Expert: D. Norkus - 11/2/2010

Question
Hello,

Based on my reading it seems that there are older flight attendants that still work. ie. 55.  Can a person this age or older, that does not look old, start out getting a job as a flight attendant?  Is it realistic?

Answer
Kee

Healthy women who are in their 50's can certainly get hired as flight attendants ("F/As"). I work with a few. Most seem to be following a dream they have always had but waited until their children were grown before pursuing it. It is a trend that started almost two decades ago when many discriminatory restrictions went away. Some of my favorite such F/As were a pair of 50-something twins who were hired by Southwest in the 90's. Over the past 30 years, the median age of flights attendants in the USA up from 30 to 44 years and the proportion of F/As over the age of 44 has risen from 6% to 50%. As of 2007, almost 20% of the flight attendants in the USA were age 55 or older.

The Changing Demography of U.S. Flight Attendants
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2009/usflightattendants.aspx

Right now the industry is starting to show some signs of recovery from the last few years of lay offs and job cuts. Some airlines still have crew laid off (furloughed) while a few are starting to hire again. Although many think of carriers like United, American, Southwest ect there are also many regional carriers that need F/As. Almost 50% of the fligh5ts in the USA are now flown by regional airlines, so don't discount that as a possible opportunity. In fact, the regionals usually have a higher turnover so they are hiring more often. They also have domiciles/crew bases in a lot more varied cities than the larger carriers. This could be very important if you want to live in a certain part of the country or be near family.

If you are going to pursue this, I suggest getting yourself prepared for what to expect in the interview and find out all you need to know about the carriers you would like to fly for and the lifestyle.

Get a copy of 'Welcome Aboard!: Your Career as a Flight Attendant' by Becky S. Bock. They can be had at Amazon.com for under $10. Full of interview prep advice and tips on how to ace the interview process-
http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Aboard-Attendant-Professional-Aviation/dp/15602750...

Also, I want to mention that there are "flight attendant schools" out there that try to sell expensive training courses to prepare you for the career. Do not be lured into any such program! What I would recommend if you can find it would be one that deals with interviewing techniques. Since the competition for F/As jobs can be fierce, interview prep would be worth the investment to help you do your best and stand out (in the right way) in the group interview screening. I cannot comment on this company other than to say that they offer such guidance (but the price is not advertised in their site ti my dismay) however they have a list of airlines on the sidebar, including many regionals, so that you can use to narrow down your favorite picks to apply with- http://www.airlinecareer.com/service.htm

Here is a list of links that should be of interest including many message forums just for F/As-
http://www.thirtythousandfeet.com/flightat.htm

The Indeed F/As jobs forum-
http://www.indeed.com/forum/job/flight-attendant.html

Articles of interest:
73-year-old man in second career as flight attendant
(hired at 62)
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/07/20/over-60-let-your-career-go-up-up-and-aw...

Back in 1998, Delta had an one that was 78-
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20125364,00.html

Hope this helps,
Dottie