How to Become a Flight Attendant: What to Know

06.12.2024 - 22:03 / cntraveler.com

There are many reasons why you may be wondering how to become a flight attendant. Many travelers see the career as an opportunity to jet set around the world (and get paid to do so), while others are drawn to the job’s human-facing elements—one colleague told me that she was inspired to become a flight attendant after two cabin crew members heroically performed CPR on her mother mid-flight.

But being a flight attendant isn’t just a career, it’s a lifestyle. And it’s not always as glamorous as many believe. Breakfast in Paris and dinner in Rome? Sounds fabulous, but you'll also be having lunch on the drink canisters by the toilet as passengers hand you trash.

If one thing is guaranteed, it’s that you will make memories you will never forget. Where to begin? There’s the endless laughs with colleagues during long flights and late nights, the invites to the embassy that time an ambassador fancied my colleague—oh and how could I forget the day I was evacuated from Cairo in an Egyptian military aircraft?

Be warned: friends and family won’t understand how your shifts work. On a flight attendant schedule, working holidays and birthdays is almost guaranteed. However, if you embark on this journey, however long or short it might be, it will be one of a lifetime.

Whatever your motivation, pursuing a career as a flight attendant is a distinct vocation with very different requirements than your typical job. While the exact details will differ by airline, the hiring process typically unfolds in four phases: the application, the assessment, the interview, and training. All together, it can take three to six months to complete. If you’re ready to take the leap, here is how I successfully became a flight attendant for a major European carrier.

Back in the early years of air travel, flight attendants—then called “stewardesses”—had to be 20- to 30-year-old women who were unwed, childless, under 135 pounds, and between 5'2" and 5'9" tall. Thankfully, that started to change in the mid-1970s. Today, some airlines still have a height requirement (usually between 5'2" and 6'2") to ensure crew members can reach the safety equipment; and a few don’t allow visible tattoos or piercings. Most require flight attendants to be at least 21 years old, but there is no mandatory retirement age like there is for pilots. And while a high school diploma or GED is mandatory, a university degree is not required.

Airlines recruit qualified professionals from all different career and educational backgrounds, including teachers, nurses, retail workers, and firefighters. My dear colleague Sandra, 61, joined the cabin crew ranked after decades of working as an actress on the West End—swapping the spotlight for low-level lighting (her in-flight