Expert: Dottie Norkus - 1/13/2006

Question
I am interested in becoming a flight attendant. What schools or training would you recommend. I am finding it difficult getting information on this career.  Thank you Amanda

Answer
Amanda

In the United States, you DO NOT need to attend any F/A school to get a job. Every airline trains their F/As as they want them trained, to FAA specifications. You do not need to waste your money on any "Flight Attendant School"! Only certain training programs (aircraft specific) are worth the money for contract F/As who work in the corporate world on various biz jets. Forget any "school" if you are aiming for the airlines. It's a waste of money. All you need to know can be found on the net or in various F/A 'interview books'.

You can find all you need to know at every airlines webpage careers section or via these resources:

http://www.flightattendants.org

The site www.aviationinterviews.com has an information section for F/As. Check it out to see who else is hiring and what the interviews are like.

While I can't personally vouch for any of these products, many are very popular....

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 or CageConsulting.com. A review can be found here-

http://www.cageconsulting.com/book_review/welcomerev.html

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 Essential Guide to Becoming A Flight Attendant" 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 for $13.57- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097018431X/qid=1137188248/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap...

In addition, Amazon offers "Follow Your Dreams: Secrets to Getting Hired As a Flight Attendant (Paperback)
by Tammy Clark" for $10 used.

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 questions & advice. It requires a small membership fee but may well be worth it-
http://www.flightattendants.org/index.php

This link has the profile and career advice of F/A Amber Smith. She can be contacted via the message boards at that website as well under the user name MQAAORD-

http://www.jetcareers.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Ite...

Here is a link to a video with an interview of a SWA F/A about her career:
http://www.swagov.com/programs_services/adopt/flight_attend.wmv

Bureau of Labor Statistics F/A job description and factoids:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/print/ocos171.htm

These are a link to pages on a website that now seems to require a code to access it. It was very, very informative! While not a 'school', it offered many training aids, books & CDs to help one on their F/A career path including many interview guides:
http://www.careerairways.com/untitled1.html
http://www.careerairways.com/untitled3.html
http://www.careerairways.com/untitled13.html

(They are apparently the same as "Midnight Airways" and their products are also avaiable here- http://www.galaxymall.com/books/flightcareers/products.html )

An article on the interview process-
http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=604&article_id=24171216

Hope all this will help you get the "big picture" about what the job is like and what will get you through the interview.
If the links are not clickable, highlight them and then 'cut & paste' into another open browser window.

Dottie