know and prepare via these links as well-

A book with tips on F/A interviews is "Welcome Aboard: Your Career as a Flight Attendant" by Becky S. Bock. It $15 and can be ordered via Amazon.com.

The Essential Guide to Becoming a Flight Attendant for $20 may also be of interest to you. "Written by American Airlines Flight Attendant, Kiki Ward, the book is a 165 pages of information packed with inside information about the flight attendant career, airline flight attendant applying and interviewing, complete airline application and resume instruction, complete flight attendant training information and the most current airline hiring information."
Go to http://www.flightattendantcareer.com for more information. BTW- Amazon is also selling the same book used for $13.57- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097018431X/qid=1137188248/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap...

This site also offers a career guide for $39 but it also has a lot of free info on their site about the career;
http://www.fajobcenter.com/index.html

This is a site that hosts a message board for the exchange of info between current and aspiring F/As. It requires a small membership fee but may well be worth it- http://www.flightattendants.org/

I suggest this site to see interview experiences by airline from F/A candidates-
http://www.aviationinterviews.com/

What kind of pay could you expect?
Fairly low to start but some pay more than others. It is not uncommon for new hire regional airline F/As to start at well below $20,000/yr US. The major pay slightly more to start. Flight attendant pay is calculated a bit differently than other careers. They are only paid their hourly rate for flight time which averages 80-110 hours per month. (Not 160 hours per month like a normal 40hr per week ground job.) Any time spent on the ground before or between flights is only paid a nominal 'per diem' rate (usually $1-3 per hour). Pay raises are annual on the anniversary of your hire date. The pay increase is to a set rate based on your years of "seniority" or tenure and is negotiated in the flight attendant labor contract.

This link helps explain pay-
http://www.flightattendantfacts.com/flight_attendant/flight_attendant_salary.htm...

Also, since you are Canadian and I am American, I suggest going to these Canadian links for some additional input:
http://www.careerccc.org/careerDirections/eng/e_oc_dwn.asp?Alpha=No&ID=171


....and these cabin crew links-
http://www.thirtythousandfeet.com/flightat.htm
(a HUGE list of resources on one site!)

http://www.cabincrewjobs.com/
http://www.cabincrew.com/


Hope this helps,
Dottie